Going Big: MLF returns to Palestine this time with Heavy Hitters event

Published 3:49 pm Thursday, March 31, 2022

There is one guarantee about Major League Fishing’s return to Lake Palestine. The area should not resemble the frozen tundra.

Thirty-two MLF fishermen will be on the lake April 9-14 for the General Tire Heavy Hitters Tournament, the first major professional tournament on the 25,000-acre lake. MLF attempted to hold its Redcrest tournament here in February 2021, but Mother Nature had a different idea bringing sub-zero temperatures to the area and forcing the event’s cancellation.

Held on three North Carolina lakes in 2021, the Heavy Hitters tournament was won by Texan Alton Jones. Although he did not qualify for a repeat performance, his son, Alton Jones Jr., did. He and Lake Fork’s Takahiro Omori are the only Texans in the field. They will be joined by some of the biggest names in fishing including Edwin Evers, Ott DeFoe, Mark Rose, Jordan Lee and Jacob Wheeler.

The tournament features an abbreviated field selected by their big bass success on the tour last year.

“To qualify for the 2022 General Tire Heavy Hitters event, the weight of an angler’s single-largest bass from each event of the seven 2021 Bass Pro Tour events was recorded. The 32 anglers with the heaviest big-fish totals from those seven events qualified to compete in this event,” explained Joe Opager, MLF’s director of communications.

The tournament format will be like the recent Toro Stage Two event on Lake Fork with Group A featuring half the field fishing the first and third days while the remainder fishes the second and fourth days. The winners of each group moves directly to the championship round. The second through eighth finishers in both preliminary rounds will compete in a one-day knockout round with the top eight moving on to the championship.

In the catch-weigh-release tournament, the fishermen are given credit for every bass 2 pounds or better in the preliminary and knockout rounds. Only bass 3 pounds or larger will count on the final day.

In addition to the tournament payout of $100,000 to the champion, a big bass bonus of $25,000 will be awarded for each preliminary group. That will increase to $50,000 for the knockout round and to $100,000 for the championship round.

The pros are accustomed to competing on new lakes and most will be seeing Palestine for the first time during pre-tournament practices. That includes Waco’s Alton Jones Jr.

What they can expect to find is a lake that was great for the times when it first opened, went through a long period of lean years, but has been on the uptick for more than a decade.

Palestine came online at its full size in the early 1970s. At the time, Texas reservoirs consisted strictly of native largemouth bass and a 10-fish, 10-inch daily bag limit. Had its opening been a decade or so later with the introduction of Florida bass and the 5-14 limit, it is conceivable the lake could have rivaled Lake Fork for quality based on its early successes.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department first started stocking Florida strain bass in Palestine in 1981, but stockings have been the most consistent since 2000. Since then the lake has been stocked with more than 4.6 million Florida fingerlings.

In older reservoirs like Palestine, stockings are done more to enhance genetics than to add numbers.

“Several studies have essentially concluded that survival rates for stocked fingerlings typically range from 0- to 5-percent,” explained Jake Norman, TPWD Inland Fisheries district biologist. “When quality shoreline habitat is present, and the fingerlings going out are in good shape, you may see survival close to 5 percent. If habitat is scarce or the fish arrived stressed from handling, hauling, etc., you will see closer to 1 percent survival, or less.”

DNA sampling of bass in 2013 at Palestine, the most recent year for results, showed 41 percent of the bass had some Florida-strain genetics. The long-term average from 1994-2013 was 40 percent, with the best being 50 percent in 2011 and 2017.

In the debate of which is more important, genetics or regulations, Norman sides with genetics.

“I would pick genetics without hesitation. While the Florida bass (genetic) influence is lower than at some other quality lakes, it is still significantly influential on the growth and size potential of our Palestine bass,” he said.

As proof, there have been three Toyota ShareLunkers from Lake Palestine including a 13.22 lake record.

With both Florida and native strain genetics in the lake, he said there is the potential for crosses with the best of both species.

“While this suggests the likelihood of us seeing a true giant 15 or larger is lower than other reservoirs with a higher Florida genetic frequency, we have ended up with an abundance of quality-size bass that still have both good growth and 10-pound-plus trophy potential,” Norman explained.

The General Tire Heavy Hitters will be held out of The Villages Marina, however, with no weigh-in there is limited activity at the ramp. Fishermen can watch from the water, but are asked to keep a respectable distance. However, the best way is live-streaming daily at majorleaguefishing.com.