TBF
WHAT’S MAKING NEWS IN THE BASS FEDERATION
By Dan Johnson
DESTINATIONS FIT FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP:
TBF
SPOTLIGHT ON TABLE ROCK LAKE AND KIMBERLING CITY, MO.
90
members competing
in the 2017 The Bass
Federation National
Championship April 3-8 on Table Rock
Lake will enjoy the most exciting, largest
and richest championship in Federation
history.
The “Big Dance” of grassroots bass
fishing features anglers who qualified
both under the old state team/division-
al format and the popular new TBF
National Semi-Finals system.
Competitors will battle in a cut for-
mat that sees the top boater and co-
angler from each state earn spots in
new Evinrude-powered Ranger Boats
for the final three days of competition.
At stake is a record payout and 15
berths in two of the sport’s most cov-
eted events. The boater champ will
compete in the 2017 Forrest Wood
Cup, and the top seven boaters and
co-anglers will compete in the 2017
T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League
All-American.
The winning boater will also receive
the $100,000 “Living the Dream” pack-
age, which includes a cash prize, fully
paid entry fees on the 2018 FLW Tour as
a pro, travel expense stipends for each
Tour event and use of a wrapped
Ranger with Evinrude outboard for the
year. The top co-angler will also receive
a cash prize along with fully paid entry
fees into the Costa FLW Series division
of choice.
Boater champion Joseph
Webster won it all in 2016
and is now “Living the
Dream” on the FLW Tour.
But there’s more to the experience
than that. Competitors will test their
mettle on one of North America’s most
renowned bass fisheries.
Affectionately known as “The Rock,”
this southwest Missouri paradise is nes-
tled amid scenic shores covered with
oak and hickory trees. More importantly
to anglers, Table Rock Lake is also flush
with bass. Biologists with the Missouri
Department of Conservation say a
bumper crop of largemouths that
hatched in 2011 yielded big numbers of
16- to 18-inch bass in 2016, and the
FLWFISHING.COM I APRIL 2017