THE
FRONT PAGE
Outdoor Participation
Up Slightly
heavy hitters
This May, Major League Fishing is rolling out a new
tournament for the Bass Pro Tour’s heaviest hitters. The
tournament, aptly named “Heavy Hitters,” is now one of
nine events on the BPT schedule and will take place on
the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes May 16-20.
A first of its kind, Heavy Hitters presented by Venmo
boasts nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in payouts
and will feature 30 BPT anglers. Qualification is based on
the cumulative weight of the single largest fish caught by
each angler during each of the first five stops. The top 30
based on resulting five-fish weight will punch their tickets
to Florida for the mid-May showdown.
The five-day event will parallel REDCREST and feature
a full-field Shotgun Round on day one and a full-field
Elimination Round on day two. From there, the top 20
heaviest hitters are divided into two groups of 10 for the
Knockout Round on days three and four, with the top five
anglers in each Knockout Round competing in the top 10
on the final day’s Championship Round.
The full field of 30 anglers will receive a minimum pay-
out of $6,000, and the tournament winner will earn
$100,000. In addition to the championship purse, anglers
will have the opportunity to earn a daily bonus for their
biggest bass of the day based on the following graduating
scale: day one $25,000; day two $25,000; day three
$50,000; day four $50,000; day five (Championship Round)
$100,000. The five-day payout totals $745,000.
According to a recent
study by the Outdoor
Foundation, almost half the
U.S. population didn’t ven-
ture outdoors for recreation
even a single time in 2018. In
all, only about 20 percent of
Americans did once-a-week
outdoor recreational activi-
ties, and Americans went on
roughly 1 billion fewer out-
door outings in 2018 than
they did in 2008. Even more
alarmingly, the amount of
annual outdoor outings for
children dropped 15 percent
from 2012 to 2018.
On the bright side, the
Outdoor Foundation’s 2018
report (covering 2017) indi-
cated a slight uptick in out-
doors participation from
Americans age 6 and older.
The numbers are sobering
for outdoor enthusiasts, but
there’s a silver lining in the
2018 report: Adults who were
introduced to the outdoors as
children were more likely to
Asian Carp Quick Hits
Fighting the good fight – As Asian carp continue their
march through U.S. waterways, conservation groups in the
Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basin regions are fighting
harder than ever to keep the foreign invaders at bay.
In March, the National Wildlife Federation and 13 affili-
ate organizations sent a collaborative letter to the House
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and the
House Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies to request continued support in the fight.
As part of the request, the groups ask that Congress con-
tinue to provide financial assistance to a number of programs
and agencies for funding of control, removal and research
initiatives like the Brandon Road Lock and Dam – a construc-
tion plan to create an effective barrier that could keep Asian
carp from making a new home in the Great Lakes.
14
participate in outdoor activi-
ties than those who were not.
That seems obvious, but it
also underlines the impor-
tance of getting children
involved in outdoor activities
at an early age.
FLW’S COMMUNITY
OUTREACH EFFORTS
FLW understands the importance
of youth participation in outdoor
activities, especially fishing. During
one of many community outreach
efforts FLW undertakes each year,
Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit pros
visited with the Teen Sportfishing
Association in February in conjunc-
tion with the Pro Circuit event pre-
sented by Bad Boy Mowers on the
Harris Chain of Lakes.
Charles Sim, Billy Hines, Jimmy
Reese and Blake Smith all took the
time to meet with high school stu-
dent anglers in the area and spend
the evening with the future of the
sport in the hopes that continued
participation from youth anglers will
keep generation after generation out-
side fishing and passing down their
passion to the next in line.
Science is the answer – Sam Erickson is a 25-year-old
researcher at the University of Minnesota College of
Biological Sciences. His latest project might just be the ticket
for eradicating Asian carp from U.S. waterways.
Erickson is working on a way to use genetic engineering
to create a new breed of carp that can effectively kill off
Asian carp eggs with their seminal fluid. Instead of fertiliz-
ing eggs, the genetically altered carp would kill the eggs
that might otherwise hatch into yet another batch of harm-
ful invasive fish.
To start, Erickson is using common carp in a controlled
laboratory setting to do DNA editing in the hopes that one
day the process can be used to eradicate wild Asian carp
without risk of harming other species.
Turn to page 36 to read more about the battle against
Asian carp in Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley.
FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | APRIL-MAY 2020