A $100,000 prize for fishing? Yep. Raleigh lakes brace for major-league angling event.
The average knucklehead who casts a line into Jordan Lake will happily settle for a 2-pound largemouth as a prize — big enough for a respectable fishing selfie.
But starting Friday, three Triangle lakes will host 40 professional anglers decked out in suits with more endorsements than a Chevy’s hood in a NASCAR race, all of them competing for a six-figure prize.
The General Tire Heavy Hitters event presented by Bass Pro Shops will help put the small but fertile Falls, Jordan and Shearon Harris lakes on the national bass map as a six-day hunt unfolds for the fattest fish.
“It’s a big deal,” said Dustin Wilks, Raleigh native with a bass-catching show on the Sportsman Channel. “It brings in a lot of tourism if the fishing’s good.”
Most Saturday anglers who lose their tackle on overhanging power lines have no idea that Major League Fishing has existed since 2011, that MLF describes its sport as “high-intensity” or that the same Falls Lake cove they sip warm Natural Lite might be combed over by anyone representing the “million-dollar club.”
“Earning a membership to the posh brotherhood of million-dollar anglers is a career goal only a handful of professional bass anglers have been fortunate enough to achieve,” Matt Williams wrote for Major League Fishing in 2007. “Some pros have been knocking at the golden gate for decades but have never managed to crack the code to open it.”
‘Bass-fishing phenom’
One such club member, Jordan Lee of Alabama, is described by the MLF as a “bass-fishing phenom” and comes to the Triangle’s event fresh from Kissimmee, Fla., where he pocketed $200,000 — half for winning the overall tournament and half for the biggest fish.
The last time the pros-only Heavy Hitters came to the Triangle lakes, the tournament produced 57 fish at 6 pounds or more. This year, daily whoppers will bring $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000 bonuses.
Raleigh’s lakes are small compared to most tournament lakes, and not well-known nationally, Wilks said. But their terrain and fertile surrounding soil make for bigger bass. Insiders applaud this year’s decision to let anglers focus on a single lake during the qualifying rounds rather than hop between all three.
Detailed lake knowledge is key.
“Falls and Jordan are really different fisheries,” pro Mike McClelland said in an MLF news release. “At Jordan, you’re more than likely going to be catching them shallow one way or another, but at Falls, you have the option to go up the river as far as you can go, or you can go to the bottom end, which is totally different. Focusing on just one lake, hopefully, you can get on some kind of solid pattern, and then maybe think ‘What will I drag out of the tackle box that’ll get a big ol’ one to bite?’ ”
Watch the action online
While attendance at the bass bonanza is limited to competing fishers and essential staff, it does represent a major event going forward as COVID-19 numbers decline.
Fish action will be live-streamed at majorleaguefishing.com and aired on the Discovery Channel in July. More tournament news can be found on the MLF Facebook and Instagram feeds.
All the professional attention on local bass may have one downside, which Wilks noted Tuesday.
“It could make it a little tough on the fish,” he said. “They get a little more educated, and they might be harder to catch.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 3:51 PM with the headline "A $100,000 prize for fishing? Yep. Raleigh lakes brace for major-league angling event.."