COLUMBIA, S.C. (Feb. 3, 2026) – Hundreds of the nation’s best collegiate bass-fishing anglers from across the country will be in Columbia, South Carolina, next week, Feb. 12-14, for the 2026 Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia National Championship on Lake Murray.

Hosted by the Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board , the 17th annual College Fishing National Championship will bring together up to 160 qualified teams from across the country, as the nation’s top collegiate anglers compete for a $43,500 top prize package that includes a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and an additional $10,000. The second-place team will also earn a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, meaning two boats are up for grabs in the biggest MLF College Fishing event of the season. Every team that finishes in the top 10 will take home at least $1,000 in the no-entry-fee Championship.

“Capital City/Lake Murray Country is honored to host the MLF College Fishing season kickoff with the Abu Garcia National Championship at Lake Murray, welcoming the top teams from the 2025 season,” said Vickie Davis, Executive Director of Capital City/Lake Murray Country. “This tournament provides a meaningful boost to the local economy, supporting jobs and businesses throughout the region, while showcasing Lake Murray as a premier destination for anglers and visitors alike.”

In addition to the new boats, both members of the winning team and the runners-up at the 2026 Columbia PFG College Fishing National Championship will advance to the 2026 Toyota Series Championship where they will compete as boaters for a top prize of up to $235,000. The winning team’s highest finishing team member at the Toyota Series Championship will also advance to REDCREST 2027 to compete against the world’s best pros for the sport’s top prize of $300,000.

Both members of the third-place team at the College Fishing National Championship will advance to the 2026 Toyota Series Championship to compete as co-anglers for a shot at winning a $33,500 Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

Few anglers know Lake Murray better than Bass Pro Tour angler Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, South Carolina , who lives on the fishery and has stacked up multiple wins and hundreds of thousands of dollars in earnings there over the course of his career. Gagliardi said he expects Murray to demonstrate why it’s one of the best bass-fishing lakes on the planet during the winter-time event next week.

“We’re right in the tough part of winter right now,” Gagliardi said. “We’ve had some really cold weather here – lows down into the 20s. The water temperature is going to be low, but I don’t think that’s going to change much. We’re just going to see a lot of typical wintertime fishing in this one.”

Despite the cold, Gagliardi said Lake Murray no longer fishes strictly as a deep-water reservoir in winter. While offshore structure will certainly factor, he expects a mix of patterns to develop with some shallow fish still in play depending on daily conditions.

“There’s always some shallow fish here now,” Gagliardi explained. “It used to be that most of the bass got caught deep in the winter, but it’s not really like that now. Guys will catch some cranking, flipping a jig, and that probably depends on how cold it actually gets. The crankbait bite is something that’s really fairly consistent this time of year.”

Offshore, forward-facing sonar tactics are expected to be a major player, particularly around baitfish, and Gagliardi anticipates plenty of competitors leaning on their electronics to locate schools holding deeper.

“There are going to be guys who do well just scoping,” Gagliardi said. “They’ll find bait balls, fish around larger trees and shad, and that’s definitely going to be a factor. You’ll also see some fish caught on the bottom deep – dragging a jig, drop-shotting around deeper rock and stuff like that.”

Shallow opportunities won’t disappear entirely, especially if conditions line up with wind or sunshine, and Gagliardi noted that docks could quietly produce throughout the event.

“If the sun gets up, you might see some teams catching fish around docks,” he said. “A jig, a jerkbait – things like that. Nothing off the wall. It’s just a typical wintertime deal where guys are going to have to play the conditions day by day.”

As for what it will take to win over three days, Gagliardi expects strong daily weights, but consistency will be the strongest factor in determining the next National Champion.

“You’ve got to average 20 pounds a day,” Gagliardi said. “Single-day tournaments this time of year are often mid-20s, sometimes upper 20s, but doing that for three consecutive days is tough. If you can average 20 pounds a day for three days, that’s what it’s going to take to win this one.”

Anglers will take off from Dreher Island State Park, located at 3677 State Park Road, in Prosperity, South Carolina, at 7:30 a.m. ET each day of competition. Weigh-ins will be held at the State Park starting at 3:45 p.m. and will be livestreamed daily. Fans are welcome to attend the event or tune in to the weigh-in and follow the online coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com .

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live on Championship Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

Television coverage of the 2026 MLF Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia National Championship on Lake Murray will air as a one-hour episode, premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Aug. 23 on Vice TV.

The 2025 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI season featured college teams from across the country competing in six regular-season tournaments. The top 15 percent of teams from each regular-season tournament qualified to compete in the 2026 Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia National Championship.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Columbia PFG, Epic Baits, Lew’s, Mercury, MillerTech, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular College Fishing updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV and Game & Fish TV, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.