NEENAH – Some of the best bass anglers in the world will test their skills on Lake Winnebago and nearby waters next month as the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour makes a stop in Neenah.

The June 25-30 tournament will be live-streamed on the website MajorLeagueFishing.com, and the footage will be packaged into a two-hour TV show that will air later this year on the Discovery Channel and Sportsman Channel.

“It’s a huge event for the area,” Adam Schanke, sports marketing manager for the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. “I think it’s going to be a great way to show off Neenah and the Fox Cities as a whole.”

The competitive tournament will bring 80 anglers and a production crew of more than 100 people to Neenah.

“It’s a perfect time to be there, that time of year,” said Michael Mulone, senior director of events and partnerships for Major League Fishing. “The fishing should be phenomenal.”

Major League Fishing will build a TV compound with Jumbotrons — something akin to ESPN’s College GameDay set — that will be open to the public free of charge during the tournament. The preferred location for the TV compound is the parking lot of Shattuck Middle School, 600 Elm St., but the deal hasn’t been finalized.

The tournament is expected to generate more than 1,000 hotel room nights and about $350,000 in direct economic activity.

Schanke said the Fox Cities has been host to fishing tournaments in the past, but not to the level of Major League Fishing.

“This is probably the biggest as far as the prestige of the fishermen,” Schanke said. “You can’t just sign up for this tournament. These are pros who do this for a living. They are top-level fishermen. They’re chosen for this tour.”

How it works

The Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour is in its inaugural year. It’s a series of catch-and-release tournaments in which the winner is determined by the total weight of his catch. Previous stages were held in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The 80 anglers are competing exclusively with the tour.

“These are the best of the best,” Mulone said. “They left other tours to join us this year.”

Mulone said the purse for the tournament in Neenah is nearly $500,000, with the winner taking home $100,000.

The competition will occur primarily on Lake Winnebago but will extend to other waters, including Lake Poygan, Lake Winneconne, Lake Butte des Morts and Green Lake.

The anglers will catch largemouth or smallmouth bass. Officials in the boats immediately will weigh the fish, and then the fish will be released back into the water.

Officials will enter the weight into a computer network so all of the competitors and spectators watching the live stream will know the real-time status of the standings.

“If you’re on one side of (Lake) Winnebago and catch a 4-pound bass, and I’m on the other side, within a minute I’m going to know that you are now 4 pounds ahead of me,” Mulone said. “It creates incredible drama. Even small fish mean a lot because it’s total weight per day. It’s not catching your biggest five fish, which is traditional with most tournaments.”

The schedule

Anglers will arrive June 23 and 24 to practice, and the tournament will run from June 25 to 30.

Benefits to Neenah

Mulone said he was looking for a different site for the tour and found a perfect match in Neenah and Lake Winnebago, which he described as “a fantastic fishery.”

“A professional bass tournament hasn’t been to Winnebago in a really long time, if ever before,” Mulone said.

Major League Fishing is partnering with Future Neenah on the arrangements, which include equipment rental, portable toilets, fencing and overnight security. The Neenah Parks and Recreation Commission waived the boat trailer parking fees for the event.

The competitors will launch from Recreation Park, 600 S. Park Ave., when fishing on Lake Winnebago, but the focus of activity for the public will be at the TV compound, where spectators can watch the live stream and a daily results show.

Analysts will ask anglers about their performance and what changes they will make for the next day of competition.

Mulone said the TV compound will be visually appealing but won’t be so loud as to disturb the peace of the neighborhood. The benefits, he said, are really to Neenah and the surrounding area.

“We’re highlighting the destination,” Mulone said. “We’re going to go around town and find unique places to video, so when we’re coming in and out of commercial, there’s going to be scenery of Neenah on air. That’s a big part of what we do.”

Nikki Hessel, executive director of Future Neenah, said the exposure promised by Major League Fishing was too attractive to pass up.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to highlight the area and what we have to offer as a community,” she said.

Promoters say the economic windfall will be felt long after Major League Fishing moves to the next community.

“People are going to see the best pro fishermen fishing on Winnebago and the surrounding lakes,” Mulone said, “and then hopefully they’ll want to vacation there.”

Redcrest, the season-ending championship for the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour, will be held from Aug. 19 to 25 in La Crosse.