MLF’s world championship to feature massive Outdoor Sports Expo at Springfield’s Bass Pro Shops along with top 35 pro anglers competing on Table Rock Lake for $300,000 grand prize

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (April 2, 2026) – The top 35 professional bass fishing anglers from Major League Fishing (MLF), including the top 30 pros from the Bass Pro Tour, will compete for the top prize of $300,000 and to crown bass fishing’s newest world champion at Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2026 Presented by Mercury and Lowrance on Table Rock Lake near Springfield, Missouri, April 17-19. In conjunction with the event, the FREE, family-friendly MLF Outdoor Sports Expo will also take place throughout the weekend, April 17-19 at the Bass Pro Shops National Headquarters campus in Springfield.

The three-day event will showcase the top 35 MLF anglers from 2025 competing for the prestigious REDCREST Championship and a total prize pool of more than $700,000.

Springfield is home to the “Grandaddy of All Outdoor Stores” – the Bass Pro Shops National Headquarters – and Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium, voted “America’s Best Aquarium” an unprecedented seven times and “America’s Best New Attraction.” This one-of-a-kind destination is home to the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and draws millions of visitors each year to experience immersive wildlife galleries, hands-on adventures and the world’s largest wildlife collection.

Bass Pro Shops founder and noted conservationist Johnny Morris has spent decades building experiences that connect people to nature, championing conservation and celebrating the heritage of fishing and the outdoors. His commitment to inspiring new generations to enjoy and protect the resources we share is the perfect complement to MLF’s mission, making the Ozarks the ideal home for REDCREST 2026 and the Outdoor Sports Expo.

Across his unparalleled pro career, Kevin VanDam has fished just about every waterway in the country that regularly hosts tournaments. He estimates he’s spent more time on Table Rock than any other lake, and he believes it’s overdue to host its first tour championship.

“With my relationship with Bass Pro Shops and Nitro, I’ve spent, for sure, more days on the water at Table Rock Lake than any other tournament body of water in the country,” VanDam said. “It’s a really awesome lake, especially this time of the year.”

VanDam identified a few factors that make Table Rock unique. For one, it’s one of the only fisheries in the country where anglers can expect to catch all three black bass species – largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass – on a given day. Add in the fact that Table Rock is a sprawling playing field comprised of three different river arms with a myriad of habitat options, and VanDam thinks it will make for a dynamic event.

“It won’t be the top 10 guys all doing the same thing,” he said. “You’re going to see a really big mix of techniques, locations and patterns.”

Shane Bush, a fisheries biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation who manages Table Rock Lake, echoed VanDam’s prediction that all three species of bass should be well represented on SCORETRACKER® during REDCREST. He said the fishery’s spotted bass population “is at an all-time high right now.” Meanwhile, the number of quality largemouth has been steadily trending upward.

“We had some high-water events, most recently in 2020 and 2021, which has equated to some really big year classes of largemouth bass being in the system right now,” Bush said. “They should be in that 17- to 18-inch range now. So, I would foresee there being good numbers of 2- to 4-pound bass.”

Both Bush and VanDam noted that Table Rock is ideally suited for the Bass Pro Tour’s every-fish-counts format. While the lake has been known to yield the occasional lunker, it’s typically a fishery where weights in the teens win five-fish events for much of the year. However, on a good day, pros might catch 50-plus bass over 2 pounds.

“Especially with the format, with every fish counts, and having the diversity that the lake has and having all three species and a really great population of all three, there’s going to be a ton of strategy to put up a game plan that’s going to put you there in contention on the Championship Day,” VanDam said.

Anglers will launch each morning from Long Creek Marina, located at 1368 Long Creek Road in Ridgedale, Missouri, at 7:15 a.m. Fans are invited to attend all launch events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The free, family-friendly MLF Outdoor Sports Expo will also take place April 17–19 at Bass Pro Shops, located at 1 Bass Pro Drive in Springfield, offering something for fans of all ages. Attendees can shop the latest in fishing, boating and outdoor gear, enjoy live seminars, meet Bass Pro Tour anglers and Bass Fishing Hall of Famers like Kevin VanDam, Gary Klein and Jimmy Houston, and snap photos with special guests Skye and Marshall from Paw Patrol. Kids 14 and under can score a free Shakespeare rod and reel presented by KY3 (first 200 each day, Saturday and Sunday), while MLF members can access exclusive giveaways, including autograph cards and free lures for the first 50 members daily. With hourly prizes and daily $500 Bass Pro Shops shopping sprees presented by KTTS, the Expo delivers nonstop action all weekend long.

The tournament will showcase the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2026 Presented by Mercury and Lowrance at Table Rock Lake will feature anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable.

The 2025 Bass Pro Tour featured a field of 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to finish in the top 30 and qualify for Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2026 Presented by Mercury and Lowrance. The field also features the 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Champion, 2025 Toyota Series Pro Division Champion and International Division Champion, 2025 All-American Boater Champion and the highest finishing member of the 2025 College Fishing National Championship team from the Toyota Series Championship.

The full field of 35 anglers will compete in the two-day Qualifying Round on Friday and Saturday. After the Qualifying Round is complete the top 10 pros, based on two-day cumulative weight, advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $300,000.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live each day of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

Television coverage of MLF’s Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2026 Presented by Mercury and Lowrance at Table Rock Lake will premiere as a one-hour episode in December on CBS, immediately following an NFL game.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Bass Pro Tour and REDCREST 2026 include: Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing Co., B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Force, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine, Toyota, Yuengling and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X , Instagram , Rumble 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, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, 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.