A total of $1 million will be awarded to 50 competing anglers when B.A.S.S. — the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society — of Birmingham, Ala., brings its Toyota Bass Angler of the Year Championship to Mille Lacs on Sept. 15-18.
The angler with the highest yearlong points after the Mille Lacs tournament will win $100,000, with the remainder split among the other 49 anglers.
The winner will earn the title of Bassmaster Angler of the Year.
Anglers' boats will leave each day from Eddy's Resort, and daily weigh-ins will be at Grand Casino Mille Lacs. The event will be live-streamed by B.A.S.S., and filmed for later television broadcast.
The contest was made possible last year after the Department of Natural Resources agreed to suspend for this competition, and another bass contest on Mille Lacs in July, the requirement that only one Mille Lacs bass over 18 inches can be in possession.
Fish caught in both contests will be live-released.
The B.A.S.S. competition is expected to be an economic boon to the area. The [ast five Bassmaster Classics, for example, have averaged more than 100,000 in attendance, and the 2016 version concluding Sunday in Oklahoma is forecast to infuse about $20 million into Tulsa and communities near Grand Lake o' the Cherokees.
DENNIS ANDERSON
