Sixty of the best professional bass anglers in the world. Three days of competition. One lake. And a whopping $1.25 million payday waiting for whoever comes out on top.
The biggest names in professional bass fishing have descended on Middle Tennessee for the inaugural The Champions tournament, where a record $3.25 million purse is up for grabs on Old Hickory Lake.
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But this isn’t just about the money.
For the first time ever, 30 of the top anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Series will go head-to-head with 30 of Major League Fishing’s (MLF) Bass Pro Tour stars in a tournament designed to settle one of the sport’s biggest debates: Who’s really the best?
And according to MLF superstar Jacob Wheeler, winning this one would mean more than just about anything else he’s accomplished in his decorated career.
“It would have to be number one,” Wheeler told OutKick OutDoors during Wednesday’s Media Day in Nashville.
“This is like in football, you have an AFC championship and an NFC championship, and basically we never compete against the other league, right?” he explained. “So now for us to come together and compete under one roof, one tournament here in Nashville … it would have the most meaning.”
“The money’s one thing, and that’s great, but it’s the meaning of being the best for that year.”
The competition begins Thursday at 7:30 a.m. CT, with the anglers divided into Team Stars (Bassmaster) and Team Stripes (MLF). They’ll compete for team bragging rights over the first two days, with the top 15 individual anglers advancing to Saturday’s championship round. Weights will reset for the final day, when one angler will walk away with the biggest first-place payout in bass fishing history.
And just to make things interesting, two amateur anglers — Eric Giessing of Missouri and Kyle Carr of Texas — earned their spots through a sweepstakes and will compete alongside the pros.
The old guard isn’t handing anything over
While the two circuits are coming together for a historic event, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a little friendly competition brewing.
Team Stripes captain Zack Birge believes his squad has an advantage over the Bassmaster youngsters. And it has a lot to do with experience.
“I just feel like the other side has a lot of young, talented guys,” Birge told OutKick OutDoors. “We have a lot of middle-aged guys.”
So, basically, he’s calling his teammates old?
“Yeah, basically,” Birge laughed.
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But his argument is that the more experienced anglers have a deeper arsenal of traditional fishing techniques to fall back on, while some of their younger competitors are more accustomed to relying on electronics.
“I feel like that gives us an advantage here, especially on a tough one,” he said.
And Wheeler, for one, agrees with his captain.
“We call them the OGs,” Wheeler said of the veterans on Team Stripes. “That experience definitely does play a role.”
Of course, the young guns aren’t exactly lacking confidence.
Bassmaster Angler of the Year Trey McKinney acknowledged that there’s a target on his back after his remarkable 2026 season. But he’s not particularly worried about it.
“We’re all equal competitors,” McKinney said. “We’re all buddies and friends … but when we get out on the water, we put our hard hats on, and that’s when we go to work.”
Old Hickory isn’t making things easy
As if battling the best anglers in the world for a life-changing amount of money weren’t stressful enough, Old Hickory Lake has decided not to cooperate.
The notoriously challenging fishery has already tested the competitors during practice, with low water levels and little current making the bass difficult to locate.
“It’s a grind, and you got to stay at it 100%,” McKinney said.
In fact, the 21-year-old believes the difficult conditions could create an opportunity for a surprise winner — potentially even one of the two amateur competitors.
“This is the one tournament that I think the Average Joes could literally win,” McKinney said, explaining that the unpredictable fishing could level the playing field.
Another wrinkle? Forward-facing sonar.
Anglers must choose whether to use the technology Thursday or Friday, but not both days. On Championship Saturday, they’ll be permitted to use it for only half of the competition.
MLF pro Drew Gill, known for being a LiveScope expert, believes those restrictions could have an enormous impact on the final results.
“When it comes down to Saturday, that day where we’re all fishing for the win, that three hours is going to shake things up because this lake is definitely a tremendous hurdle,” Gill told OutKick OutDoors.
“That intel from seeing underwater is just so darn valuable, even when you shut it off,” he added.
With so much money on the line, even the most seasoned pros will have to find a way to manage their emotions.
Wheeler believes that could ultimately separate the winner from everybody else.
“The key is you have to sort of control your emotion. And it’s hard to do in an event this big,” he said. “But that’s what the best do in big moments.”
For McKinney, a victory would mean more than a trophy and a trip to the bank.
“When you’re talking retirement-status money that you’re fishing for,” he said, the stakes are impossible to ignore.
And if he does happen to pocket that $1.25 million?
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“First thing I’m doing, heading to the beach,” McKinney said. “And I’m going to sit there with my toes in the sand for about a week and a half or more.”
After that, he’ll worry about investing.
OutKick OutDoors is on the ground at Old Hickory Lake for The Champions, bringing readers exclusive interviews, tournament updates and behind-the-scenes coverage as the world’s top anglers compete for bass fishing’s biggest payday.
Follow OutKick OutDoors on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes videos and coverage of The Champions all weekend long.
