The MLF was established in partnership between the Professional Bass Tour Anglers' Association (PBTAA) and Outdoor Channel as an answer to other professional fishing tournaments that the anglers compete in.[1][2] It was the top-rated show on Outdoor Channel.[3][4]
Major League Fishing is different from other professional fishing tournaments in that every bass boat has a referee on board to weigh each catch immediately and ensure quick catch and release, and all fisherman have a constant update on how fellow competitors are performing through iPads on their boats.[5] Additionally, anglers do not know where they are going before the day of the competition, as it focuses more on the anglers's personalities and struggles under competition pressure rather than purely on yields and rankings.[6] This new style of tournament fishing[7] was designed with conservation in mind, and anglers are not allowed to land fish, grab them for long, or keeping them in the boat's live well.[8][9] The shows are fished without revealing results instantly, as the results are shown when the television program airs.[10][11]
History
In 2010, the anglers of the PBTAA met with the Outdoor Channel to outline the first Major League Fishing competition—the 2012 Challenge Cup was filmed at Amistad Reservoir, Texas, in 2011 and aired on the Outdoor Channel in 2012.[2] Professional Anglers Boyd Duckett[12] and Gary Klein represent the anglers and originally came up with the idea of Major League Fishing.[13] Major League Fishing is sponsored by a number of fishing-related companies and external organizations including Bass Pro Shops, General Tire, Lowrance, SIG Sauer and Geico.[14][15][16] Many other fishing clubs around the country now use the MLF format for their tournaments, including the Brecknell digital scales used in competition and the SCORETRACKER LIVE! scoring system, as MLF continues to grow.[17][18][19][20][21] In 2019 MLF purchased Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) one of the prominent national bass fishing tours. They have maintained most of the FLW tournaments however the FLW Tour was discontinued and anglers given priority entry to the new MLF Invitationals, the qualifying series for the MLF Bass Pro Tour.
Major League Fishing has two independent competitions, the Selects and Cups, which are each fished by a different set of anglers.[22][23] The Cup anglers also compete for a chance to fish the MLF World Championship, which airs on CBS.[24] MLF Cup events feature 3 days of competitions between 10 anglers, with the top 4 advancing from each day of competition into a Sudden Death Round. In the Sudden Death Rounds, the first 3 anglers to hit a designated "cut weight" receive a spot in the Championship Round, which is winner-take-all.[25][26][27]
