Championship Season Kicks Off: 2027 Bassmaster Elite Schedule Drops, MLF Pro Circuit Championship, NPFL Lake George, EQ Norfork

The bass world hit an inflection point this week. B.A.S.S. dropped the full 2027 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule on September 8, three championship-tier events tee off inside the next 10 days, and the industry is quietly transitioning from summer season-clinch storylines to the fall trophy-hunt calendar. If you follow the sport, this is the seven-day stretch where next year starts getting shaped.

Here's what changed this week, what's about to change, and who's got the most on the line.

1. B.A.S.S. Releases the 2027 Elite Series Schedule

The biggest news of the week was the September 8 announcement of the 2027 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series schedule — nine regular-season events plus the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic. It's a schedule built to test versatility from Florida grass mats to Northern smallmouth rock.

The full 2027 slate:

• Feb. 11-14 — Lake Okeechobee, Okeechobee, Florida
• Feb. 18-21 — Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Kissimmee, Florida
• March 19-21 — Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic, Lake Hartwell, Anderson, South Carolina
• April 8-11 — Sabine River, Orange, Texas
• April 22-25 — Lake Fork, Yantis, Texas
• May 6-9 — Lake Seminole, Bainbridge, Georgia
• May 20-23 — Santee Cooper Lakes, Clarendon County, South Carolina
• June 17-20 — Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Columbus, Mississippi
• Aug. 5-8 — Lake St. Clair, Macomb County, Michigan
• Aug. 19-22 — Mississippi River, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Phillip Johnson, B.A.S.S. Chief Operating Officer, framed it this way: "We're going from iconic Florida fisheries and massive Texas reservoirs to challenging river systems and some of the best smallmouth fishing anywhere in the country."

A few things jump out. Lake Hartwell hosts a Classic for the first time since 2022, and it sits early on the calendar — March 19-21 — which historically means prespawn to spawn-window fish and the potential for a heavyweight brown-fish bag mixed with big pre-spawners. Lake Fork returns to the Elite Series for the first time in years, which is a giant-fish factory that will chase the season single-day weight record. And the northern smallmouth double at St. Clair and the Mississippi River to close the regular season means the Angler of the Year race will once again be decided on brown fish — a pattern that has favored offshore, forward-facing-sonar-savvy anglers in recent seasons.

Elite Series pros now have five months to prep boats, sponsors, and travel logistics before the February 11 opener.

2. MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship — Kissimmee Chain, Sept. 18-20

The MLF Pro Circuit season crowns its 2026 champion next week on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. The top 50 anglers from the year's points race are in — three days, five-fish limits, a top-10 cut after Saturday, and up to $135,000 to the winner out of a $453,000 prize pool. The champion also punches a ticket to REDCREST 2027, MLF's crown-jewel event.

The AOY drama is already settled. Banks Shaw, the Harrison, Tennessee pro, locked up back-to-back Pro Circuit Angler of the Year titles at Stop 6 on Lake Champlain in late July, edging Ryan Lachniet by 15 points and taking home a new Phoenix Boats package worth $50,000. Shaw's 2026 was ridiculous — a Stop 5 win at Lake Eufaula with a final-day rally, a third-place finish at Champlain to seal the title, and a season-long consistency streak few Pro Circuit anglers have ever assembled.

Photo by Tyler Brinks / Major League Fishing, used by permission

But AOY is settled. The championship isn't. The Kissimmee Chain in September is a very different animal than the Kissimmee Chain in February.

The wildcard this year is water. An extended drought has significantly lowered the chain, thinning the shallow vegetation that normally defines this fishery in winter and spring. Pros are anticipating that offshore structure — hydrilla edges, hard-bottom transitions, canal mouths — will play bigger than a traditional Kissimmee grass-fishing event. That flips the usual script and creates a real opening for anglers who can read structure and adapt on the fly. Rainfall between now and launch day could rewrite the whole thing.

Sonar rule to know: MLF is enforcing a 3-hour daily cap on forward-facing and 360-degree sonar use at the championship. That means the top 10 finalists on Sunday can't win this on live-scoping bait alone — traditional cranking, flipping, and topwater will have to do real work.

3. NPFL Lake George Debut — Sept. 17-19

The National Professional Fishing League rolls into Lake George, New York for the first time ever on September 17-19 for Stop 6 of its regular season. Lake George is a 28,000-acre fishery that holds both largemouth and smallmouth — and for a league still building out its brand identity, adding a marquee northeastern smallmouth venue matters.

Local officials have been vocal about the payoff. Mayor Ray Perry said the town is ready: "Lake George has a lot to offer — to residents, to visitors, and particularly to anglers."

The NPFL runs a 125-boat pro field, so this isn't a niche event — it's a legitimate stop with a full slate of Pro Circuit and Elite Series pros who fish NPFL as their primary or secondary tour. Watch for smallmouth-heavy bags out of the northern basin near Ticonderoga and mixed-bag limits from the largemouth-friendly southern end near the village of Lake George itself.

4. Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers at Norfork Lake — Sept. 23-25

Ten days out, the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier kicks off at Norfork Lake in Mountain Home, Arkansas — a deep, clear Ozarks impoundment where finesse fishing typically rules. The winner earns a direct berth to the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell.

That's a life-changing prize for the Opens-level pros in the EQ field. A Classic berth doesn't just come with a paycheck — it comes with sponsor conversations, national broadcast exposure, and a real shot at the biggest stage in the sport. Expect a slow, methodical grind: drop-shots, small swimbaits, and Ned rigs on offshore points and channel swings. Norfork is not a slugfest — it's a chess match, and the winner will earn every ounce.

The Big Picture: What's Actually Being Decided

This is the annual pivot week in professional bass fishing. Summer's storylines — Evan Kung's 109-9 St. Lawrence blowout, Trey McKinney becoming the youngest B.A.S.S. AOY ever, Banks Shaw's back-to-back Pro Circuit crown — are locked in the record book. Now the sport shifts to:

• Championship trophies (MLF Pro Circuit at Kissimmee, and eventually the NPFL Championship)
• REDCREST 2027 berths (the Pro Circuit champion gets one; other pathways still open)
• Classic 2027 berths (EQ Norfork winner earns one direct)
• 2027 schedule prep (Elite pros now planning around the Feb 11 opener at Okeechobee and the March 19 Classic at Hartwell)

The FFS rule conversation isn't going away either. Bassmaster's 2026 experiment — random draws deciding which four events banned live sonar — will drive off-season debate about how the 2027 rules should look. B.A.S.S. hasn't formally announced the 2027 sonar policy yet, but expect movement before the February opener.

If you're an angler at home, this is the fall stretch where the sport is quietly at its most interesting. The champions who get crowned in the next two weeks earn spots that shape the entire following season.

FAQ

When is the 2027 Bassmaster Classic? March 19-21, 2027 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina. It's the Classic's first return to Hartwell since 2022. Qualifying anglers will fish under the prespawn-to-early-spawn conditions typical of the March window on a Southeast impoundment.

Who won the 2026 MLF Pro Circuit Angler of the Year? Banks Shaw of Harrison, Tennessee — his second consecutive AOY title. He clinched it at Stop 6 on Lake Champlain in July with a third-place finish that put him 15 points ahead of Ryan Lachniet. Shaw earned a new Phoenix Boats package worth roughly $50,000 in addition to the AOY trophy.

Where is the MLF Pro Circuit Championship being held in 2026? The Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Kissimmee, Florida, September 18-20, 2026. Top 50 pros compete for up to $135,000 and a berth in REDCREST 2027. Forward-facing and 360-degree sonar are capped at 3 hours per competition day.

When does the 2027 Bassmaster Elite Series start? February 11-14, 2027 on Lake Okeechobee in Florida, followed one week later by the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes February 18-21. The season closes August 19-22 on the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wisconsin.

How can an Opens angler qualify for the 2027 Bassmaster Classic? The winner of each Bassmaster Elite Qualifier event — including the September 23-25 stop at Norfork Lake in Arkansas — earns a direct berth to the 2027 Classic at Lake Hartwell. Anglers can also qualify through Elite Series performance and, historically, through the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship pathway.