Elite series lakes

[Tarheel14]

What lakes have the Elite series not fished ever or in a long time. They need to have a city close enough to host the tournament.

Lake Mohave in NV/AZ. It has Laughlin, NV. Thats where they have the U.S. Open now

Any other Great lakes besides the ones they frequent? TN has some big lakes. Is that Piercy priest just SE of Nashville?

They havent been to Clarks Hill, SC in a while. High Rock. There are some pretty nice lakes in Mississippi?

[Jim285pro]

Idk about all that but what I do know is the last thing you want is these guys coming to your home lake.

[Ckfishin]

Truman (1988/89)

I am cool with them staying away our lakes take enough of a pounding don't need help.

[Tarheel14]

Idk about all that but what I do know is the last thing you want is these guys coming to your home lake.

[Jdwelding]

In the 90s they used to fish Norman, High Rock, Gaston, Buggs Island, Table Rock, Eufala, Seminole, Pickwick,Wheeler, Wilson. I don't follow it like I used to so maybe they have hit some of these recently.

[tcesni]

They’ve not been to Smith Mountain Lake for some time.

[c rig]

What lakes have the Elite series not fished ever or in a long time. They need to have a city close enough to host the tournament.

They don’t need a city close to host a regular Elite, they only need a fairly close convention center for a Classic.

Biggest requirement picking a venue is a chamber of commerce, local or state government has to put up money for them to come.

[goose pit]

Idk about all that but what I do know is the last thing you want is these guys coming to your home lake.

My thoughts exactly.

[Bueller]

Mead, Havasu, CA Delta, Clear Lake, Columbia River

[Jeff Hahn]

Ohio River!

[ECobb91]

Mead, Havasu, CA Delta, Clear Lake, Columbia River

I wanna see them go out west again.

Hudson River and Oneida Lake are some they haven’t been to in a while.

[Bearetta]

i hoped 60 lbs would win at Fork.
They had that by day 2!!!

[BigFishSteve]

Lake Chesdin in Virginia

[Mcjenson]

Mead, Havasu, CA Delta, Clear Lake, Columbia River

I think a full on west coast swing isn’t likely. I say try a mini swing to Arizona. Maybe hit elephant butte as part of the swing.

[218_fishing]

Leech Lake is going to be fun when and if they announce it.

[Wackyjig]

For a regular elite event one biggest things is having the facilities to host it. You've got to have a ramp and parking area big enough to handle all of the boats, media, and spectators. Plus you've got to have an area to set up the tanks and stage for weigh in.
The other is having a chamber of commerce that is willing to put in the effort to bring them to town which seems to mean alot of times kicking in some cash and helping with the event. These repeated to death lakes have a local government that understands that by investing say $500k into bringing the elites there the city will in turn make $1.5m. Yea, I'd like to see them branch out and hit new water, but I completely understand the schedule is a business decision.

The classic is a whole different animal. Having a lake with large enough facilities to handle the launch, plus a host city nearby with an expo center for the show and an arena for weigh in really narrows your choices down. Now add in places that will actually pony up the money to bring them in and you're left with a handful of lakes they can fish on. Ft. Loudoun/TN river is an absolute turd of a fishery 10 months out of the year. But having the launch, expo, weigh in, hotels, and tons of dining options within walking distance makes Knoxville a perfect place to have it. I'd expect we'll see Hartwell for 2026 and Knoxville for 2027 classics

[Meadows]

They’ve not been to Smith Mountain Lake for some time.

It blows my mind that they haven't been back to Smith since 2011. It would put out a century belt if they timed it right.

Buggs Island
James River
Percy Priest
Truman
Red River
Cumberland
Sinclair

The list of lakes they don't frequent is too long to list.

It's funny, BASS couldn't believe the weights that Murray was putting out when they went there a few years ago. They acted like it was this secret lake or something, when in reality Murray had been putting out those weights for years but they never go there so it was like a big surprise for them.

[Mcjenson]

For a regular elite event one biggest things is having the facilities to host it. You've got to have a ramp and parking area big enough to handle all of the boats, media, and spectators. Plus you've got to have an area to set up the tanks and stage for weigh in.
The other is having a chamber of commerce that is willing to put in the effort to bring them to town which seems to mean alot of times kicking in some cash and helping with the event. These repeated to death lakes have a local government that understands that by investing say $500k into bringing the elites there the city will in turn make $1.5m. Yea, I'd like to see them branch out and hit new water, but I completely understand the schedule is a business decision.

The classic is a whole different animal. Having a lake with large enough facilities to handle the launch, plus a host city nearby with an expo center for the show and an arena for weigh in really narrows your choices down. Now add in places that will actually pony up the money to bring them in and you're left with a handful of lakes they can fish on. Ft. Loudoun/TN river is an absolute turd of a fishery 10 months out of the year. But having the launch, expo, weigh in, hotels, and tons of dining options within walking distance makes Knoxville a perfect place to have it. I'd expect we'll see Hartwell for 2026 and Knoxville for 2027 classics

I thought the elites were getting more like 50K to bring elite events, not 500K.

To be fair to host sites, I can totally understand not wanting to dump a bunch of money into having BASS come to town. It's not like the old days where the elites are going to make some previously unknown lake famous. With the internet now it doesn't take a whole lot of research to figure out which lakes are hot right now. Plus with more and more tournament fishing going on nowadays, why pay a bunch of cash for 100 elite anglers when a 200 boat derby is going on every weekend regardless.

[bigbass201]

Percy Priest. I like that suggestion. I don't if they have somewhere that could accommodate them or not.

[Meadows]

Lake Chesdin in Virginia

Are you serious? Chesdin is nowhere even close to big enough to host an elite event. They'd go to Lake Anna before they went to Chesdin.