Major League fishing has entered a new realm with the announcement of the GEICO Selects. While the MLF Cup events have captured the attention of fans and the industry, there was a call for expansion. People wanted to see new blood, they wanted to see some of the other great anglers in the world of professional fishing, and the Selects became that group. Six anglers from the 2015 Bass Pro Shops Summit Select will qualify to compete in the 2015 General Tire Summit Cup against the original 24 MLF anglers.
Along with the new crowd came a new set of rules for the events. The group will still fish three periods, they will still catch, weigh, score and release fish from their boats, and SCORETRACKER LIVE will still dispense information to the competitors throughout the day. The difference is that the daily winners advance to the Summit Cup.
With so much on the line, the first six Select anglers blazed a new trail on one of the three bodies of water near the Muskogee, Okla., base of operations. This first group had no idea they were headed to the fertile waters of Lake Tenkiller, a northeast Oklahoma fishery that features clear water and a healthy population of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.
The six anglers launched onto Tenkiller on a day with very strong winds, which limited mobility and hindered their fishing in general. The biggest impact occurred in the early morning as the anglers moved quickly and frequently trying to locate cooperative fish and a pattern that could catapult them to the top of SCORETRACKER LIVE.
Fifth place finisher Marty Robinson had a total weight of 16-pounds, 10-ounces, Kurt Dove finished with 10-pounds, 14-ounces. Both anglers were eliminated and will have to wait until the 2015 Challenge Select for another opportunity to qualify for a Cup event.
Be sure to watch Outdoor Channel on Thursday, January 8, at 8 p.m. ET to see which of the anglers competing in the Day Two Qualifier will advance to the Summit Cup, who will place high enough to move to the Survival Round and who will be eliminated.