Bass Pro Tour competitor David Dudley, who has a home on the Chowan River, says power-fishing tactics will dominate this week's event.
June 03, 2024
By MLF Communications Staff EDENTON, N.C. – The MLF Bass Pro Tour is set to visit Edenton, N.C. and the Chowan River this week for the fifth regular-season event of 2024. Competition days at Tuesday through Sunday.
“The Chowan River is a healthy fishery and has everything in it,” explained Dudley. “It’s a cover-heavy river system, so guys can flip grass, throw around matted duckweed and flip and pitch around cypress trees. There’s a lot of hard cover and a lot of grass.”
While storms and rainy conditions are currently being forecast during the competition, Dudley said that anglers should really pay attention to the wind direction each day and how that will affect the fishery.
“The river fluctuates with the wind, much like a tidal system, and wind direction will play a big role in how high or low the water level gets in the river,” said Dudley. “A hard southwest wind will blow the water out of the sound and lower the water level significantly.”
Advertisement
Dudley said he expects to see topwater baits, frogs, ChatterBaits and flipping to be key throughout the event.
“I think we’ll see fish in every stage of the spawn and there will be a lot of power fishing in this event – not much forward-facing sonar in play,” said Dudley. “I think most of the fish will be caught in 3 foot of water or less. Fishing in a foot of water will be considered deep.”
While the minimum weight requirement is only 1 pound, 8 ounces, Dudley said he expects to see some big fish caught during the event.
Advertisement
“The Chowan River is a great fishery, with some big bass in it,” said Dudley. “I think we’ll see a 7-pounder win the Berkley Big Bass each day and it will probably take 12 scorable bass per day to advance to the next round.”
Anglers will launch at 7:30 a.m. ET each day from Pembroke Creek Park, located at 716 W. Queen Street in Edenton. Each day’s takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m.
The tournament will feature the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the ScoreTracker leaderboard.
The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday, with the 39 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. After each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers who finish first through 10th from both groups advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round.
In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round, where weights will again be zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on the final four days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! will be livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
