Big Fish, Bigger Stakes: Champions Tour 2026 Preview
As the years go by, it seems like the offseasons go quicker as well. However, this offseason for the Classic Bass Champions Tour, Presented by Skeeter Boats, actually did.
For the first time in its history, we will be having an event in May, and it will kick off the season with a bang. But before we get into that, it’s important to reflect on the past.
Reflecting on the 2025 Season
As the Champions Tour heads into its second year of new ownership under Dane Vocelka, it’s an exciting time for Classic Bass.
An incredible 2025 season saw a full field of 67 boats travel across the Upper Midwest, visiting new fisheries along with some familiar ones. Records were shattered on Lake Vermilion to kick off the season. An electric showdown in the backwaters of the Mississippi River in La Crosse created a storyline that will be talked about for years. And an angler revealed a new, completely undocumented pattern on the historic fishery Le Homme Dieu in Alexandria.
The Tour then ventured to Green Lake, where a revitalization of the waterbody showed itself. Tommy Parker was awarded a boat for the victory. Champions Tour Pro Evan Blakley brought home the coveted Angler of the Year trophy through an incredible season of finishes.
To cap it off, for the first time in Champions Tour history, the field was cut—from 67 boats down to 45.
At that point, the first-ever Champions Tour Qualifier took place on Lake Koronis in Central Minnesota, where Hayden Anderson brought home the trophy and secured qualification for the 2026 Champions Tour. He was joined by four other pros: Ben Boerjan, Brandon Downs, Harrison Nelson, and Jackson Sokolowski.
It was written about at the conclusion of the 2025 season, but the continuation through the Champions Tour Qualifier was truly remarkable. A new wave of youth has taken over the Classic Bass Champions Tour, with all five anglers joining the 2026 season being under the age of 30.
As stated at the conclusion of last season, 8 of the tournaments in the past four years have been won by Wendt, Krampitz, Wright, and Parker. An incredible 50% clip being won by youth.
Will these new anglers follow this trend? Or will we see the veteran presence on the Champions Tour: Figi, Schultz, Peters, Capra, Mehr, Schutta, Leuthner, and more; fend off this new age?
These anglers will throw themselves into the competitive pit that is the Champions Tour; a unique format across the country where Catch, Record, and Release is the competitive platform.
2026 Season Schedule Overview
This season brings an exciting schedule to the forefront, visiting numerous big-fish factories and some of the most talked-about venues in Tour history.
“Playing with big smallmouth right off, then big largemouth to follow, and a mixture of both for the remaining event of the season provides a great and diverse schedule,” said Vocelka.
To immediately change history, the Champions Tour finds itself heading to the infamous Lake Mille Lacs. Quite honestly, it may be the best smallmouth bass fishery on the planet right now—and if it’s not, it’s firmly in the Top 5.
“The reason we are going to Mille Lacs in May is because we have never seen an event out there this early,” said Vocelka. “The Catch, Weigh, Release format allows us to do that during the catch-and-release season. It’s an exciting way to test the lake and see what it really has to offer.”
The murmurs of what Mille Lacs may take to win are deafening. Schools of 4–5+ lb fish that will be set up and staged will be numerous. It is very likely that we may see the biggest smallmouth bass ever weighed in Champions Tour history at this event.
However, as is always the biggest factor with Mille Lacs, this event will come down to the wind.
Will Mille Lacs reveal some of her precious beasts?
If the wind lays low, sound the alarm; because all of the talk from Vermilion last year, where the 282 lb 5 oz record was set, could be in jeopardy. That’s a big could. But if any place could do it, it would be Mille Lacs prespawn.
This then brings our field to Big Stone Lake, on the Minnesota/South Dakota border, known by its nickname “Pig Stone.” The lake has had its coming-out party over the past several years. The shallow, dirty, swampy shores of Big Stone Lake are home to some incredibly big largemouth bass, along with great numbers.
“We’re going back down there because it’s the complete opposite of Mille Lacs,” said Vocelka.
For those unfamiliar, Big Stone Lake is a shallow reservoir stuffed with weeds, where shallow-water power fishing, and some offshore rock, come into play. It’s a completely different playground than Mille Lacs.
The Champions Tour visited Big Stone Lake back in 2023, when Joel Willert brought home the win. However, much of the field lost valuable fishing time in the second half due to a major thunderstorm that pushed anglers to shore.
“We’re heading back down there to throw a total 180 spin on the anglers that rely on smallmouth and forward-facing sonar,” said Vocelka. “This will be a much more natural, technique-specific tournament that will shake up the standings.”
This brings us to the annual Champions Tour PRO/AM, Presented by Vocelka Fishing and Customs & the Reel LiveWell App. Happening just before the Fourth of July, the Tour heads to the infamous Gull Lake. Gull has been home to some of the most electric events in Champions Tour history.
Now, boat officials get the opportunity to fish with the pros they marshal for, building an 8-fish limit as a team through the Catch, Weigh, Release format on the Reel LiveWell App.
“You’re not going to see another tournament with more fish caught, especially with how many more anglers we have compared to Lake Minnetonka last year,” said Vocelka.
Important to note: registration for the PRO/AM is still open for pros. It is a $500 entry fee, and the event is pushing 60 boats, with a cap at 75.
“This will be a much larger audience, and a great test for the Reel LiveWell App to showcase a bunch of its new features and interactivity,” said Vocelka. “And ultimately give those kids an opportunity to catch a ton of fish while being out there.”
Gull Lake is stuffed with bass from north to south, east to west. The north lakes, the south bays; you name it, it probably has a bass in it.
This event will generate a lot of hype heading into the midsummer holiday break.
The final event of the season brings the field to Lake Pokegama in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. This event will also mark the end of the regular season, where seven anglers will be cut from the field; but will have a chance to requalify shortly after through the Champions Tour Qualifiers.
“There is going to be a lot of stress built up in the standings as we get to Pokegama for the bottom seven,” said Vocelka.
Lake Pokegama was frequently visited in the early years of the Champions Tour but has been left alone for quite some time. Noah Schultz won the last event there in September of 2020; before forward-facing sonar completely revolutionized the sport. Pokegama is a smaller lake than most visited on Tour, but both smallmouth and largemouth are in play. Because of the pelagic bite Pokegama is known for, you can truly catch a bass anywhere on this body of water.
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out at the end of the season, especially with the youth movement and how prolific many of these anglers have become with forward-facing sonar.
This will be an ultimate chess match, and undoubtedly a great event to end the season.
This brings us to the 2026 Champions Tour Championship.
The field will be cut down to 25 boats, competing in a no-entry-fee event for a brand-new Skeeter ZX 200 with a Yamaha 200 SHO on the back, fully rigged with MinnKota and Humminbird products.
The venue will be announced at the first Champions Tour event on Lake Mille Lacs.
Angler Outlook
As we enter the season, it’s shaping up to be a slugfest on some historic Minnesota fisheries. The field is ready to get this show on the road, and we’re ready to bring more great bass fishing content your way. Although we don’t have “Fantasy Fishing” for the Champions Tour, here’s a breakdown of some anglers to watch this season.
Adam “Bart” Bartusek has been the head of Champions Tour Media for the past six seasons and has had a front-row seat to it all, so here’s his insight on how things might shake out.
Who Makes the Leap?
James Chapman: Chapman has had a pretty quiet few years on the Champions Tour, with 1 Top 10 and 2 Championship qualifications. He’s had a lot of tournament success across the state throughout his life, but I think it’s taken him a couple of years to get used to the “Every Fish Counts” format.
Mix that with a heavy tournament load, and I think he’s stretched himself pretty thin over the past few seasons.
This year, he’s focusing pretty heavily on the Champions Tour, and this schedule aligns really well with his strengths as an angler. Chapman is one of the more underrated smallmouth bass anglers in the state, especially when they’re shallow and can be caught with a fluke. I think this bodes really well for Mille Lacs and Pokegama.
What people don’t think about is that Chapman now lives in Hutchinson, MN, and is surrounded by shallow slough holes. I think he’ll be able to survive Big Stone Lake and put himself in a really good position this season.
Rich Lindgren: Lindgren is a tournament veteran in Minnesota and well known for his HellaBass social media platforms (podcast, YouTube, livestreams, etc.), but he is also a straight-up hammer. Last year was Lindgren’s first full season fishing the “Every Fish Counts” format, and he had some ups and downs, which is honestly pretty uncharacteristic for Rich. I attribute this to the new format, and also the livestreams he was putting time and energy into.
With the media side dialed, and some experience under his belt in the format, I think this schedule actually fits him quite well, just in a completely different way than Chapman.
Lindgren is an extremely well-rounded tournament angler. He’s traveled the country fishing tournaments throughout his life and has stayed up to date on modern trends. I think he’ll be able to tap into a lot of different patterns throughout this season, on all of these bodies of water, and keep himself consistently catching fish.
I don’t know if I’d pick a specific event for him to be a favorite to win, but I think his consistency and versatility could get him a paycheck at each event.
Rookie of the Year
With the field being cut down and Qualifiers now a part of the Champions Tour, we only have 5 new rookies coming in. I’ve got limited options these days, but here are some thoughts on 2 anglers that I think are going to give each other a run for their money for ROY.
Hayden Anderson: Fitting that the winner of the first Champions Tour Qualifier would also be my pick for Rookie of the Year. Anderson has garnered quite the reputation across the Upper Midwest as a big smallmouth specialist, and I’ve got bad news for the field: he’s just a bass fishing specialist.
This guy spends more time on the water than a vast majority of the field, and he catches ’em just about everywhere he goes.
Anderson has been known for a long time as a consistent Top-5 angler in events across Minnesota and Wisconsin over the past decade. He’s been competing against a lot of the anglers in this field for quite a while already.
And the bad news for the rest of the field is this: “Happy learned to putt.” Aka, “Hayden learned to win” in the past few years. As a lot of the anglers in this field know, that’s a very dangerous trait. Once you win one, it tends to snowball. He’s started racking up wins in big events across the state, and he’s seemingly on a tear right now, and I don’t see that changing.
Mark Anderson down for not only Rookie of the Year, but he’s going to scare Angler of the Year, just like Nate Nipper did last year in his rookie season.
Harrison Nelson: Another angler I can see keeping pace is one of his (Anderson) best friends and running mate, Harrison Nelson. Nelson comes into the Champions Tour not well known by most of the Upper Midwest tournament scene; but those who have fished against him on the MNBN Team Trail know one thing: he is a handful.
There are some anglers on the Champions Tour who are incredible with forward-facing sonar, and there’s a case to be made that the day Nelson makes his first cast on Tour, he will be among the Top 5… if not the best.
He lacks experience across a lot of the state of Minnesota, but he has plenty on Mille Lacs and Pokegama.
I’m not sure how he will fare on Big Stone Lake, but Nelson has a knack for simply being around fish. He uses his inexperience to his advantage and is very good at leaving no stone unturned on a body of water.
I can see him having an excellent rookie season on the Champions Tour.
Angler of the Year
Always a tough one to pick, year after year. But sometimes you can pick up on tendencies and trends to get a better idea of how things might shake out. I’ll give you 3 anglers to keep an eye on for Angler of the Year this season.
Walker Krampitz: Krampitz has won an event in each of his first 3 seasons on the Champions Tour; which is pretty remarkable. What’s even more crazy is how different the bodies of water, and bites, have been for him. His first win was soaking a jig worm on Le Homme Dieu in his rookie season, his second was ’scoping a minnow on the St. Croix River, and his third was fishing a current seam for postspawn largemouth and smallmouth on the Mississippi River.
Krampitz is extremely versatile and has been a consistent force on the Champions Tour since the day he showed up.
He’ll be able to use his proficiency with forward-facing sonar on smallmouth at Mille Lacs and Pokegama, and he’ll be able to channel his Southern Minnesota shallow-water roots when targeting largemouth on Big Stone and Pokegama.
If Krampitz hasn’t been enough of a handful for this field the past few years, I have a feeling it’s going to be a completely different level this season.
Brad Leuthner: Sticking with the theme of versatility, I think this is where Champions Tour veteran Brad Leuthner shines. He’s been around the country chasing bass in the Bassmaster Opens over the past several seasons, and has now found himself back home on the Champions Tour. In his seasons on Tour, he’s amassed 2 wins, 12 Top 10s, and has never missed a Championship.
His consistency is impressive, and I think the skills he’s picked up on the road are going to favor him, big time, this season.
He’s already won an event on Lake Pokegama, he’s an extremely talented angler with forward-facing sonar, and he has the versatility to do really well on Big Stone Lake.
I think another major key for Leuthner is that he doesn’t get “spun out” during events. He’s fished in crowds in major events across the country, and he has the experience to know when to leave or stay.
It’s hard to knock him off his game.
Big Stone and Pokegama could fish small at times, and I think Leuthner will have a mental edge here. Look for him to have another great season; and this time, make a real charge at Angler of the Year.
Noah Schultz: Quite simply, he’s been too quiet lately.
The most winning angler in the history of the Champions Tour, by a wide margin. Amassing 3 Champions Tour wins, 4 Championship wins (yes, that’s 4 boats), and 15 Top 10s in his career; Schultz gets it done when he shows up.
But the last couple of seasons have been a little quiet for him.
I think that changes this year, and these young anglers on Tour are going to feel what it’s like to be chased down by Noah Schultz.
He’s already won on Pokegama, mastering how to mix smallmouth and largemouth. He’s won a Skeeter on Mille Lacs, and finished high in the PRO/AM event there. Then you add in Big Stone Lake, which is a clone of the types of fisheries he’s been dominating in Southern Minnesota his whole life.
There’s not an angler on Tour that’s won more than him; or in more ways than him.
You’ve got the perfect recipe for the resurgence of Noah Schultz brewing in 2026.