The past couple of months have been quite a whirlwind! Thus, I’m a little late posting this, but I wanted to take some time to reflect on my experience at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Toyota Series Championship. This event took place November 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Missouri. This was an adventure that I will never forget!
Qualifying for the Championship
I qualified to fish the Championship back in August with my good friend, Erik Luzak. We competed in the MLF Canada Team Showdown on Cameron Lake in Fenelon Falls, Ontario – and we WON! This was our second time qualifying for the Championship together through the International Division. I knew we’d be in for another amazing experience making the trip to the US to compete!
The Format
Although Erik and I qualified through a team-format event in Canada, the Championship is not a team format. This meant that Erik moved on to fish in the pro (boater) category, and I moved on to fish in the co-angler (non-boater) category. We’d be randomly paired with another angler each day, and would be responsible for bringing our own fish to the scales rather than a combined team weight. There were 210 anglers on the pro and co-angler sides making for a 420-angler field. Anglers from over 10 different countries competed in this event.
Team Canada House
Erik and I made the 20+ hour drive down to Missouri to our AirBNB rental which we shared with fellow Canadian anglers, Evan Kung and Joey Verdnik. Both punched their tickets for the Championship through the MLF Canadian Open on Lake Simcoe this past summer. I’m so grateful for the camaraderie and just how great these guys were to share a house with.
Erik, myself, and Evan made it to Table Rock for the pre-fish period. Joey drove up the day before the tournament with my partner, Eric, joining him for the road trip. It was so lovely to have my Eric (not to be confused with Erik) there to cheer us on, capture photos, and take in the experience with us! 😊 Major League Fishing invited me to do an Instagram takeover, which you can check out here to see a bit of my experience leading up to the tournament.
Continue reading, “My Experience at the MLF Toyota Series Championship” from Ashley Rae of Shelovestofish.com here.
The Women's Outdoor News, aka The WON, features news, reviews and stories about women who are shooting, hunting, fishing and actively engaging in outdoor adventure. This publication is for women, by women. View all posts by The WON
