The Champions 2026 – Bass Fishing Championship – Who will win?

The Champions 2026 starts this week on Old Hickory Lake near Nashville.

This is a short intro to what the event is, who is fishing it, and how the basic rules and boundaries work.

The Champions is a new event from World Bass Enterprises that puts the top 30 from the Bassmaster Elite Series against the top 30 from Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Tour on the same lake at the same time.

Competition runs October 29–31 on Old Hickory, with a total purse of $3.25 million and $1.25 million to the winner. There are also two Average Joes in the field who won a sweepstakes.

Format is a standard five-fish limit. Days 1 and 2 are cumulative to cut the field to the Top 15. Weights zero on Day 3. Forward-facing sonar is limited: anglers pick one of the first two days to use it, then get half a day on the final day. Tournament boundaries run from Cheatham Dam to Cordell Hull Dam (roughly the full 97-mile length of Old Hickory).

These short daily videos will cover the situation, results, and interesting facts from a fan’s perspective. The regular lake videos on the channel continue as usual. If this series works, I’ll do something similar around the Elites next year.

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