National Professional Fishing League Wraps Up Inaugural Season On Grand Lake

Professional anglers from across the country are in Green Country for the next several days competing for a $50,000 prize.

The National Professional Fishing League's final event of its inaugural season starts Thursday morning on Grand Lake.

“We're here to showcase Grand,” said NPFL CEO Brad Fuller. “The anglers are very, very excited because the fishing is really, really good right now. So we're pretty excited because this could be a pretty phenomenal fishing event for us and the city of Grove.”

More than 100 anglers will fish the event and about six of them are from Oklahoma.

The NPFL is different than other pro leagues in a number of ways. One thing that sets it apart from other tours is it has a more spread-out schedule, with four to six weeks between events, so the anglers don't have to be on the road for weeks at a time.

"We got dubbed as a working man's tour because a lot of these guys do own their own businesses, they do work full-time jobs, but the way we built our schedule and spaced it all out, it's available for more people to participate,” Fuller said. 

Oklahoma angler John Soukup is one of those who is doing both. Three years ago he helped start-up "The Bass Tank," a fishing electronics company in Sapulpa. (hyperlink The Bass Tank https://thebasstank.com/)

Then he joined the league for its inaugural year. He's won two tournaments so far and is in third place right now for angler of the year. 

Soukup said he’s beyond blessed to get to live out his dream in the fishing industry.

"My first word was fish. I have always loved to fish and to have an opportunity where God's put an opportunity for me to grow, actually become in the fishing industry and make my living in the fishing industry. There is not words for something like that," Soukup said.

The event goes through Saturday, with the weigh-ins at 3:30 p.m. each day at Wolf Creek Boat Ramp.  

The NPFL does trailer weigh-ins, which means the anglers will put their boats up to the stage weigh the fish quickly, then get them to a release boat to go back in Grand.

After the weigh-ins, fans have the opportunity to meet and visit with the pros. Soukup said it's the perfect place to get kids interested in fishing.

“The future of fishing is kids, children getting into fishing. So if you have kids, please bring 'em out, let them see what the sport and professional bass fishing is,” said Soukup.

For those who can’t make it the NPFL will live stream the event online. You can watch that live stream by Clicking Here.

https://thenationalprofessionalfishingleague.com/

The NPFL will announce where it will hold its championship during the closing ceremonies on Saturday.