Realtree Fishing Team Eyes REDCREST Title

Members of the Realtree Fishing Team will again take to the lake in pursuit of one of the biggest titles in fishing, as the Bass Pro Tour holds their REDCREST Championship tournament next week in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Grand Lake O' the Cherokees will host 41 of the best anglers in bass fishing as they compete for the $300,000 top prize and the right to be called a World Champion.

REDCREST is the culmination of the Bass Pro Tour, and only the top anglers qualify to compete. Included are Realtree Fishing pros Casey Ashley, Dustin Connell, Jacob Wheeler, Mark Rose, and Andy Morgan. Each are household names in the world of professional bass fishing, with more than $10 million in combined career earnings.

The REDCREST event in Tulsa will be one for the record books, as the host city is said to live and breathe professional fishing and always turns out for major events. Along with the tournament, fans will be surrounded by everything bass fishing at the corresponding REDCREST Outdoor Sports Expo, taking place March 25-27 at the Tulsa Expo Center. Here, major manufacturers of fishing, boating, and outdoor gear will gather to show off their newest and best. Pro anglers will be on-hand to demo and discuss.

Grand Lake O' the Cherokees is an outstanding venue to test the skills of the best anglers on the Bass Pro Tour. A massive body of water, Grand offers an array of fishing options, from traditional run-and-gun strategies around the shoreline to offshore structure capable of holding large schools of bass.

REDCREST should hit the lake at the perfect time, too, as warming water puts bass shallow and on the prowl. Competitors must meet a 2-pound minimum for scorable fish, and most local anglers agree it will take a couple dozen of those bass, minimum, for an angler to threaten the title.

Fishing around boat docks should put a lot of bass in the boat for those anglers who specialize in the technique. Power fishing around the various targets will fall into the game plan of Realtree pros Morgan and Ashley. Both are noted junk fishermen, able to pull a bass out of just about any fishy-looking spot.

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Under the BPT format, every scorable bass counts, so secret honey holes can pay big dividends. Anglers willing to invest valuable competition minutes to scouring in open water might be rewarded with the big prize. Look for last season's REDCREST winner Dustin Connell and offshore specialist Mark Rose to commit the time, and find hotspots others miss.

Jacob Wheeler — easily the hottest angler in the world — is a threat to win any tournament, and especially those with a big payday and associated title. Wheeler was the youngest angler to win the sport's largest amateur event when he took down the All American at age 20, quickly following up with a pro-level World Championship the following year. Wheeler has REDCREST in his sights, no doubt.

Along with the excitement of the tournament and large-scale shopping experience at the Expo, fans attending REDCREST will also be treated with a concert from country music star Clayton Anderson on Sunday, the 27th. This, like all of the events surrounding REDCREST, is free of charge and open to the public.

What are you waiting for? Head to Tulsa! I'll be there, absorbing REDCREST the only way I know how, through the eyes of a fan and the actions of the best anglers in the world. I look for a stellar performance from the Realtree Fishing team, again in the hunt for fishing's biggest prize.

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