2013 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule announced

Closest B.A.S.S. professional tournament to be held on Sabine River

B.A.S.S. photo

The Bassmaster Elite Series trail returns to Texas' Lake Falcon next March. Mississippi pro Paul Elias won last year's stop there with a record-setting catch weighing 132 1/2 pounds.

The 2013 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule will include one event on waters forming the Louisiana/Texas border. No, it’s not Toledo Bend. Instead, the world’s best bass anglers will be fishing the lower Sabine River.

That March 14-17 event, based out of Orange, Texas, will kick off the 2013 Elite Series season just three weeks after the Bassmaster Classic on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake wraps up, B.A.S.S. announced today.

This will be the first time a professional-level tournament will be held on the Sabine River, so pros will have the challenge of figuring out an unfamiliar waterway.

The rest of the season includes the following events:

• March 21-24 — Falcon Lake, Texas
• April 18-21 — Bull Shoals Lake. Arkansas
• May 9-12 — Alabama River, Alabama
• June 20-23 — Mississippi River, Wisconsin
• Aug. 8-11 — St. Lawrence River, New York
• Aug. 22-25 — Lake St. Clair, Michigan

Elite Series pros will not only be vying for the $100,000 top prize offered at each event, but they will be working to build rankings in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year. As many as 36 of the anglers as defined by the AOY race will earn berths in the 2014 Bassmaster Classic.

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