The inaugural World Bass Enterprises The Champions Tournament is being held this week on Old Hickory Lake near Nashville, Tennessee, and it promises to be spectacular. On Saturday, the final of three days of competition, WBE will award top performers with their portion of the largest purse in bass fishing history—$3.25 million. The angler who ends the event on top will pocket $1.25 million for three days of fishing, which equates to around $52,000 per hour of competition. But this weekend isn’t just about the biggest tournament in bass fishing history.
While The Champions tournament is the main course, there are some phenomenal trimmings alongside it. For starters, a 150,000-square-foot expo where fans can come out and experience the latest and greatest the outdoor industry has to offer. More of a music fan? WBE has you covered there, too, as Riley Green teams up with Randy Houser and others to rock the roof off The Pinnacle on Friday night at the WBE Concert 250. There’s also a three-day fan festival happening at Sander’s Ferry Park, where anglers will launch for competition. Activities and attractions there include a petting zoo and fishing for kids, food trucks, a beer garden, four bands per day, and more.
Can’t make it out in person, or just want a more in-depth look into the tournament? Download the WBE app and subscribe to the pay-per-view to get inside access to what’s happening on the water. And, by buying the $50 pay-per-view package, you’ll also be entering into a sweepstakes for two $30,000 Can-Am side-by-sides, a multi-day guided fishing trip on O.H. Ivey Lake, an alligator hunt in Florida, a trip to Puerto Rico for two, and other prizes. Additionally, two dollars of every pay-per-view sale will also be donated to the Children’s Cancer Research Fund.
With so much going on, it’s possible to forget that 62 anglers are competing for life-changing money on nearby Old Hickory, but that surely has the attention of the qualifiers and their families. In addition to the champion’s $1.25-million purse, half a million will go to the runner-up, with $300k, $200k, and $100k going to the remaining Top 5 finishers. Every angler will earn a minimum of $8,000 and receive a $3,000 pre-loaded credit card for expenses. And all of this is for zero-dollar entry fee, which is unprecedented. But just who is it that’s competing for all this prize money.
The WBE Champions field consists of 30 top performers from the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series, as well as 30 top performers from the 2026 MLF Bass Pro Tour. This means that we’ll get to see the best of the best compete against each other for bragging rights. In fact, in addition to the individual prizes, Team Stripes (MLF anglers) will compete against Team Stars (BASS anglers) for The Champions Cup, a physical trophy reminiscent of hockey’s Stanley Cup, to be lauded over the other team for roughly 365 days until they have a chance to win it back at The Champions 2027.
To add even another element to the carefully choreographed chaos of The Champions tournament, two Average Joes have been randomly selected from the pay-per-view pool to compete right alongside and on teams with the best pros in the industry. And these two are getting the exact same royal treatment as the full-timers, with all expenses paid and all of the $3.25 million purse up for grabs for them as well.
This is what WBE Founder and CEO Brian Bird had to say about the response he and the organization have received from the anglers who qualified for and have been invited to participate in The WBE Champions 2026.
“They have been really appreciative of what we’re doing,” Bird said. “They’re really excited about the event. They’re excited about the potential to win the $1.25 million, of course, and about the no entry fees of any type. But I think what they’re really looking forward to a lot is competing against each other. There’s a team aspect and an individual aspect. Whoever puts the most anglers in Championship Saturday, that team will take the Champions Cup with them for the year.”
Trey McKinney, 2026 Bassmaster Angler of the Year and Team Stars Captain, had this to say about the upcoming WBE The Champions 2026 event: “For the group of anglers that are fishing now, there’s never been an opportunity like this to be able to fish for that kind of prize money. Since the season is over, the points don’t matter, and there are no expenses out of our own pockets, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I don’t think many people are going to be worried about much. Just honestly swinging for the fence.”
McKinney also stressed the importance of the fans and industry getting behind this event. The success of this inaugural World Bass Enterprises The Champions event has the potential to create a true rising-tides-raises-all-ships scenario. It’s good for the anglers and good for the sport, bringing more eyeballs and interest to competitive bass fishing as a whole.
“The WBE Champions event literally has the opportunity to be as big as it wants, as long as it can last,” McKinney said. “And that’s kind of the goal of us anglers as well. We have to try to promote this thing as much as we can so we can actually get it to last, because not only is it a great opportunity for us, it’s a great opportunity for a lot of people.”
Hailing as the 2026 MLF Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year, Zack Birge has also earned the designation of Captain, but for Team Stripes. Birge is fired up heading into the WBE The Champions 2026 event.
“I’m excited to show up and fish it and have an opportunity to win that kind of money. I’ve always wanted to fish something like this, too. Being able to come together at an event like this and fish against one another and compete and get to do a little trash talking and have a good time with it, it’s going to be fun. I look forward to it.”
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