Lake Murray, SC 02/26/2025 - Major League Fishing (MLF) is set to visit Lake Murray next week March 6-9, for the third regular-season event of the 2025 Bass Pro Tour – the PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King. Top anglers in professional bass fishing will be competing for a $150,000 top prize, crucial points in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) race and coveted qualification spots for the Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2026.
The four-day event, organized by Capital City/Lake Murray Country, will feature 66 of the world's leading professional anglers, including the defending champion of Lake Murray, local resident Anthony Gagliardi, the current Fishing Clash AOY Jacob Wheeler, and the 2024 REDCREST Champion Dustin Connell. Also participating are notable South Carolina anglers such as Casey Ashley, Andy Montgomery, Britt Myers, along with the father-son fishing team of Marty and Marshall Robinson, all looking to leverage their local knowledge for success.
The tournament will feature the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament is being filmed for broadcast later this year on Discovery. Television coverage of the PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. EST, on Saturday, Oct. 4 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Sunday, Oct. 5. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.
Returning Champion - Prosperity Local, Anthony Gagliardi The Bass Pro Tour last visited the Jewel of South Carolina in 2023, where Anthony Gagliardi added another major victory to his impressive record on his home lake. His success on the fishery includes a 2006 FLW Tour win, a 2014 Forrest Wood Cup title and a runner-up finish at the 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event – a tournament won by fellow Bass Pro Tour competitor Matt Becker, underscoring the high level of competition that defines this event.
When asked about the conditions and expectations, Gagliardi shared insights into how he anticipates the tournament unfolding. "I know that it's fishing good. It always does this time of year," Gagliardi said. "You can catch bass on a lot of different things, so I think the guys are going to have fun because they're going to catch fish – big fish – in a variety of ways."