Press Release: 2026 Champions Tour Schedule

One season ends and another steps to the forefront. It is important to note that in 2026, the Champions Tour will be moving to a smaller field of 50 boats, after a cut was made to the field of anglers after the 3rd Event on the Le Homme Dieu Chain. Building off of an incredible 2025 Champions Tour Season, Classic Bass is excited to announce the 2026 Champions Tour Schedule. 

“Reflecting on my first year as a new owner of the Champions Tour,” Vocelka said. “We had some adversity to overcome, but it was exciting to see the results through each event.”

The 2026 Champions Tour Schedule will revisit some extremely popular venues from over the years, with a strong focus on visiting them as new times of year, to diversify the schedule and add to the excitement of the format. Along with this, the schedule will feature diverse locations to balance the amount of smallmouth and largemouth events, to once again seek versatility throughout the events.

The season will kick off much earlier than ever before, with a May 19th event set for the infamous Lake Mille Lacs. This fishery is widely regarded as one of the most premiere smallmouth fisheries in the country, and is a sure bet for some incredible weight and fireworks. Having the event at this time of year will provide the first pre-spawn bite the Champions Tour has seen throughout its history.

“This is going to be a heavy hitting event with a ton of players showing up, and it is for sure going to be heavy weights” Vocelka said. “The Mille Lacs Area is happy to have the attention brought to them because we haven’t had any events this early in the season up there.”

We then take a trip out to western Minnesota to revisit Big Stone Lake on June 9th. The last time the Champions Tour visited Big Stone the event had a lengthy weather delay during the second half of the event, which really curbed the total weights.

“We will be looking at giant largemouth moving up to the banks and it’ll be really exciting as it’s a 30+ mile long reservoir on the South Dakota and Minnesota border.” Vocelka added, “(Big Stone) has a lot of notoriety in the fall, but will be exciting to see what people do in the beginning of June.”

As you can see, these two events are a big change for the Champions Tour if you’ve followed the past several years. By June 10th the Champions Tour will have already completed two events, and that is by design.

“This is really spreading the trail out so it’s not just a summer tournament trail, more of an all season. As we see open water staring in April/Mid-May and all the through October in Minnesota,” Vocelka noted.

Next, an event that is sure to be a crowd favorite this year, the 2026 Champions Tour Pro/Am will be on Gull Lake on June 23rd. This event will once again be open to all Champions Tour Pro’s, and for the general public to sign up for as well. This year the Entry Fee is going to be reduced to $500 to encourage more participation, as the goal of the event is to get as many boat officials on the water fishing with Pro’s as possible, and still provide a high level payout. 

Vocelka added, “The event will still be an 8-fish limit (weighed on the Reel LiveWell App) and by reducing the entry fee will really help encourage participation as well. Mimicking some of the qualifying event layout.”

More information on registration for the Pro/Am will come at a later date.

The 3rd and final stop for the Champions Tour will be heading back up to Grand Rapids, MN to visit Lake Pokegama on July 21st.

“Pokegama is a well-known tournament fishery held in the beautiful city of Grand Rapids and they are excited to have us up there again,” Vocelka said. “There’s a ton of history there and a lot of our pros have fished many events up there so it’s exciting to see what the lake has been doing, as both brown (smallmouth) and green (largemouth) will play a large factor.”

This event will add a little bit of a twist before we head to the 2026 Championship, as it will more than likely take both species to win, as it has before.

The 2026 Champions Tour Championship will be held on August 18th, and the location will be announced at a later date, per usual.

2026 Champions Tour Schedule

May 19th ~ Lake Mille Lacs

June 9th ~ Big Stone Lake

June 23rd ~ Gull Lake *Pro/Am*

July 21st ~ Lake Pokegama

August 18th ~ Championship (To Be Announced)

More details on registration, boat official sign up, etc. will become available soon.

An important note for all Champions Tour Anglers, and how spots will be filled if anglers do not accept their qualification for the 2026 Champions Tour. Vocelka added, “For 2026, as we’re moving into the season, if the qualified 45 anglers have a dropout or someone that can’t make the tour, we will be reaching down the (2025 AOY) list of existing pros from 46 on, in numerical order to fill the field of 45 Champions Tour Pros. We’re taking 5 qualified anglers that were invited from the Koronis qualifying event, and no more than 5. So if one of the five decide they can’t make it for any reason, we move down the list to sixth, etc.”

It is important to note that we will be taking no more than five from the qualifying event to make up the field of 50.

“The growth of the (Champions Tour) is continuing to prove itself and the exposure across the country from 2025 to 2026 is compounding,” Vocelka noted. “We’re excited to welcome new sponsors to the 2026 season, as we continue to have a lot of returning sponsors and great content to come.”

Author - Adam Bartusek