Happy New Year to everyone and we couldn’t be more excited to be counting down the days to the kickoff of the 2020 Champions Tour season.
We have some additional new anglers that we want to welcome to the 2020 Champions Tour…
Jason Howland –
Jason is a seasoned tournament angler with experience both in the state of Minnesota, but also on the bordering waters of the Mississippi River. Howland an Albert Lea native will be competing in the 2020 TBF National Championship in March on Grand Lake in Oklahoma. Howland has eight career top-ten finishes as a pro and co-angler in FLW Outdoors events. Howland has competed two Champions Tour events previously, the 2018 Open and the 2019 Pro-Am, both of which were on Gull Lake.
“I’m looking forward to fishing the Champions Tour in 2020, I got a taste of it fishing the Open and Pro-Am, and the live updates via the LiveWell App is literally a game-changer,” stated Howland. “It changes your game plan while you’re fishing, which can mess with your head.”
Chase Hull –
Hull a Lake Minnetonka area resident has been fishing in bass tournaments since he graduated from high school and primarily competed in events on Lake Minnetonka, but in 2019 he stepped away from Tonka and fished more throughout Minnesota and enjoyed it. This is what drew him to the Champions Tour…some amazing bodies of water.
“I can’t wait to fish against and learn from some of the best anglers that the Midwest has!”
Ross Kellermeier –
We welcome another Bemidji State Fishing Team angler to the Tour for 2020. Ross fished for the Beavers from 2014 to 2018 and qualified for the Bassmaster National Championship one of those years. Last season Kellermeier fished the Bassmaster Open Central Division as a co-angler.
“I have never competed in a catch-weigh-release format, but I am excited for the challenge,” said Ross. “The intensity of this fast-paced format is something I’m looking forward to experiencing.”
Mike Ratz –
New to the Champions Tour for 2020 is Mike Ratz, a former Airborne Ranger and Hudson, WI native has been competing in bass tournaments for seven years and in that time has competed in all level’s from club’s up to the FLW Bass Fishing League and various team events.
“My goal for this season is to keep it simple and learn to manage my time on the water with this new format,” said Ratz. “A big part of my game plan will be to keep the LiveWell App information at bay and learn how to use it. In the back of my head I want to keep this in mind…I do not want to let the rest of the field dictate my outcome, stay true to what I know!”
We will continue to highlight our new anglers over the coming weeks.
