Birmingham and Lay Lake are no strangers to big professional bass tournaments. Bassmaster Classics and other top circuits have held their championships there through the years.

This weekend will see another of those big events. Major League Fishing will hold its championship, the Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2024, there. Fifty of the top bass anglers from as far away as Japan will be competing for a $300,000 first place prize. Several former Bassmaster Classic winners and 11 Alabamians will be competing.

The tournament will be a test of the hardiest. The anglers are likely to find good fishing for both largemouth and spotted bass, but they must deal with Alabama’s rapidly changing weather. They saw 80-degree weather on Thursday’s first qualifying round, will see a cold front, heavy rain and wind on today’s second qualifying round, temperatures in the low 70s and cloudy skies on Saturday’s knockout round and a big temperature drop and cloudy skies on Sunday’s 10-angler championship round.

The anglers will launch daily at Lay Lake at Beeswax Landing with weigh-ins at the BJCC. Admission is free. The REDCREST Outdoors Expo will be held in conjunction with the event and admission is free. There will be multiple giveaways at the show including a 2024 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. Complete details on the show can be found at Majorleaguefishing.com.

There will be an interesting mix of anglers in the field. The event will mark the return of Kevin VanDam who retired from tournament fishing last year. VanDam won the Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake in 2010.