MASSENA, N.Y. (July 15, 2025) – The sixth and final regular-season Major League Fishing (MLF) Tackle Warehouse Invitational event of 2025 is set to visit Massena, New York, next week, July 25-27, on the St. Lawrence River – the Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 6 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.
The three-day Invitational tournament, hosted by the Town of Massena, will feature professional bass anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000. Anglers will take to the river to catch their five biggest bass each day, and the winner will be determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative total.
“Massena is a family-oriented village and town, and we are so proud to welcome Major League Fishing, their anglers and fans to the northern part of St. Lawrence County,” said Ray Lancto, Tourism and Fishing Liaison for the Massena Town Board. “Our area is blessed with three beautiful rivers, which truly creates an anglers’ paradise. Our fishing is legendary, and our local residents encourage and welcome visitors. Please enjoy your stay and return with your families to come and see us again!”
“Massena is excited to host the Tackle Warehouse Invitational event this year. Some of the finest anglers in the world are part of this event, and partnering with Major League Fishing is a welcomed opportunity to help Massena continue to build our reputation as a national fishing destination,” said Don Meissner, Director of Tourism for the Town of Massena.
MLF runs tournaments out of Massena pretty regularly, and that means the fishing is a pretty known quantity to a large degree – although anglers are learning more about the river every year.
Last August, the Northern Division of the Toyota Series finished the season on the St. Lawrence and Casey Smith earned the win with 72 pounds, 1 ounce, over three days. It was one of the best events we’ve seen out of Massena (with Lake Ontario off-limits) and seven anglers weighed more than 25 pounds on Day 1 – stunning weights.
If you want to take it back to a time when forward-facing sonar wasn’t a big factor, the 2019 Toyota Series event is worth a look. Then, Wayne Vaughan won, fishing mid-river, and Scott Dobson finished second, fishing near the cutoff line far to the west. It took 63-5 to win, and consistency was very hard for anglers to maintain – plenty of pros followed up a 23-pound bag with a bag in the teens. We’ll see how things shake out on tournament day, but, it’s a good bet that doing well on Day 2 is going to be critical in this event – usually it is hard to move up and down the leaderboard in smallmouth tournaments, but for the Invitationals event, that may not be the case.
Sitting at 39th in the points, Brett Carnright of Plattsburgh is heading to his home turf with the championship on the line. With three Top 10s to his credit on the St. Lawrence, Carnright should be well-equipped for the final push, and he thinks we’re in for a great event.
“That time of year, typically, the biggest smallmouth live by the most current or the coldest water,” Carnright said. “So I expect a lot of fish to be caught deep. But, of course, it’s the St. Lawrence River, so fish are always caught shallow as well. But I think the predominant deal will be fishing deep, near or close by to at least 100 feet of water. So, high places, shoals, bars, and stuff that is very close to 100 to 150 foot of water. That’s usually where the coldest water is, and it’s usually where the biggest smallmouth live.”
Carnright figures on a winning total of 71 pounds or better, and said that he thinks the lack of forward-facing sonar on Day 2 may not impact the weights much.
“If this was a lake-only tournament, 2D out deep would be a big deal because they really don’t like to bite anymore under the boat,” Carnright said. “Though, if it were eight years ago, it would be a different story.
“But with the river, you can catch them drifting, and LiveScope doesn’t quite matter as much in my opinion, compared to other smallmouth fisheries or if you’re out on the lake,” he said. “I think it will add a little bit of a factor of guys fishing shallow more on Day 2 and possibly trying to save places that are more current-related, where you can get on a good drift. That might be something you don’t fish on Day 1 because you want to use it on Day 2. Especially if it’s sunny and calm on Day 2, I think a lot of guys will get up shallow and even just wing it almost. For myself, I know a lot of places where I don’t really need to use LiveScope to catch them on the St. Lawrence, so I will probably be saving those areas for Day 2.”
Anglers will launch at 6:30 a.m. ET each day from the Massena Intake Boat Launch, located at 1415 State Highway 131 in Massena, New York. Weigh-ins will be held at the boat launch and will begin at 2:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and weigh-in events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals feature a field of professional anglers competing across six invitational tournaments around the country, for a total purse of $4.3 million and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points to qualify for the Invitationals Championship, set for Sept. 5-7 on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, and a coveted spot on the MLF Bass Pro Tour – the sport’s premier circuit.
In Tackle Warehouse Invitationals competition, the full field competes in the two-day opening round on Friday and Saturday in a five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 30 pros, based on their two-day cumulative weight, advance to the final round on Championship Sunday, where they will compete for the grand prize of up to $115,000.
Forward-facing and/or 360-degree sonar is limited to only days 1 and 3 of competition. No forward-facing and/or 360-degree sonar will be allowed on day 2 of competition.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live all three days of competition from 7 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
Television coverage of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 6 at the St. Lawrence River Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches will air as a two-hour episode, premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Nov. 1 on CBS Sports Network.
Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Bubba, Deep Dive, E3 Sport Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, WIX Filters and YETI.
For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Tackle Warehouse Invitationals updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Discovery+, Discovery GO, Animal Planet, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and Game & Fish TV, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
