| By: Mitchell Forde When he flew halfway across the world to compete in a tournament in Zanhuang, China, last month, Brent Chapman didn’t really know what to expect. One of his first clues that the competition on Tiantai Lake would be different than anything else he’d experienced across his 30-year pro career came while reading the rules. Chapman and fellow KastKing pro James Elam, who competed together as a team in the first-of-its-kind international event hosted by MLF China, noticed a clause in the rulebook that urged all competitors to be in good physical condition and to consult a doctor for an exam before competing. That’s odd, Chapman thought. But once the competition got underway, it didn’t take long for the guideline to make sense. Somewhat like the Bass Pro Tour, this tournament featured every-fish-counts scoring. The difference, however, was instead of having an official in each boat to weigh bass right away, anglers drove back to the launch ramp every time they put 10 keepers in the livewell. They’d weigh the haul and return to the water as fast as they could, then do it all over again. Chapman and Elam caught 72 bass on the first day, running up the steep boat dock eight times to weigh in their catch. “It’s like, oh wow, this is quite a workout, lugging a Rubbermaid container of fish up this hill,” Chapman said with a laugh. “If you move slow, the clock’s ticking. You better run up there, because you’re costing yourself casting time. You do that seven times throughout the day, and it’s like, man, this is a workout.” The unorthodox weigh-in procedure was one of several memorable experiences that Chapman, Elam and fellow BPT pro Matt Becker enjoyed during their trip to China. Now all back in the U.S., the three anglers shared a few highlights from the trip. Breaking down a foreign fishery |
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| Matt Becker competed alongside former MLF angler Thomas Wang. Photo courtesy of MLF China. |
| The three anglers traveled to China with just a suitcase or two of tackle apiece — no rods, no boats and no information about the competition venue. They found Tiantai Lake to be a small, manmade reservoir — Elam didn’t know the exact size, but said it appeared smaller than anywhere he’s visited in General Tire Team Series or MLF Cup event competition — with plenty of standing timber, rock and manmade cover. While Becker said it reminded him of some Texas fisheries, one significant difference was the forage. “They had kind of a smaller shad in the lake, but there was a lot of shrimp,” Becker said. “A lot of bass were eating shrimp in there.” The anglers thought they would have a day of practice (or “test fishing,” as the Chinese called it) prior to the start of competition. But it turned out test fishing entailed only a brief opportunity to ride around the lake and make a few casts at the launch site. “We got down and got to see what was going to be our boat and just kind of get a feel for what the boat was going to be like, and we got to make a few casts off the dock,” Chapman said. “But just a few casts off the dock catching 1-pounders to 3-pounders, it was like, wow, if the rest of the lake is anything like what it is inside this marina, it’s going to be awesome. And it was.” |
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| James Elam shows off two of the 72 keeper bass he and Brent Chapman caught during their first day on China’s Tiantai Lake. Photo courtesy of MLF China |
| While a few of the Chinese anglers sported bass boats that Chapman said were as tricked-out as anything an American pro might use on tour, most of the field fished from aluminum vessels. Chapman and Elam were given a 17- or 18-foot aluminum boat with an outboard that wasn’t powerful enough to get it on plane, a 12V trolling motor and no electronics. That didn’t prevent the duo from catching bass in a hurry, though. On the first morning of competition (after an opening ceremony that consisted of some colorful pyrotechnics), Chapman said he caught a 3-pounder on his fifth cast. It took him and Elam about 35 minutes to put their first 10-fish limit in the boat. “Everywhere we went, we were catching fish,” Chapman said. “It seemed like every hour we were catching 10. So, it was a lot of fun.” Becker teamed up with Thomas Wang, a former MLF angler who moved to China around 2010 and who Becker said introduced tournament bass fishing to the Chinese people. Despite neither having been to the lake prior to the week of competition, they had similar success, catching 50 scorable bass on Day 1. Every time they returned to the dock with a 10-fish limit, Becker saw other anglers hustling up and down the ramp to the scales. So, he figured he better run, too. (See for yourself on Becker’s YouTube channel, where he’s posted videos from test fishing and both days of competition.) “I wasn’t really sure how serious everyone was going to be,” he said. “But the first 10 that we brought in, I look up and there’s guys literally sprinting back and forth on the dock with buckets of fish, running up to the scale. So, it was mayhem, for sure, but it was fun.” ‘A bass is a bass’ |
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| Every time they weighed in, anglers had to hustle up the ramp to the scales. Photo courtesy of MLF China |
| All three of Chapman, Elam and Becker relied primarily on standard American power-fishing tactics: winding ChatterBaits and spinnerbaits, pitching jigs and creature baits. In Becker’s words: “A bass is a bass on either side of the world.” While effective, those techniques stood in stark contrast to most of the local anglers’ presentations. Becker said he saw a few Chinese anglers throwing traditional hard baits like bladed jigs and crankbaits, but it was clear that the Japanese bass fishing scene has had a major influence on Chinese anglers. Even though the bass didn’t seem to be shy about biting big baits on heavy line, most of the top local performers opted for small finesse presentations. With the minimum length of a keeper bass being just 20 centimeters (7.87 inches), their goal was to get as many bites as possible. “A lot of guys were throwing tiny little baits — little craws or little Ned rig type baits — just to catch as many fish as they could,” Becker said. |
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| KastKing pros Brent Chapman and James Elam finished eighth in the 45-boat field. Photo courtesy of MLF China |
| In another similarity to the Japanese lure scene, the Chinese offerings were quite a bit more detailed than most American baits. “The guy who won was a fellow KastKing pro, but he was a Chinese KastKing pro, and he won the tournament throwing a finessey-type spinnerbait,” Chapman said. “But he’s throwing it on like 8-pound braid with a fluorocarbon leader, and he’s throwing some little, tiny Texas-rigged craw that was probably an inch and a half long. “The second day, I’m throwing a 1/2-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait. The War Eagle spinnerbaits, they don’t have eyes on their heads. This guy didn’t understand how I was catching bass on a spinnerbait that didn’t have eyes.” Like just about everyone else, Chapman and Elam found the bite slower the second day, which Elam attributed to fishing pressure put on the small body of water by the 45-boat field. Still, they brought another 30 to 40 bass to the scales. “You could definitely notice that pressure took a toll, because all the fish had gotten caught and moved,” Elam said. “So, that really did make a big difference. And they were holding the fish (in tanks) also during the tournament. So, naturally, there’s just less to be caught.” The event concluded with an awards ceremony that could rival just about any American tour-level event. Each international duo received an commemorative trophy, while Chapman and Elam also earned an award for finishing eighth overall. Food, traffic and other new experiences |
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| The anglers reported a strong turnout from Chinese fans, many of whom had never witnessed a bass tournament or seen a foreigner. Photo courtesy of MLF China |
| While the competition brought Becker, Chapman and Elam to China, it was far from the only memorable aspect of their trip. Their sightseeing itinerary included a day in Beijing and stops at Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. All three anglers raved about the opportunity to experience a new culture and how welcoming the Chinese people were. That was especially true in Zanhuang, a small, remote town that Becker said had never received foreign visitors before. Several locals asked his girlfriend, Brittany, to pose for photos because they’d never seen a woman with blonde hair in person. “They had never seen Americans before, ever,” Becker said. “We were the first foreigners to ever go to this little town. So that was kind of cool to see that and be a part of that.” Trying new food represented another highlight. All three anglers noted that the cuisine in China is drastically different from the “Chinese food” found in the U.S. Becker said that, while there were quite a few items that might make most Americans squeamish (the Chinese cook every part of an animal and thus made dishes out of chicken feet or tendons), he found just about everything he tried to be tasty. Both he and Elam pointed to the duck as one of their favorites. “I gotta say, American Chinese food is nothing like Chinese food,” Becker said with a chuckle. “It’s a little different, but much better. We ate a lot of strange things, that’s for sure. But it was all good. Everything we ate was good and fresh. You could tell that they took pride in their food.” Another shared observation: Motorists in China drove quite a bit faster and more aggressively than in America. That translated to the water, too, even though most of the boats weren’t equipped with high-power outboards. Yet Elam noted that he never saw a wreck. “They drive a lot more aggressively, like close to the dock and things like that,” he said. “That’s how they drive on the road, and I just saw that mirrored in the way that they drive their boat. And they don’t ever really get into any accidents or anything like that. You don’t ever see a car wreck over there.” All in all, each of the anglers enjoyed the experience. Chapman hopes the event achieves its intent of growing the sport of bass fishing in China, because he wants to make the competition an annual trip. “I said, ‘hey, sign me up.’” he said. “I’ll gladly come back to the next one.” For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. |
