LAVALETTE, W.Va. – In 2024, Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine will be moving towards an exciting new tournament schedule that will consistent of venues that the series has never been too before across the state of Kentucky, into Tennessee and Virginia and a split tournament on Ohio and West Virginia waters.
“We are excited to bring something new and exciting to the Tri-State area for tournament fishermen,” said owner Grant Ferguson. “Our main focus with our tournament series is to reach new people and create new relationships outside of West Virginia and still provide a great tournament and maintain great relationships with our already existing West Virginia customer base. Our main goal with this new schedule is to offer something different and a chance for fishermen to travel. We couldn’t be anymore excited to start our season on Kentucky’s second largest lake where we most likely are going to see some great weights to win.”
The Open Series season will kick off on Wayne County Kentucky’s, Lake Cumberland out of the Conley Bottom Resort and Marina hosted by the Wayne County Fiscal Court. This will be the second time Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine Open Tournament Series has visited the 65,530 acre lake where Josh Muse and Doyle Epperson took home the win with more than 17 pounds in 2023. The 2024 season opener will be held on March 9th in where you could join expect a pre-spawn showdown.
From there, the series goes just down the road to Laurel River Lake in London, Kentucky.
The second stop on the series visits Laurel River Lake hosted by the London Laurel County Tourist Commission on March 30th. This will mark the first time the Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine Open Tournament Series has visited a Daniel Boone National Forest to host an event. The 5,600 acre lake which will be the second stop of the 2024 Open Series will consists of both big largemouth and smallmouth bass to win. The tournament will be held out of the Grove Marina and boat ramp.
Then the series returns much closer to home base.
Louisa Kentucky’s, Yatesville Lake is slated for stop number three on the Open Series in what will be yet another big bass clash on April 6th. Most recently, Danny Brinegar and Ben Brewer took home the win last March on the 2,300 acre reservoir with a little over 14 pounds. The tournament will be held out of the Yatesville Lake State Park Marina.
Later in April, Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine will travel to the great state of Tennessee and Virginia to South Holston Lake on April 27th in what is expected to be a big smallmouth showcase. This will be the first time that the Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine Open Tournament Series has visited Tennessee or Virginia. Spawning smallmouth and largemouth will make for an exciting event that will likely be the highest winning weight tournament of the year.
The final stop on the 2024 Open Series will be held on the river banks of West Virginia and Ohio on the mighty Ohio River out of Gallipolis, Ohio hosted by the Gallia County Convention and Visitors Bureau. This event will mark the first time that Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine Open Tournament Series will recognize and crown a Team of the Year winner and the first time an event has been hosted on the Ohio River. Also to note, following the conclusion of the final Open Series tournament one team per every 25 unique teams (based on points) will earn a berth into the 2024 Bassmaster Team Championship.
“I think what we have designed is a unique and new schedule and format,” said Tournament Director Chase Sansom. “I have hosted and put on a tournaments for a long time now and you always hear guys say they want to go somewhere new and they want to travel out of West Virginia to fish. No better opportunity to do that now than ever and I truly think in three to four years from now we are going to create something extremely special and big with this. It’s all about consistency and providing an honest and fair series for everyone.”
The new format consists of the same five fish format in each Open Series tournament, but to qualify for the 2024 Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine Championship contestants and teams will need to physically fish two out of six Open Series/Big Bass tournaments and pay for three out of six Open Series/Big Bass tournaments. Points will be given to each team participating in each Open Series tournament starting at 150 points for first place, 149 points for second place, so on and so forth.
Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine annual Big Bass tournament is set for November 9th on Summersville Lake out of the Marina ramp in what is expected to be an exciting and thrilling weigh-in scene with fish under two pounds that could play a huge factor.
The Championship tournament will be held right back where the season kicked off on Wayne County’s Lake Cumberland on November 30th and December 1st out of the Conley Bottom Resort and Marina. The full field of qualified competitors will compete for two days and the team with the highest total combined weight after two days will determine the champion.
2024 Ferguson’s Great Outdoors Marine Tournament Schedule
March 9th – Lake Cumberland (Open Series)
March 30th – Laurel River Lake (Open Series)
April 6th – Yatesville (Open Series)
April 27th – South Holston (Open Series)
May 11th – Ohio River Gallipolis (Open Series)
November 9th – Summersville (Big Bass Tournament)
November 30th/December 1st – Lake Cumberland (Championship)
“I can’t forget to mention the great partners and people we have had along the way in the past few weeks jumping on board to make this a special deal,” said Sansom. “From Amanda Crouse with the Gallia County Convention and Vistors Bureau, Kelly Burton with the London Laurel County Tourist Commission, Wayne County Kentucky Judge Scott Gehring, our sponsors and tournament staff we couldn’t put these events on without them. Having great people on board will be key for this thing to grow and be something awesome in the future and we certainly have those people on board now.”
For more information about sponsorship or hosting please contact Chase Sansom at 681-888-1250 or via email chasesansomfishing@gmail.com.
