MLF Pro Circuit Championship hits the Kissimmee Chain on Friday

Major League Fishing’s season finale is on Toho this weekend, not a spring spawn event. The Osceola News Gazette’s Sept. 17, 2026 story, citing MLF, says the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship runs Friday through Sunday on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. Launch is 7:30 a.m. each day from Big Toho Marina; weigh-ins start at 3:30 p.m. at the marina. Total purse is $453,000, with a top prize of up to $135,000, a 2026 championship trophy, and a berth in REDCREST 2027.

September is the wrong month on paper. MLF’s own preview, updated Sept. 14, puts the Top 40 on the chain Sept. 18–20 and notes national tours almost never visit Florida in late summer. Lakeland pro Bobby Lane, quoted in the Gazette, said an extended drought has the chain exceptionally low and has stripped much of the shallow vegetation that usually defines Kissimmee tournaments. That should shove more of the field offshore, especially in the three-hour daily window for forward-facing and 360-degree sonar.

Lane still does not think you win it on the graph alone. He said a champion will likely need at least one 4- to 8-pounder a day doing something else, and that a real rain — enough to raise water and make current — would rewrite the shallow playbook overnight. Without that rain he is looking at roughly 21 to 24 pounds a day as a winning pace. Fans can watch launches and weigh-ins at the marina or follow the day on MajorLeagueFishing.com. VICE TV airs a two-hour episode at 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18.

Photo: Major League Fishing graphic via Osceola News Gazette (Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship, Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Sept. 18–20, 2026).

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Osceola News Gazette — Major League Fishing pros descend on Kissimmee (Ken Jackson, Sept. 17, 2026, citing Major League Fishing). Also: Major League Fishing — Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship preview: Kissimmee Chain (Jody White, Sept. 14, 2026).