Due to recent unsafe conditions and high water on the Red River, BASS relocated the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Women’s Tour Championship, set for Oct. 16-18, to Cypress Black Bayou Lake, located in Benton, La.

 The event will mark the first Bassmaster event on the fishery.  The WBT Championship, the culmination of the 2009 season, will feature the top 20 pro and co-anglers from the regular-season Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Women’s Tour Angler of the Year standings.

 Anglers will get their first crack at Cypress Black Bayou on Thursday, Oct. 15 on the official practice day.  On Friday, the three-day tournament will kick off.

 Tournament launches, beginning at 7 a.m. CT each day, will be moved to Cypress Black Bayou Ramp;135 Cypress Park Drive out of Benton, La., 71006.  Weigh-ins will be held, as previously scheduled, at the Academy Sports + Outdoors store located at 2801 Beene Blvd. in Bossier City, La., beginning at 3 p.m. CT Friday-Sunday. 

 Anglers are competing for a piece of $94,000 in prizes, including the winner’s take of $5,000 and a Triton/Mercury boat package valued at $55,000. Twenty other qualifiers will compete in the co-angler division, fishing from the back of pros’ boats for a $40,000 Triton/Mercury boat rig, plus $3,250, awarded to the co-angler winner. In both divisions, the second-place prize is a Skeeter/Yamaha rig.

 Besides being the championship event, the Oct. 16-18 tournament is the finish line in the 2009 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Women’s Tour Angler of the Year race, in which the big plums are a berth in the 2010 Bassmaster Classic and a new Tundra. With an entry in the Feb. 19-21 Classic on Lay Lake out of Birmingham, Ala., the 2009 AOY will become only the second woman to qualify for a Classic.

 All events are free and open to the public.  Fans can visit Academy stores for additional information on the WBT and find out more about the organization at www.Academy.com.