Next spring, Columbus is set to reel in a major economic boost as it hosts its first national fishing tournament in 20 years, drawing hundreds of professional anglers to the area.
The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society announced Tuesday the schedule for its eight 2025 Bassmaster Open tournaments, which includes a three-day tournament on the Tombigbee River April 16-18.
Soon after receiving a request for proposals to be a tournament host site, Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Interim Tourism Director Frances Glenn came across a fishing tournament on television one night, hosted in a Tennessee town far smaller than Columbus.
“So I started thinking, maybe this is something we could do, but it would definitely take a partnership,” she said. “If we all pooled our resources together, it could be done.”
Glenn approached the city council and board of supervisors during their regular meetings earlier this month, asking each to kick in $15,000 of the $35,000 host fee, and boards approved. The CVB will cover the remaining $5,000, she said.
Hank Weldon, executive director of tournaments for B.A.S.S, said Columbus has been in the running to host the tournament since May.
“We had been to Columbus a long time ago, and we knew it was a great place,” he told The Dispatch on Friday. “When we are scheduling our events, a lot of times we want to throw in an event that we haven’t been to in a really long time.”
The last time Bassmaster brought a tournament in Columbus was in 2004. Vee Ferguson, who was a manufacturer’s representative for Ranger Boat Company at the time, said the 2004 tournament was a “tremendous event,” and he encouraged local folks not to miss it when it comes through next year.
“I’ve been to many of them over the past 25 years,” he said. “I would encourage everybody that’s remotely interested in fishing to come out and see what they catch.”
Registration for the tournament opens Nov. 18, but Weldon said it will bring up to 230 professional anglers and about 150 more co-anglers – or amateur anglers who fish alongside the professionals – to town. On average, the tournament rosters represent at least 36 states and two foreign countries, he said.
Weldon said anglers will arrive for the tournament well before it starts with practice scheduled for April 12-14. Anglers will officially check in April 15 and start fishing the next day.
“It will be full-field (fishing) Wednesday (and) Thursday,” he said. “We crown a non-boater, amateur champion on Thursday, and we cut the professional field down to the top 10 to compete on Friday. Then the champion will be crowned after that.”
The champion’s prize next year, he said, will be right at $50,000.
Glenn said the average economic impact for a national tournament of this size is between $800,000 and $1 million. While they’re here, anglers will pay for overnight stays, ramp fees, food, local shopping and other entertainment expenses, she said.
Gassing up the boats anglers use is another big revenue generator for local gas stations and marinas, Ferguson said.
“The economic impact is astronomical because it will be around 50 boats I think,” he said. “Those boats hold 50-plus gallons of gas each. They’ll be here for a week. They’ll probably burn anywhere from 40 to 50 gallons each day.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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