Columbus will welcome more than 100 professional anglers onto the Tombigbee Waterway next week for the first time in two decades.
The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society will host the second of its eight 2025 Bassmaster Open tournaments on April 16-18 on the Tombigbee in Columbus. Hank Weldon, executive director of tournaments for B.A.S.S. said he is excited to bring the tournament back to the city. It last came in 2004.
“We’re always looking for a place that we haven’t been to ever, or in a very long time,” Walden said. “I’m glad to be back in Columbus, and I anticipate this one is going to go well. This is probably not the last time you guys will have seen us.”
Anglers will begin filing into the city Friday to start official practice Saturday morning. Weldon said there will be 162 anglers representing 36 states and three foreign countries in the competition. The open will only include professional anglers and will not include an amateur or co-angler division.
“These guys are good,” Weldon said. “These are some of the best in the world. There’s not a lot of history on this river system for the anglers, so it’s really gonna be who can figure it out the most versus who has the most history on the water.”
Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Tourism Director Frances Glenn said she looks forward to welcoming so many anglers to the city.
“I think it’ll be really good for hotels, restaurants and then of course, their costs, like grocery stores and filling the boats up with gas,” Glenn said. “I think everybody will see the benefit and feel the benefit of having a tournament like this.”
In October, Glenn told The Dispatch the average economic impact for a tournament of this size falls between $800,000 and $1 million. She has since said she is keeping her goal on the conservative side of hitting $800,000.
The three-day tournament will kick off at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday with boats filing out of Columbus Marina where spectators are encouraged to come by and wish them well.
“It’s all spectator friendly, free to the public,” Weldon said. “They can come to Columbus Marina starting Wednesday morning at 6:15 and they can watch that, and then they can come back for the weigh-ins.”
Weigh-ins will start at around 2:15 p.m. and will be finalized by around 3:45 p.m.
April 16 and 17 will be full-field fishing days with all anglers bringing in their heaviest five catches to weigh-ins. The top 10 anglers will then compete April 18 to crown the champion.
Glenn said she will be in attendance at the final weigh-in and hopes to see others there.
“Heck yeah I’ll be there,” Glenn said. “The weigh-in that I’m most excited about is Friday afternoon at (2:15), the stage. Everything will be set up at Columbus Marina, and we want people to come out and watch and see what all the different anglers bring in.”
Friday’s winner will receive a cash prize of about $42,000 and will punch his ticket to the 2026 Bassmaster Classic to be held March 13-15 on the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tennessee, Weldon said.
“There’s a lot up for grabs next week,” Weldon said. “It’ll be very interesting to see how it shakes out, and I think it’s anybody’s ball game right now.”
The top 10 anglers will receive a prize of about $8,000. Anglers placing 11 through 30 will receive about $4,000, and 30 through 45 will receive about $2,000.
The Columbus tournament is the second of four tournaments in the Bassmasters’ Division 1 series. The series will be followed by four more tournaments that comprise the Division 2 series.
The top 50 anglers from each division will compete in the Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers this fall. The top 10 anglers from the qualifiers will then go on to compete in the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series.
Glenn is hopeful Columbus will host more Bassmaster events like this in the future.
“I really hope and think we will because this will give us exposure on a national level,” Glenn said. “Bassmaster hosts a lot of tournaments and they’re all different levels. I hope we could have something back, maybe even next year.”
Spectators can come to the Columbus Marina at 295 Marina Drive for send-offs and weigh-ins April 16-18. People can also follow along virtually on Bassmaster’s website.
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