The Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau is hoping to reel in a big catch this summer and potentially host the 2026 Mississippi B.A.S.S. Nation High School State Tournament.
At Wednesday’s CVB board meeting Tourism Director Frances Glenn presented a proposal for a $10,000 hosting fee to help cover general set up costs, hotel rooms and food for the tournament and its organizers.
The Mississippi B.A.S.S. Nation High School State Tournament is a gathering of North, South and Central Mississippi Bassmaster chapters, Mississippi B.A.S.S. Nation President Skipper Smith told The Dispatch. He said students typically compete in the first week of May.
Looking for tournament locations farther north in the state, Smith said he recommended Columbus because the city has been a great host for their other events in the past. Columbus hosted a Bassmasters Open in 2025 for the first time since 2004 and is scheduled to be the only Mississippi stop of the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2026.
“We’re trying to stay away from the coast, because the northern teams and the central teams get tired of going to the coast,” Smith told The Dispatch. “And so we’re actually forcing our way up north to try to make something happen … (and) Columbus is just easy. They understand what we bring financially to the city.”
The board passed the proposal Thursday and will now send the offer back to Mississippi B.A.S.S. Nation leadership for consideration, Glenn said.
Smith said organizers have already gotten two offers, including Columbus, and will accept offers until Jan. 15. He expects Columbus to ultimately come out as the winner, but an official deal won’t be made until after that deadline.
“We kind of let Columbus choose us,” Smith said. “We put out a bid, and they answered the bell on the bid, so therefore they’re probably going to win it. Now we haven’t signed the contract or anything … (but) … I don’t see a whole lot of roadblocks.”
Matt Bogue, CVB secretary and treasurer, said the proposal was a “slam dunk” decision for the board because of how beneficial sports tourism, and fishing tournaments especially, have been for the city in the past.
“What we’ve seen over the years is that … we get our best return on investment with sports tourism compared to most other investments that we make as a bureau, and fishing tournaments are right towards the top of the list,” Bogue said. “… (Visitors are) utilizing our natural resource, which is the (Tennessee-Tombigbee) waterway (and) the Columbus Lake. But they’re also staying in our hotels. They’re eating at our restaurants. They’re buying fuel from our gas stations, and they’re in the community for several days.”
Economic impact
Columbus has hosted eight fishing tournaments over the last two years, including the Bassmaster Open in April, Glenn wrote in an email to The Dispatch.
Glenn said the average angler spends between $120 to $250 a day during a tournament, with pro anglers spending upwards of $500 a day.
Bassmaster estimated the tourism revenue for the Bassmaster Open tournament earlier this year to be between $650,000 and $800,000. The Bassmaster Elite tournament also scheduled for 2026 is estimated to have brought $1 million to previous cities, she said.
At this year’s high school tournament, Smith said there were about 75 boats for competitors, and he expects similar numbers at this upcoming tournament. This year’s high school tournament raised about $160,000 in local revenue, he said.
But Smith said these numbers don’t show the whole picture of how much revenue a city raises from hosting a tournament.
“People will make trips up there all between now and May to be ready. (They’ll) practice fishing and kind of get used to Columbus,” Smith said. “So you actually get a lot of revenue throughout that nobody counts.”
Bogue said the additional benefit of hosting a high school tournament, compared to a college or adult tournament, is the volume of people that end up coming to the city beyond just the competitors.
“When doing (a tournament) with high schoolers, now you’re not just bringing professional fishermen in, who are traveling in pairs,” Bogue said. “You’re bringing their whole family into town.”
During the meeting, Glenn said, the initial proposal to her was closer to $14,000 to host the tournament in the city, but that offer was later negotiated to about $10,000 in order to spend less of the funds the board has remaining this fiscal year for hosting these types of events.
Glenn said she has been speaking with potential sponsors to assist in offsetting some of those additional costs by helping to cover meals and hotel rates for organizers. She also plans to speak with the city council, if selected to host, about using Trotter Convention Center free-of-charge for the event.
Bogue said the board’s hope now is that the tournament becomes a regular boost for the city if it does come to Columbus.
“We’re excited about it,” Bogue said. “We hope that they’ll have a wonderful experience in Columbus. We’re confident that … our guests that come into town, they’re going to be really impressed with Columbus, and hopefully they’ll want to come back and do this again and again and again in the future.”
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