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Women’s tourney on Venus, Bassmaster Classic is on Mars
By David Williams - Anderson Independent Sunday, February 17, 2008
Charles Murphy, right, and Bobby Rhodes, both of Hendersonville, N.C.,
show off nearly 29 pounds of bass boated Friday in a Fish The Fall Team Tournament on Lake Keowee. 
The catch is believed to be one of the largest single-day tournament catches on the lake since it was impounded in 1971.
SENECA — Although Lake Keowee and Hartwell Lake are separated by only a dam, the fishing is worlds or planets apart when it comes to formulating a strategy for winning a tournament.
If women are indeed from Venus and men are from Mars, as the book title suggests, then what it’s going to take for the top female angler to win on Lake Keowee Feb. 22-24 and the top fisherman in the Bassmaster Classic on Hartwell Lake to win are just as opposite.
Lee Burns, 67, of Mauldin, who works with the Fish The Fall Team Tournament organization, said he expects the leaders in the upcoming Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship to catch between 12 and 14 pounds per day on Lake Keowee.
“That’s if they don’t get a big-kicker fish,” Mr. Burns said. He said one of the 50 pros on Hartwell Lake for the Bassmaster Classic would need about 50 pounds to take home the title.
Ryan Bowman, who lives on Hartwell Lake near Seneca, said the women’s title would go to the angler with 40 to 45 pounds.
“Someone with a largemouth (bass) could take it,” Mr. Bowman said. “It’s going to be a tough fight.”
Mr. Bowman said the pro anglers on Hartwell Lake would be hard pressed to meet some predictions of about 60 pounds for the winner.
“Some say 60 will win it,” Mr. Bowman said. “Some are foolish children. The water temperature is about 49 to 50 degrees, and they will have to use a jig and spoon to get their fish.”
The differences in the two lakes are glaring.
Spotted bass introduced to Lake Keowee in the 1980s have overtaken the fish population, making the larger largemouth variety hard to find.
Lake Keowee, built in 1971 by Duke Energy, has roughly 300 miles of shoreline and 18,500 surface acres. The trees were clear-cut from the lake’s bottom, and that’s what gives the lake its crystal-clear appearance.
Hartwell Lake is slightly older and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment.
Hartwell has more than 960 miles of shoreline and 56,000 surface acres of water. Many trees, stumps and other natural debris were left in place, and that provides cover for fish.
Hartwell Lake also is down about 12 feet from full pond; Lake Keowee is down less than five feet.
The Bassmaster Classic features the top 50 pros competing for $1.2 million on Hartwell Lake. The top 25 fishermen after the first two days advance to the final day of competition. Twelve female pros will compete for $60,000 on Lake Keowee, and they will fish with 12 co-anglers who will fish out of the back of the boat for $34,500 in prize money.
Perry Rogers of Seneca, who fished the Fish The Fall Team Tournament event Friday on Lake Keowee, said the women’s champion could catch 15 to 16 pounds a day, while it would take 50 to 60 pounds to win the classic on Hartwell.
“A lot depends on the weather,” Mr. Rogers said. “The water temperate is about 52 to 53 degrees; Keowee is a warmer lake than Hartwell. If it gets up a little more, it could give the girls some hope.”
Junior Granger of Easley said the women would find the fishing tough.
“I would say 27 pounds in three days should win it on Keowee,” Mr. Granger. “That’s an average of 9 pounds a day, which is about right for this lake. I’m scared to say what it will take to win the classic; maybe 55 to 60 pounds.”
Charles Murphy of Hendersonville, N.C., was able to find three largemouth bass that helped him win the Fish The Fall Tournament out of Gap Hill Landing. Mr. Murphy and his partnership Bradley Rhodes weighed in nearly 29 pounds of fish, and the three largemouth bass weighed 23.6 pounds.
“That’s one of the largest catches on this lake since it was filled,” Mr. Rogers said.
Maybe the women do have something to hope for when it comes to boating the big ones.
Greenville lobbying to bring bass tourney here in 2009
Business leaders trying to raise half million for ESPN 'site fee'
Published: Friday, December 14, 2007 - 2:00 am
By Rudolph Bell
STAFF WRITER
dmbell@greenvillenews.com
The Greenville Convention & Visitors Bureau and a group of local businessmen are trying to raise half a million dollars right away as part of an effort to get the Bassmaster Classic fishing tournament -- and its economic impact -- to return to the Greenville area in 2009.
The 2008 tournament -- scheduled for Lake Hartwell in February -- is expected to draw thousands of visitors to the lake and to associated events in Greenville.
For a repeat in 2009, however, sports television network ESPN, which owns the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, sponsor of the tournament, wants a $500,000 “site fee” right away, said Doug McGrath, a Greenville businessman who is heading the recruiting effort.
McGrath said ESPN uses the fee to offset production costs and usually requires it of every community that hosts the tournament, although it made concessions for the 2008 tournament in Greenville.
"If we can tell them we have the pledges for the money, it's almost certain we would get it back in 2009,” said McGrath, president of the event management business of Southern Hospitality Group, a Greenville business that also develops and manages hotels. He's lobbying state and local officials to raise the money.
ESPN spokesman Doug Grassian declined to discuss tournament funding or say where the three-day, televised event might be held next time.
“We are in discussions with a number of potential cities at this time, but have nothing to announce” about the 2009 tournament, Grassian said in a statement. “We are excited that Greenville will host the 38th edition of the Bassmaster Classic and look forward to another fantastic event.”
The 2008 tournament is scheduled to take place from Feb. 22-24. Daily weigh-ins will be held at the Bi-Lo Center, and an outdoor products show will be held at the Carolina First Center. The event -- known as the Super Bowl of bass fishing -- is expected to fill up hotel rooms in Greenville County.
Oconee to benefit from BASS events
ESPN to converge on Hartwell, Keowee lakes
October 12, 2007, 12:02 a.m. EST
by Carlos Galarza (Contact / Staff Bio)
WALHALLA — Oconee County Parks, Recreation and Tourism Commission (PRT) officials are smacking their lips at the prospect of showcasing Oconee County when Lake Keowee hosts two major fishing tournaments in February that coincide with the Bassmaster Classic.
The national spotlight will be on the Upstate with more than 13 hours of coverage by ESPN2 during the week of Feb. 18-24. Although most of the attention will be focused on the Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell, Lake Keowee also will take center stage as host of the second annual Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship.
As an added bonus, the Junior Bassmaster World Championship also will be held on Lake Keowee the same week.
PRT Director Phil Shirley told Commission members that the high-profile events present a golden opportunity for Oconee County to showcase its natural attractions to thousands of visitors to the area.
Shirley said that while Greenville’s BI-LO Center was selected as the host city for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic, Oconee, Anderson and Pickens counties stand to benefit from overflow business.
Commission members and Shirley agreed that some thought and effort must be put into letting visitors know that lodgings and restaurants in Oconee County are in close proximity to the featured Bassmaster events.
In fact, the upcoming tournaments give urgency to a PRT proposal calling on the Oconee County Council to create a Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) to market and promote these types of events. Shirley has requested time at a County Council meeting Oct. 16 to outline the CVB proposal.
The call for a county CVB, as well as other tourism-related ideas, was mostly generated by an economic development summit sponsored by the three local chambers of commerce.
BASS, a worldwide authority on bass fishing, sanctions the tournaments on Hartwell and Keowee. Based in Central Florida, BASS was acquired several years ago by ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co.
The 56,000-acre Lake Hartwell, with its 962 miles of shoreline, has been the site of three previous BASS tournaments. Lake Hartwell attracts more than 10 million visitors annually, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Lake Keowee is an 18,500-acre reservoir that includes 300 miles of shoreline.
Greer could reel in Bass Pro by year's end
(article in Greenville News for more details go to www.greenvillenews.com ) City working to firm up plans for mixed-use project near airport
Published: Saturday, September 22, 2007 - 2:00 am
By Nan Lundeen STAFF WRITER nlundeen@greenvillenews.com
GREER -- A $295 million mixed-used development slated to be bigger than Haywood Mall proposed near the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport off Interstate 85 could be on the hook by year's end, according to Greer Mayor Rick Danner.
"We're still in negotiations," Danner said. "We hope to have a public announcement by the end of the year."
Danner wouldn't confirm that the project would be anchored by Bass Pro Shops, but that name has been pitched into the public venue by state legislators who this year passed an "extraordinary retailer" tax incentive package that they said was aimed at luring Bass Pro.
Asked if requests for a fee in lieu of taxes package have come before the council for the project, Spartanburg County Council member Rock Adams said, "We've had no meetings concerning that other than some of the people who are trying to get this thing off the ground over there. Some of the council members have met with those individuals one on one." Adams represents the area.
Adams is in favor of the project, to be located at the southeastern corner of I-85 and State 14, which is the Greer exit. Preliminary plans call for hotels, retailers, a cinema and nature exhibits.
It is expected to bring in $400 million in sales per year and attract tourists.
"That's going to be a good thing for the area over there, no doubt about it," Adams said.
Developer spokesman and Greer lobbyist Matthew Van Patton couldn't be reached to comment.
Adams said, "I understand that they'll probably be coming by the end of the year. They're trying to get everything lined up so they can present it to council."
| Hooked!
Bass anglers descend on Keowee
September 21, 2007, 12:06 a.m. EST
Staff Reports
Expensive bass boats were lined up throughout Seneca Thursday as some of the best anglers in the Southeast converged on the city for an end-of-year extravaganza. The Best Western Hotel was served as the host hotel.
Surface space on Lake Keowee may be limited the next couple of days.
Over 150 boats, containing some 300 fishermen, are converging on Seneca today for the South Carolina BAIT Division I Classic Tournament.
The two-day event, hosted by the City of Seneca, will operate primarily out of South Cove Park, but city officials expect restaurants and hotels in the area to be filled as bass anglers from across the Southeast descend on the city.
The Best Western Executive Inn on the US 123 Bypass is the official host hotel, but anglers are expected to fill most available hotels as well as area campgrounds and RV parks.
The two-day “Classic” tournament completes the regular tournament season. Anglers have qualified for this weekend’s “Classic” at different lake locations on the “Trail.”
Two fully-rigged Pro-Craft bass boats, cash prizes, and trophies are some of the rewards provided by B.A.I.T. and its partner/sponsors.
Bass Anglers Invitational Trail, Inc. (B.A.I.T.) was founded in 1999 by the current president, Allen "Bud" DeFoe. Doug Nickels joined B.A.I.T. as national director in 2001, and later became its vice president and national director.
Nickels fished the Bass Masters Pro Circuit Trail (BASS) and several other major tournament trails. Since coming to B.A.I.T., Nickels’ tournament experience and business acumen have lead to its steady growth.
For his part, DeFoe attributes honesty and integrity as the most important ingredients in running a successful bass fishing tournament.
According to DeFoe, “you must set rules and regulations, abide by rules and regulations, and treat everyone fairly. The moment when rules are bent is when problems begin. B.A.I.T. maintains strong ties with law enforcement to strengthen the trail's reputation for honesty and integrity.” The organization also relies on the latest technology to keep tournament caught fish alive and tournament contestants honest. Sophisticated electronic scales and lie detectors are but a few of the measures that B.A.I.T. has incorporated to keep tournaments fair and square.
In 2004 and 2005, B.A.I.T. memberships continued their upward spiral. B.A.I.T. memberships peaked in 2006 from its expansion to 17 divisions in eight states.
B.A.I.T. divisions are currently in eight southeastern states — Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. B.A.I.T. is poised to expand its bass fishing team competition trail concept to more states. Expansion will progress to new areas with substantial angler activity/populations, tourism and local trail inquiries.
Seneca city officials were unavailable to comment on their involvement in landing the tournament and its economic significance to the area.
For more details go to: Daily Journal Messenger 2008 Bassmaster Classic coming to Hartwell Lake
By Pearce Adams
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 www.independentmail.com
The Bassmaster fishing tournament has chosen the lake for the site of the February 2008 tournament.
HARTWELL LAKE — Fifty anglers invited to one of the nation’s most prestigious fishing tournaments are expected to reel in the cash at Hartwell Lake.
The three-day 2008 Bassmaster Classic, which offers a $1.2 million purse and a first prize of $500,000, begins Feb. 22 and will be covered by ESPN2.
That’s the benefit for Anderson and counties in Georgia and South Carolina that border the lake, said Glenn Brill, executive director of the Anderson Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
“Thirteen hours of (television) exposure will be a tremendous commercial for Hartwell Lake,” he said.
The lake has been the site of three previous BASS tournaments.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lake draws about 10.5 million visitors a year.
Greenville has been selected as the host city for the 2008 classic. But all contestants, between Feb. 22 and Feb. 24, will be required to enter the lake at Portman Marina near Anderson.
Participants coming to the Upstate include the top 37 from the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year, top three from the Bassmaster Central and Southern Opens, the top six anglers from the BASS Federation Nation National Championship and the winner of the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship.
Sylvia Sanders of the 500-slip Portman Marina said their boats would have no trouble putting into the lake.
“Fifty boats is like a Thursday night fishing tournament to us,” she said.
Bassmaster officials arrived by helicopter about a month ago, spoke to the marina owner and left, she said.
The announcement was made Wednesday that the tournament would launch from Portman.
Mr. Brill, noting a lack of money in the CVB budget to compete with Greenville for the tournament and what he estimates as a $50,000 cost, said Anderson would mostly benefit from pre-tournament visits by the contestants. Each night stayed by a visitor generates $120 in economic benefit, he said.
In 2005, Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania officials chipped in $1.3 million to stage a Bassmaster Classic, and ESPN, which owns BASS, required a $100,000 local sponsorship fee, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper.
According to Bassmaster Classic officials, tournament participants would be banned from Hartwell Lake starting Dec. 15. But practice days have been scheduled for Feb. 12 through Feb. 14 and again on Feb. 20.
All 50 boats would launch Feb. 22 and Feb. 23. But Sunday, Feb. 24, would be limited to the top 25 boats.
The cumulative effect of the tournament is not known for counties and municipalities in the two states that border the 56,000-acre lake.
But the 2005 tournament drew 100,000 people to bridges and banks along Pennsylvania rivers and created more than $30 million in economic benefits, according to the Pittsburgh newspaper.
Wednesday, Fred Turpin of Toccoa took time off work and backed his Stratos fishing boat down a ramp at Tugaloo State Park in Franklin County.
Tournament fishing is unlikely to draw him to Hartwell Lake.
“I just fish to rest and relax,” he said.
That’s not in store for the Bassmaster contestants, who will need to work hard for their money, Mr. Turpin said.
February’s national exposure to Hartwell Lake could be very timely for Hart, Franklin and Stephens counties.
By then, Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources will have distributed $3.6 million to compensate for the loss of recreational fishing opportunities. The funds will go into the construction of five projects, including mega-boat ramps at Tugaloo and near Hartwell.
To complete them by Feb. 22 is “really pushing it,” said Anthony Rabern of Georgia’s DNR.
The money is part of a $11.8 million settlement with Schlumberger Technologies over polychlorinated biphenyl contamination in Hartwell Lake.
South Carolina’s share of about $8 million is earmarked for dam removals and ecological restorations on Twelve Mile Creek.
Tray Hicks, Hartwell councilman and a leader in pushing for a multi-use recreation facility in conjunction with Hart’s mega-boat ramp, said the BASS tournament could set the stage for future fishing tournaments that launch from Hartwell.
“Anytime we can get somebody on the lake, it’s a positive experience for us,” he said.
| Another big fishing tourney set for September
By David Williams
Anderson Independent
SENECA — Boating a big bass usually means big
bucks for tournament bass anglers whether it’s in a weekly club tournament or one of the many fishing trails that dock at Upstate lakes.
Those gatherings of fishermen dedicated to competitive casting also land local economies their share of the money.
“We know from studies we’ve done that an overnight stay means about $120 per night,” said Glenn Brill, executive director of the Anderson Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Half goes into a hotel, 25 percent into restaurants, 20 percent in retail stores and three or four percent in gas stations.”
While Mr. Brill’s figures are general and not specific to fishing tournaments, they do provide a glimpse into the ripple affect a bass tournament can have on a local economy.
“You want one that has a regional draw,” Mr. Brill said. “That’s the key. You want a tournament where people are going to stay overnight in the community.”
One tournament that will bring a lot of exposure to Hartwell Lake in February is the Bassmaster Classic, the original professional bass fishing trail. However, while the tournament will provide the fishing world a peak at the lake, the weigh-ins and drama will be staged in Greenville; plus, only 50 mostly high-profile anglers will be competing for the $1.2 million purse.
For bass anglers and fans of the sport that can often resemble NASCAR on water, a September tournament on Lake Keowee will have a bigger impact on area wallets.
Bass Anglers Invitational Tournaments, BAIT, which has grown to 20 divisions in eight states in less than eight years is bringing its Classic to Lake Keowee and Oconee County’s South Cove Park.
Bud DeFoe, national president of the organization he says tries to give the little guy a chance to make a big splash, said 150 boats would compete in the two-day tournament.
“We’ll have the top finishers in the divisions,” Mr. DeFoe said. “That’s about 300 fishermen fishing as two-man teams. It could be as high as 200 boats.”
Mr. DeFoe said the Best Western on U.S. 123 in Seneca would serve as the tournament headquarters and the pre-tournament meetings and dinners will be at the city’s Gignilliat Civic Center.
Mr. DeFoe said tournament officials would arrive on Monday and he suspects a lot of the fishermen would take advantage of the trail’s no-cut off rule and practice on the lake leading up to the Friday and Saturday competition.
“Jackson, Miss., did a study a few years ago when we had close to 130 boats and we had a $250,000 impact,” Mr. DeFoe said.
Oconee County fishermen Perry Rogers and his brother Gary, who have already qualified for the B.A.I.T Classic, said there are more fishermen spending money than those with other leisure or competitive hobbies.
“Sport fishing is way up there,” Perry Rogers said. “It’s ahead of golf and tennis. I don’t know why newspapers cover golf more than anything else.”
Mr. Rogers, who runs a real estate business when not on the lake, said anglers would be coming to Seneca from as far away as New Jersey.
“They will come in, eat, buy gas, stay in hotels, some will bring their families,” Mr. Rogers said. “And the ones that live in the area, think about it. When your boat holds 54 gallons, that’s real money.”
Mr. Rogers also said anglers, like a lot of people dedicated to their passions, have to have the latest technology: the rods, reels, trolling motors, lures and other accessories.
“There’s tons of stuff,” Mr. Rogers said. “Money to a fisherman is not an object. He will save up to buy that depth finder.”
Sean McGuffee, the superintendent for South Cove Park, said the park is drawing more and more tournaments.
“When your hospitality shines through, then the anglers will be back,” Mr. McGuffee said.
Mr. McGuffee said the Wal-Mart FLW tour has already scheduled a tournament that would draw as many as 200 boats for February 2008 and at least eight other tournaments, many held as fund-raisers for local charities, would use South Cove Park before the end of 2007.
Ed Halbig, Seneca’s director of planning who is helping coordinate the B.A.I.T Classic said getting tournaments into the area hopefully would mean return visits.
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