SC center of bass fishing world
BY PAT ROBERTSON
Special to The State
From this August through next March, South Carolina will be the epicenter of the bass-fishing world with the national championships of both major professional bass tournament leagues being played out on two major lakes in the state.
Lake Murray will host the 22nd annual Forrest Wood Cup – the FLW Tour’s annual fish-off to determine its top bass angler – Aug. 11-13, and the Bassmaster Classic, billed as the 48th annual world championship of professional bass fishing, will be held on Lake Hartwell next March 16-18.
Next year’s Bassmaster Classic will mark the fifth time the championship has been held on South Carolina waters and the third time it has been held on Lake Hartwell. The third Bassmaster Classic was held on Clarks Hill Lake (Lake Thurmond) in 1973 out of McCormick. The Forrest Wood Cup this August will be the third time that championship has been held on Lake Murray.
There are two main reasons both professional leagues keep returning to South Carolina to determine their champions, say anglers who have made their mark in both circuits: bass fishing in the state is outstanding and the fan base is passionate.
“One reason they keep bringing those championships back is because South Carolina has a really strong fan base as shown in the great attendance at the weigh-ins and outdoors shows held in conjunction with the tournaments,” said Dearal Rodgers of Camden, the FLW Tour Co-Angler of the Year Award in 2009 and the Co-Angler Champion of the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.
The other reason, he said, is the fact that the lakes in South Carolina produce outstanding catches of bass for the tournaments.
“They want to make a good television show of the championship and to do that the fish become the stars of the show,” Rodgers said. “Lake Murray has some big bass and Lake Hartwell does as well.”
The combination of the fan base passion and the overall excitement about bass fishing in South Carolina is right up there with any other state in the country, said Davy Hite of Ninety Six, winner of the 1999 Bassmaster Classic on the Louisiana Delta.
Hite is one of three anglers from South Carolina who has won the Bassmaster Classic and he is also one of the two Palmetto State pros to win the Forrest Wood Cup.
“South Carolina has been one of the leaders in developing young fishermen,” said Hite, who retired from competitive fishing at the end of the 2016 season to become an analyst/color commentator for “Bassmaster LIVE,” “The Bassmasters” television show on ESPN2, and all other B.A.S.S. programming.
“The growth of tournament fishing with middle school, high school and college teams is really helping the sport not just in South Carolina, but nationwide. Even small schools like Ninety Six High School (have) a fishing team now and some colleges are even offering fishing scholarships.”
Back-to-back champs
In fact, the Gamecock baseball team is not the only winner of back-to-back national championships at the University of South Carolina. Anglers at USC, the Gamecock bass fishing team, won the FLW College Fishing National Championship in 2015 and 2016.
Gettys Brannon of Gaffney and Patrick Walters of Summerville took the title on Lake Murray in April 2015 and Hampton Anderson of Anderson and Irmo’s Chris Blanchette claimed the 2016 title on Lake Keowee a year later.
The 2017 Carhartt Bassmaster College Southern Conference Regional is being held on Winyah Bay out of Georgetown this weekend with teams from five South Carolina universities competing, including the University of South Carolina, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Lander and Winthrop.
Comeback kid
The second South Carolina angler to win the Forrest Wood Cup was Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity who forged perhaps the most memorable, and certainly the most incredible, comeback ever over the 2014 FLW Tour season to even qualify for the championship on Lake Murray.
Gagliardi started the 2014 FLW Tour season with a zero, after being disqualified in the season opener on Lake Okeechobee in January. Once he realized he had broken a rule that had just been changed for that year, he reported himself and saw his weight disappear for the tournament.
It was a major setback for his goal of qualifying for the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Murray. He slowly fished his way back into contention, aided by a great start in early March in the second tournament at Lake Hartwell, where he finished 7th.
By the end of the season Gagliardi had fished his way into qualifying for the Lake Murray championship by just one or two points. An ounce less at any of the tournaments would have quashed his hopes of competing in his backyard lake.
Competition in the Cup was stiff and went down to the wire. Gagliardi prevailed on the final day, finishing with a tournament total of 51 pounds, 2 ounces, enough by just one ounce to beat runner-up Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala., for the FLW title.
It was a storybook finish to possibly the most incredible comeback ever recorded in professional tournament fishing.
Gagliardi would love to become the first repeat champion in the history of the FLW Tour and doing it on his home lake this August would make it even sweeter, he said, but he added first he has to qualify.
“I am focused on getting points in each tournament to finish high enough in the standings to get to Lake Murray. I certainly don’t want to be on the outside looking in,” he said. “If I do make it, then I will start focusing on how to catch fish in August on Lake Murray.”
Differing conditions
Fishing in the Classic on Lake Murray will be completely different than fishing at Lake Hartwell, simply because of the time of the year. Bass fishing in the August sun will require much different tactics than bass fishing at the tail of winter on Lake Hartwell next March when temperatures could range from the 20s up to the 80s, depending on weather fronts.
No matter what the weather is like, however, the anglers in both championships will be followed by a parade of boats as they move from place to place to fish, with fans hoping to observe winning techniques and see their heroes heave a big bass into the boat. Then they will flock to the weigh-ins and pack the seats to watch as each angler crosses the stage to get his fish checked in and hold his best up for the crowds to cheer.
“It’s incredible to have the two bass (events) at the highest level bring their championships to South Carolina just seven months apart,” Hite said.
S.C. BASS FISHING CHAMPIONS
National championship winners of major professional bass tournament leagues who come from South Carolina
Bassmaster Classic Champions
1979, Hank Parker of Clover, Lake Texoma, Pottsboro, Texas
1989, Hank Parker of Denver, N.C., James River, Richmond, Va.
1999, Davy Hite of Ninety Six, Louisiana Delta, New Orleans, La.
2015, Casey Ashley of Donalds, Lake Hartwell, Greenville
Forrest Wood Cup
1998, Davy Hite of Ninety Six, Mississippi River, Moline, Ill.
2014, Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, Lake Murray
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
Forrest Wood Cup
Where: Lake Murray
When: Aug. 11-13
Weigh-in: Colonial Life Arena
Expo: Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
Sponsors: FLW Fishing (https://www.flwfishing.com) and Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board (https://www.lakemurraycountry.com)
Bassmaster Classic
Where: Lake Hartwell
Launch: Green Pond Landing and Event Center, Anderson
When: March 16-18, 2018
Weigh-In: Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville
Expo: TD Convention Center, Greenville
Sponsors: B.A.S.S. (http://www.bassmaster.com/), Visit Anderson (http://www.visitanderson.com/). VisitGreenvilleSC (http://www.visitgreenvillesc.com/).
REELING IN THE REVENUE
Fans are not the only ones excited to see a Bassmaster Classic or Forrest Wood Cup scheduled for their area. Hotels, restaurants and other businesses get a big boost when the fishermen come to town.
$23 million to $26 million
Revenues reported by host cities for previous Bassmaster Classics
11,000
Total hotel room nights booked. Similar impacts could be expected for the Forrest Wood Cup.
$2.6 million
Revenues reported by cities that have hosted Elite Series tournaments, proving it’s not just the championships that bring in big money.
2,000
Hotel rooms booked for Elite Series tournaments
Source: B.A.S.S.
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Originally Posted by Mars Bluff
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