July 22, 2020
B.A.S.S. Moves August High School And Junior Tournaments To Lake Hartwell
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series at Lake St. Clair presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster Junior Series, both originally scheduled for August 8, will instead be held on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell August 30, B.A.S.S. officials announced today.
Guidelines in the state of Michigan issued on July 9 limit the size of any outdoor gathering, including fishing tournaments, to 100 people or less. Based on current registration numbers, B.A.S.S. officials expected 195 anglers and their boat captains to participate.
“It is disappointing anytime you have to move a tournament, especially from a fantastic and scenic smallmouth fishery like Lake St. Clair,” said High School Series Senior Manager Hank Weldon. “B.A.S.S. has emphasized for months, though, that we will heed each state’s mandates on crowd sizes and public spaces to ensure both competition and fan activities can resume safely.
“We are thankful to our friends at Visit Anderson to be able to move the event to Lake Hartwell so that the majority of teams who registered for our high school and junior tournaments can compete.”
The current rules do not impact the upcoming Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair Aug. 20-23. Professional sports are allowed in Michigan provided protocols are in place which adhere to guidance from the CDC and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The field of young anglers who launch onto Lake Hartwell — a 56,000-acre impoundment on the Savannah, Tugaloo and Seneca rivers along the South Carolina/Georgia border — will be fishing one of the sport’s most storied bodies of water. Hartwell has hosted three previous Bassmaster Classics and six major B.A.S.S. events as well as a host of B.A.S.S. Nation, college and high school tournaments. Plus, the lake has consistently been ranked as one of the country’s Top 100 Best Bass Lakes in Bassmaster Magazine’s annual rankings, making the coveted list four times since 2015. Lake Hartwell was ranked one of the Southeast’s Best Bass Lakes in the recently released all-decade list.
“We are extremely excited to host the high school and junior series at Lake Hartwell and Green Pond Landing,” said Neil Paul, Executive Director of Visit Anderson. “Anderson County has done a tremendous job during this most difficult time to ensure the safety of our community, and we will extend that same effort and passion into welcoming B.A.S.S., the anglers and their families. We have been blessed with a tremendous fishery, great facilities and a very supportive fishing community and we look forward to hosting the high school anglers and their families for this event.”
Any team registered for the event on Lake St. Clair will be refunded their entry fees and given priority registration for the Hartwell events. Registration is now open for the Bassmaster Junior Series and Bassmaster High School Series at Lake Hartwell, and will remain open until Aug. 14. Learn more at Bassmaster.com/High-School or Bassmaster.com/Junior.