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Bassmasters Elite series returning to Waddington in summer after record-setter last year

Posted 12/25/14

WADDINGTON -- The 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule is set including the July 30-Aug. 2 tournament on the St. Lawrence River at Waddington. A year and a half ago, the Bass Anglers Sportsman …

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Bassmasters Elite series returning to Waddington in summer after record-setter last year

Posted

WADDINGTON -- The 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule is set including the July 30-Aug. 2 tournament on the St. Lawrence River at Waddington.

A year and a half ago, the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society -- B.A.S.S. – came to Waddington for the first Elite Series tournament in the area in a long time, and it turned out to be a record-setter.

With more than 34,000 fans participating over the four-day tournament, the Waddington event broke the Elite Series attendance record set months earlier in Orange, Tex.

BASS said the record was plenty of incentive to return to the St. Lawrence and they might have made a return trip in 2014 if their schedule hadn’t already been set.

In 2015, after the first half of the season and a summer hiatus, the Elites are back in action on the St. Lawrence River, July 30-Aug. 2, out of Waddington.

The St. Lawrence has been a frequent stop on the Bassmaster Tournament Trail, hosting 16 previous tournaments, including the 1980 Bassmaster Classic and an Elite contest.

“It’s fitting that the 10th Elite Series season features such prominent and important fisheries,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin in announcing the 2015 schedule. “The schedule spans the country from coast to coast and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and it includes some of the very best bass lakes and rivers in the country — and some of the most challenging.”

The St. Lawrence is a world-class smallmouth fishery and ranked 11th among the 100 best fisheries in America. Brandon Palaniuk earned his blue Elite trophy in 2013 with 88 pounds, 12 ounces of smallmouth bass, an average of 4.4 pounds per fish.

Standard Elite Series events will feature a season-total purse of $638,000, with $100,000 going to the winner and at least $10,000 going to anyone who finishes 50th or better.