BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- Anglers who attend tournaments in Massena hope to see more housing options within and closer to Massena, according to a survey conducted by grant writer Linda McQuinn.

McQuinn updated town board members of her findings during the board's January meeting, noting that many anglers stay outside of Massena due to limited options.

"What we have found is that many travel from much further away than just the neighboring towns. For some, it comes down to long term stays. For others, it comes down to space for their family," she said.

But overall, McQuinn said anglers generally do not have enough options in the Massena area.

She said it is something she and sport fishing promoter Don Meissner hope to see change in the coming years as more tournaments come to the area.

McQuinn said she was able to compile a great deal of information from anglers in both 2022 and 2024, with just one angler failing to complete the survey last year.

"It was truly remarkable to see 287 responses," she said.

Those surveys, which were part of the Toyota Series tournament hosted by Major League Fishing, will play a crucial role moving forward, she said.

Other interesting tidbits from the survey include the origin of most anglers. In total, 218 were from the United States, while 28 were international residents in 2024. A total of 41 were from New York.

McQuinn also broke the figures down further to show the growth in participation from certain states.

Texas, New Jersey and Maryland saw the most growth, she said.

“We broke it down in terms of the top 10 non-New York states. So, you can see that we have a lot of anglers coming from Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana,” McQuinn said.

Anglers also said they were staying longer, with thirty saying they stayed more than two weeks. That's up from 26 in 2022. A total of 104 anglers stayed for more than a week, up slightly from 103 in 2022.

McQuinn said that trend is encouraging because it could mean new anglers are coming to the area to practice before the tournaments, to compete and then stay after as well.

That means a greater economic impact for the region, she said.

One of the more telling aspects of the survey included lodging, with more anglers opting to use campsites. That figure rose from 43 to 54 in 2024.

Hotel use declined slightly, down to 107 from 115 in 2022.

Airbnb saw a significant increase, from 79 to 100 anglers between 2022 and 2024.

“We’ve speculated that perhaps they might start out in a hotel, and then they decide this is too expensive and will shift slightly and go to an Airbnb, or they might decide that a campground is what they want do,” McQuinn said.

St. Lawrence County Chamber Director Ben Dixon was also in attendance at the meeting, commenting that the county has seen a "significant increase in Airbnb options" in recent years.

He credited events such as the Major League Fishing tournaments as a major catalyst for the expansion.

While numbers of anglers are up, so are revenues, McQuinn said. 

McQuinn said total revenue rose from $429,430 total in 2022 to $618,145 in 2024.

Anglers from New York alone accounted for $82,000 in 2024, she said.

She said those figures do not account for support staff who help put on the events not, nor does it account for families as McQuinn and Meissner did not interact with any of the families who have spent money in the area as visitors to come watch the events.

This is simply the anecdotal reports from the anglers, but it does coincide with what we’ve seen from Major League Fishing. They’ve reported that at their events, we can see anywhere from $1.2 to $1.5 million. So, that’s really very, very good for communities like our town,” McQuinn said.

McQuinn said 2025 will be a banner year for Massena, with multiple tournaments planned throughout the summer season.

Three Major League Fishing tournaments will be hosted by the town, including the Phoenix Bass Fishing League- Northeast Division No. 2 on July 12, the Tackle Warehouse Invitational- Stop No. 6 from July 25-27 and the Toyota Series Northern Division No. 2 from Aug. 14-16.

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