Pro anglers at an earlier Major League Fishing event on the St. Lawrence. Photo submitted by Major League Fishing.

BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- It was the biggest year ever for fishing tournaments in Massena thanks in large part to the volunteers who assisted in promoting and running the events.

Massena Sport Fishing Promoter Don Meissner said the six major tournaments went off without a hitch primarily because of the many people in and around Massena who stepped up to help.

"I want to talk about is the role that people here in Massena played in making every one of these events successful, including after having the flood and the destruction that took place out at the intake and the potential destruction that could have taken place on the fields," Meissner said during a recent Massena Town Board meeting.

From Highway Superintendent Dylan Casselman to H3 Designs owner Jason Hendricks, town councilors Adrian Taraska, Raymond Lancet and Deputy Supervisor Pat Facteau, Meissner said many people came together to make the tournaments happen.

He commented on the many early mornings, late nights and leg work needed to run the tournaments.

"Driving golf carts, getting our kits together, to help with everything we did from the water to keep the fish alive. It was a tremendous effort by so many involved to pull this off and I want to say thank you to the many volunteers who helped," Meissner said.

One volunteer who came up large this year was John Blevins, who made a donation earlier this year to support the tournaments.

Meissner said Blevins informed him he was looking forward to the tournaments slated for 2025.

“He wanted to talk already about the planning he’s doing for next year based on what we’ve done and he was so positive. He said, ‘Look, I want to make sure that I give money to a lot of the hours for the Big Bass Tournament next year, but I want to get Smokercraft to come and be a national sponsor,’” he said.

Sponsors like that are what can make the tournaments even larger, expanding the regional reach even wider, Meissner said.

He said the tournaments are an economic driver in Massena, bringing in people from around the region.

“One of the things that struck me as much as anything was there were 60 boats coming in, and we had one tank we were putting the fish in. We had people from Pennsylvania and other states that cared enough about what was happening here that they came and chipped in. They were fizzing fish and they were putting fish in the water, making sure that they were all living. This is something that I’d never seen before, this cooperation and what people are doing,” he said.