Bassmaster Elite Series event is canceled

Harford County stop initially was postponed

For the first time in Bassmaster Elite Series history, B.A.S.S. has been forced to cancel one of its events — the Huk Bassmaster Elite at Upper Chesapeake Bay.

The contest that had been scheduled in Harford County for July 26-30 but was initially postponed because of massive flooding and unsafe boating conditions. It was the second postponement this year of an Elite event.

The event will not be rescheduled, B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin announced Wednesday in a news release.

“By the time conditions on the upper Chesapeake Bay improved enough for competition, our great hosts at Harford County, Md., were unable to accommodate our event,” Akin said. “We could have switched the event to another fishery, but in consideration of Elite anglers who had important obligations during the times we had available, we elected to end the season with eight qualifying events, instead of the nine we had planned.

“We are really disappointed that we could not conduct the Maryland event as planned.”

The event was being sponsored by Harford County and Visit Harford!, the county’s tourism agency.

“Certainly we are disappointed, but I certainly respect any organization that bases their decision on safety as the number one priority,” Visit Harford! executive director Greg Pizzuto said in an email.

The regular B.A.S.S. tournament season will end with the Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, to be held Aug. 23-26 in Waddington, N.Y.

The decision to cancel the Maryland tournament was reached after discussions with B.A.S.S. sponsors, as well as consultations with the Elite Advisory Board — an 11-member panel of pros elected by their peers — and polling of the Elite Series field, the B.A.S.S. news release said.