Crappie tournament expected to bring crowd
But late registration could be hampered by weather
The reputation of Lake Weiss as the Crappie Capital of the World will be put to the test Saturday as anglers from as far away as Colorado and Pennsylvania make the Crappie USA Tournament Trail stop at the lake.
Amateur and professional teams will compete for bragging rights to cash and the opportunity to compete at the 2019 Crappie USA Classic later in the year. The CUSA Classic Championship will be held October 23-26 on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tennessee. It features a guaranteed payout of $125,000 in cash and prizes.
The tournament Saturday will conclude with a weigh-in and festivities at the Graves Three River Landing on the west side of the causeway between Cedar Bluff and Centre.
Darrell Van Vactor, operations manager for Crappie USA, based in Louisville, Kentucky, said he expects about 50 teams to participate in the event. He’s aware of teams coming from Colorado, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Based on data from the 2018 tournament, Van Vactor said he suspects 70 percent of the teams will be from out of state.
He is a little worried that the forecast for rain all week might hold down some of the crowd that typically waits until last-minute to register. Van Vactor said he doesn’t think rain or high water will hurt the fishing, but if the dam is having to flow water at a higher than normal rate, it could impact where the fish will be biting.
“The lake, as you know, really fell off for a few years on the crappie population. Thanks to a lot of hard work by a couple of nonprofit groups — Weiss Lake Improvement Association and Crappie Unlimited was another. They really went to work and got a stocking program started so the population is good again,” Van Vactor said. “We’re just trying to get these out of town fishermen to understand that it is good again and them coming back to Weiss.”
Most of the out of town teams come in several days before the tournament to get a feel for the lake and where the fish are biting. It offers over 440 miles of
shoreline and shallow flats, large coves, under-water drop offs and deep channels.
“I know of five or six teams that are already in town,” Van Vactor said.
Crappie USA does an economic impact study with each of its tournaments and Van Vactor said the impact at Lake Weiss as year ago was just under $150,000.
The amateur division had 33 teams last year while the pro division had 14 teams. The pro division winners brought 11.54 pounds of fish to the weigh-in, while the amateur winners weighed in an even 11 pounds.
Registration for the event is still open. Teams may include one or two person boats with a third angler under the age of 16. Late registration and a pre-tournament seminar will be held Friday evening at the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, 801 Cedar Bluff Rd. in Centre. Registration begins at 5 p.m. A National Sponsor Field Test Product Drawing accompanies the seminar starting at 7 p.m. Central time. The seminar is open to anyone.
A free Crappie Kids Fish- ing Rodeo will be held in conjunction with the tournament at the weigh-in site with sign up Saturday morning at 8 a.m. The Kids Rodeo is from 9-11 a.m.