Ingalls reels in 3 fishing tournaments

By Paul Huggins, Staff Writer, The Decatur Daily

Ingalls Harbor hooked three more fishing tournaments for its 2010 schedule, the Decatur-Morgan County Convention and Visitors Bureau announced Tuesday.
The events will draw fishermen from southern universities such as Auburn, Alabama and Mississippi, female anglers and crappie enthusiasts.
The largest of the three is the Southern Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship set for April 1-3. It will bring 110 anglers from more than 20 schools and be televised on the Versus cable network. In addition to filming the tournament, the channel will televise features about Decatur.
The visitors bureau will spend $5,000 on fees for the college event.
Tami Reist, visitors bureau president, said bringing the collegiate tournament to Ingalls is a great way to show off Wheeler Lake to up-and-coming anglers who could become professional fishermen one day.
A couple of weeks prior to the college tournament, Ingalls will host the Academy Sports Women’s Bass Tournament. It will have about 100 female anglers March 17-20.
Reist said Academy Sports, which opened a new store here in August, expressed an early interest in bringing the event to Decatur and worked quickly to make it happen.
The bureau will spend $4,000 on the bid fee. Weigh-ins will occur at the store.
Crappie USA, which will have a qualifying tournament here in October, will bring one of its three Super Events and Kids’ Rodeo to Ingalls on May 21-22. Organizers expect 150 to 180 anglers. The bid fee to bring the Super Event here was $12,000.
Nine events
Those three events bring the list of fishing tournaments launching from Ingalls to nine.
“We’ve got so much going on at Ingalls, it’s hard to find a good slot for them,” Reist said.