Smallmouth and largemouth bass aren’t the only things national fishing tournaments are reeling into the Great Lakes Bay Region.
Bay City, Midland, and Saginaw also are seeing hundreds of people and nearly a million dollars coming into the area from direct spending of participants and tourists from these annual events. The events increase tourism with outside visitors, and help create a sense of community and engagement for local residents too.
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Graphic courtesy of the City of Bay CityTim Shelton is the Director of Sports Tourism at
Go Great Lakes Bay, the regional convention and visitors bureau. He works to foster sports tourism in Bay, Midland, and Saginaw counties. He specifically works with sports stakeholders, including facilities, organizations, and events to ensure visiting athletes and tourists have the best experience they can while in the region.
“We want to foster more of the travel related to sporting events, whether it be the participants, the participant’s families, or fans that come into our facilities, we want to ultimately increase the economic impact into the region through their direct spending,” Shelton says. “We want them to fill our hotels, eat in our restaurants, go to our attractions, and attend our festivals. I’m working to help grow that impact.”
In June,
Veterans Memorial Park hosted the
BASS High School Tournament and
BASS College Tournament, bringing hundreds of anglers to the Saginaw Bay and River. Just last week, the region hosted the
Hobie Kayak Bass Series.
Later this month, it’s slated to host the
National Professional Fishing League from Aug. 29-31, bringing around 70 anglers to the area.
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Photo courtesy of Tim Shelton/Go Great Lakes BayThe Great Lakes Bay Region is seeing an economic boost from a series of fishing tournaments held in Bay City this summer.These tournaments help to put the local fishery on the map, says Shelton.
“Right now, the Saginaw Bay as a fishery is one of the hottest fisheries in the state of Michigan, probably one of the top two or three destinations for bass fishing in the state. The word has spread, and most of those anglers are coming from the Southern states in the warmer climates. They chose to come to the Saginaw Bay because of its reputation.”
One of the anglers in town for the Hobie Bass Kayak Series was
Kristine Fischer. Fischer, whose home is in Nebraska, is leading the Angler of the Year race in the tournament series.
“I’ve never been here so that’s why I’m excited to be here,” Fischer said before the tournament began. “I’ve fished all over the country and I’ve always heard extremely positive things about the Bay Area and the fishing, both largemouth and smallmouth. I couldn’t be more excited to be here.”
The Bay is filled with largemouth and smallmouth bass, and makes for an affordable destination compared to other larger locations anglers visit.
Shelton says the numbers are still being calculated for this year’s events, but he’s estimating it to be on par with last year’s financial impact.
“Although we don’t have the final number, it is significant because the families travel with these high school kids and college student teams,” he says. “It’s not just a one- or two-day tournament, they come in early to pre-fish and scout, so it’s more like a five-day event. With these tournaments, there’s a significant impact in the hotel rooms and the direct spending.”
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Photo courtesy of Tim Shelton/Go Great Lakes BayThe anglers say one advantage to participating in a tournament here is we have different types of waterways. Anglers can fish in the river, bay, or lake.The National Professional Fishing League has taken place locally for the past three years, bringing 71 anglers to the area last year. Add in their travel companions, crew, visitors, media, etc., and that brings the total to about 215-230 people, says Shelton.
Although the event isn’t as big as the Memorial Cup which brought thousands of hockey fans and visitors to Saginaw, Sheltons says many fishing groups spend their dollars locally at bait shops and recreation retailers.
According to an
economic impact study of the 2023 tournaments conducted by Grand Valley State University, on average, Shelton says the angler visitor spends $232 per person per day.
“You take that and multiply that out by the number of visitor days, and the direct spending impact of the National Professional Fishing League was $976,000. That’s almost a million dollars,” he says.
Shelton says the economic impact of that nearly $1 million direct spending is also evident from the money spent on gasoline, supplies, lodging, the jobs supporting the events, etc. Although it isn’t as much of a spectator sport as other activities, visitors do still trek over to the area to see the boats come in, and attend the weigh-ins, adding to the region’s tourism. Sports tourism brings value to the region in a variety of ways.
“These events also create community engagement,” Shelton says. “There’s volunteer opportunities with these kinds of events, and it helps create a sense of engagement and involvement that promotes an inclusive environment within the region. Ultimately, it promotes our destination. People see the marketing that goes around these events. There’s a destination promotion as a place to come and fish, or to bring your family for a vacation. We’re promoting the Great Lakes Bay Region as a place to come and visit, showcasing our amenities and capabilities.”
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Photo courtesy of Tim Shelton/Go Great Lakes BayOne more tournament is expected this summer. About 70 anglers from the National Professional Fishing League are expected to fish here at the end of August.After hosting the high school and college fishing tournaments earlier this month, there’s already talks of the organizers returning to the Saginaw Bay in the future. While there’s no official announcement of that, many of the top fishing anglers in the world are slated to return officially for the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour in August 2025.
“They were here last year, and they’re coming back next year. That’s a testament to how much these anglers like that water. To have them return is really a feather in our cap, and says a lot,” Shelton says.
Shelton is proud of the relatively small groups of people behind-the-scenes working hard to host these expensive tournaments. There are fees involved to bring these larger scale events to the area, and plenty of fundraising and sponsorship required. He hopes to see more entities get involved and behind these events with their dollars.
“It takes a lot of work to bring these tournaments in, and they directly impact the economy with revenues, so there’s a big opportunity for the community to get behind them with their dollars, whether it’s sponsorship dollars or donations,” he says.
Ed Clements, a local fisherman and part of the local host committee that helps bring the tournaments in, is working on the logistics side of things while the events are taking place. The local grassroots committee is made up of eight folks, including Clements, a Bay City native.
“I’ve always been involved in fishing, recreation, and sports-related stuff my whole life,” he says. “I’ve been on the City Commission for the last nine years, and my role there kind of helps with getting these tournaments to the area, and making sure things run smoothly.”
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Photo courtesy of Tim Shelton/Go Great Lakes BayA study done in 2023 estimates that each angler who comes to visit for a tournament spends about $232 per day. Multiply that by the number of days each angler stays and it totals nearly $1 million.Clements says Bay City’s proximity to the Saginaw Bay and River makes it suitable for walleye and more recently, bass fishing.
“Economically, the bass fishing market is 100 times bigger than any of the other fishing markets, and we have an awesome bass fishery here that a lot of people don’t know about,” he says. “A couple of tournaments came here four or five years ago, and it generated a lot of excitement. Myself and a few other people formed this committee, and worked to bring these larger national professional level tournaments to the area.”
One of the biggest things the local committee has done is fundraising.
“These tournaments do not come for free, there’s a host fee anywhere from $3,000 for a smaller regional event to $50,000 to $75,000 for a national event,” Clements says.
Another thing that makes the area unique for hosting fishing tournaments is the variety of waters via the lake, river, and bay. This enables anglers to use different techniques and preferences. The variety of waters also helps with stability, given the back-up options to host in multiple spots in case the wind gets too strong in one area of the water.
Clements says the tournaments also provide visitors and spectators with a chance to get up-close-and-personal with the competing participants.
“Fans can go up and talk to these professional anglers and get autographs and photos,” he says. “It’s a lot easier to do than with some other professional sports like baseball, football, or golf. With fishing, it’s not hard to get access to the professionals.”
Even if folks can’t make it to the event, there’s also traction online, helping to create a media presence for fans at home. Live-streaming and T.V. specials have presented the tournament in different mediums too.
“We had Major League Fishing here in 2023, and they have a huge livestream production and also have a show on the Discovery Channel,” Clements says. “We had a two-hour show dedicated to the event in Bay City, and it showed off the area really well.”
Clements also hopes more organizations and sponsors can rally behind the upcoming events, helping to invest their dollars to ensure an even greater economic impact regionally.