Adair County’s Green River Lake and Holmes Bend Marina has been designated to host the 2020 National Crappie USA Classic Tournament from Oct. 21-24. The Columbia-Adair County Tourism board made the announcement late Tuesday evening following their monthly meeting.
“It’s very exciting and I think it will be really good for our county and it will bring in a lot of money to our community,” says Adair Tourism board chair Sue Stivers. “It’s an honor that Crappie USA decided to host this National tournament on our beautiful lake.”
The tournament will bring in hundreds of anglers from all across the United States. Darrell Van Vactor, General Manager of Crappie USA, says that the economic impact of this tournament could exceed $1 million.
“The Crappie USA Classic tournament has historically brought in between $1.1 and $1.35 million in economic impact for our hosting communities for more than 20 years,” says Van Vactor. “Beginning soon after the location is released to our membership anglers start coming to the hosting lake to get acquainted with local amenities, search for areas they may want to return to for lodging , food and mostly practice on tournament waters to find spots where they will want to fish in the Classic.”
In June, Holmes Bend Marina hosted the annual spring Crappie USA tournament where more than 70 angler teams participated in the two day event. Local fisherman David Jones set a record after catching a 3.36 pound black crappie at the spring tournament; ownership of Holmes Bend say it is the largest crappie ever taken on their section of Green River Lake.
The National tournament is expected to draw in hundreds of teams and individual anglers hoping to reel in thousands in prize money that will be awarded to winners of various divisions.
