The Plattsburgh area will host six tournaments on Lake Champlain this summer. Five will bring anglers seeking to win professional bass tournaments and another brings a national jet ski championship to the region.
Lake Champlain is more than 100 miles long. North Country Chamber President and CEO Garry Douglas says it defined the Plattsburgh and North Country region even before European settlers come to the area.
“It really establishes the economy to this day being so central to our tourism and hospitality economy, our recreation economy here in the North Country for certainly the last century in particular," Douglas said.
Lake Champlain is renowned for bass fishing. Last year due to the pandemic only one fishing tournament was held. But this summer five are planned. The North Country Chamber’s Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau Vice President for Marketing Kristy Kennedy outlined each tournament beginning July 8.
“It is the Bassmaster Elite Series," Kennedy explained. "This is actually when you think of fishing tournaments one of the Super Bowls. It’s their most elite series with the biggest prize money. You get 84 top anglers that are competing for roughly about $100,000 per tournament. They will be here July 8th through the 11th. What really makes this one spectacular is also the media coverage we get. This comes with ESPN.”
Kennedy says the next competition immediately follows the Bassmaster Elite.
“July 15th we are excited to have FLW here with their Toyota Series and this brings out 450 anglers," she said.
A regional tournament then occurs on July 24. Kennedy says the second largest tournament is scheduled to start August 5.
“This is the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tournament," Kennedy detailed. "Lake Champlain is usually considered one of the top ten bass fishing lakes in the country. And finally on the fishing front we are closing out our tournaments in September on the 18th and 19th with an ABA (American Bass Anglers) Open Series. So all in all on the fishing front you’re going to see about a 2,000 person influx of anglers throughout this season.”
There will be one non-fishing tournament scheduled. East Coast Watercross will bring its national jet skiing championships to the Plattsburgh City Beach July 31 through August 1.
“This is the fourth year we’ve been able to host them," Kennedy said. "We did have to skip last year but this is the second year we’ve actually been the national championship location. That’s about 150 competitors and their families coming to the area.”
It’s hoped that the numbers of people coming into the region for the tournaments will help offset the loss of Canadian tourists who cannot visit because the border remains closed to non-essential travelers.
Democratic Clinton County Legislature Deputy Chair Bobby Hall is also a local tavern owner.
“As we all know with the border being closed it has really affected our business here in Clinton County and especially in the city of Plattsburgh, our sales tax dollars," Hall said. "This event here can really boost us up. It can get us over the hump. This could bring us back to normal.”
Best Western Plus Plattsburgh General Manager Julie Kramer says the hotel industry has been one of the most impacted by the pandemic and the tournaments will bring in needed business.
“For us in the hotel industry it’s been devastating and 50 to 60 percent of our summer business would be our Canadian friends," Kramer said. "And that’s a huge hit to our area not just hotels, for everybody. And these tournaments bring in much needed bed nights for us and occupancy tax as well for the county. And not just that for the restaurants and gas stations and everybody else in the area that need this business. And it’s not just the weekend. You know the scouts come in usually a week, week-and-a–half before. Then they bring the boat in. Then they bring the boat testers in. It’s like this whole big entourage deal. It’s very interesting! But it brings a lot of money.”
A past economic impact study done in conjunction with SUNY Plattsburgh assessing a similar schedule found the fishing tournaments brought about $3.2 million in direct and indirect spending to the region.
Each tournament must have a health plan filed with the New York state Department of Health that follows all COVID testing and vaccination protocols.
