The Maplesville Athletic Club will host its third annual bass fishing tournament on April 4.

The tournament will launch at “safe light” at Beeswax Creek—located next to Beeswax Bait and Grocery at 25747 Highway 145 in Columbiana.

First place will take home $2,000.

The format of the tournament remains the same as last year, but the tournament now has national implications, said Maplesville Athletic Club member Vickie Smith.

“The only thing that’s different is this year’s tournament is nationally sanctioned by BassCat and Nitro boats,” she said.

The sanctioning by the two companies has helped spread the word about the tournament, Smith said.

With the companies sanctioning the event, if the angler that wins the tournament is fishing out of these boats within three models years, those companies will add prize money, Smith said.

“I can tell in the amount of people that have pre-registered, it’s helped us,” Smith said.

The cost to enter the tournament is $125 per boat, and Smith said she has received payment from 21 entires already, with eight more entries’ money coming in the next few days. The tournament will allow registration until the day of, but will only accept cash the day of the tournament.

Smith said the two companies sanctioning the event helps all parties: The sanctioning raises the profile of the event, thus encouraging more boats to enter and subsequently more money to be raised; it helps the companies promote their products; and allows anglers to receive recognition for winning.

“It gives (anglers) national advertising,” she said. “(The companies) put the winner on their website.”

Smith said the sanctioning agreement came with help from Brech’s Marine in Selma and Sylacauga Marine working with BassCat and Nitro, respectively.

“Last year we had roughly 70 to 80 boats,” she said. “This year, they’re telling us to expect double to triple that. We basically submitted that it was a fundraiser for athletics, and the companies said ‘Absolutely!'”
The tournament once again figures to pay winning participants handsomely, as the second place takes home $1,000, third place $500, fourth place $200 and fifth place $100.

Anglers have a chance to win big, as if the fish that wins the big fish contest has a weight that ends in .00, the angler who landed him will win $25,000.

Smith said the money raised will go toward several projects the Athletic Club is working on, including the purchase of rings commemorating the Maplesville High School football team’s 2014 state championship.

“It’s a fundraiser for all athletics, but we’re looking for the last push to buy the championship rings,” she said. “At Christmas, we were roughly $8,000-8,5000 away from having enough to where parents wouldn’t have to pay for them.”

Smith also said the MAC was looking to help out the as many of the Red Devil sports programs as possible, such as the reconditioning of the football team’s helmets, assisting with a new scoreboard for the softball field and providing entry fees and transpiration costs for the track team.

“Over the last two years, we’ve raised about $6-8,000 after payout,” she said. “We’d be very happy with that amount, but we’d like to get $10,000-plus.”
For more information, call James and Vickie Smith at (334) 366-2939.