Bassmaster Classic Coming to Hartwell This Month

The rock stars of the professional bass fishing world are coming to Lake Hartwell as the reservoir plays host to the 2015 Bassmaster Classic Feb. 20-22.

No Georgians qualified for this year’s event, but top pros like Aaron Martens and Skeet Reese will be fishing. Last year’s winner, Randy Howell, of Springville, Ala., returns with a chance to repeat.

Weigh-ins and the Classic Outdoors Expo will take place in Greenville, S.C. at the Bon Secours Arena and TD Convention Center. The Expo will have vendor booths and fishing-related activities. Doors for the weigh-in open at 3:15 p.m. each day.

The pros will launch at 7:15 a.m. each morning from Green Pond Landing, the new “mega ramp” facility at the Highway 24 bridge over Twenty Six Mile Creek near the mouth of the Seneca River. It’s about 4 miles south of I-85 at South Carolina exit 11. If you’re planning to launch your boat and follow a pro, Portman Shoals Marina is just across the lake from Green Pond Landing at Highway 24.

Green Pond Landing has three wide launching lanes, 166 boat trailer parking spaces, a 250-foot floating boat dock and 113 single parking spaces for vehicles without trailers.

Green Pond Landing was funded primarily from money awarded after a PCB settlement with Schlumberger Technology Corporation in 2006. PCB contamination is why Hartwell has fish-consumption advisories for most fish.

For more information on the 2015 Classic, visit www.bassmaster.com.