Palmetto Boat Center College & High School Bass Tournament on December 10 & 11, 2021, Anderson, SC
The 2021/22 Palmetto Boat Center College Tournament Trail and High School Tournament Trail will visit Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC on Friday, December 10th & Saturday, December 11th, 2021. Friday the 10th will be day one of the PBC College Tournament Trail Championship. The 11th will be day 2 of the PBC College Tournament Trail and stop number 4 for the PBC High School Tournament Trail. Blast off will be approximately 6:45 am each day. Weigh in for middle school teams will begin at 1:30 pm. College and High School teams will start at 3:00 pm. The event will be held at the Green Pond Landing & Event Center, which is located at 470 Green Pond Road, Anderson, SC 29625. The event is free to the public.
“We are expecting 50 College team boats for Fridays college championship, which equates to 100 students and 200 High School/Middle School boats, which equates to 400 students and 200 volunteer adult captains. said Rob Daniels, Tournament Weigh Master for the Palmetto Boat Center college and High tournament trails. ” High School bass fishing has exploded and has proven to be a wonderful opportunity for these young men and women transition from high school to collegiate competitive bass fishing. The PBC Tournament trail has provided a platform for these high school anglers to gain access to college coaches and recruiters with the end result in many cases being a college bass fishing scholarship assisting in the advancement of their education and competitive bass fishing”
Palmetto Boat Center College Tournament Trail Director Chris Kanute said “One of the goals the PBC Tournament Trail set out last year was to blend our high school and college series together. We felt like this would be a great platform to showcase the talent the state had to offer the sport of fishing. This event on Lake Hartwell will be the first, but certainly not the last, combined event and the facilities at Green Pond are the perfect venue to continue to showcase these young anglers and Anderson County.”
The student anglers, College and High School, will be competing for the heaviest five bass limit, and for an array of prizes, including a $2,000 scholarship to the winning team in each class. The trail will crown an Angler of the Year and School of the Year for the college series on Saturday the 11th. These scholarships are sponsored by Palmetto Boat Center.
The event is sponsored by Palmetto Boat Center, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Shimano Fishing, Nitro Performance Bass Boats, Phoenix Bass Boats, Tracker Off Road, Mercury Marine, Trick Step, Visit Anderson, and Anderson County Parks & Recreation Department.
Coach Mark Stone from Wren Bass Fishing Team said “The PBC Trail is a great outlet for these young men and women to get out and showcase their talent. Not everyone is cut out for baseball, football, or basketball. So, this trail gives them a chance to be part of a team on a smaller scale and gives them that sense of accomplishment. Hats off to Marty Walker and the PBC team for all that they do.”
“These student anglers are the future of our sport,” said Walker. “It’s amazing how this trail continues to grow. We see new students participating each year. We have teams from all over the upstate.” Participants from the trail have advanced to college competition with schools such as Lander, Erskine, Clemson, USC, and Emmanuel just to name a few.
The Palmetto Boat Center High School Tournament Trail was established in the fall of 2015 to create a large-scale competitive environment for the high school fishing teams and clubs in South Carolina. The trail filled the need for central coordination and operation of high school tournaments. The Palmetto Boat Center College Tournament Trail was established in the fall of 2020 and has rapidly expanded to a regional trail drawing participants from South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, just to name a few.
This is the 7th full season for the High School Tournament Trail and the 2nd full season for the College Tournament Trail. The college series consist of 3 regular season tournaments in the fall and a 2-day classic championship where after day 1 the field is cut to the top 15 teams for day 2. The High School trail consists of six regular season tournaments, and a final 2-day classic championship event. A middle school division exists to encourage participation from younger competitors. The teams compete for points in each tournament to determine the Anglers of the Year and the School of the Year. The top teams can qualify for the end of season two day “Classic” tournament which is an invitational event.
Our regular season college events participate in the Collegiate Bass Championship Series where they earn points on each event for school of the year. Our regular season High School events are all sanctioned tournaments by South Carolina BASS Nation, as qualifying points events towards the BASS Nation High School National Championship. In the summer of 2019, the trail sent seven teams to participate in the National Championship.
For more information on the tournament trail, contact Marty Walker at 864-561-2026, martyw@palmettoboatcenter.com.