FLW wants Massena to make summer tourney 'a bash unlike any other,' may bring sport fishing to schools

By Andy Gardner

MASSENA -- Massena’s sport fishing promoter says Fishing League Worldwide is asking for a unique spectacle when they bring their title championship to town this summer. Also, FLW is looking to sanction competitive fishing teams at local schools.

Don Meissner, with whom the town contracts to promote Massena as a fishing destination, said he’s been talking with FLW officials “almost every day” about the summer tournament. It will feature the top 50 anglers from the FLW circuit competing for a $200,000 top prize.

“They’re suggesting we have a real special regalia that we can devise. They want this to be a bash unlike any other,” Meissner said at the Wednesday, Dec. 18 Town Council meeting. “The more I talk with them the more I realize this could be a launching pad for so much we’re trying to do.”

He says they’re going to need help getting the 2020 festivities together.

“It’s gonna take a lot of work,” he told the board. “Anybody that’s interested in helping us with any logistic part of putting these ceremonies together this summer, we need their help.”

Meanwhile, Meissner said in January he’ll be meeting with school principals to discuss competitive fishing as a scholastic sport, which he said is popular in the southern United States.

“In making this more of a possibility, I’ve talked to the FLW top people ... (an official) promised support in making FLW a sanctioning agent,” Meissner said. “Each kid would be a member of FLW.”

Looking beyond the coming year, Meissner said FLW and Major League Fishing are considering doing their Angler of the Year presentation and ceremony in Massena in 2021.

He also praised Councilor Tom Miller, who partook in his last board meeting that day. His term expires at the end of the year.

“We might not even be talking about this big ceremony next summer if it wasn’t for all the work Tom did,” Meissner said.