As the Bassmaster’s roll out of town for the second time, Pilot Point is reminded the city hasn’t quite grown large enough to support such a large influx or tourism off the wa- ter.
Though the fishing happens on Ray Roberts, the lake right in the city’s backyard, the bulk of the tourism is seen in Fort Worth, where the weigh in happens.
“We don’t have very accurate numbers on event attendees at the park, since the launch occurred before the office opened each morning.” Park Superintendent Robbie Merritt said. “We estimate between 1,500-2,500 people attended the event launches over the three-day period.”
Downtown vendors shared they did not see many of those spectators and participants on the Square.
“I had maybe three people say that they were here for that,” Martin General Store owner Allison Martin said. “If they’re driving in from Fort Worth, they’re coming in from the other side and not venturing this way.”
Grechen Counts at Southern Junkiez concurred.
“There was nothing crazy,” Counts said. “I think the Tulip Farm is bringing more business to the Square than the Bassmaster did. I think with them starting across the dam and not here, that impacted it some.”
She expanded, sharing some info about safety precautions taken during the tournament which add another level of distance from Pilot Point.
“When all that is going, those guys can’t even stay in Airbnbs around here because they have to host their boat every night in Fort Worth in a caged area,” she said. “It’s a security thing, making sure no one messes with the boats. It’s still fun to get our name mentioned and have Pilot Point and Lake Ray Roberts as part of the Bassmaster Classic.”
Until the city can properly house both the fishermen and their boats, as well as support the crowds present for the weigh in, this year held at Dickies Arena, Bassmaster traffic has little reason to venture into town.
Lone Star Lodge and Marina, situated in Jordan Park, saw more business than those in town.
“We had increased business and were able to offer overnight slips for some of our vendors for Bassmaster,” General Manager Jennifer Ishmael said. “Our ship store definitely had more activity because now we can offer fuel, chips, snacks and drinks, and our hotel was full of fishermen, vendors and spectators.”
She explained even the lodge doesn’t have much to do with the competition proper, however.
“We are not really included in the whole Bassmaster activities, [as] it goes to Fort Worth,” Ishmael said. “They don’t do the weigh in here. It’s in Fort Worth, and with the amount of spectators that come to that, I don’t think anywhere in Pilot Point would be large enough.”
Ishmael shared that with the expanded business they do see, the lodge may consider having an ancillary event should Bassmaster return to Ray Roberts again.
“As far as having a big event, we may do something in the future where we could have food vendors and that type of thing out here for spectators, but most of the action is on the lake,” Ishmael said.
Pilot Point City Manager Britt Lusk shared a bit about the wider value the town and lake see despite the relative distance from the bulk of the festivities.
“One of the major things we’ve gotten is we’ve built a strong relationship with the Fort Worth Sports Bureau,” Lusk said. “I foresee the next time it comes to Lake Ray Roberts we at Pilot Point will have a larger influence over the happenings and more opportunity to work with Fort Worth Sports and Bassmaster’s in the planning.”
Merritt explained how the rotation for event sites works.
“The Bassmaster Classic rotates to different cities and lakes each year and typically only announces their plans about one year in advance of the next Classic,” Merritt said. “So, in 2026 they are scheduled to be in Knoxville, Tennessee, on the Tennessee River. But we hope to see them back here again at Ray Roberts Lake and Fort Worth in the future.”
Martin said that the visitors she did receive offered some insight about how the fishermen feel about the area’s lake.
“They rave about how much they like it, so I think they’ll be back again,” Martin said.
