This weekend will be about creating heritage for Marcus Honnell.
On Saturday, the 38-year-old Columbus resident will team with one of his three sons, Mason, 11, in the Crappie USA Tournament Super Event in Columbus. Marcus’ other two sons, Landon, 8, and Weston, 7, will fish with their grandfather in the Crappie Kids event, which also will be Saturday.
The Crappie USA event, which will be held on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and will stretch from Aberdeen to Aliceville, Ala., will be the first tournament in the series Marcus Honnell will compete in. He hopes it is the start of something he and his sons can do together, just like when he learned how to fish from his father, William, and his mother’s father, Gilbert Hannah.
“I have been fishing all my life, ever since I was big enough to hold a pole,” Marcus Honnell said. “I started Crappie fishing real heavily 15 years ago. … My mother’s dad loved fishing and he taught us how to fish. I hope that my kids can say that about me as well.
Honnell feels Crappie USA is an ideal forum to build that heritage. Formed in 1996, Crappie USA’s purpose is to establish and to expand a family-oriented, cost effective, and competitive arena for amateur and semi-pro crappie anglers as the foundation to promote and to market products and services.
The top 25 teams in the Super Event this weekend that haven’t previously qualified will advance to the Crappie USA Classic on Oct. 24-27 in Cadiz, Ky.
Honnell said he has competed in local tournaments on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. He said he always wanted to compete in a Crappie USA event but that he never had a boat, so he couldn’t. Now that he has a boat, Honnell said he is anxious to compete in an event organized by a group that aims to promote the type of fishing that helps parents build bonds with their children.
“Competitive fishing makes you feel like you’re part of the fishing team,” Honnell said. “My family never fished in many tournaments because there weren’t many tournaments. It is fun. It is just like going to a baseball game. When you fish in a tournament, you may get some money for it. It is more than just that, though, it is backing up an organization that helps the environment and helps give a voice to the anglers. I haven’t been in the association for long (this is his first year in it), but it seems like a good one to be involved with.”
Fishing starts at 6:30 a.m. today and Saturday. Weigh-in today and Saturday will be at 4 p.m. at the John C. Stennis Boat Ramp on Wilkins-Wise Road. Numerous cash prizes will be awarded to competitors.
The event is the fifth of a scheduled 16. Tournaments will be held in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. For more information about Crappie USA and the events this season, go to www.crappieusa.com.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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