Through next Friday, Leesburg Landing mostly belongs to the town. Starting at 6 a.m. on Saturday, November 7, it becomes the launch site for the American Bass Anglers Team Series National Championship. Under the ABA's championship announcement, registered competitors were barred from Weiss Lake on Monday, October 26, and that ban runs right up to that Saturday morning. Halloween at the Landing, the KTH Leesburg Products open house and the November Town Council meeting all fall inside that window. Once it closes, the same ramp and parking lot go to a national field.
The Calendar Between Now and the First Launch
The off-limits rule applies to championship competitors. It doesn't close the lake or the ramp to anyone else. What it does is give this week a clear end point. Here are the dates, in order:
- Saturday, October 31, 5 to 8 p.m. Free Trunk-or-Treat at Leesburg Landing on Riverside Street.
- Sunday, November 1, noon to 4 p.m. KTH Leesburg Products 25th anniversary open house and plant tours, 405 Industrial Boulevard.
- Monday, November 2. Leesburg Town Council at Town Hall, 215 Industrial Boulevard. The work session starts at 4:30 p.m. and the regular meeting at 5 p.m.
- Saturday, November 7, 6 a.m. The championship's practice period opens.
- Tuesday, November 10, 5 p.m. Mandatory competitor check-in and safety briefing at Leesburg Landing.
- Wednesday through Friday, November 11 to 13. Tournament days.
The first three dates fall on two Leesburg streets, Riverside Street and Industrial Boulevard. After that, the schedule moves to the water, with one stop back on shore at the Landing for the November 10 check-in.
Saturday Night, the Ramp Hosts Trick-or-Treaters
According to WEIS Radio, this year's Trunk-or-Treat at Leesburg Landing will have candy, inflatables and a hayride, and admission is free. Last year WEIS reported that the Town of Leesburg presented the event, also at the Landing on Halloween night.
The Landing has room for a trunk-or-treat because it was built for something bigger. The Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce lists it as a public four-lane concrete launch with two 50-foot access piers and parking for up to 262 truck-and-trailer rigs. It also has a pavilion, a bathhouse, RV camping with full hookups, primitive camping with a beach and pier, a two-mile nature trail and a one-mile walking trail. A lot sized for 262 boat trailers can hold a lot of parked cars with their trunks open. One week later, that same lot is the reason a national championship picked Leesburg.
For anyone staying out after 8 p.m., the Decks & Docks calendar lists live music from Rebecca Moreland on October 31. The restaurant is at 165 Chambers Street. AL.com reported its hours in May as 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. That same story covered its new floating ice-cream boat.
Sunday and Monday on Industrial Boulevard
The next afternoon, the town's biggest building opens its doors. KTH Leesburg Products started operating in Leesburg in September 2001. WEIS Radio reports that KTH lists the plant at about 515,000 square feet with roughly 520 associates. Visitors of all ages can tour it from noon to 4 p.m. on November 1.
The same WEIS story, citing Business Alabama, says the plant runs more than 430 production robots. Each day it makes enough stamped and welded steel frame components for about 1,500 to 1,800 vehicles. Everything from blanking and laser welding through stamping, spot welding and just-in-time delivery happens under one roof. The Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association also named KTH its 2024 Large Manufacturer Supplier of the Year. Lots of people drive past 405 Industrial Boulevard every week, and this is the one scheduled afternoon when the inside is open to all of them.
Head about two blocks' worth of address numbers down the same road and you reach Leesburg Town Hall at 215 Industrial Boulevard. The Town Council meets there the next evening. The Chamber's listing says the public is welcome, with the work session at 4:30 p.m. and the regular meeting at 5 p.m. on the first Monday of the month. After November 2, the next meeting on the Chamber calendar is December 7. That's well after the championship has packed up. So November 2 is the only regular council meeting held between Halloween at the Landing and the tournament's first practice morning.
Saturday, November 7, at 6 A.M.
When practice opens, the crowd at the Landing changes. The Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce is hosting the event, and American Bass Anglers calls it a gathering of "many of the nation's top amateur bass fishing teams." Competitors will launch from Leesburg Landing every morning. In the ABA's announcement, the organization's president, Morris Sheehan, points to the Landing by name:
"The combination of exceptional fishing, first-class facilities at Leesburg Landing, and genuine southern hospitality makes this an ideal location to crown our national champions."
Practice runs from 6 a.m. Saturday until 3 p.m. Tuesday, November 10. Two hours later, every team has to be at the Landing for check-in and the safety briefing. Competition runs Wednesday through Friday. For anyone planning around takeoff and weigh-in, the posted rules say only that "the official start and weigh-in times will be announced at the pre-tournament meeting." That means the clock times for November 11 won't be public before the evening of November 10.
One rule matters if you'll be on the water near the ramp. The posted championship rules require competitors to stay at idle speed or on trolling motors within 300 yards of the launch facility. That governs the tournament boats, not everyone else. Still, on tournament mornings, the water right off Riverside Street will be full of slow-moving boats.
The ABA also expects anglers, families and spectators to fill area hotels, restaurants, marinas and businesses through championship week. The organization recommends Bay Springs Country Inn & Marina at 130 County Road 112 as lodging near the Landing. Its bait and tackle shop posts hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The shop's number is 256-927-5443. If that's your regular stop for minnows, it will likely be busier during practice week.
What the Lake Itself Is Doing
All of this happens during the usual tail end of the Weiss drawdown. Alabama Power describes its typical schedule as starting October 1 and finishing by November 30. The company also notes that drought can change that schedule. So the national field will be fishing during the stretch of the year when the water is usually still dropping toward winter level.
It's also one of the two times of year the Chamber names for crappie. Its fishing page calls Weiss a year-round fishery, with crappie fishing best from February through April and again in late fall. In its own announcement, the ABA calls Weiss the "Crappie Capital of the World," then makes the case that the lake also produces outstanding largemouth and spotted bass for tournament anglers. In mid-November, a national bass field and the late-fall crappie season will be working the same lake from the same corner of Leesburg.
The Trunk-or-Treat starts at 5 p.m. this Saturday on Riverside Street, and the championship's first boats can launch from that same ramp at 6 a.m. on Saturday, November 7.
If championship week has you thinking about which coves and ramps fit the way you use Weiss Lake, Tressie Young and the Alabama Lake Homes team have spent a lifetime on this water and are always glad to talk it through. Start Your Property Search with someone who knows Leesburg Landing in the fall.
