This is a fish story about a couple of big ones that got away -- for now.

Hot on the heels of the well-attended CITGO Bassmaster Classic, held on Pittsburgh's rivers in July 2005, FLW Outdoors wanted to bring its four-day Forrest Wood Cup Championship bass tournament to town in August 2007.

But after poking through the lures in its tackle box, VisitPittsburgh, the organization formerly known as the Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, never threw a cast in the direction of the FLW national championship tournament. That tournament, which pays its winner $1 million -- the biggest first place purse in the world of competitive bass fishing -- and is broadcast worldwide by the FOX Sports Network, won't be coming to Pittsburgh.

Seems the agency didn't have enough money to get the FLW to bite, and as a result, anglers at the Wal-Mart-sponsored 2007 championship will be chucking crank-baits, buzz-baits, twister-tails, tubes and soft plastics into Lake Ouachita, just north of Hot Springs, Ark.

Ken Komoroski, a Pittsburgh attorney and bass fisherman who headed the local group that landed the 2005 Bassmaster Classic, said more should have been done to hook the FLW tournament.

"FLW approached the city and VisitPittsburgh said it didn't have the money and turned them down," Mr. Komoroski said. "I said, 'We'll raise the money,' but Visit Pittsburgh said forget about it for 2007. Think about 2008 instead."

Mr. Komoroski said FLW, named after the founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, had asked for a tournament fee of $200,000, about the same amount paid to land the 2005 Bassmaster Classic. Like that tournament, FLW probably also was seeking free exhibit space at Mellon Arena and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, as well as concessions from hotels for lower room rates.

He acknowledged that money might be tighter this year than when the Bassmaster Classic received financial support from the state Bureau of Tourism and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, which is focusing on supporting Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary celebration for 2008.

"These are opportunities that don't come Pittsburgh's way very often," Mr. Komoroski said. "Given the success of the Bassmaster Classic, these opportunities seem like something worthy of some more discussion."

But Bob Imperata, VisitPittsburgh executive vice president, reads the tournament water a little differently, saying the fishing contests just aren't good fits for 2007.

VisitPittsburgh also turned down a return visit in 2007 by BASS, which wanted to hold one of its three annual Bassmaster Majors in Pittsburgh. But the city still has one of those BASS Majors on the line for 2008.

"We work at not turning business down, but we also work on making good business decisions," Mr. Imperata said. "We have to work with the hotel industry and if the interest isn't there from them we don't have a lot of maneuverability."

City hotels may be less likely to trim rates and hold blocks of rooms because of their experience with the Bassmaster Classic, when fans made reservations late and a chunk of the business landed outside the Downtown area.

"We did surveys and we came close to putting the business in here we should have had," Mr. Imperata said. "The numbers were good. That's why we're still interested for 2008."

It can be tough, if you miss them once, to get the big fish to bite a second time, but both the FLW and BASS seem interested in another nibble.

Mike Mulone, BASS director of site selection, said he wanted to come back in 2007, but thinks there's room for both bass tours on Pittsburgh's rivers in 2008. He said staging tournaments for both tours on the same water is not unprecedented, noting that FLW held a tournament in Birmingham, Ala., in July and BASS held one in February.

Dave Washburn, FLW's spokesman, said the organization, undeterred by the hot weather, sluggish action and low weights registered by Bassmaster Classic in 2005, still wants a shot at Pittsburgh's Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers and the strong fishing fan base in the region.

He said communities and cities compete -- and pay -- to land big fishing tournaments because of the tremendous exposure they provide. FLW's championship tournament on FOX is seen by 80 million viewers in the United States and 350 million in Africa, Asia and Europe.

"The Classic had a perfect storm of bad conditions and had a terrible catch, but we think it didn't do the rivers justice," Mr. Washburn said. "We're confident that things will be better if we can work a deal out."