MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO HOST WALMART BASS FISHING LEAGUE GREAT LAKES DIVISION TOURNAMENT
Category: press release
Sep 2nd, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Sep 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 AM
MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO HOST WALMART BASS FISHING LEAGUE GREAT LAKES DIVISION TOURNAMENTLACROSSE, Wis. (Sept. 2, 2008) – The Great Lakes Division of the $8.8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League® will visit the Mississippi River in LaCrosse, Wis., Sept. 13-14 for its final regular-season event. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete in the tournament, which will award as much as $67,500 in cash, including a top award of $9,000 in the Boater Division.The two-day Super Tournament will start with the full field competing Saturday and continue with the top 20 percent of the field competing Sunday. Winners will be determined by the heaviest two-day catch. If the winner is a participant in the Ranger Cup incentive program, he will receive a $1,000 bonus from Ranger Boats and $500 from Yamaha if his boat is powered by Yamaha. Ranger will award $500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant if not the winner, and Yamaha will kick in $250 if the boat is powered by Yamaha. Bombardier will award $1,000 to the winning boater if the winner’s boat is equipped with a qualifying Evinrude E-TEC or Direct Injection outboard. That’s a potential top award of $11,000 for anglers who meet contingency guidelines.The winning co-angler will earn as much as $4,500 cash. Snickers Big Bass awards of up to $1,500 and $750, respectively, will also be awarded in the Boater and Co-angler Divisions.Anglers may register for the tournament online at FLWOutdoors.com or by calling (270) 252-1000. Onsite registration will be held Sept. 12 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Walmart store located at 3107 Market Place in Onalaska, Wis. Entry fees are $300 for boaters and $150 for co-anglers. Anglers will take off at 6:30 Saturday and Sunday mornings from Copeland West-Clinton St. Boat Ramp located at Clinton Street in LaCrosse. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at Copeland West-Clinton St. Boat Ramp at 2:30 p.m. Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 3107 Market Place in Onalaska beginning at 3:30 p.m. The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in each of the BFL’s 28 divisions at the end of the season advance to a no-entry-fee Regional Championship where boaters fish for a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck and co-anglers fish for a new Ranger boat. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy, which features a $1 million purse and a top award of $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. Anglers who compete in all five regular-season events within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to compete in the Chevy Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American for a total of 48 boaters and 48 co-anglers advancing through BFL competition.The winning boater and winning co-angler at the All-American advance to the no-entry-fee $2 million Forrest Wood Cup. This event, featuring a top award of $1 million, is the most lucrative tournament in all of competitive bass fishing. In all, the BFL offers weekend anglers the opportunity to qualify for three no-entry-fee championships with total cash awards exceeding $3 million. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series™ for 2009 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour®. Tournament anglers aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™, FLW Outdoors® offered anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players could become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player’s Advantage, which provided them with exclusive insider information that could have guided them to a $100,000 victory at every Walmart FLW Tour® stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player’s Advantage gave them an edge over the competition and increased their shot for the $1 million cash grand prize awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Visit FantasyFishing.com today to find out more information and to register for next season. In BFL competition, boaters supply the boat and compete from the front deck against other boaters. Co-anglers compete from the back deck against other co-anglers. As the nation’s leading provider of affordable, close-to-home weekend tournaments, the BFL is widely credited with opening competitive bass fishing to the masses. It also serves as a steppingstone for anglers who wish to advance to the Stren Series and ultimately the FLW Tour – bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament circuit. FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.