MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO HOST WAL-MART BASS FISHING LEAGUE GREAT
LAKES DIVISION TOURNAMENT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. (July 12, 2005)
- The Great Lakes Division of the $8.4 million Wal-Mart Bass
Fishing League will visit the Mississippi River near Prairie
Du Chien July 23 for the third of five regular-season events.
As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete
in the tournament, which will award as much as $39,000 in cash,
including as much as $5,500 to the Boater Division winner. St.
Feriole Island Landing in Prairie Du Chien will host the takeoff
and weigh-in at 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. Anglers will
compete for prize money as well as points that count toward
postseason competition. Every angler who receives weight credit
in a tournament earns points, with 200 points going to the winner,
199 for second, 198 for third, and so on except for the season-ending
Super Tournaments, which award 300 points to the winner, 299
points for second, 298 for third, and so on. 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.) If the winning boater
uses only Garmin electronics during the event and at least one
product is a qualifying unit, Garmin will also award a $1,000
bonus. Bombardier will award $1,000 to the winning boater if
the winner's boat is equipped with a qualifying Evinrude Direct
Injection outboard. That's a potential top award of $8,500 for
anglers who meet contingency guidelines. The winning co-angler
will earn as much as $2,750 cash. The angler who catches the
biggest bass of the day in the Boater Division will earn as
much as $1,000, and the co-angler big-bass winner will earn
as much as $500. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers in each of
the BFL's 28 divisions at the end of the season are eligible
to advance to regional competition. Seven $110,000 regional
championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers
to the 2006 All-American championship, which will feature a
$1 million purse and a top award as high as $140,000. Anglers
who compete in all five regular-season events within a division
but do not advance to regional competition are eligible to compete
in the Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers
to the All-American for a championship field of 48 boaters and
48 co-anglers. The top 40 Great Lakes Division boaters and co-anglers
will advance to the Ohio River Regional near Paducah, Ky., Oct.
11-15 and will compete against anglers from the Arkie, Hoosier
and Michigan divisions for an All-American slot. The top 40
anglers from each division may also advance to the EverStart
Series in 2006. Great Lakes Division anglers will next visit
the Mississippi River in Wabasha Aug. 20 for their fourth regular-season
event. A two-day Super Tournament, the division's fifth and
final event, will be held on the Mississippi River in Prairie
Du Chien Oct. 1-2. For more information or to enter a tournament,
call (270) 252-1000 or visit FLWOutdoors.com. If the July 23
tournament is not yet full, entries will be accepted at tournament
registration, which will be held July 22 from 4 to 7 p.m. at
the Wal-Mart located at 38020 US Hwy. 18 in Prairie Du Chien.
Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers. 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 EverStart Series and ultimately the
Wal-Mart FLW Tour - bass fishing's most lucrative tournament
series. Former BFL anglers who have become fishing superstars
on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour include Kellogg's pro Clark Wendlandt,
Ranger pro Tommy Biffle and four-time FLW Tour champion David
Fritts. Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest
L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing
League and seven other national tournament circuits offering
a combined $30 million in awards through 214 events in 2005.
The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America's largest
and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart
FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart
Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart
FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart
FLW Redfish Series. Wal-Mart and many of America's largest and
most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament
trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour
in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events.
For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com
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