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Potamic River to Host Wal-Mart Bass Fishing Tournament |
Marbury, Maryland- The Northeast Division of the $8.8 million Wal-Mart
Bass Fishing League will visit the Potomac River in Marbury, Md., July
7 for the second 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 $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000
in the Boater Division.
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 $8,000 for anglers who meet contingency
guidelines.
The winning co-angler will earn as much as $3,000 cash.
Snickers Big Bass awards of up to $1,000 and $500, 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 July 6 from 4
to 7 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 40 Drury Drive in Laplata,
Md. Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers.
Smallwood State Park in Marbury will host the takeoff and weigh-in at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
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 2008
Wal-Mart 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 2008 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 2008 while All-American champions have the option to advance
directly to the Wal-Mart FLW Tour.
Northeast Division anglers will visit Chesapeake Bay in Elkton, Md.,
July 28 for their third regular-season event, followed by an event on
Chesapeake Bay in Kingsville, Md., Aug. 18. A two-day Super Tournament,
the division's fifth and final event, will be held on the Hudson River
in Catskills, N.Y., Sept. 8-9.
Following the end of regular-season competition, the top 40 boaters and
40 co-anglers in the Northeast Division will advance to the Potomac
River Regional Championship in Marbury on Oct. 11-13 and will compete
against anglers from the Empire, Piedmont and Shenandoah divisions for
an All-American berth.
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.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW
Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren
Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail
presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series,
Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW
Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish
Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined
purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of America's largest and most respected companies
support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as
an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world's leading
supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart,
visit Wal-Mart.com.
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