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Fishing League Tournaments Season Openers Slated for April 18th – Bristol, TN -(FishNLand.com)-

The $8.8 million Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League will visit on April 18th for the second of five regular-season events listed below. 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 or she will receive a $2,000 bonus from Ranger Boats. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $1,000 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant. That’s a potential top award of $8,000 for anglers who meet contingency guidelines.

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.

The winning co-angler will earn as much as $3,000 cash.

Big Bass awards of up to $1,000 and $500, respectively, will also be awarded in the Boater and Co-angler Divisions.

1. The Mississippi Division will visit Pickwick Lake in Luka, Miss. J.P. Coleman State Park in Luka will host the takeoff and weigh-in at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

Anglers may register for the tournament online at the FLWOutdoors website or by calling (270) 252-1000. Onsite registration will be held April 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Walmart store located at 1110 Battleground in Luka. Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers.

2. The Volunteer Division will visit the South Holston Reservoir in Bristol, Tenn. Observation Knob Park in Bristol will host the takeoff and weigh-in at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

Anglers may register for the tournament online at the FLWOutdoors website or by calling (270) 252-1000. Onsite registration will be held April 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Walmart store located at 220 Century Blvd. in Bristol. Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers.

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 will advance to the no-entry-fee $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. 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 $3.5 million. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series for 2010 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour.

A two-day Super Tournament, the division’s fifth and final event, will be held on the Kissimmee River in Lake Wales, Fla., Sept. 19-20.

Following the end of regular-season competition, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in the Everglades Division will advance to the Lake Seminole Regional Championship in Bainbridge, Ga., Oct. 22-24 and will compete against anglers from the Bulldog, Bama and Dixie 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.

Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.

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Griggs Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Event On Kentucky/Barkley LakesGilbertsville, KY -(FishNLand.com)- Tim Griggs of Paducah, Ky., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League LBL Division tournament on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 21 pounds, 13 ounces. The victory earned Griggs $4,686 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the Mississippi River Regional Championship in Fort Madison, Iowa, Oct. 1-3, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.

Griggs caught his limit fishing near Paris Landing.

Rounding out the top five boaters are John Webb of Nicholasville, Ky. (five bass, 19-12, $2,343); Brent Stevenson of Benton, Ky. (five bass, 19-4, $1,562); Mike Saleeba of Manitou, Ky. (five bass, 16-8, $1,093) and Steve Ward of Simpsonville, Ky. (five bass, 16-3, $937).

John Black of Monclova, Ohio, took home the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $690 for a 6-pound, 11-ounce bass he caught.

David Mouser of Elizabethtown, Ky., earned $2,343 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to five bass weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces that he caught on a green-pumpkin jig.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Michael Luce of Ledbetter, Ky. (five bass, 18-2, $1,172); Justin English of Owensboro, Ky. (five bass, 15-0, $781); Ben Helmerich of Louisville, Ky. (three bass, 9-15, $547); and Justin Bradenburg of Richmond, Ky. (four bass, 9-2, $469).

Kirk Holland of Arlington, Ky., earned $345 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass.

The next LBL Division event will be held on the Kentucky/Barkley Lakes in Gilbertsville, Ky., May 2.

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 will advance to the no-entry-fee $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. 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 $3.5 million. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series for 2010 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour.

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.

Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, or call (270) 252-1000.

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Bassmaster Classic Lands First Nomination for a Sports Emmy; ESPN Earns 54 Nominations April, 14,2009 Celebration, FL(FishNLand.com)

The sport of professional bass fishing hit another high mark on its growth chart last week when the 2008 Bassmaster Classic on ESPN2 received a nomination for a Sports Emmy Award.

It was the first Sports Emmy nomination for a Bassmaster Classic, and one of 54 received this year by ESPN, Inc.

The 30th Annual Sports Emmy Awards, presented April 27 by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, recognizes excellence in sports television programming within 32 categories. The winners will be honored at Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Center in New York City.

“What a tremendous honor to receive a nomination from such a respected organization,” said Tom Ricks, vice president and general manager, ESPN Outdoors and BASS. “It’s certainly confirmation that the Bassmaster Classic continues to deliver compelling content across all of our multimedia platforms.”

The 2008 Classic programming on ESPN2 was nominated in the Outstanding Live Event Turnaround category. Past winners in that category include ABC in 2007 for its Best of Winter X Games Nine produced by ESPN Productions.

Programming of the 2008 Classic on Lake Hartwell out of Greenville, S.C., was created by JM Associates/Career Sports Entertainment for ESPN2. During the championship fishing event, ESPN2 presented 11 hours of programming, including two-hour shows on Saturday and Sunday within hours of each day’s competition.

The 54 nominations ESPN, Inc. racked up last week were the most received by any submitting company. It marked the eighth time in nine years that ESPN, Inc., garnered the highest number of nominations.

AND ALONG COMES ALTON: With three Bassmaster Elite Series events completed, more than one third of the eight-event regular season is history. That means the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race is taking shape.

The AOY leader this week, Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, is proof once again of how the title race rewards consistency rather than occasional wins. The 2008 Bassmaster Classic champion is leading with his total of 813 points by 39 points, thanks to a second-place finish at Lake Amistad, a 10th at Lake Dardanelle and a 14th at last week’s tournament on Alabama’s Wheeler Lake.

Just 39 points out of first, Stephen Browning (774 points) of Hot Springs, Ark., is Jones’ closest challenger, at least this week. Browning logged a fourth, 23rd and 10th, respectively, in the first three Elite events.

The March 26-29 Toyota Trucks Diamond Drive winner, Mark Menendez of Paducah, Ky., is third in points with 761.

What a difference a win makes: Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla., shot from 38th to 11th place in the AOY standings after taking the Elite win last Sunday on Wheeler.

Jason Williamson of Aiken, S.C., winner of the March 12-15 season opener, is in 14th place.

And the 2008 AOY, Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., who was the 2009 AOY points leader March 29 after the Diamond Drive event? Even after a disappointing performance and a bout with the flu at Wheeler, he’s in fifth place.

The Elite anglers keep their points positions until the April 26 conclusion of the Advance Auto Parts Blue Ridge Brawl, the April 23-26 tournament on Smith Mountain Lake out of Moneta, Va.

The AOY title carries a $200,000 prize. The top 36 in points at season’s end will qualify for the 2010 Bassmaster Classic, set for Feb. 19-21 on Lay Lake out of Birmingham, Ala.

BLOGGER BARONE BRINGS IT HOME: Don Barone, blogger extraordinaire for the Bassmaster and ESPNOutdoors websites, has won four awards from the New England Outdoor Writers Association.

He twice took first place in the annual juried awards program. One was in the Best Humor category for a piece on the ESPNOutdoors website, “The Honey Wagon Story.” The other first was for “Christmas for Javier,” which appeared on Bassmaster.com. It took top honors in the Best Article category.

Barone also won two second-place awards. One, in the Best Article competition, was for “The Coon Dog Cemetery,” which ran on ESPNOutdoors.com. The other award-winner, a Bassmaster.com effort titled “Paths,” took honors in the Best Column category.

Barone said he missed the April 4 awards presentation in Concord, Mass., because he was in Decatur, Ala., to write about a Bassmaster Elite Series event, the Evan Williams Bourbon Dixie Duel. The writers group tracked him down to let him know he’d been selected for not just one, but for four awards.

“I was shocked and humbled at the same time,” Barone said. “I’ve only been doing this for about a year-and-a-half. They told me they don’t have an Internet section, so they put me in the newspaper category, so I was up against (major) newspapers for the awards.”

Barone’s well-observed stories of the world of outdoor sports have been appearing on the Bassmaster and ESPNOutdoors websites since late 2007.

Before he began “writing about the outside” (as he puts it) and following the tournament trail from his trademark hula-girl-on-board vehicle, Barone was a feature producer for ESPN for 15 years. He began writing for ESPN website and ESPN Page 2 at the end of his ESPN tenure.

Would he have picked any of the same four pieces as his best work – or is there another favorite in his portfolio?

“The Michele Short story, ’Firefly Nights,’ was as good as the Javier story, they were the same kind of heartfelt story,” he said. “It’s a tough question, because my favorite is always my last story.”

FEDERATION NATION LOOKS TO CLASSIC: The first of six 2009 BASS Federation Nation Divisionals wrapped up last weekend in North Carolina on Gaston Lake. The result qualified seven amateur anglers for the BASS Federation Nation Championship presented by Yamaha Outboards and Skeeter Boats, set for Oct. 28-30 on the Harris Chain of Lakes out of Tavares, Fla.

Often referred to as “the Nationals” by Federation Nation members, the championship is the road to the 2010 Bassmaster Classic. The outcome of the three-day competition will determine which six amateur anglers will qualify for the 2010 Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake out of Birmingham, Ala.

UNFORGETTABLE: “It was the best day of fishing that I have ever had in my entire life. I’ve been bonefishing for 12 years and I have never approached what happened today.” – Newly indoctrinated Redbone competitor Rod Jack, at the season opener of the ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series in the Bahamas, where he and his team hooked 44 bonefish on a fly in one day

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