LAKE WALES, Fla. – The Gator Division of the $8.8 million Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League will visit the Kissimmee River near Lake Wales, Fla., May 6 for the fourth 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 as much as $6,000 to the Boater Division winner.
Camp Mack’s River Resort in Lake Wales will host the takeoff and weigh-in at 6:30 a.m. and 2:30 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. 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. 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 2007 Wal-Mart BFL 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 Chevy 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 winning boater and the winning co-angler at the All-American will have the opportunity to advance to the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup, the most lucrative tournament in all of competitive bass fishing, where the winner could earn up to $1 million.
The top 40 Gator Division boaters and co-anglers will advance to the Kerr Lake Regional Championship near Henderson N.C., Oct. 12-14 and will compete against anglers from the Savannah River, Shenandoah and South Carolina divisions for an All-American slot. The top 40 anglers from each division may also advance to the Stren Series in 2007.
Gator Division anglers will next visit Lake Toho in Kissimmee, Fla., Sept. 9-10 for their two-day Super Tournament which is the division’s fifth and final event. For more information or to enter a tournament, call (270) 252-1000 or browse FLWOutdoors.com.
If the May 6 tournament is not yet full, entries will be accepted at tournament registration, which will be held May 5 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the area Wal-Mart store located at 2000 State Road 60 East in Lake Wales. 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 Stren 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 as well as the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.
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.