Great American Fisherman gets great American tow
courtesy of Ken Duke, B.A.S.S. Publications

B.A.S.S. legend Roland Martin has had better days on the water. The 19-time B.A.S.S. winner had just started his day on the Harris Chain of Lakes for the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open when his outboard motor "blew up" at about 7:30 a.m.

From that point until a BoatUS ANGLER, the official towing service of the Opens, tow boat came along and allowed them to make the weigh-in on time, Martin and his co-angler, David Few, were "on the trolling motor," stuck in one general area and fishing for whatever bass they could get to without greater mobility.

In the end, Martin made the best of a bad situation, catching one largemouth that weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces, good enough to tie for 111th place. Few managed a single fish that weighed 1-0.

“Whenever there’s blue skies, it’s a great day,” Martin told tournament emcee Chris Bowes before relating his boat issues and result. “BoatUS ANGLER came to the rescue.”

Martin's boat had to be towed back to the ramp, arriving a couple of hours after he and his co-angler had weighed in. Now he's hoping to borrow a boat so he can fish the second day of the tournament.

Though his goals for the event have now changed, Martin was philosophical and upbeat.

"I came here hoping to earn a Classic berth (the winner automatically qualifies for the 2013 Bassmaster Classic, if he fishes all three Southern Opens)," he said. "That's out of the question now, but if can catch 15 or 16 pounds tomorrow I could still earn a check. That's just the way things go sometimes."

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BoatUS ANGLER Will Assist Competitors in Need During B.A.S.S. Open Series

ALEXANDRIA, Va., January 18, 2012 – Traveling thousands of miles each year on the road and making it to weigh-in at the end of a tournament day are “givens” for today’s successful pro angler. But roadside breakdowns and on-the-water troubles can threaten a winning paycheck. That’s why it’s a perfect fit to announce that BoatUS ANGLER, which has provided both roadside and on-the-water assistance to boat and rig owners for nearly 20 years, has signed a sponsorship agreement with B.A.S.S. to be the Official Towing Service of the 2012 Bassmaster Open Series.

“On more than one occasion last year, we saw first-hand the goodness of BoatUS ANGLER being able to provide much needed assistance to our anglers during competition,” said B.A.S.S. Senior Tournament Manager, Chris Bowes. “Thus, entering a formal agreement to have BoatUS ANGLER towboats officially available to all Open competitors is a very logical relationship,” Bowes explained. “It’s a reassuring benefit to our anglers, as well as the B.A.S.S. staff who, first and foremost, want to see all of our competitors return safely to the dock each afternoon.”

BoatUS ANGLER is the fishing division membership from the nation’s largest association of recreational boaters. They offer boat-owning fisherman services such as on-the-water breakdown and towing assistance provided by the largest fleet of towboats in North America, as well as roadside boat trailer and tow vehicle assistance through 20,000 specialized towing companies.

“Tournament anglers spend countless hours behind the wheel of their bass boat and tow vehicle,” said BoatUS ANGLER’s Steve Levi. “We’re offering a program that takes the hassles away with 24/7 dispatch assistance when either one breaks down, and gives you the chance with our Weigh-to-Win incentive program to make some extra cash when competing in nearly 300 professional fishing tournaments.”

“Our TowBoatUS Dispatch Service handles on-the-water breakdown calls on most of the nation’s major inland lakes, rivers and reservoirs,” added Levi. “If we don’t have TowBoatUS location nearby, our 24/7 dispatch centers can get you the help you need whether your engine fails, you’re out of gas, your battery dies or you run aground in shallow water.”

Sheriffs’ boats, camera boats, and other non-competitors have towed Bassmaster tournament anglers experiencing breakdowns safely to shore in the past, but this new agreement will mark the first time in history where B.A.S.S. has allowed outside help from a formal towing service for anglers during competition.

Services provided by towboats are free of charge with an affordable BoatUS ANGLER membership. Competitors who have not signed up for membership will be charged the standard cost of services provided by TowBoatUS.

Tournament anglers who buy a BoatUS ANGLER membership will also benefit greatly from their subsequent free participation in the BoatUS ANGLER “Weigh-to-Win” tournament cash bonus program.

Participation in BoatUS ANGLER’s “Weigh-to-Win” is as simple as signing up for any of the following invaluable programs. You choose which option appeals to you most.

The On-the-Road Towing package includes a BoatUS ANGLER membership for just $38 and is great for bass anglers concerned about breakdowns on the highway. Those who want on-the-water assistance would likely choose the On-the-Water UnlimitedFreshwater Towing package for $58. Anglers that want their mind at ease, both on-the-road and on-the-water, would choose the combined BoatUS ANGLER membership for $72. All three offerings make you eligible to enter the “Weigh-to-Win” tournament cash bonus program at no additional cost.

Simply said, it pays to buy a highly affordable BoatUS ANGLER membership regardless of what B.A.S.S. events you compete in, including the Bassmaster Weekend Series – especially when you’re registered for the Weigh-to-Win cash tournament bonus program, and that’s why hundreds of anglers signed up last year. To make sure you are eligible in 2012, just dial (918) 742-6424 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CST, and ask for Kendell, she’ll make sure you get signed-up. Or to learn more, please visit www.BoatUSFishing.com.

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Weigh-to-Win Again in 2012

ALEXANDRIA, Va., January 4, 2012 - It’s simple, it’s affordable, it calms concerns about mechanical breakdowns, and it pays tournament cash bonuses. For those four reasons alone, the hundreds of anglers that signed up for BoatUS ANGLER and “Weigh-to-Win” in its inaugural 2011 season, can look forward to renewing and participating again this year.

That’s right, by purchasing a membership to BoatUS ANGLER, you get towing you can trust should you have a breakdown, plus the chance to win tournament cash bonuses when you sign up for the “Weigh-to-Win” program, all for as little as $38.

“Tournament anglers spend countless hours behind the wheel of their bass boat and tow vehicle,” said BoatUS ANGLER’s Steve Levi. “We’re offering a program that takes the hassles away with 24/7 dispatch assistance when either one breaks down, and gives you the chance to make some extra cash when competing in 287 professional fishing tournaments.”

Participation in BoatUS ANGLER’s “Weigh-to-Win” is as simple as signing up for any of the following invaluable programs. You choose which option appeals to you most.

The On-the-Road Towing package includes a BoatUS ANGLER membership for just $38 and is great for bass anglers concerned about breakdowns on the highway. Those who want on-the-water assistance would likely choose the On-the-Water Freshwater Towing package for $58.

Anglers that want their mind at ease, both on-the-road and on-the-water would choose the combined BoatUS ANGLER membership for $72. All three offerings make you eligible to enter the “Weigh-to-Win” tournament cash bonus program at no additional cost.

Take it from guys like the BassZone.com’s Matt Pangrac who called for assistance from BoatUS after his bass boat’s trailer tire blew out on Interstate 35. Help was dispatched, the tire was replaced, and Pangrac went on to catch an 11-pound bass hours later. There’s also Bassmaster Elite Series pro Britt Myers who was stranded during practice for the Lake Wheeler Bassmaster Elite Series Event on the Tennessee River miles from the ramp with nightfall approaching, and now brags about BoatUS’ on-the-water towboat service.

Better yet, top weekend anglers like Kip Carter, Tyler Moberly and Shonn Goodwin have never needed BoatUS’ towing assistance, but have hauled home hundreds of dollars simply by being BoatUS ANGLER members and doing well in their respective events.

Simply said, it pays to buy a highly affordable BoatUS ANGLER membership – especially when you’re registered for the Weigh-to-Win cash tournament bonus program, and that’s why hundreds of anglers signed up last year. To make sure you are eligible in 2012, just dial (918) 742-6424 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CST, and ask for Kendell, she’ll make sure you get signed-up. Or to learn more, please visit www.BoatUSFishing.com.

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Allen, Texas Will Host 2012 Cabela's Collegiate Big Bass Bash

The Association of Collegiate Anglers has selected Allen, TX as the host city for the 2012 Cabela's Collegiate Big Bass Bash. Hundreds of students from across the country will migrate to the city of Allen, and nearby Lake Lavon, March 19-24, 2012 for what should be a fun-filled start to the 2012 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series. Cabela's, located at 1 Cabela Drive, Allen, TX, will serve as Tournament Headquarters, as well as host of Cabela's College Night and Registration, Thursday March 22, starting at 3 pm.

According to Karen Cromwell, Tourism Manager with the Allen Convention and Visitors Bureau, "We are excited to be a host of the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series. We hope the competitors and fans enjoy their stay in Allen while competing in the Cabela's Collegiate Big Bass Bash". Danny Blandford, Program Director for the Association of Collegiate Anglers, went on to add, "Kicking off the season in Texas, with the nation's only collegiate big bass style event is exciting. Fishing should really be heating up that time of year, which is perfect for an event like this. With four daily weigh-ins, and prizes for the Top 5 largest bass each session, there will be a lot of excitement over the course of two days."

Anglers will launch daily at Avalon Park on the shores of Lake Lavon and weigh fish in any, and up to all, of four sessions. Weigh-ins for each session will begin promptly at 9:30 and 11:30 am, as well as 1:30 and 3:30 pm, both Friday and Saturday. The collegiate angler that weighs the largest bass over the course of the two-day competition will be crowned Champion at an awards ceremony immediately following the 3:30 pm weigh-in on Saturday. In addition to prizes, students are also competing for points in the coveted ACA School of the Year race, which is the first college rankings program to recognize the top collegiate fishing teams in the country, taking into account their participation across all leagues.

The Cabela's Collegiate Big Bass Bash is one of three nationally televised events hosted as part of the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series. These no entry fee events are open to all full-time students of university-recognized programs. Competitions are broadcast as part of the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Television Series, seen on Versus, now part of the NBC Sports Network and available to over 76 million homes.

Complete Tournament Schedule:

Registration Schedule:

For more information on these events, including Angler Packets and Official Rules, please visit:

http://www.collegiatebasschampionship.com/tournament-schedule.html

About the ACA

The Association of Collegiate Anglers, a division of Careco TV and The Bass Federation, is a sanctioning body developed to facilitate growth, development, and structure within competitive collegiate bass fishing. The ACA provides support to dozens of regional events nationwide and owns the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship www.collegiatebasschampionship.com Series, the largest collegiate tournament circuit in the country. With dedicated programming on the Versus network, three nationally televised collegiate bass fishing events, and thousands of members, the ACA is the leader in competitive collegiate bass fishing. For more information on the ACA, or the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, visit . For more information on Careco TV, visit www.carecotv.com. For more information on The Bass Federation, visit www.bassfederation.com

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Refrigerator-Size Fish Earn Top Spots in BoatUS ANGLER's Fishing Photo Contest

ALEXANDRIA, Va., December 14, 2011 - Photos of a 67-inch tarpon and a 45-inch pike have made two anglers, Sean Riley of New Port Richey, FL, and Brian Papenhagen of Blissfield, MI, grand prize winners in the 2011 BoatUS ANGLER Catch of the Month fishing photo contest. Their grand prize includes a high quality fish replica from Mount This! Fish Company that specializes in hand-painted fiberglass replicas and a gift certificate from BoatNameGear.com.

Riley and Papenhagen will also have their BoatUS ANGLER on-the-water and roadside assistance towing plan upgraded to "Unlimited" status, which can help these anglers 24-hours a day with breakdowns on the water and will tow a disabled boat trailer and tow vehicle up to 100 miles to your home, repair facility or other safe spot.

Riley spotted his fish last summer in a school of five tarpon running for mullet while trolling the shallows just off the beach on Florida's Anclote Key. Once the refrigerator-sized fish was hooked, it made a dash for the sky and "felt like a huge log," said Riley, heating up his reel during the hour-long battle. The silvery behemoth headed straight for the Gulf and did a U-turn before Riley could land it. The fish was the biggest yet for the angler, who gently revived the giant before releasing it.

Papenhagen's pike was caught last spring on a large red and white Daredevil at Wrong Lake, Manitoba. A catch-and-release lake accessible only by floatplane, Papenhagen was told by a guide to hit the lake's incoming streams, where Pike are known to forage for fingerlings. Once Papenhagen found his spot, the lunker struck taking nearly all the line out of the reel four times as it dove repeatedly to the safety of lake's bottom trying to wait it out. For Papenhagen, this was the "right" fish on Wrong Lake to earn him a full-scale replica.

Next year's contest starts in April 2012. For complete contest details visit www.BoatUSAngler.com/contest

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FLW Announces 2012 College Fishing Schedule

FLW has announced the 2012 National Guard FLW College Fishing schedule along with paybacks, rules and entry information. Collegiate anglers can begin registering Monday, Dec. 12, at 10 a.m. Central time at CollegeFishing.com.

Next season college clubs will receive 100 percent of the payout at qualifying and regional events. The payout for qualifying tournaments will be $5,000 for first place down to $1,000 for fifth place. At the regional championships, the first-place team will win a Ranger 177TR equipped with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard engine, and fifth place will win $3,000.

The national champions will win a prize package worth $100,000 - $50,000 plus a Ranger 177TR equipped with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard engine for the bass club and $25,000 for the school they represent. For complete payout tables and a map of updated regions, visit CollegeFishing.com. Tournaments are free to enter, and teams will continue to receive travel allowances based on the distance traveled to the tournament.

Teams are allowed to bring five fish to weigh-in, regardless of which team angler caught them. Every effort must be made to keep bass alive. However, if a fish is checked in dead, an 8-ounce penalty will be deducted from the team's total weight.

College Fishing consists of five divisions - Central, North, West, South and Southeast. Each division will consist of four one-day qualifying tournaments and a regional championship. The regional championship dates and locations will be announced at a later time.

Next year's National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship will be held April 13-15, 2012, on Lake Murray in Columbia, S.C., and will be hosted by the University of South Carolina. The winning team will qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing, which will be held Aug. 9-12, 2012, on Lake Lanier in Duluth, Ga.

To be eligible to compete, students must be enrolled as full-time undergraduates at a four-year institution on the date of the tournament or the preceding semester in the case a tournament is held during summer session. There is no entry fee and boats are provided, although a club may choose to use its own boat. Each qualifying event will accept up to 40 teams, with the top five teams advancing to their respective regional championship. The top five teams from each regional championship advance to the national championship.

For additional details regarding rules, registration, prizes and more, visit CollegeFishing.com.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWCollegeFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/CollegeFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.

ABOUT FLW
FLW is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW has taken fishing mainstream with the world's richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player's Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.

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As Water Levels Drop, Texas Drought Reveals Secrets of the Deep
courtesy NY Times

MARTINS MILL, TX. — For more than three years, the lake on Jack Mewbourn’s ranch here held a secret at its murky bottom: A 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. His grandson was the first one to notice the top of the car peeking out of the water. It wasn’t luck, or even fate. It was drought.

The water level in the seven-acre lake has dropped about five feet from a lack of rain. Stand on the grass lining the lake’s edge today, and in any other year you would be standing nearly waist-deep in water.

On a recent Saturday, Mr. Mewbourn, a longtime rancher in this rural unincorporated community about 90 minutes southeast of Dallas, took a boat to the middle of the lake with two of his grandsons. They confirmed that the object they thought at first might be a barrel was indeed a car. Mr. Mewbourn called a local constable, and with the help of a diver and a tow truck, the vehicle was slowly dragged out. Inside, still buckled into the driver’s seat, were the remains of Brenda Kay Oliver, who had been missing since July 2008.

Ms. Oliver’s relatives said she had never recovered from the trauma of her 19-year-old son’s suicide. He had drowned himself in a nearby lake. The authorities believe Ms. Oliver, 55, took her own life by driving her car into Mr. Mewbourn’s lake, about a mile from where her sister, the last person to see her alive, had been living at the time.

Mr. Mewbourn and the Van Zandt County constable, Pat Jordan, have found themselves in recent days calling a cruel thing like a drought a strange sort of blessing. “If it wouldn’t have been for the drought,” Mr. Jordan said, “she’d probably still be in the car in that lake.”

The historic drought that has devastated crops and forced millions of Texans in small towns and large cities to abide by mandatory water restrictions has had at least one benefit: As lake levels have dropped around the state, objects of all kinds that had been submerged for years, decades and even centuries are being revealed.

Some of the discovered items are common debris like computer monitors, tires and sunken boats. But much of it has attracted the attention of historians, anthropologists, criminal investigators and, in one case, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Long-submerged marble tombstones from the 1880s have become visible in the receding waters of Lake Buchanan in Central Texas. Near the Texas-Louisiana border, the grave sites from an early 19th-century cemetery have turned up at one drought-stricken lake. Pat Mercado-Allinger, the director of the Texas Historical Commission’s archaeology division, said one water authority estimated having roughly 200 previously unreported archaeological sites resulting from lowered lake levels.

“The drought in Texas has been so severe and so widespread, across essentially the entire state, that we’re hearing reports from all over,” said Ms. Mercado-Allinger, who was reluctant to discuss precise locations of many sites because of concerns for looting. “There are artifact collectors out there and looters who look for opportunities and go add to their personal collections or mine the sites. We have to be very careful.”

At Lake Georgetown north of Austin, where the water level has dropped 23 feet, fishermen found a human skull at the edge of the water last month. The Georgetown police initially thought it might be related to the 2002 disappearance of a 19-year-old woman, but the skull was ultimately found to be of historical, not criminal, significance. It is believed to be the skull of an American Indian man that is hundreds or thousands of years old, and is being studied in a lab by anthropologists at Texas State University in San Marcos.

In East Texas at Lake Nacogdoches, which has dropped 12 feet in the drought, residents stumbled onto a much larger object in late July. It was a spherical aluminum tank, four feet in diameter, that was cracked on top and sat in the mud at the lake’s edge. NASA officials later determined that it was a piece of debris from the space shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during re-entry in 2003, killing the seven astronauts aboard.

The debris, one of 18 cryogenic tanks used to store the oxygen and hydrogen that provided electrical power to the shuttle, was put on a truck and driven to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Only one of the 18 tanks remains missing, a NASA spokeswoman said.

At Richland-Chambers Reservoir in north-central Texas, which has decreased more than eight feet, a post-Civil-War-era cemetery of freed slaves has emerged along the shoreline. The wooden coffins and the remains of more than 20 African-Americans, most of them children, have been found. A skull was first discovered in 2009 after the lake level dropped, but when the waters rose again, the site was submerged, forcing local amateur historians to wait.

“Everybody hates the drought, but I needed the drought,” said Bruce F. McManus, chairman of the Navarro County Historical Commission. “I knew it was there.”

Despite periodic rainstorms, lower temperatures and even snowfall in Amarillo late last month, Texas remains in the midst of one of its worst droughts.

From January through October, statewide rainfall totaled 10.77 inches, about 15 inches below average. The year that ended in September was the driest in Texas since at least 1895, when statewide weather records begin, breaking the previous record low set in 1956 by 2.5 inches.

“It’s the most severe single-year drought on record,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist and a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University. “There literally is no point of comparison.”

Professor Nielsen-Gammon said that the drought would persist and that most of the state would be experiencing major drought through next summer. “We have so much rainfall to make up, it’s unlikely to be made up in the spring and summer,” he said.

The water levels at many of the state’s man-made lakes have become a drought barometer. Lake levels have decreased statewide by as little as a few feet to as much as 50 feet or more. Some lakes are completely dry, and others are close to it. Lake E. V. Spence in West Texas, which normally has a maximum depth of 108 feet, is less than 1 percent full.

In Canton in East Texas, the drought has hurt Donna McWilliams as it has other Texans — she and her husband lost trees and sold off cattle because of a lack of hay — but it also helped her. She is the sister of Ms. Oliver, whose body was found in Martins Mill.

Ms. Oliver’s relatives had mailed fliers with her picture to homeless shelters and clinics, and put them up in local restaurants and pharmacies, always hoping, always wondering.

“I guess ‘closure’ is the word,” said Ms. McWilliams, 60, one of Ms. Oliver’s two sisters. “Now we don’t have to wonder anymore. I do think the drought is a negative, but if there’s anything that can happen good out of a drought, it’s this, and it’s a blessing.”

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Association of Collegiate Anglers' 2012 School of the Year Program Tops 100

The Association of Collegiate Anglers' School of the Year program has been quietly growing and gaining momentum, with more than 100 active collegiate fishing teams now participating.

The recent National Guard FLW Collegiate Fishing Western Regional marked the ninth sanctioned event of the 2012 program, and 17 more schools have now earned points and joined the race. The ACA School of the Year rankings now includes 104 active collegiate fishing teams from coast to coast, providing the first comprehensive rankings of collegiate bass teams in the nation. Additional ACA-sanctioned events will take place throughout the 2012 fishing season, with the final standings based on performance over a 25-event tournament schedule.

The ACA awards points to each competing school, based on its finish in the event in relation to field size. In addition to competition points, teams can also earn points for participating in conservation projects submitted to the Berkley Conservation Institute Program through the ACA, as well as hosting their own events.

"We are excited to see the School of the Year Program growing so quickly this fall," said Danny Blandford, Program Director. "Being the first points system designed to recognize accomplishments across leagues and independent events, we are proud of pioneering and managing this program for the students.

"We all know people love their college sports and fishing is no different. I'm sure now that we are ranking the schools, we'll be fueling long-standing rivalries while helping foster a new spirit of competitiveness, all of which is great for collegiate fishing."

The winners of the 2012 ACA School of the Year program will receive a sponsor prize pack valued at more than $7,000 and their own dedicated television highlights. An episode of Americana Outdoors, as well as features within the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, will be devoted to the 2012 program, the race to the top, and the ultimate winners. The second-place team will receive $3,000 in merchandise courtesy of the Association of Collegiate Anglers' sponsors, along with recognition within television programming, and the third place team will receive a package valued at $1,500 in merchandise, as well as recognition.

According to Wade Middleton, Tournament Director of the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, "I'm proud of getting this ACA program started for the students. It's something I've wanted to put into motion for quite some time. It rewards students for fishing all the events spread across the country, regardless of who is hosting them.

"It also rewards students for hosting their own events, which contributes to the growth of collegiate bass fishing," Middleton added. "Last, but not least, we have incentivized the teams to participate in Berkley Conservation Institute projects, which are also good initiatives for our sport."

With nine ACA School of the Year events already completed, competition is shaping up for a good race. Several Big Ten colleges jumped to the top of the leader board since the Big Ten Classic was the first event allowing multiple teams to score for the school, which drives higher point totals. Purdue University is currently in the lead, with points earned in two events, including the Big Ten Classic and the National Guard FLW Central Regional.

There isn't much breathing room for the Boilermaker Bass Club, however, with only eight points separating the top 10 schools. With only about a third of the race completed there will still be a lot of movement in the rankings. The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Series events of 2012 will generate the highest team scores, since they are the largest collegiate events in the nation. New teams will be added to the race as they participate in qualifying events throughout the season, likely pushing the list to well over 125 participating schools.

The ACA School of the Year champion will be crowned at the Collegiate Bass Fishing Open, June 22-24, in Paris, Tenn.

For more details on the program, please visit: www.collegiatebasschampionship.com/aca-school-of-the-year-program.html. An up-to-date list of qualifying events can be found at www.collegiatebasschampionship.com/SOY-qualifying-events.html. To view the Top 104 teams in college bass fishing, please visit the ACA School of the Year Standings.

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Successful red drum management prompts FWC to up bag limit

Recreational anglers targeting red drum in northern Florida can soon take home more of the popular fish, thanks to a change approved Nov. 16 by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The decision came during the first day of the two-day November Commission meeting in Key Largo.

The changes take effect Feb. 1, 2012, and include the following:

These rule changes are the result of a successful management strategy that began in 1989, when the species was considered severely overfished.

"This is our version of having a listed protected species and being able to take it off that list. This is a success story," said Commissioner Brian Yablonski about the increased recreational fishing opportunity. "If ever there was a moment to give back, this is it."

A 2009-10 red drum stock assessment completed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute showed that red drum escapement rates (the proportion of fish surviving through age 4 relative to the number that would have survived to that age if there were no fishery) have been consistently above the FWC's 40-percent management goal in the northern regions of the state.

Other recreational red drum rules will remain the same, including a slot limit of 18 to 27 inches and a one-red-drum bag limit in the southern part of the state.

To learn more about red drum recreational fishing visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on "Saltwater Fishing" and then "Recreational Regulations."

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Three Things BoatUS ANGLER Prizewinner Rick Clark Learned While Fishing With Mark Zona

TRAVERSE CITY, MI - Largemouth bass angler Rick Clark of Crystal River, Florida, recently went on the fishing trip of a lifetime to Northern Michigan, guided by none other than BoatUS ANGLER member and outsized television fishing show personality Mark Zona. Clark's girlfriend, Layne Lowrey, also of Crystal River, won the fishing trip in a contest for members of BoatUS ANGLER, and gifted the prize to Rick, proclaiming herself the "best girlfriend ever".

Of course Rick agreed (as would any wise angler), and while fishing with the "Awesome Fishing Show" host in the backwoods near Traverse City, Michigan, Clark said he learned three important things:

1. Unlike his own home waters of Florida, Clark was amazed at the beauty and clarity of the Northern Michigan waters, which Zona affectionately calls "smallmouth holy land." Said Clark, "At home (in Florida), we cast anywhere you think they may be hiding. In Michigan, you put it right in front of them and hope they don't spot you first. Mark popped the lure right in front of them every time." This confirms that Zona, a former competitive bass angler, certainly hasn't lost his touch while ascending to the television broadcast booth (Zona hosts his own "Awesome Fishing Show" and is also co-host of the highly popular, annually televised Bassmaster Elite Series).

2. Mark Zona has never eaten an egg in his life. Or, at least an egg he can see, says Clark. Just how did Clark find out this meaningless tidbit if information? "I noticed he didn't have anything for breakfast," said Clark. "When I asked him if he was going to eat, he looked at me and said with a straight face, "I've never eaten an egg in my life." Clark said Zona later ate two bananas after catching a few giant smallmouth "fence pandas," as Zona calls them.

3. What most impressed him was Zona's ability to find the myriad lakes. "He knows all kinds of places," said Clark. "You're driving along through the woods thinking you're lost, and then suddenly, he's pulling up to a ramp at another beautiful lake. I have never been to Michigan and was greatly impressed. I want to go back soon." When asked about Zona's boat ramp technique with his new Nitro boat Clark said, "I give him an A- as he did forget to unhook the bow winch once or twice."

To view a video of Zona with the newly-nicknamed "Florida Terminator" Clark, or to learn more about BoatUS ANGLER, a membership program that offers both on-the-water and on-the-road towing assistance, fishing boat insurance and other benefits for boat-owning anglers, go to www.BoatUSAngler.com.

BoatUS ANGLER members will have another chance to win an Awesome Fishing Trip with Zona in 2012. Contest updates will be posted on www.BoatUSAngler.com.

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Buffalo's Brodnicki at Home with Big Waves, Big Smallies and BoatUS ANGLER

BUFFALO, NY - As an inner city science teacher, 38-year-old Brad Brodnicki has taught, as well as learned, many lessons in persistence, patience and never giving up hope.

Those same character traits are paying off for Brodnicki as a tournament angler. Especially, considering he regularly battles waves taller than his students on a lake riddled with more 'small craft warnings' than perhaps any other inland waterway in the United States.

Brodnicki readily admits that his perfect day of fishing would take place on a flat calm day in July on Lake Erie's Western Basin drop-shotting a Robo worm to suspended Smallies. Problem is, Lake Erie doesn't let tournament anglers pick the weather or the waves. And often, she's meaner than an old-school typing teacher armed with a wooden ruler. But Brodnicki persists, and consistently cashes paychecks in Bassmaster Weekend Series and FLW Bass Fishing League tournaments near his Buffalo home.

Plus, because Brodnicki added the On-the-Road and On-the-Water towing options when he signed up for a BoatUS ANGLER membership, he's hauled home over a thousand "Weigh-to-Win" bonus dollars in just the past six months. Equally good is the peace-of-mind he carries knowing that somebody will be dispatched from BoatUS to help him should he ever have a problem while towing his bass boat on the highway, or piloting it through seven-foot swells.

Brodnicki reasons through his decision to join BoatUS ANGLER in common sense fashion. "Luckily, I have not had to call the 24/7 dispatch center for any sort of roadside or on-the-water assistance, but I've told lots of people and tournament buddies that by spending as little as $38 you can have peace-of-mind and win extra cash when you place high in tournaments."

It's easy to get a BoatUS ANGLER membership with on-the-water and on-the-road towing, and then register for their Weigh-to-Win tournament cash bonus program like Brad did. Just visit BoatUSFishing.com or dial (918) 742-6424 and ask for Kendell. She'll make sure you're registered.

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2012 BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Open Announced

Paris, Tennessee - Collegiate anglers throughout the country will be setting their sights on Kentucky Lake for the 2012 Collegiate Bass Fishing Open, Presented by Pepsi. Serving as host for the third consecutive year, The Henry County Alliance of Paris, Tennessee, and the Paris Landing Marina will be tournament headquarters. Fishing takes place June 23-24, with the registration, dinner, and activities to be held Friday, June 22, 2012.

This unique event features a true team format that allows teammates to share information and work together to amass the largest amount of weight possible over two days of competition. The winning team will be determined by the combined weight of each team's top two boats each day. Read More

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Fishing lure designed in Destin, FL to be named world's largest
courtesy of nfwDailyNews.com

It's official: The world's largest fishing lure is hanging up at the Village of Baytowne Wharf marina.

Mark and Mary Ellen Davis, owners of the S.S. Spitfire Mercantile bait and tackle shop at the Baytowne marina, and a team of family and friends designed and built the massive lure over a 10-month period. Dubbed the Flatliner, it measures in at 10 feet, 10 inches tall and a whopping 355.2 pounds.

"(People) have flocked in for pictures," said Mary Ellen Davis. "It's been incredible. I really thought it was going to be kids, and it's been grown men hanging on it, literally hugging it, taking pictures."

"It's just very exciting," she added. "It's something we can look up to, something to show our kids."

Amanda Mochan, an adjudicator for Guinness World Records, came in from New York to certify the lure as the world's largest, which is a new category for Guinness.

"It's amazing," Mochan said. "The different record categories are always so interesting because every record, there's always a background to it. There's always a reason why people want to do it, so it's great to come down and see the passion and enthusiasm and all the hard work that goes into it."

Being a new category, there was not another lure on record that the S.S. Spitfire staff had to outdo. Instead, there were some minimum requirements that had to be met. Chief among them was the lure had to be at least 10 times the size of a standard fishing lure.

The Flatliner came in at 24 times the size of a standard lure.

"It didn't just break the minimum requirements, it shattered the minimum requirements, and they put a lot of hard work into it," Mochan said. "We'll see, but I think it's going to be a tough one to break."

The record lure was based on a 5 ½-inch lure made by David Partridge, owner of Flatliner Lures. Partridge, who hand-makes all of his lures, plans to make smaller, usable replicas of the world-record Flatliner to be sold at S.S. Spitfire Mercantile in the near future.

The lure on display already has inspired a drink, also called the Flatliner. I'’s made with orange juice, cranberry juice, lime juice, grenadine and coconut rum. It is available at the Marina Bar and Grill.

The Flatliner is sure to be big hit with visitors, said John Russell, president of Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.

"It's such a family resort, a family destination, and I know when I was 8 or 9 years old and saw something like that I'd be fascinated with it," Russell said. "It's just another attraction to get people to come to Sandestin."

Click Here to view a slideshow of the world's largest fishing lure

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ACA Announces 2012 School of the Year Program

The Association of Collegiate Anglers has developed the nation's first comprehensive collegiate bass fishing School of the Year program. The program recognizes collegiate clubs that compete in the BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, along with Mercury College B.A.S.S. and the National Guard FLW Collegiate Fishing. Additional ACA-sanctioned events have also been selected as part of the program to make it the most complete college fishing rankings to date. The ACA will award points to each competing school, based on their finish in the event in relation to field size. In addition to competition points, teams can also earn limited points for participating in conservation projects submitted to the Berkley Conservation Institute Program through the ACA, as well as hosting their own events.

"We are excited to roll out the first School of the Year Program designed to recognize accomplishments across leagues and independent events. We have established a set of guidelines, including the first universal points system, which will reward college programs for not only competing, but being active in our sport," said Danny Blandford, Program Director. "The system is straightforward, awarding 1 point for each place secured in a sanctioned competition. The list is expected to be approximately 25 events total as the 2012 ACA-sanctioned event schedules are finalized. Currently we have 19 major events set up for points, and are approaching 70 participating schools."

Over $10,000 in prizes are available for the inaugural year. With the 2012 ACA School of the Year receiving a sponsor prize pack valued at over $7,000 and their own dedicated television coverage. An episode of Americana Outdoors, as well as features within the BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, will be devoted to the 2012 champions. Second place will receive $3,000 in merchandise courtesy of the Association of Collegiate Anglers' sponsors, along with recognition within the programming, while third place receives a package valued at $1,500 in merchandise, as well as recognition.

According to Wade Middleton, Tournament Director of the BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, "I'm proud of getting this ACA program started for the students. It rewards those teams that fish well all over the country. Our program is the first to recognize their accomplishments across such a large number of events and regions. I look forward to crowning the truly strongest team in college bass fishing June 24th at the conclusion of the Collegiate Open, presented by Pepsi."

Four of the School of the Year events have already been hosted and it is shaping up to be a good race. Several Big Ten colleges jumped to the top of the leader board, since the recent Big Ten Classic was the first event allowing multiple teams to score for the school, which drives higher point totals. Ohio State is currently in the lead, with points earned in two events, including the Big Ten Classic and the National Guard FLW Northern Regional.

There will be a lot of movement in the rankings as more events take place in the coming weeks. The BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Series events of 2012 will generate high scores and big moves as well, since they are the largest collegiate events in the nation. New teams will be added to the race as they participate in qualifying events over the next several months. Middleton went on to say, "We'll have the first Top 100 college bass fishing rankings in the nation, and we're looking forward to a very competitive race. This is something the students and fans have been wanting for quite some time.

For more details on the program, please visit: School of the Year. Current standings can be found at: ACA College Rankings.

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BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Champions Honored by Osceola County

A Long Way from Waxahachie

Like many of you, Patti Campbell is proud to display the logos of companies that help fuel her passion for tournament fishing on the rear window of her truck. But it was the BoatUS ANGLER toll-free phone number on a card inside her wallet that not only warmed her soul recently – but also kept her safe.

Patti was her daddy’s self-described tomboy and got hooked on fishing as a little girl; she carried the passion into adulthood, and even married a serious bass angler in husband Ricky. Separately, they have competed as individuals in some of tournament bass fishing’s toughest trails and hauled home major paychecks. Together, they are a common site at couple’s tournaments around Texas.

But Ricky wasn’t with Patti a few weeks ago at 7:00 a.m. on what should have been a peaceful Sunday morning drive home to Waxahachie, Texas from a Lady Bass Anglers Association tournament at Old Hickory Lake in Tennessee.

“I was on Interstate 40 about 54 miles from Nashville when I looked in the side mirror of my Tundra and saw my trailer wheel was on fire,” explained Patti, a computer guru for CoreLogic in the mortgage industry. “There were flames shooting up from what turned out to be a burnt hub, and there was very little room to pull off the highway safely.”

“I pulled over the best I could and called Ricky, but he was 600 miles away. Then I remembered I had signed-up for the BoatUS ANGLER Unlimited On-the-Road Towing service, and I called their toll free number that was on the card in my wallet,” said Campbell.

When BoatUS answered Patti’s call of distress, they did not disappoint. “The dispatcher was so nice. He kept me calm while he searched his computer for one of their affiliated service providers. He quickly found one just down the interstate. After they fixed my hub, the BoatUS dispatcher even called me back to make sure that I was still traveling safely down the interstate,” explained Campbell.

“I told the wrecker driver that I’d spent $38 to sign up for the BoatUS service, and he looked at me and said that my membership had just paid for itself about four times over,” said Campbell who list Senkos and Buckeye Lures’ Spot Remover jig heads tipped with a finesse worm as her favorite lures.

Campbell is also signed-up for the “Weigh-to-Win” program so that she is eligible to win cash bonuses from BoatUS ANGLER when she does well in her tournaments.

“What I’ll remember most about the whole experience was how personal BoatUS treated me. The whole service just really made me feel good. I’ll definitely sign-up again next year, and I’m going to add their On-the-Water freshwater Towing service too,” concluded Patti.

Getting a BoatUS ANGLER membership with on-the-water or on-the road towing and signing-up for their Weigh-to-Win program like Patti did, is easy. Memberships are as affordable as $38. Just dial (918) 742-6424 and ask for Kendell. For complete details regarding Towing Services, call BoatUS ANGLER Membership at 866-906-0013, or visit www.BoatUS.com/towing.

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University of Texas at Tyler Wins Inaugural Ranger Cup University Challenge

San Antonio, TEXAS - The first annual Ranger Cup University Challenge took place on Choke Canyon Reservoir on August 25th and 26th. Two teams of collegiate anglers qualified for the event based on their participation in the Ranger Cup University program during 2011. The winners were the highest finishing Ranger Cup University participants in the Boat.U.S Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship and the National Guard FLW Collegiate Championship.

The tournament had a very unique format which led to very close results. It consisted of two four-hour sessions, and a final two hour fish-off as a tie breaker. Each session was treated as its own "mini" tournament, and the winner of each session was awarded one point. The first session took place on Thursday evening, the second on Friday morning, and the tie-breaker session was scheduled for Friday afternoon. The University of Arkansas bass team, represented by Mook Miller and Kyle Billingsley, and University of Texas Tyler bass team, represented by Matt McClellan and Tyler Fisher, were seeing Choke Canyon for the first time. Both teams we're prepared to fish the new waters out of identically rigged Ranger Z521 bass boats that were waiting on them upon arrival.

Thursday yielded some rare weather for South Texas; sustained 20 mph winds and overcast conditions. In fact, Matthew McClellan of UT Tyler mentioned, "I don't think the fish had seen wind and clouds in so long that they were confused; they forgot they are supposed to bite in those conditions." He was being a bit modest, considering they still rounded up a limit weighing 13.08 pounds. Matt went on to say, "I thought we were out of contention for the initial weigh-in; however, with minutes to go I caught a four pounder on a swim jig. I thought that gave us the edge for sure." UT Tyler was disappointed to find out Arkansas edged them out of round one by a mere four ounces. Arkansas' Mook Miller and Kyle Billingsley were awarded the point for their very close win over Matt and Tyler.

The second session of the event Tyler claimed, "They bit really well, but we never found the quality fish Choke Canyon is known for." Just like the first session, Matt and Tyler pushed it to the end, and landed a solid two and a half pound bass with minutes to go to significantly improve their limit. "It is crucial in bass fishing to fish to the very last minute, I have seen tournaments won and lost during the last cast, so we tried to keep our focus and it paid off in round two," said Tyler. This time, the last bite proved to be the difference, with UT Tyler beating out Arkansas 12.11 pounds to 10.5 pounds, and forcing the final round fish-off.

The final session was a two hour tie-breaker. The team that came back to the dock with the heaviest weight after two hours of fishing was heading home as the first Ranger Cup University "Team of the Year." "The final session started with us going over an hour without a bite," said Tyler "We were nervous at that point but we saw Arkansas scrambling around too, so we knew the bite was tougher." Matt and Tyler worked their way towards a point of grass where they landed some of their better fish during the first session; "We pulled up and started punching mats with a big weight and things started coming together." UT Tyler continued to catch multiple keepers in the last 45 minutes of the event by punching creature baits through the thick matted hydrilla. The team continued their last minute fish catching heroics in this session as well. "The cameraman told us we had one minute left, and about that time Tyler hoisted in a solid fish that culled our smallest fish right at the end," said Matt. "There was excitement up until the end in every session." Matt and Tyler won the final round by piecing together a solid limit of just less than 14 pounds, making the University of Texas at Tyler the inaugural Ranger Cup University champions.

Tyler Fisher, competing in his last collegiate bass fishing event, went out the way all anglers dream of; with a win. "It was my last event; just to make it here was awesome, and to win was really something special. Not to mention the fact it will be televised on Americana Outdoors. As far as the cash and prizes, that's just a bonus. This trip was a once in a lifetime experience for all four of us that fished this week." said Tyler.

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BoatUS ANGLER Weigh-to-Win Member Troy Morrow winns Big Bass Honors
courtesy of PAA

A big bass from what seems like ages ago (in reality, only five months!) has earned the Humminbird-Minn Kota Big Bass honors for the Bass Pro Shops PAA Tournament Series season.

BoatUS ANGLER Weigh-to-Win pro Troy Morrow of Georgia thought he might score with a big early-morning bite during the Tournament Series event in mid-March. Held on Lake Lanier, the tournament was just a smidge off of the spawn but had some big girls up shallow feeding and getting ready.

Morrow’s plan was to throw a giant buzzbait, but eliminate the buzz. Instead, he retrieved it slowly to create a maddening wake that his 8.14-pound largemouth couldn’t stand.

“That was a pretty good way to start the day,” said Morrow, who lives northeast of Lanier in Toccoa, Ga. “She was the first one of the morning and anytime you can start the day off with a big fish, that’s pretty good. I retrieve it about as slowly as I can without it going under, just enough to make a big, lazy wake.”

The fish helped him to a limit weighing 20.13 and put him in the final-day cut in fourth place. That earned him a Humminbird 898c Si Combo sonar unit for the tournament honors. But the giant also held up for the season as the biggest bass weighed during the nine Tournament Series competition days, resulting in a Minn Kota Talon shallow water anchor as the season’s big bass champ.

Click Here to take a look at the other Tournament Series big bass winners, each of which were awarded Humminbird 898c Si Combo units.

To learn more about BoatUS ANGLER's "Weigh-to-Win" Contingency Program visit www.BoatUSFishing.com.

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BoatUS ANGLER Member Todd Auten Clinches PAA Angler of the Year
courtesy of PAA

GADSDEN, Ala. – Neely Henry Lake has been pretty doggone good to Ranger Boats pro Todd Auten.

The quiet veteran from South Carolina came here two years ago and won a storm-shortened PAA Tournament Series event in spring. Twenty-eight months later, in the heat of summer, Auten returned last week to make a run at another title.

He locked up the PAA Angler of the Year award in a runaway as his two closest competitors faltered. Only eight points in the season standings separated Auten from Gene Larew pro Tommy Biffle of Oklahoma and Hefty pro Mike McClelland of Arkansas.

By Friday night, Auten was the only man left standing. Neither Biffle nor McClelland made Saturday’s final-day cut. Auten was in fourth place going into the day, charging hard at the win and trying to make it a weekend double.

Auten joins Biffle (2010) and Kinami pro Steve Kennedy of Auburn (2009) as PAA Anglers of the Year. Auten will receive free entry into the 2012 Bass Pro Shops PAA Tournament Series along with a MinnKota trolling motor and T-H Marine Atlas Jackplate.

Consistency proved to be key this season and has been part of Auten’s low-key approach during his career.

“I’d say here lately that yeah, I’ve been consistent,” he said. “Just a few years ago, though, it was up and down, up and down. I think one thing that helps is we go to lakes that favor my style of fishing. If we were somewhere like Kentucky Lake where everything’s deep it might be different.”

During his career Auten has accumulated more than $707,750 in winnings and 25 finishes in the Top 10. He’s a perennial threat to make a cut in any event, but seems to shine more in the brutal summer heat that perplexes some anglers.

One of Auten’s go-to baits, maybe his primary one, is a white vibrating jig or a swim jig. In summer when conventional wisdom says fish go deep, Auten will be in skinny water flinging the wiggling, jiggling bait. It’s something he enjoys, he covers water, it’s pretty easy and, most of all, it works.

Auten took the point standings lead after the PAA Tournament Series event on Table Rock in June. Biffle and McClelland knew overtaking him, even just a few points behind, wouldn’t be easy on Neely Henry.

“Todd’s a tough angler wherever we go,” Biffle said. “He likes that shallow stuff like I do and it seems like he’s always going to be right there.”

Auten cut his teeth on Lake Wylie in South Carolina, “which is loaded with docks,” he said, “and if you didn’t learn how to fish docks then you were going to get your tail whipped. I just learned to fish them and what to look for around them.”

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Eastern Kentucky Wins College Fishing Central Division Event

TRENTON, Michigan - The Eastern Kentucky team of Jonas Ertel of London, and Tyler Moberly of Berea, Kentucky, won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Central Division event on the Detroit River Saturday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split between the university and the university's bass fishing club - $7,500 for the bass club and $2,500 for their school. The win also helped them advance to the Central Division Regional Championship.

"This was a magical day," said Ertel, a graduated senior. "It was one of those days where everything went right. We pulled up to our first spot and caught a fish on our second cast. I lost a 5-pound smallmouth pretty early, but after that we fished clean the rest of the day. It was the only fish we lost.

"Tyler was pretty upset when we lost that 5-pounder, but I kept my head down and a positive attitude and I think that is what made the difference for us," Ertel went on to say. "We caught about 15 keepers today. It was a lot of fun. We had four primary areas that we targeted and used tubes to catch most of our fish."

"We came here about three weeks ago to practice," said Moberly, a junior in business technology. "We started fishing for smallmouth first in one of the areas we found during our practice. Within 45 minutes we had caught five keepers that weighed 15 pounds.

"Shortly after that we moved to another area to look for largemouth," Moberly continued. "We got about a 4 ½ - pounder that we were able to cull one of our smallmouth with. The largemouth were shallow on the edge of grass beds and we were drop-shotting and using top water baits.

"It was a great day and I can't wait to get to regionals."

Rounding out the top five teams and also advancing to the Central Regional Championship are:

2nd: Northwestern University - Matthew Kestufskie, Evanston, Ill., and Jimmy Morrow, Arlington Heights, Ill., (five bass, 14-1, $3,000)
3rd: Indiana University - Steven Bressler, Fremont, Ind., and Dustin Vaal, Bloomington, Ill., (five bass, 14-1, $2,000)
4th: Southern Illinois University System-Edwardsville - Brad Lemasters, Edwardsville, Ill., and Justin Skinner, Edwardsville, Ill., (five bass, 14-0, $2,000)
5th: Western Kentucky University - Andy Southard, Hanson, Ky., and Cody Napier, Beechcreek, Ky., (five bass, 13-6, $2,000)

The top five teams from each tournament qualify for the regional championship where the first-place team will win $12,500 cash for their school and $12,500 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90 horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors for their fishing club. The top five teams from each regional tournament advance to the national championship where the first-place team will win $25,000 for their school and $50,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors for their fishing club.

College Fishing is free to enter and FLW Outdoors provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.

The next National Guard FLW College Central Division tournament is the Regional Championship scheduled for Oct. 6-8 at Lake Kinkaid in Carbondale, Ill., and is hosted by Southern Illinois University.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWCollegeFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/CollegeFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.

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Eastern Kentucky Repeats as Open Champions
2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi

PARIS, Tenn., July, 2011 – It’s not often in a sport as competitive as collegiate bass fishing that a team wins back-to-back tournament titles; although that’s exactly what the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) bass team accomplished today by winning the 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi for the second year in a row.

The unique format of the Open tournament allows each school club to send as many teams as they like, with each team consisting of up to six anglers and three boats. EKU claimed the Open title in 2010 when Tyler Moberly and Kyle Raymer competed as a single boat team. This year, Tyler and Kyle, along with teammates Jonas Ertel, John Smith, Matt Salmons and Will Pope, fished as a three-boat team and combined their talents and knowledge of Kentucky Lake to successfully defend their Open title with a total weight of 42.73 pounds.

Ertel and Moberly shared a boat and located several schools of suspended bass, catching over 100 per day, including about 50 small keepers. The pair also fished a spot that yielded some better quality bass using swimbaits. Although their teammates weren’t catching big numbers of bass, they succeeded in catching some bigger fish from ledges with worms and jigs that helped propel the team to victory. The EKU team wishes to thank J&J Marine, who repaired an electrical problem with one of the boats at no charge following the first day of competition.

Starting the day in third place with 23.83 pounds, The University of North Carolina-Charlotte team amassed a tournament total of 41.27 pounds, which was good enough to claim second place. Teammates, Eric Self, Tyler Beam, Shane Lehew and Adam Waters shared three sweet spots located on main river ledges that produced approximately 100 bass, with most in the 2.5 pound size range. The majority of the bass the team brought to the scales were caught using a combination of Strike King 6XD crankbaits, 12” Berkley Power Worms and watermelon craw ER football jigs.

Finishing in third place with a total weight of 39.45 pounds, the University of North Alabama bass team stayed close to Paris Landing Marina and maximized their fishing time. The team caught all their bass from three sweet spots. One is a 20-foot deep river ledge, another is a shell bed positioned on an island point and the third spot is a sharp point on a river ledge that drops from 10 to 19 feet and features heavy cover. A combination of football jigs and Carolina rigged soft plastics proved to be effective for tempting more than 150 bass to bite. The team explained that they utilized their Lowrance HDS Structure Scan units to locate the fish and their HydroWave units to activate the schools of bass.

David Lambert, representing the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, secured the Costa overall big bass and Berkley day one big bass awards for his team by landing a 9.49-pound lunker on a spot the team located during the Open event last year. The big bass was fooled with a Carolina rigged Berkley Power Worm and was positioned on a shell bed located on a river ledge that dropped from 13 to 15 feet.

The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga team claimed the Berkley day two big bass awards when Robby Crosslin boated a 7.54-pound bass that was coaxed into biting a Carolina rigged Berkley Power Worm.

Rounding out the top ten is:

4 - Tennessee-Chattanooga 38.79
5 - Northwest Shoals 37.88
6 - Murray State 37.05
7 - Austin Peay 36.95
8 - Purdue 34.76
9 - Tennessee-Martin 33.61
10- Louisville 33.28

The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Series is sanctioned by the Association of Collegiate Anglers and will be televised on Versus by Careco TV beginning July 31 at 2:00 pm CST. The weekly television series will showcase the 2011 series of tournaments, including the Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi.

The Series is sponsored by BoatUS, BoatUS ANGLER, Cabela’s, Sperry Top-Sider, Columbia Sportswear, frogg toggs, Lazer TroKar, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Costa, Ranger Boats, Onyx, HydroWave, Mountain Dew, Gemini Sport Marketing, Big Bite Baits, Yamaha, Spro, PowerPole, Pepsi and Sunline.

For complete standings, photo album and additional information, please visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com or contact Wade Middleton wademiddleton@aol.com.

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B.A.S.S. Elite Pro Britt Myers Broke Down, Now Brags About BoatUS ANGLER

WHEELER LAKE, Tenn., June 20, 2011 – Mechanically inclined Bassmaster Elite Series pro Britt Myers is a good-mood kind of guy who loves to tell a story and leave you searching for the truth between the lines of his good-natured tales as he walks away laughing.

However, there was nothing funny about the fact that the good-hearted fifth year Elite Series pro found himself alone in a predicament he couldn’t fix last Tuesday night while practicing for the Bassmaster Elite Series event on Wheeler Lake. Worse yet, darkness was creeping over long stretches of the Tennessee River, and Myers was a long way from the boat ramp.

“I fished until the sun went down, and when it was time to come back to the ramp, I had serious outboard issues. I thought about calling my buddy Gerald Swindle, but it would have taken him well over an hour to get to me and, honestly, towing one bass boat with another places a serious strain on the outboard that’s doing the towing, which may have in turn hurt Gerald’s engine. I was a long way from the ramp. It was getting dark. And I was getting really uptight,” said Myers.

“Amid my slight panic, thank goodness, I remembered that I had joined BoatUS ANGLER earlier this year. Having never used their services, as I sat in the middle of the Tennessee River, I thought that calling them might be a long shot, and that it would probably take hours before somebody would come to get me, but I dialed the toll-free number on the membership tag they give for a keychain when you sign-up, and sure enough, tow boat Captain Russ Hudson said he’d be there to get me in 20 minutes, and sure enough he was. It was unbelievable,” exclaimed Myers.

“He towed me in at about eight miles per hour, versus a bass boat that could have only towed me at three miles per hour. That helped cut my time in half in getting back to my trailer so that I could then head to Decatur where our Elite Series outboard service tech “Scotty B.” graciously met me at 10:30 p.m., and fixed my problem,” said Myers, who has owned and operated a very successful truck and auto accessory store called CS Motorsports in Gastonia, NC for the past 19 years.

“When I bought my BoatUS ANGLER membership, I paid $72 to get both the Unlimited on-the-road and on-the-water towing benefits, which in turn allowed me to sign-up for their Weigh-to-Win cash tournament bonus program.” Myers continued, “Captain Hudson said his towing services would have cost me $400 without my membership to BoatUS ANGLER. Plus, I cashed-in on some Weigh-to-Win bonus money at the Bassmaster Southern Open this year. If you fish a lot of tournaments, you’d be crazy not to sign up. If they sold a lifetime membership, I’d buy one.”

Getting a BoatUS ANGLER membership with on-the-water or on-the road towing and signing-up for their Weigh-to-Win program like Britt did, is easy. Memberships are as affordable as $38. Just dial (918) 742-6424 and ask for Kendell - she’ll make sure you’re registered, or visit www.BoatUSfishing.com.

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UCF Knights Win 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship

Sonar Burghoff and Casey O’Donnell Tame Wind Churned Lake Lewisville

Lewisville, Texas - May 27, 2011 – Sonar Burghoff and Casey O’Donnell of the University of Central Florida were very confident heading into the final day of competition in the 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. Trailing the day one leaders by less than a quarter of a pound, the team believed they were on the fish to win the National Championship.

After weighing in 17.07 pounds on day one, Sonar and Casey caught one of only six, five bass limits recorded on the final day. They added 10.85 pounds to their day one weight for a total of 27.92 pounds, giving the team a comfortable margin of victory. The key to their tournament winning pattern was to concentrate on small pockets that featured deep water near the back. The team relied on the Navionics Platinum map chip to locate the productive pockets and Texas rigged Ouzo Chunky Monkeys as well as Secret Lures jigs to catch quality bass positioned around isolated dead willow trees. “We expanded on our water as the tournament unfolded both days,” said Sonar. “As we moved around the lake, we’d stop and fish isolated bushes positioned in pockets that had the right contour features.”

In an emotional moment, Sonar thanked Topwater Clothing, Jetworks Air Center and Business Air for their support. “There’s no way I could fish competitively without their support,” he commented.

Starting the final day in 9th place with 12.39 pounds, Scott Jones and Andrew Sanders of the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff hauled a 13.28 pound limit to the scales and claimed second place with a total weight of 25.67 pounds. “It feels good to do so well in an event of this magnitude,” said Scott. “We never caught a fish prior to 11:00 either day but we persevered and it paid off.”

The key for Jones and Sanders was to concentrate on green bushes positioned in 2-3 feet of stained water and avoid the muddy water resulting from the strong winds. The team utilized ¾ ounce Texas rigged Sweet Beavers and 5/16 ounce Eakins jigs to entice the finicky Lake Lewisville bass to bite. The team wishes to thank Berkley, Abu Garcia, Poor Man Jigs, BoatUS and all of the event sponsors for their support.

Finishing day one in 17th place with 10.71 pounds, Cody McCrary and Neil Arnaud of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette rallied to claim third place on the strength of an 11.17 pound five bass limit, giving the team a two day total of 21.88 pounds. “We just junked fished,” explained McCrary. “We hit a bunch of spots based on previous experience and caught fish both shallow and deep.” The team used a variety of lures including a shaky head, Carolina rig, Texas rig and crankbait.

McCrary and Arnaud wish to thank their sponsors: Wildlife Energy Drinks, Concrete 79520, Courtesy Automotive Group, Don’s Specialty Meats, Seaguar, Lazer TroKar, Tony Chachere’s Foods, Duckett Fishing Rods and OCR Custom Rods.

Rounding out the top 10 is:

4th Louisiana-Monroe Nick LaDart & Daniel Echols 21.55
5th Wisconsin-Steven’s Point Adam Kolbeck & Tyler Gollakner 21.38
6th Arkansas Mook Miller & Kyle Billingsley 21.30
7th Tarleton State Matt Carr & Cody Morrison 20.09
8th Alabama Jeremy Christian & Logan Johnson 20.02
9th Alabama Dustin Connell & Keith Kirkley 19.38
10th Arkansas Tech Dustin Huggins & Evan Barnes 18.95

The 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship awarded scholarships, travel funds, incentive awards and merchandise prizes to the top finishers thanks to the support of numerous event sponsors such as BoatU.S. Angler, Cabela’s, Sperry Top-Sider, Columbia Sportswear, frogg toggs, Lazer TroKar, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Costa, Ranger Boats, Onyx, HydroWave, Gemini Sport Marketing, Big Bite Baits, Yamaha, Spro, Pepsi, and Sunline.

The 2011 Champions will advance to fish the 2012 Bass Federation National Championship where they’ll have the opportunity to win the “Living the Dream” prize package and move on to compete in the Forrest Wood Cup.

The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Series is sanctioned by the Association of Collegiate Anglers and will be televised on Versus, part of NBC Sports Group, by CarecoTV beginning the last Sunday in July at 2:00 p.m. ET. The weekly television series will showcase the 2011 series of tournaments including the Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi which will be held June 27-30.

For complete standings, photo album and additional information, please visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com or contact Wade Middleton wade@carecotv.com.

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Trailer Tire Blowout leads to BoatUS ANGLER and an 11-pound Bass
by Matt Pangrac of Basszone.com

Norman, OK - There’s no better way to earn faith and confidence in a product than to put it to the test.

That being said, I really don’t have a burning desire to test out my driver’s side air bag, the “emergency call only” feature on my cell phone, or the flare gun that I keep in my boat. It’s nice to know that those options are there, but if I’m using one of them, well, you get the picture.

So last week, I hook up the Skeeter and head south on I-35 fully intending to spend the morning sight fishing on a lake in Oklahoma about 60 miles from my place. Thirty-two miles down the road I blow a tire on my single-axle trailer.

No big deal, right? Well, considering that I left my jack in a buddy’s truck after helping him fix a flat last month, I was in a predicament. As I sat on the side of the I-35 pondering my next move, it occurred to me that in January I spent 38 bucks for a year-long membership to BoatUS ANGLER that included the Trailer Assist package. The 38-bucks also includes the chance to win bonus money at tournaments as a member of their Weigh-to-Win program.

I called the 24-hour dispatch number on the back of my membership card and Adam from BoatUS sent a tow truck to the scene within 30 minutes. After replacing the shredded tire with the spare, I was back on the road and headed to the lake without a dime out of my pocket.

As I pulled up to the ramp, Adam from BoatUS called back just to make sure everything went smoothly. At 26 years old, I’m slowly starting to realize that I’m not bullet proof, and things do occasionally go wrong. It was a good feeling knowing that even though I was traveling by myself, the people at BoatUS ANGLER had my back.

After looking around and catching a few small ones, I finally spotted what I had been looking for – a bug-eyed, pot-bellied, sow on a spawning bed. After working on her for over an hour, I boated my biggest bass of the year – an 11-pound toad.

As it turned out, it took more time to get that bedding bass to bite than it took for me to call BoatUS ANGLER and get back on the road earlier that morning when I shredded the trailer tire. That either means that I’m horrible at sight fishing or that BoatUS came through with shining colors when I put their product to the test.

I’m going to say it’s probably a little bit of both.

A basic membership to BoatUS ANGLER is $24, and the Unlimited On-the-Road Towing (Trailer Assist) is just another $14. And again, for an affordable $38, you’ll also be eligible to register for the Weigh-to-Win contingency program that is a must-do for anybody that fishes tournaments. Go to www.BoatUSFishing.com to check it out or just call (918) 742-6424 and ask to speak with Kendell.

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Browning Bags BoatUS ANGLER "Weigh-to-Win" Bonus Cash

HARRIS CHAIN OF LAKES, Fla. March 16, 2011 - If there were a central theme to the Bassmaster Elite Series season opener at Florida's Harris Chain of Lakes it would be that nice guys finished first. Shaw Grigsby won the event, and Stephen Browning won the BoatUS ANGLER "Weigh-to-Win" $500 cash bonus for his admirable 3rd place finish.

That's right, you don't have to win the tournament to win the "Weigh-to-Win" cash. But like Browning, you do have to sign-up for a highly affordable BoatUS ANGLER membership to become eligible to cash-in.

Browning's bride of 14 years, Tammy, asked him why he bought a BoatUS ANGLER membership when his official paperwork arrived at their home and he told her, "Because it will give me peace of mind on the road and on the water. If I break down or have dead batteries, I can call them and they'll dispatch somebody to help me, and anything I can do to be in a better state of mind on the water will help me perform better as a competitor." That's the essence of the BoatUS ANGLER Weigh-to-Win program, for as little as $38 a year, tournament anglers at all levels can get peace of mind plus cash bonuses too.

"The Toyota Bonus Bucks and Weigh-to-Win programs are really important to help pay for all the expenses tournament anglers face," said Browning, who made a clean sweep of both bonuses at the Harris Chain of Lakes. "I'll tell you how important it is - when I made the Top 12 cut, I was in the angler meeting looking around at the rest of the pros in the Top 12 trying to figure out how many were eligible to win the Weigh-to-Win bonus cash other than myself," grinned the 44-year old, who says his dream day of fishing would be at Falcon Lake pitching a Hack Attack Jig on 80-pound braided line.

The Weigh-to-Win program will pay the highest placing, registered angler in most B.A.S.S., FLW and PAA events, as well as the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. For as little as $38, the cost of a BoatUS ANGLER membership and Unlimited On-the-Road Towing service, an angler who performs well in a single B.A.S.S. Weekend Series tournament could win a $150 cash bonus.

Getting signed-up for Weigh-to-Win is simple. Go to www.BoatUSFishing.com or call them at (877) 584-2628 to purchase an affordable Unlimited On-the-Road or On-the-Water BoatUS ANGLER towing membership. Then plug your membership number into the Weigh-to-Win registration form, and you're ready to fish, win and have "peace of mind".

For more details about tournament paybacks and getting signed-up for Weigh-to-Win, please visit www.BoatUSFishing.com or call Kendell at (918) 742-6424.

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University of Tennessee Wins Inaugural Big Bass Bash presented by HydroWave

San Antonio, Texas - The 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series got off to an exciting start as Tennessee Volunteer, Bradley Cooper, landed a 6.78 pound largemouth bass to win overall big bass and day two big bass honors during the Big Bass Bash presented by HydroWave. The inaugural event was held at Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama on March 25 -27.

Cooper's 6.78 pound overall big bass, combined with a 4.29 pounder that he boated to win the 9:00am session award, netted him $3,500 in cash and prizes. Cooper reported that he caught the biggest bass on a Texas rigged Berkley Chigger Craw and the other on a Bomber crankbait.

"Pickwick Lake has become one of my favorite fisheries," said Cooper. "With grass flats, ledges, cypress trees, and several other types of cover and structure, everyone has the opportunity to fish their strengths and catch a really big bass. The good Lord blessed me with the quality bite needed to win the overall big bass award. I'm looking forward to using the prizes to compete at the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship and the Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi." Cooper continued, saying "The format of the Big Bass Bash was tons of fun. The change of pace was awesome and is something I'd like to do more often! I would like to thank Florence/Lauderdale Tourism, BoatUS, HydroWave, Ranger Boats, Cabela's, Costa, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Columbia, Lazer TroKar, frogg toggs, and EOD Technologies for their support."

Day one of the event was cancelled due to severe weather affecting the entire north Alabama region, causing tournament organizers to adjust the format on day two. The revised format featured hourly weigh-ins beginning at 8:00am and the scales closed at 3:00pm. In addition to overall big bass and daily big bass awards, prizes were awarded for the five biggest bass each of the eight weigh-in sessions. The collegiate anglers were allowed to weigh only one bass per session and could not have more than three bass in their possession at any time; making it difficult to decide which session to bring a bass to the scales.

University of North Alabama's Isaac Broussard won day one big bass and the 10:00am session awards with a 5.90 pound Pickwick Lake lunker. Kyle Curry of University of Arkansas won multiple sessions with bass weighing 4.31 and 3.68 pounds. Other session winners included Kevin Bryant (4.35), Noah Kruzitski (4.63) and Tim Dobbins (4.08).

Almost forty competitors won prizes provided by the Association of Collegiate Anglers, HydroWave, Power Pole, Yamaha, Yamaha Generators, Pure Fishing, Cabela's, Costa sunglasses, Columbia Sportswear, Garmin, Daiwa, frogg toggs, Lazer TroKar, Big Bite Baits, Ranger Boats, American Rodsmiths and Activision.

The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series visits Lake Lewisville, Texas May 24 - 27 to determine the 2011 National Champions.

For more information about the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, please visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com

The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship television series will once again be nationally televised with 18 half hours of coverage on the Versus, now part of the NBC Sports Group, beginning in August of 2011. Additional coverage of the BoatUS Collegiate Series can be seen on-line via streaming video.

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A $1,500 BoatUS ANGLER "Weigh-to-Win" Bonus for KVD

NEW ORLEANS, La., February 28, 2011 -- Moments after he held court in the Bassmaster Classic press conference, Kevin VanDam held a jumbo-sized BoatUS ANGLER "Weigh-to-Win" check made out to him in the amount of $1,500, and he was genuinely excited about it, stating, "Sweet, I won!" as representatives handed him the cash bonus.

Peanuts. Chump change. Go ahead and say it. Fifteen hundred isn’t squat compared to the half-a-million dollars Kevin VanDam hauled home from his Bassmaster Classic victory in New Orleans. But while you’re thinking pocket change, KVD is pumping his fist. And that’s what makes him different. Winning is something he does, not something he measures in dollar figures.

No surprise, VanDam was among the first Elite Series anglers to sign-up for the brand new BoatUS ANGLER "Weigh-to-Win" cash bonus program designed for tournament anglers at all levels of competition. Best of all, you don’t have to actually win your tournament like KVD did to win the Weigh-to-Win money; you simply have to be the highest finishing eligible participant.

By purchasing a very affordable BoatUS ANGLER Towing Membership, you can find peace of mind to all of boat ownership's "what ifs" – plus you’ll be eligible to win BoatUS ANGLER “Weigh-to-Win” cash bonuses to complement your sense of ease and in Kevin’s case, win enough money to buy roughly 500 gallons of boat gas.

The "Weigh-to-Win" program will pay the highest placing, registered angler in most B.A.S.S., FLW and PAA events, as well as the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. For as little as $38, the cost of a BoatUS ANGLER membership and Unlimited On-the-Road Towing service, an angler who performs well in a single B.A.S.S. Weekend Series tournament could win a $150 cash bonus.

Anybody that has ever towed a boat has thought about "what if"” What if I have a flat trailer tire in the darkness at 5:00 am on a busy interstate eighty miles from home? What if somebody fails to stop behind me, and crashes into my boat and motor rendering it un-towable? And what if once I’m launched, I have a battery failure or spin a prop hub five miles from the ramp?

BoatUS is the nation’s largest association of recreational boaters, and they offer boat-owning anglers roadside and on-the-water towing assistance as well as boat insurance. Benefits begin at only $38 for a BoatUS ANGLER membership and Unlimited On-the-Road Towing, which provides services such as fuel delivery, jump-starts, flat tire assistance, lockout service, ramp winching and tow truck service for both your trailer and tow vehicle while trailering your boat.

Getting signed-up for "Weigh-to-Win" is simple. Go to BoatUSFishing.com or call them at (877) 584-2628 to purchase an affordable Unlimited On-the-Road or On-the-Water BoatUS ANGLER towing membership. Then plug your membership number into the "Weigh-to-Win" registration form and you’re ready to fish, win and have "peace of mind"”

For more details about tournament paybacks and getting signed-up for "Weigh-to-Win", please visit www.BoatUSFishing.com or call Kendell at (918) 742-6424.

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