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Arkansas Bass Fishing Article
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Bass Fishing Tournaments
from: Maxx Sports GuidesIn bass competition or tournaments, bass fish are caught, weighed and then released into tank water to restore it to its normal senses and later returned to the lakes or ponds where they were hooked. The species is a hardy one and can survive for quite some time even after being hooked. The terms of a bass tournament are pretty stern and don't allow random hooking and killing of the species.
Dead fish aren't weighed and aren't regarded as valid entries. The idea is to participate in the sport, enjoy it, and at the same allow the species to live. This maintains ecological balance and illicit commercial killing of bass in the name of sport or fun.
There are two major bass fishing tournaments held in the US every year: Bassmaster Tournament Trail and Wal-Mart FLW Tour. The first is organized by Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. Bassmaster Tournament Trail started in 1969. It was the brainchild of Ray Scott, popularly known as the father figure of modern competitive bass fishing.
There are twelve events in total in which a maximum of 50 anglers can take part. The prize money is $500,000 for the winner of Bassmaster Classic. The Bassmaster Tournament Trail has gifted us with some of the well known bass professionals such as Michael Iaconelli, Aaron Martens, Rick Clunn, and Luke Clausen.
Wal-Mart FLW Tour is named after Forrest L. Wood. He founded the Ranger Boats. The company was named after him in 1996 to the pioneer of modern bass fishing, Forrest L. Wood. The Wal-Mart FLW Tour is open to all FLW Outdoors Member aged above sixteen. A maximum of 400 contestants can take part in the tournament with 200 boats, including a professional angler and a co-angler. The prize money for the Wal-Mart FLW cup is $1 million.
Both of these tournaments are telecast on ESPN and Fox Sports Net and have grabbed enormous media hype.
Bass fishing tournaments have also spread to other countries such as Japan, Australia and South Africa. The 2004 Bassmaster Classic winner was a Japanese angler named Takahiro Omori. Tournaments in Australia are held in fresh water ponds and the bass that's caught there is called Australian bass.
Arkansas Bass Fishing News