Alabama Bass Trail's New Tournament Series Kicks off February 1 on Lake Guntersville
Decatur, Ala. (January 8, 2014) - On February 1, 2014, the Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series gets underway on Lake Guntersville where a guaranteed first place prize of $10,000 is up for grabs. Hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the tournament is bringing in 400 amateur anglers from across the southeastern United States and is expected to generate an approximate $500,000 economic impact for Guntersville and Marshall County.
Lake Guntersville will host the first stop of the Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series, a team-style tournament series sanctioned by BASS (Bass Anglers Sportsman Society). Registration for the first tournament is full at 200 boats and 400 anglers. Registration and briefing will take place at the Lake Guntersville State Park Lodge beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, January 31.
Takeoff is set for approximately 7 a.m. and weigh-in begins at 3 p.m. at the boat ramp in Lake Guntersville State Park. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
During the launch tournament, Anglers Channel will be filming an episode to be aired at a later broadcast that will be shown in over 40 markets reaching a viewership of over eight million households. Official tournament director is Fishlife and Elite Outdoors Media will provide fishing fans with live streaming coverage.
According to Alabama Bass Trail's Program Director Kay Donaldson, each tournament is expected to pump an estimated $500,000 into the local economy of the host city. "Anglers typically pre-fish, or scout a location, three or four days prior to a tournament, and during this time, they visit restaurants, gas stations, and tackle shops. While competing in a tournament, anglers spend approximately $300 each day on accommodations, gasoline, food and other supplies," stated Donaldson.
The tournament trail features two divisions: Northern and Southern. Each division is made up of five tournaments on five different lakes. Maximum number of boats is 200 and each tournament will have a $10,000 guaranteed first place prize and will pay 20 places.
Northern Division:
Lake Guntersville February 1, 2014
hosted by Marshall County CVB
Pickwick Lake March 22, 2014
hosted by Florence-Lauderdale Tourism
Neely Henry Lake
April 5, 2014
hosted by
City of Gadsden Parks & Recreation
Wheeler Lake
May 31, 2014
hosted by Decatur-Morgan County CVB
Logan Martin Lake
June 21, 2014
Southern Division:
Mobile-Tensaw Delta
March 1, 2014
hosted by
North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce
Lake Eufaula
March 15, 2014
hosted by
Eufaula-Barbour County
Chamber of Commerce
Lake Jordan
April 19, 2014
hosted by Wetumpka
Chamber of Commerce
Alabama River (Millers Ferry)
May 10, 2014
hosted by
Wilcox County Chamber
and the City of Monroeville
Lay Lake
June 7, 2014
hosted by Shelby County Commission
The championship is a 125 boat, two-day event. The 125 boats are comprised of the top 50 teams in points from both divisions that fished all five events in their respective divisions, along with the top 25 student boats collectively from both divisions that fished all five events in their respective division. Hosted by Chamber of Commerce of Walker County, the championship tournament is set for October 10-11, 2014 on Lewis Smith Lake.
The championship is a no entry tournament and the first place prize is a fully-rigged 2015 Phoenix 619 Pro with a Mercury 150, trolling motor and electronics valued at $37,495 with an additional $40,000 in cash and prizes. The official bass boat of the Alabama Bass Trail, Phoenix Bass boats will also offer the tier one First Flight incentive plan to tournament winners in a qualifying Phoenix boat.
Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series' sponsors include Bill Penney Toyota, the Alabama Tourism Department, Phoenix Bass Boats, Inc., Fishlife, Elite Outdoors Media, McDonalds of Alabama, and Pradco-FISHING representing BOOYAH and YUM, Dobyns Rods, Randy Jones Agency - Nationwide, T-H Marine Supplies, Inc., Alabama Power Company, Buffalo Rock, Inc., Jet-Pep, Inc., Tennessee Valley Authority, Rigid Industries, Inc., and Frogg Toggs, Inc., Go Pro, Gander Mountain HydroWaveTM, Garmin, and Yeti Coolers.
For more information on the Alabama Bass Trail and the tournament series, call Donaldson at 855.934.7425 or visit www.alabamabasstrail.org.
About Alabama Bass Trail
The Alabama Bass Trail is a program of the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association. Its mission is to promote Alabama as a year round fishing destination, to preserve natural resources for generations to come, and to educate high school and college aged students to be good stewards of natural resources. The 11 bass fishing lakes consist of Lake Guntersville, Wheeler Lake, Pickwick Lake, Lewis Smith Lake, Neely Henry Lake, Lay Lake, Logan Martin Lake, Lake Jordan, Alabama River (Millers Ferry), Lake Eufaula, and the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta. For more information, visit
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