CELEBRATION, Fla. - The Bassmaster Series will hold seven regional tournaments on lakes in Alabama, Louisiana, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri and Virginia, BASS announced today. The Series Second-Chance regional tournament will be held Nov. 9-11, 2006, on Virginia's Smith Mountain Lake, while the other six regional tournaments will be held on Table Rock Lake in Missouri; Patoka Reservoir in Indiana; the Potomac River in Maryland; Neely Henry Lake and Lake Eufaula in Alabama; and the Ouachita River in Louisiana.
"These are some excellent fisheries for our post-season tournaments," said Bruce Mathis, the Bassmaster Series tournament director. "I can't wait to see which of these anglers eventually qualifies for the Bassmaster Classic."
The top 30 boaters and non-boaters in their divisions are invited to fish the three-day regional tournaments. There are five divisions in each region and 150 anglers and co-anglers will fish in each regional tournament, where the top prize pays $50,000. If a qualifier is not able to participate in the tournament, BASS will work down the list and invite the next highest-finishing angler.
The second-chance tournament is offered to anglers who paid to fish in all four one-day divisional tournaments, but didn't qualify for the regional.
The top eight boaters and non-boaters in each regional tournament - for a total of 56 - will advance to the national championship (Jan. 25-27, 2007; Lake Guntersville; Guntersville, Ala.). The winner of that event receives $100,000 and will be invited to fish in the 2007 Classic on Feb. 23-25 on Lay Lake in Birmingham, Ala.
2006 ESPN Outdoors Bassmaster Series Regional Tournaments
Midwest Region Table Rock Lake Kimberling City, Mo. Oct. 25-28
Northeast Region Potomac River Charles County, Md. Oct. 25-28
Northern Region Patoka Reservoir Birdseye, Ind. Oct. 25-28
Southern Region Neely Henry Lake Gadsden, Ala. Nov. 2-4
South Central Region Ouachita River West Monroe, La. Nov. 2-4
Southeast Region Lake Eufaula Eufaula, Ala. Nov. 2-4
Second-Chance Smith Mountain Lake Moneta, Va. Nov. 10-11