BENTON, Ky. (Sept. 21, 2007) - FLW Outdoors announced today that competitors in the Bass Fishing League will compete for $8.8 million in 2008 and the opportunity to participate in three no-entry-fee championships with total payouts exceeding $3 million.
The BFL is made up of 28 divisions, each with four $45,000 one-day qualifying tournaments and one $67,500 two-day Super Tournament. In the $45,000 qualifying tournaments, the winning boater earns as much as $6,000 in cash. First-place co-anglers earn as much as $3,000 in cash. Top boater payouts in the $67,500 Super Tournaments are $9,000 while top co-anglers earn as much as $4,500.
Ranger Boats will award an additional $1,000 to winning boaters if they participate in the Ranger Cup incentive program, or $500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant, at each qualifier and Super Tournament in 2008.
After four one-day qualifiers and a two-day Super Tournament in a division are complete, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from the division advance to a three-day no-entry-fee Regional Championship. Here boaters compete for a Ranger boat powered by Evinrude or Yamaha and a Chevy truck, and co-anglers compete for a Ranger boat powered by Evinrude or Yamaha. The top six boaters and six co-anglers in each of seven Regional Championships also advance to the $1 million no-entry-fee 2009 All-American championship. Anglers who enter all five tournaments within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to fish a Wild Card regional, which also sends six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American.
Anglers who qualify for the $1 million All-American will fish for as much as $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. Additionally, the winning boater and co-angler from the All-American advance to the $2 million no-entry-fee Forrest Wood Cup, where pros compete for a top award of $1 million - the biggest award in the sport of competitive bass fishing.
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from every BFL division in 2008 may also advance to the Stren Series in 2009. All-American champions are eligible to advance directly to the FLW Tour for a shot at top awards of $125,000 to $200,000 in every tournament. Each season the top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers from each Stren Series division are eligible to advance to the FLW Series and the FLW Tour for a shot at top awards of $125,000 to $200,000 in every tournament.
In the BFL's boater and co-angler format, the boater supplies the boat, controls boat movement and competes against other boaters. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers.
Field sizes will remain the same for 2008, with 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers comprising a full BFL field. Entry fees also remain the same, with boater entry fees of $200 for qualifiers and $300 for Super Tournaments. Co-angler entry fees are $100 for qualifiers and $150 for Super Tournaments. Pretournament meetings for each tournament will be held at the local Wal-Mart store hosting the event.
The complete BFL schedule is posted at FLWOutdoors.com.
2008 Wal-Mart BFL Payouts
$45,000 Qualifiers: $67,500 Super Tournaments:
Ranger Ranger
Place Boater Bonus Co-angler Place Boater Bonus Co-angler
1 $5100 $900 $3000 1 $7650 $1350 $4500
2 3000 1500 2 4500 2250
3 2000 1000 3 3000 1500
4 1400 700 4 2100 1050
5 1200 600 5 1800 900
6 1100 550 6 1650 825
7 1000 500 7 1500 750
8 900 450 8 1350 675
9 800 400 9 1200 600
10 700 350 10 1050 525
11 630 315 11 950 475
12 580 290 12 870 435
13 560 280 13 840 420
14 530 265 14 800 400
15 500 250 15 750 375
16 480 240 16 720 360
17 460 230 17 690 345
18 440 220 18 660 330
19 420 210 19 630 315
20 400 200 20 600 300
21 390 195 21 590 295
22 380 190 22 570 285
23 370 185 23 560 280
24 360 180 24 540 270
25 350 175 25 530 265
26 340 170 26 510 255
27 330 165 27 500 250
28 320 160 28 480 240
29 310 155 29 460 230
30 300 150 30 450 225
31 290 145 31 430 215
32 280 140 32 420 210
33 270 135 33 400 200
34 260 130 34 390 195
35 250 125 35 370 185
36 240 120 36 360 180
37 230 115 37 340 170
38 220 110 38 330 165
39 210 105 39 310 155
40 200 100 40 300 150
Snickers Snickers
Big Bass 1000 500 Big Bass 1500 Day 1 750 Day 1
All awards based on 200-boat fields.