Cotati, Calif - Monster Fishing Tackle and Bass Quest Magazine have teamed up to offer a March Madness Bracket style fishing contest. Brackets have been generated using Bassmaster Elite Series anglers as the competitors and each tournament stop as the rounds beginning with Lake Guntersville and commencing with the final event at Chesapeake Bay.
Headlining the prize list is the $25,000 perfect bracket challenge that awards anyone who finishes the year with a flawless bracket. While the complete prize list is still being determined, the top 100 finishers will be guaranteed a prize of at least $20 and the overall winner will receive a $1000 tackle shopping spree as part of their prize package. The best part? Participation is free! Head to BassBrackets.com and register for an account. Brackets lock at 11:59 PM EST on April 8th, the evening before the Lake Guntersville Elite Series event kicks off.
"I really wanted to find something that would drive the attention to individual anglers and their success on tour. A few years ago I realized the only reason most sports fans know schools like Valparaiso or Butler is because of the March Madness brackets. It was then that it hit me, a bracket style contest would not only shed light on some great anglers, it would also be a lot of fun," explained Tom Leogrande of Bass Quest Magazine.
Bass Brackets are much like the NCAA college basketball brackets. You fill out the entire bracket before the first event kicks off and then you sit back and watch the games following closely to see how your selections are doing. Round one features head to head matchups between anglers on Lake Guntersville. The angler, between the two in each pairing, who finishes with more weight in that tournament advances to round two. In round two, the two anglers who advanced from round one will face off head to head at the Sacramento River Elite Series event. Round three will take place on Lake Havasu and round four on Kentucky Lake. The final four will be on the St. Lawrence River and the final two will face off head to head for the championship at the Chesapeake Bay Elite Series tournament.
“One of the great things about this challenge is you don't have to pick tournament winners, in fact,your selection could finish second to last and still be correct should their opponent end up dead last. It won’t be that uncommon for an angler to finish in the bottom half of the tournament, yet still advance due to a higher result than their opponent. It's a different format than typical fantasy fishing and it takes less time. Fill out the brackets once and sit back and see how you did. Unlike other fantasy fishing contest, you don’t have to be that knowledgeable about the anglers to have a chance to win," explained Steve Reed of Monster Fishing Tackle.
Leogrande said, "Our prize packs continue to grow. Just today we secured a partnership withDaiwa who will be providing two reels for each of the first two rounds of action. The top two scoring participants during each of the first two rounds will win a Daiwa reel valued at over $100. So in spite of your final placement, you can still win prizes for having a good run."
Register today at BassBrackets.com where the brackets are live and awaiting your selections. Brackets lock at 11:59 EST on April 8th and the madness starts on April 9th.