TULSA, Okla. – January 3, 2012 – Citing a desire to see the sport of professional bass fishing reach a larger, more diverse audience, fishing reel company Quantum today announced a 2012 sponsorship of Major League Fishing, the recently formed partnership between Outdoor Channel and 24 of the world’s best anglers.
Quantum, an industry leader in fishing rods and reels, sponsors seven Major League Fishing competitors. Quantum Vice President of Marketing Bob Bagby said his company’s sponsorship of Major League Fishing is a natural fit.
“We proudly support the most accomplished professional angling team in the fishing industry, and most all of our sponsored anglers are participating in Major League Fishing. So it only made sense that we would support their passionate new venture with the shared intention of exposing bass fishing to an even bigger audience,” Bagby said.
Major League Fishing’s first event, the Challenge Cup, took place November 6-11 on Lake Amistad near Del Rio, Texas. The Lake Amistad event debuted the league’s innovative format that allows anglers to compete with no limit on the number of legal fish they can catch and weigh. Competitors were not allowed to begin competition with stored, user-generated GPS waypoints, and were not allowed any practice time. The anglers also were equipped with real-time leader boards in their boats.
Coverage of the Challenge Cup will be offered early in 2012 on a series of Internet-based pay-per-view broadcasts. The event also will be shown on Outdoor Channel in the second quarter of 2012. Quantum-sponsored anglers Kevin VanDam, Tommy Biffle, Shaw Grigsby, Greg Hackney, Mike McClelland, Gary Klein and Dean Rojas will be featured regularly during the Challenge Cup broadcasts.
“Quantum has established a distinctive footprint in the fishing industry, and we’re extremely happy that Quantum will be a Major League Fishing partner in 2012,” said Major League Fishing Commissioner Don Rucks. “We’re honored to have so many of Quantum’s professional team members participating in Major League Fishing.”
Quantum’s Bagby indicated that Major League Fishing will offer an excellent platform for the company’s pro staff and its products. Most of those anglers have never fished professionally with any other brand of reel, including four-time Bassmaster Classic champion Kevin VanDam, who has used only Quantum since his rookie year 21 years ago. VanDam used his favorite Quantum Tour KVD 5.3:1 reel to crank home his two most recent Bassmaster Classic trophies.