BENTON, Ky. (Nov. 5, 2003) - FLW Outdoors announced Tuesday that the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail will return in 2004 for a fourth season with another $1 million purse. With five stops in Texas, the trail brings world-class competitive fishing to the state's 1.3 million bass anglers.
Anglers fish four regular-season events to qualify for the $195,000, no-entry-fee Texas Tournament Trail Championship. In 2004, all four qualifying events and the championship follow a two-day format. The top 20 pros and co-anglers from a field of 200 boats advance to day two in qualifying events, and the winner is determined by the heaviest two-day accumulated weight. At the end of the season, the top 50 pros and co-anglers in the points standings qualify for the championship, where the entire field fishes for two days to determine the winner of as much as $70,000 in the Pro Division and $40,000 in the Co-angler Division.
The first Texas Tournament Trail stop is Lake Amistad near Del Rio, Texas, Feb. 7-8, followed by visits to Sam Rayburn Reservoir near Jasper, Texas, March 6-7 and Lake Texoma near Sherman, Texas, April 24-25. The Th regular season wraps up May 22-23 on Lake Travis near Jonestown, Texas, and the championship runs Oct. 16-17 on Lake of the Pines near Longview, Texas.
Pros will compete for a share of a $145,000 purse at each qualifying event, while co-anglers will compete for a piece of a $60,000 prize package. Pro winners receive a guaranteed award of $10,000 cash plus a new Ranger 519 VS powered by Evinrude or Yamaha and can earn an additional $20,000 cash in Ranger contingency awards for a total prize package worth $65,000. Co-angler winners receive $4,000 cash and can win a new Ranger 195 worth $30,000 if they meet Ranger contingency requirements for a total prize package of $34,000.
To make the Texas Tournament Trail even more lucrative, Ranger Boats offers $5,000 at each regular-season event to the highest-finishing Pro Division angler who meets Ranger Cup qualifying guidelines and Garmin offers $1,000 to the winning pro at each event if the pro uses only Garmin electronics and at least one of the units is a qualifying Fishfinder or combination GPS/sounder.
Pros must own a Ranger boat that was purchased new from a Ranger dealer, and they must fish from a Ranger boat during the tournament to qualify for Ranger contingency awards. Co-anglers must be Ranger boat owners to qualify for contingency awards. Additional guidelines may apply. For details on the Ranger contingency, Ranger Cup and Garmin Grand award programs, visit Rangerboats.com and Garmin.com.
Early Texas Tournament Trail entry for Ranger owners begins at 8 a.m. CST Nov. 12. Champion and Stratos owners may register beginning at 8 a.m. CST Nov. 13. Tournament entry opens to the general public at 8 a.m. CST Nov. 14. Priority will be given to anglers who enter all four qualifying tournaments by Nov. 17. Entry fees for qualifying events are $350 for pros and $100 for co-anglers.
$1 Million Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail
| Date | Lake | City, State | ||
| Feb. 7-8 | Lake Amistad | Del Rio, Texas | ||
| March 6-7 | Sam Rayburn | Jasper, Texas | ||
| April 24-25 | Lake Texoma | Sherman, Texas | ||
| May 22-23 | Lake Travis | Jonestown, Texas | ||
| Oct. 16-17 | Lake of the Pines | Longview, Texas |