EVINRUDE LAUNCHES NEW LOOK AND DESIGN FOR CONSUMER

New design promises more user friendly features

Sturtevant, Wis., March 9, 2010 – A new look for www.evinrude.com has been launched in an effort to draw additional traffic to the company’s website and provide consumers with more tools to make their purchase decision for an outboard engine.

Consumers visiting the www.evinrude.com website are afforded many unique opportunities to aid them in their decision process. New page layouts provide a more user-friendly navigation along with faster uploads and links to the many tools available on the site.

Competitive specification information, engine performance bulletins and a completely interactive ICON electronics feature enable the consumer to research their potential engine purchase with ease. Consumers are also able to order a copy of the award-winning Evinrude E-TEC infomercial, free of charge. The maintenance calculator – an interactive tool that determines the overall cost of ownership for a 3-year period – remains the most useful tool on the site and one that clearly illustrates the Evinrude E-TEC value proposition of no dealer scheduled maintenance for 3 years or 300 hours of use.

“Our product website captures a very high number of consumers researching their outboard engine purchase,” stated Yves Leduc, vice president – general manager for BRP’s North America Division. “In today’s technical age, it is important to provide our consumers with a website that delivers a valuable and useful resource. Keeping existing and potential new consumers on our website for product and educational information is imperative to communicating our many competitive advantages and ultimately building sales,” Leduc concluded.

Current retail promotions and Evinrude’s many boat builder partners are also featured on the site for those consumers searching for a new boat and motor package.

Evinrude engines’ reputation for dependability, quality and reliability coupled with the fact that Evinrude E-TEC is the only outboard with no dealer scheduled maintenance for 3 years or 300 hours makes the decision to power with Evinrude E-TEC an easy one. Having the lowest operating costs of any outboard engine means that powering with an Evinrude E-TEC can save consumers up to $1,600 per year in fuel and maintenance costs.

South Carolina TBF Holds its First Tournament On Lake Murray

The Bass Federation of SC. held its first tournament of the 2010 season on Lake Murray on Feb. 27th. out of Dreher Island state park. TBF tournaments are partner draw tournaments for the weekend angler with a boater and co/angler division. The weather cooperated nicely with lots of sun, light winds and temperature in the mid 50s. The cool nights and high winds we have been experiencing have kept water temperatures down in the 40s. This made it difficult for anyone to put together a five bass limit. There was however some impressive bass brought to the scales.

Taking first place honors in the boater division was Darrell Shull with three bass weighing10.38lbs. Second place was Herman Vining with three bass at 10.21 lbs. and third with a catch of two quality bass was Robert Rikard weighing in at 8.27lbs. Roberts largest fish was 5.86lbs.

On the co/angler side first place went to Kenny Grimes. He managed to bring in two bass, his largest was 6.05lb. lunker good enough to take big fish honors also for co/anglers. Second was Randy Allen also with two fish at 7.89lbs. Third place went to Bryan Beaudrot again with two bass, his largest at 5.79lbs.

The big fish of the tournament honors went to Craig Fredrychowski with his 7.04 largemouth. Because Lake Murray is large it offers many different patterns of bass fishing. On this day the dominant pattern seemed to be pre-spawn bass moving up to staging areas adjacent to spawning coves. Crankbaits were the lure choice here. Some anglers did achieve success with other methods reported such as jigging spoons in deeper, clearer water. As well as spinner baits in shallow muddy water in uplake areas. Although fishing is generally still slow, as the water warms up more of these quality bass will start to appear.

TBF is open to all age 16 and over. Our next tournament will be at Santee Cooper out of Blacks Camp on March 27th. TBF offers a great experience for all who enjoy bass fishing as well as the opportunity to advance to the next level through our points system and 6 man team format. We also offer a youth program and conservation efforts in cooperation with DNR. For more information on joining, please visit our web site www.tbfofsc.com . We would be happy to have you join us.

Around the TBF Youth Newsletter – February 2010

It’s that time of year again when our TBF clubs across the country are attending Boat, Sport and Outdoor shows across the country.

 It’s during these events that a large portion of our Reel Kids Casting Events are held across the country. Now more than ever we need to take advantage of these events to generate new members into our youth program.

 Your clubs can turn these events into a great recruiting tool by simply placing an information sign up sheet at the registration desk of your Reel Kids Events.

Any young boy or girl who has an interest in getting involved in your youth program can sign the sheet along with their contact info. After the event is over you can then go back and contact them about upcoming meetings or club registration.

I’ve done this in the past at several FLW Tour events and I would almost always come away with two or three pages of potential names.

If you’re taking the time to do the event this simple step could really boost your state youth membership numbers. Let’s not let a good opportunity slip away!

 It’s also a great time to get started on our Youth fundraiser. In case you haven’t heard we now have the great opportunity to have our clubs across the country sell a line of outdoor eyewear that is produced by one of our sponsors. (Solar Bat)

There is something for everyone in their selection and the potential profit margins are excellent. Just think about what a great opportunity this is to allow us to generate our own funds and not have to rely on sponsors and handouts for all of the things that we need!

Another good idea for this program is to generate funds for event and travel expenses for your anglers. Whether it’s for your adult state team or youth anglers’ traveling to the NGJWC this is a great way to provide some much needed financial assistance for those who participate in these events.

If you have any questions regarding this program please contact me at: mark@bassfederation.com and we’ll get your group up to speed on this neat opportunity.

 Until next month, don’t forget to take a kid fishing today!      Mark Gintert

TVA’s WATTS BAR LAKE TO HOST THE BASS FEDERATION’S BEST FOR THE 2010 TBF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Ponca City, Okla. (Jan. 26, 2010) – The Bass Federation announced today that the Tennessee Valley Authority and Roane County, Tenn., will host the 2010 The Bass Federation National Championship presented by the National Guard. The event will be held April 22-24 on Watts Bar Lake. It’s the culmination of more than two years of qualifiers for most of the 30,000 anglers that are members of TBF in the United States and Canada.

Anglers from seven TBF divisions competed locally in their home states during 2008 to qualify for the 2009 no-entry- fee TBF Divisional Championship Series tournaments. The top two anglers from each state at those events advance, and the Association of Collegiate Anglers National Champions advance to compete in the no-entry-fee 2010 TBF National Championship presented by the National Guard.

“TVA is very excited to help sponsor the TBF national championship,” said Anda Ray, TVA Senior Vice-President of Environment and Technology. “We look forward to working closely with TBF to help produce a first-class event and ensure that the competing anglers enjoy their fishing experience on Watts Bar Lake. We certainly welcome all the TBF membership to our region and, while you’re here, we hope you enjoy the many outdoor and recreational activities offered in beautiful East Tennessee.”

Once again, grassroots fishing’s most prestigious event will be held in conjunction with an FLW Tour stop that is taking place on Knoxville’s Fort Loudon-Tellico lakes the same week. The first two days weigh-ins will be held lakeside at Watts Bar Lake, and the final weigh-in and the Family Fun Zone & Outdoor Expo which offers festivities for both events, will be held downtown at the Knoxville Convention Center on Saturday, April 24.

“We are thrilled to be, once again, holding the TBF National Championship presented by The National Guard in conjunction with an FLW Tour event,” TBF President Robert Cartlidge stated. “The two events feed off each other well. Our partners at FLW Outdoors always go above and beyond in support of TBF, and we’re both bigger and better because of it. Watts Bar Lake and the Kingston, Tenn., area are great family destinations with many things to do and see. The Tennessee Valley Authority has done a lot of hard work to make sure Watts Bar Lake is in great shape. The fishing is as good as it’s ever been there, and it should prove to be a great venue to test the mettle of our anglers.”

TBF National Championship anglers will compete for their share of nearly a quarter of a million dollars in cash and prizes and every TBF Championship angler will receive a check and other prizes. The $100,000 “Living the Dream” prize package and berths in two of the sport’s most coveted events – the BFL All-American presented by Chevy and the Forrest Wood Cup are up for grabs. The top boater and top co-angler from each of the seven TBF divisions from the competition on Watts Bar Lake will advance to the 2010 BFL All-American. The TBF Federation National Champion boater and co-angler also qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup. In addition to these incredibly lucrative championship berths, the winning boater at the TBF National Championship will receive the Living the Dream Prize package to include: $7,000 prize check, fully paid entry fees on the 2011 FLW Tour, travel expense funds and the use of a “Living the Dream” wrapped Chevy truck and Ranger boat, as well as sponsor merchandise.

An official practice day will be held Wednesday, April 21 followed by three days of competition held April 22-24. The entire field will compete Thursday and Friday with weigh-ins at Ladd Park in Kingston, Tenn. The field will then be cut to the top boater and co-angler from each of the seven TBF divisions for Saturday’s final day. The National Champion boater and co-angler will be crowned Saturday in the Knoxville Convention Center by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight.

Coverage of the TBF National Championship presented by the National Guard will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on WFN (World Fishing Network).

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.

The Bass Federation Inc., (TBF), is the oldest and largest, organized grassroots angling organization in America. TBF is owned by those it serves and is dedicated to the sport of fishing. TBF affiliated state federations and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 fishing, youth and conservation events at the local level each year, and have provided the foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for more than 40 years.

For more information about The Bass Federation, visit bassfederation.com, or call 580.765.9031.