AIM Expands Sanctioned Series

5/3/2010 11:48:50 AM

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Anglers Insight Marketing, LLC has expanded the opportunities for anglers from the AIM Sanctioned Series program to compete at the AIM International Walleye Championship™, September 1st and 2nd, 2010.

In 2009, AIM created an exciting program that invited the winners of regional walleye tournaments to compete alongside the AIM Pro Anglers in the season-ending Championship at Lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota. The AIM Pro Anglers qualified for the Championship via their participation in three qualifying AIM Pro Walleye Series™ tournaments. The Sanctioned Series anglers received personal invitations based on their success in their affiliated tournaments.

For 2010, AIM has significantly expanded the Sanctioned Series program and will add a “tournament within the tournament” format. With this new format, Sanctioned Series TEAMS will now qualify for entry to the AIM International Walleye Championship™. AIM has expanded the invitations to the 2010 Championship to both members of the top teams, and these anglers will compete as a team against other Sanctioned Series teams using the well known AIM Catch-Record-Release™ tournament platform.

These invitations will be limited to the first 30 Sanctioned Series to accept this opportunity. Acceptance ONLY requires the commitment to send the top team from your tournament or series. Determination of the qualifying team is at the discretion of each tournament organization. The top team may be the 2010 “Team of the Year” (or year-to-date Team of the Year) or the 2009 Team of the Year or Champions – whichever each organization chooses.

Each participating Sanctioned Series tournament will receive an invitation for the members of their top qualifying team. The team members will register together and fish together in this two-day tournament (September 1 – 2, 2010) ONLY against other Sanctioned Series teams. The entry fee will be $500.00 per team. The cash payback will be 100% of the entry fees (that is, $15,000 for the maximum field of 30 teams) PLUS bonus prizes valued at over $7500 provided by the AIM Marketing Partners. Note: EVERY team will receive bonus merchandise prizes regardless of their finish ranking!

As was the case in 2009, each Sanctioned Series will ALSO have the opportunity to nominate their top individual anglers to receive invitations to fish as Pro Anglers or Co-anglers in the main event, the AIM International Walleye Championship™. The Pro Angler entry fee is $1500 and provides the angler the chance to fish against the top AIM Pro Anglers for an estimated total purse of over $150,000, including a 2010 Lund Pro V boat and 300hp Mercury Verado motor. The Co-angler entry fee for this season will remain at $250, a great value for fishing a minimum of 2 days with a Pro angler.

This means that every Sanctioned Series can qualify their top anglers to (1) compete as Pro Anglers and/or Co-anglers in the AIM International Walleye Championship™, or (2) compete as a team in the special “tournament within the tournament”, or BOTH - that is, extend invitations to up to FOUR anglers.

As teams sign up for the “tournament within a tournament,” Navionics, an AIM Marketing Partner, will provide each team with a Navionics package containing a HotMaps Platinum North chip and their newest PC planning software, NavPlanner2. Both products contain detailed mapping of Lake Winnibigoshish, allowing the team to plan their strategy before leaving home.

Again, the qualification criteria are up to each tournament organization. BUT, the special team tournament will be limited to ONLY 30 boats/teams. Acceptance of this opportunity is limited to the first 30 tournament organizations.

The AIM International Walleye Championship™ will be held at Lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota. In 2009, AIM Pro Angler Todd Riley bested the field by tallying over 100 pounds of walleyes using the exclusive AIM Catch-Record-Release™ format. The hundreds of walleyes caught by all the competitors were photographed and immediately released without a negative impact on the remarkable fishery.

Further information about AIM as well as up-to-the-minute updates about tournaments can be found at the AIM website.