SPEED AND EFFICIENCY ON DISPLAY AT THE BASSMASTER CLASSIC PLANO PROS HITTING THE WATER AT LAKE HARTWELL |
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Greenville, SC (March 16, 2018) – This weekend some of the world’s best professional bass anglers return to Lake Hartwell and Greenville, South Carolina for the Geico Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, March 16th through 18th. Plano – the iconic brand synonymous with tackle-storage efficiency – proudly sponsors a pair of outstanding Bassmaster Elite Series anglers including last year’s Bassmaster Classic champ Jordan Lee and four-time Classic winner, Kevin VanDam. VanDam’s legacy in the bass fishing world is full of accolades, including being named the Elite Series Angler of the Year an incredible seven times. This year’s Classic marks KVD’s 27th shot at the title and he put the magnitude of the event in perspective earlier this week. “It’s the Super Bowl for us. It’s everything you work for all year long… to be there. We put as much game-planning into this – to win it – as anything we do. It’s by far the biggest event in the bass fishing world.”
Lake Hartwell is a 56,000-acre Savanah River impoundment. It’s the kind of water bass anglers dream of and it’s also a darn nice place to live if you’re a bass, too. The lake features abundant structure throughout the plentiful bays, coves, points, creek channels and islands. From shallow flats with a myriad of different cover types to steep rocky ledges, this vast body of water provides a perfect setting for the biggest showdown in professional fishing. One of the elder statesmen on the tournament trail, Kevin VanDam is the angling pride of Michigan, but has wide-ranging experience throughout the country that serves him well, regardless of where he competes. His versatility as an angler always sets the bar high for his fellow competitors, year after year.
“The Bassmaster Classic is definitely the epitome of living your dream. There are guys who have qualified through the Federation and the opens or through college to get to the biggest event in the sport. This is my 27th Classic and it’s still a privilege to be here,” VanDam explains. “And you kinda have to pinch yourself every day… man I get to make a living fishing. I love my job.” Jordan Lee hails from the heart of Alabama’s prolific bass country, just up the road from the hallowed waters of Lake Guntersville. This year marks his fourth time competing in the Classic. Lee proved to fishing mortals everywhere that even a young angler can win the biggest tournament of them all when he bested the rest of the field at last year’s Bassmaster Classic at Lake Conroe with a three-day total weight of 56-10. When somebody reminded Lee that he was like a rock star in bass country, he said, “I know. It’s crazy. We don’t do much, we just catch bass”. Maybe so, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anglers that catch bass better.
The fan-favorite Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods will again be held in the 250,000-square-foot TD Convention Center in Greenville, South Carolina. The Expo gets better every year and regularly draws 100 thousand attendees or more. The Plano booth will be full of action with daily pro-staff seminars and giveaways, a training center for the often imitated; never duplicated, Plano StowAway utility boxes, as well as a host of different promotions and giveaways including Spin the Wheel and Minnow Races. The tournament startred Friday at 8am ET. Take off will be at Eastern Green Pond Landing and Event Center in Anderson, SC. Weigh-ins are scheduled to begin about 4:30pm ET Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will occur at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in downtown Greenville. The Bassmaster Classic will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed live at B.A.S.S. Live Streaming. Plano wishes their dynamic duo the best of luck this season and a safe and exciting weekend to all the competitors and fans!
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