BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Only four spots remain in Toyota All-Star Week, Sept. 27-29 on Michigan’s Muskegon Lake, and the Bassmaster Elite Series pros are asking for your vote to get them into the competition. Tune in tomorrow, Aug. 28, at noon ET/11 a.m. CT for a B.A.S.S. Twitter chat, where the pros are vying for your votes in the Toyota All-Star Fan Favorite Angler Sweepstakes.
Until now, the roster for Toyota All-Star Week has been up in the air. Only one person was certain to compete in the event — Cliff Pace, who earned a qualification by winning the 2013 Bassmaster Classic.
But as of this past weekend, nine other names have been set in stone for the event. Hank Cherry won 2013 Bassmaster Rookie of the Year, giving him a berth in the bracket-style competition. And the other anglers qualified by being the Top 8 in Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points. Listed below in alphabetical order is the current field for the tournament:
Hank Cherry
Keith Combs
John Crews
Edwin Evers
Alton Jones
Bobby Lane
Aaron Martens
Cliff Pace
Kevin VanDam
Chris Zaldain
The other 89 top-level pros are looking for a shot at the bracket. Toyota All-Star Week pays out $100,000, with the winner taking home a check for $50,000. Some of them are offering incentives for fans to vote for them. Below is a list of the incentives pros have already promised if they are voted into All-Star:
- Brandon Card will give away a Bionic boat cover and a Pinnacle Fishing gift package.
- Brent Chapman will donate 10 percent of his All-Star winnings to Alzheimer’s research and 10 percent to Tackle the Storm Foundation.
- Jason Christie will donate 100 percent of his All-Star winnings to Make-A-Wish Foundation.
- Cliff Crochet will give away a 50-quart Summit Series K2 cooler to one of his Facebook fans.
- Ott DeFoe will donate $1,000 to Goodwill Industries Knoxville.
- Kevin Hawk will give away a Kevin Hawk Signature Series AIR I-Rod spinning rod to one of his Facebook fans.
- Randy Howell will donate 10 percent of his All-Star winnings to King’s Home and will give away several prizes on Facebook, including Zeko Shoes, Blue Water LED apparel, Yamamoto lures, frogg toggs sport pads and an issue of Bass Quest Magazine.
- Chris Lane will give a Facebook fan a $500 gift certificate to the Chris Lane Outdoor Resort in Guntersville, Ala.
- Bill Lowen will give away an instructional fishing trip to one of his Facebook fans.
- Bradley Roy will give away a deer hunting trip to one of his Facebook fans.
- Jonathon VanDam will take a Facebook fan on a fishing trip on Lake St. Clair, with lodging (not travel) included. The fan will also get G.Loomis GL2 fishing rods, Shimano reels, tackle packs from Strike King, TroKar and Power-Pro, and other gifts from Mercury, Strike King, Power-Pole, Shimano and G.Loomis.
Fans also have a chance to win just for voting, no matter which pros get in. Every person who casts a vote at Bassmaster.com/vote between now and Sept. 6 is entered into a sweepstakes. Fourteen names will be drawn, and the Toyota Fan finalists will then each be paired with one of the All-Star Week competitors. The fan who is paired with the winner of the event will take home a 2014 Toyota Tundra truck.
To participate in the All-Star B.A.S.S. Twitter chat, follow the hashtag #basschat on Twitter from noon to 12:30 p.m. ET (11 to 11:30 a.m. CT), Wednesday, Aug. 28. In the meantime, you can read the pros’ tweets from last year’s chat in the 2012 transcript.