BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — After losing out in a boat giveaway sponsored by an insurance company, Dennis Inman searched online for another contest to win a boat.
“I found this contest (the Bassmaster Winter Boat Giveaway), and I started entering it,” said Inman, a 62-year-old disabled retiree who last worked at a plywood plant. “I tried to enter it every day.”
His strategy of entering often paid off for Inman as he won the contest’s grand prize package of a Triton 179 TrX bass boat and Yamaha F115LB outboard and prop, Triton single axle trailer, MotorGuideX3 45-pound thrust/45-inch 12-volt trolling motor, Lowrance Mark 5 dash mount depthfinder valued at $25,095.
Winning the second prize boat package valued at $17,395 was Matthew Wilt of Camas, Wash. He received a Triton 17 TX bass boat and Mercury 60 ELPT outboard motor, Triton single axle trailer, Motorguide X3 45-pound thrust 12-volt trolling motor and Lowrance 3X depthfinder.
Inman has entered prize drawings such as the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, a DeWalt Tools motorcycle giveaway and some boat contests on a whim before but he has never won. So he was a little skeptical when he was notified by B.A.S.S. that he won the boat giveaway.
“I figured it was a scam when I first got the email, but it was true,” he said. “I was real excited then. I have wanted a boat for quite a while, but with the finances and all I just couldn’t get one.”
When Inman told his wife Sandi that he won the boat, she was also skeptical. “She said, ‘Right. sure you did’,” Inman recalled. However, her reaction turned to shock when he proved to her he really did win the contest.
Inman recalls when he was a boy fishing with his dad at a creek near their home. “We would mostly sit out on the creek bank and set out poles and catch catfish,” he said. In his younger days, Inman owned some small aluminum boats and frequently fished for “anything.”
The Texas retiree mainly fishes for bass now since he lives about 30 miles from Sam Rayburn Reservoir and close to the same distance from Toledo Bend Lake, two of the best bass fisheries in Texas. “I’ve got a friend who has a boat, and I go with him occasionally,” he said.
Now that he has a brand new Triton boat, Inman intends to return the favor to his friend and take him fishing. “I plan to do more fishing now,” said Inman, who also plans on taking his two sons fishing. “My wife has been after me to take her, too.”
He also intends to keep entering contests for anything that strikes his fancy — perhaps including a new truck to tow his new boat.