You could say Melinda Hooper is simply a small town girl from a place you’ve never heard of. And chances are, the Ben Lomond, Ark., resident with a humble disposition would probably be just fine with that description.
Problem is, you’d be missing out on a whole lot more. Melinda’s checklist of life’s accomplishments is quite long for a young lady of just 25 years. For starters, she spent 13 months on the Iraq-Kuwait border serving her country as a member of the National Guard. Before that, at age 20, she set the record for the heaviest limit of fish ever weighed in by a professional female angler in a BASS event when she brought a 20-pound 14-ounce limit to the scales — a record held previously by none other than her best friend — her mom, Lucy Mize. She’s earned her college degree. And she just became the first female angler ever to cash-in on the recently launched Toyota Bonus Bucks program.
No surprise really that Melinda was the first female to bring home Toyota’s Bonus Bucks. Out of the five WBT events she’s competed in, she’s placed in the Top 10 three times, including a 7th place finish recently at Alabama’s Lake Neely Henry where she won $1,000 worth of Bonus Bucks.
Melinda Hooper is a strategist, a goal-setter, and a go-getter. As she explains, her purchase decision when buying her Tundra reflected those traits. “This year, before the season started, I did my research and looked at Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Toyota. I weighed my options and decided that the Toyota Tundra would surpass all my needs. The Toyota Bonus Bucks program was the ‘feather in the cap’ in my decision process.
Toyota is not only supporting the sport I compete in, but they are also offering me the chance to earn extra money. I felt there was no way I could go wrong with buying a Tundra, and I was right. I’ll recommend this Tundra, and its 5.7L engine to anybody that tows a boat,” concluded the small town girl from a place you’ve never heard of.
The Toyota Bonus Bucks program is the first tow-vehicle based contingency program in tournament bass fishing. Media members can contact Alan McGuckin at 918-742-6424 or alan@dynamicsponsorships.com for more information.