March 20, 2006

Dear TBF Board and State Presidents:

I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, provide contact information and update you on some key items.

At the age of 16, I became a member of the Capital Area Bass Association – a Federation club in Lansing, Michigan. For the next three years, I actively competed in their tournaments and worked on several committees, including community service and tournament operations. At this time in my life, I also worked at Grand Valley Marine, a Ranger dealership, which afforded me the opportunity to learn what matters most to the angling community and to get hands-on involvement. We worked in cooperation with other clubs and the Michigan Federation to host the Lynn Dennis Memorial Bass Tournament each year. After gaining this experience, I was elected as our club’s representative to the Federation and actively participated in Michigan Federation business meetings.

Most recently, I had the opportunity to serve Yamaha Outboards as Freshwater Promotions Supervisor with responsibility for managing all aspects of the company’s bass and walleye promotions as well as grassroots marketing programs for Federation anglers. Working on sponsorship initiatives and product fulfillment methods during this time has greatly helped me understand the needs, challenges and opportunities of the Federation as a whole.

As you may already be aware, FLW Outdoors hired me as a resource for The Bass Federation. I have the great pleasure of working for you in this unique partnership to help in developing our joint TBF and FLW Outdoors initiatives, including youth and conservation. I’ve been on our Benton, Ky., offices for about two weeks now, and things couldn’t be more exciting!

All of the positive energy from you and your membership is extremely encouraging. FLW Outdoors and our sponsors are fully committed to TBF and bring vast resources to the mix. It is clear that together we are well positioned to continue to serve and advance our great sport!

We all agree that we have a lot of work ahead of us and that tremendous things will continue to develop with this partnership. Your direction, input and implementation will be the keys to our combined success. Effective communication cannot be emphasized enough, and having Robert Cartlidge so readily available is wonderful. Our company has the utmost respect and appreciation for him and TBF as a whole.

Below, please find an update on several key issues and opportunities:

Our new partnership logo! We have all worked together to develop a new joint logo to promote our historic partnership. As seen above, this logo depicts our partnership and commitment to the sport of fishing.

• The logo is also being customized with each State’s tag and is being compiled in multiple formats for your use with vendors and on materials.

• Electronic distribution is in process and instructions will come under separate cover. You will also receive the hi-res. sponsor logos that you need at that time.

The 2006 Junior World Championship is happening this year! We couldn’t be more excited about hosting this important event. TBF and FLW Outdoors have stepped up, and there will be new Junior Champions crowned this summer. The event will be held in conjunction with the 2006 Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.

• The format for this event will be slightly modified from the past and will consist of a pairings picnic on Monday, July 31, with a one-day fishing tournament on Tuesday, August 1. We will all enjoy mixers with the Wal-Mart FLW Tour pros and related functions. The winners will be invited to stay through the remainder of the championship and will be promoted throughout the venue.

• We will actively solicit your input, including consideration of any format changes for the next program at the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Arkansas, during this first event.

• Please remember to work within TBF to determine criteria and deadline dates to establish your qualifiers in each age group this year.

• Your youth qualifiers, presidents and youth directors will receive a travel package to assist with their participation at this event.

• Much more information and opportunities will be forthcoming for this year’s Junior World Championship, including a TBF banquet with Forrest and Nina Wood!

Divisional Championships. We are up to speed on our partnership with you for the all-important divisionals. Please note that:

• FLW Outdoors has coordinated with TBF and has scheduled our weigh-in trailers and equipment for all six divisionals!

• FLW Outdoors is building exciting new graphics highlighting TBF to dress these stages for the divisionals and beyond!

• We will continue to work with sponsors in their TBF support efforts and products.

National Guard. We completed a recent planning meeting with the National Guard on their sponsorship activation. This partnership and the National Guard’s drive will substantially raise the profile and support of conservation education and help promote the growth of youth fishing throughout the United States.

• SFC Frank O’Laughlin is the project manager working with us and is a very dynamic person who brings tremendous expertise and enthusiasm to the table. He has great ideas on implementing team building and cohesiveness. Frank is a huge supporter of TBF ideals and programs.

• We are in the process of putting together special-edition hats and T-shirts for every TBF member and determining how to distribute them in the correct sizes to the membership.

Expansion with our magazine! Beginning in April, FLW Outdoors Magazine will debut category-specific editions. You will be receiving the bass edition, and we welcome your feedback.

TBF is allocated a minimum of four pages of coverage in future issues as content is received and developed by TBF. This is a fantastic vehicle for promotion of TBF initiatives. Please keep your radar up for newsworthy items and photos!

First-class editorial support from David Hart. David Hart, a regular FLW Outdoors Magazine contributor and well-known outdoor writer, will be writing our TBF coverage for the magazine.

David has worked with the Federation in the past and is very knowledgeable about the organization.

You can send content directly to:

David Hart
841 Aspen Hill Road
Rice, VA 23966

hartfish@kinex.net

434-392-1413 phone
434-392-2299 fax

• We will start with coverage of conservation projects, youth events Federation tournaments and any other compelling issues or topics that arise.

• We also want to profile extraordinary people within the Federation like leaders who are working on behalf of local natural resources or youth groups – anything other clubs can see and say, “We can/should do that, too.”

• Any other human interest stories showing how TBF clubs are making a difference in their community.

FLW Outdoors e-mail news delivered to you: We are equipped to provide customized e-mail content to your inbox! This is a wonderful resource to keep you and your membership up-to-date, not only on tournament coverage, but also sponsor news, youth and conservation projects, and any other announcements concerning FLW Outdoors and TBF.

• All contact requests will be added to our master list to receive news items and daily coverage of the FLW Tour and FLW Series. Beyond that, you can customize your content to include the Stren Series and BFL divisions of your choice!

• To be added to our distribution list, simply e-mail me at the addresses below and feel free to include any customization requests.

Informative tri-fold brochure: We are working together to develop a great new promotional tool for the TBF/FLW Outdoors partnership. We need to effectively communicate our partnership and resources as well as a call to action for new members. We will be working closely with Robert Cartlidge on content and message.

Web site section in development. To complement the communications, education and marketing efforts of our partnership, a Federation section of the FLWOutdoors.com Web site will be launching in the near future. If you have not been exposed to the information and state-of-the-art navigation on this Web site, please take a moment to visit the site today. We appreciate any content and suggestions you may have for your section!

In-water weigh-in system is being introduced this season at FLW Outdoors events! This innovation greatly reduces fish handling and stress compared to dry-bag weigh-ins. Some of you may be familiar with this as it was pioneered and introduced in Canada with great success. FLW Outdoors has refined the system and is truly taking it to the next level in bass, walleye and redfish tournaments.

• We are currently fine tuning the equipment and procedures in selected events across the United States. Never before has an in-water weigh-in system been used in the United States on such a broad scale to promote fish health and conservation awareness!

• A live-release study is being conducted by Hal Schramn working with the University of Minnesota and the DNR of six states as to the impact on tournament-caught walleye throughout the entire evaluation process of our system.

Memberships. We have experienced a real boom in new members already! The customer service lines and mail room are full of activity with TBF joint membership enrollments. Please continue to keep encouraging TBF members to also become a dual member with FLW Outdoors. There are some great incentives to utilize:

• The first year discounted rate of $18.75 for current TBF members is available by letting the operators know they are a Federation member.

• Recruitment dollars for your club or state are available at $7 for each new FLW Outdoors member signed up at our $25 rate!

• All of the member packets, including card, patch, sticker and benefits package, have been mailed out. The new membership card with our new partner logo will phase in and also be retro-mailed to existing members.

In closing, with the people and passion involved in this effort, it is clear that our resources are abundant, and we can already see the benefits of this amazing partnership!

Please feel free to contact me anytime. Our entire organization is here to serve you!

Respectfully,

David Simmons 
FLW/TBF Programs Manager
FLW Outdoors
30 Gamble Lane
Benton, KY 42025

Direct: 270-252-1565
Fax: 270-252-1001

E-mail: dsimmons@flwoutdoors.com