They are AWESOME indeed,..the winner's are really wined and dined by Mustad with ALL expenses paid and it's quite the thrill for the winner's. The 1st one was held last year in Detroit,...Mini and I did most of the "leg work" up here and the girl that actually WON the tournament was from Bay City, MI...LOL Her name is Kristie, and she was a real sweetheart!! She still comes into the store now and then with her husband and she gives Mini and I hugs and kisses every time she see's us!! They drove down from Bay City, but Mustad flew the other 4 contestants AND their spouses in from various other states. They all got all kinds of Mustad clothing, Rods and reel combo's,..tackle boxes and just mountains of free stuff from all kinds of companies!
I drew a custom cartoon and had all 5 Pro's autograph it, and she won that aswell,..and the 4 other contestants all got customized BPS rods with the handles all drawn up and all 5 Pro's signed those too....they were real keepsakes!
Kristie fished with Woo and they had a ball together,..Woo is hilarious anyway, but he was on fire that weekend!! Denny Brauer was really funny too, telling about the guy he had (BTW,..4 of the 5 contestants in MI were women!!) trying to remove an imbedded hook from Denny's hand!! Man that was funny,...not at the time,..but his story sure was!!
Here's the real coup de gras,....Kristie took the $5,000 gift certificate and used it as a downpaymnt on a new boat for her husband!! Is she the whoop or what??!! That was a weekend those 5 people and their spouses will NEVER forget!
Hank Parker wants one of my 'toons so bad, that when he saw Kristie again thus past june in GA he told her,.."Tell ol Bill that the UPS truck STILL drives by my house EVERYDAY and he STILL hasn't dropped off that picture yet!!"..LOL
Hank really fired me up when he saw me in Springfiled this past spring too......I better get that done soon!!! LOL
You're right though Dan,..it's an awesome event and well worth the 3mins it takes to fill out an entry form!!
BTW,..the 5 Pro's are: Denny Brauer, Tommy Martin, Woo Daves, Kevin VanDam, and Tim Norman. The night of the main dinner, we all went to Mtn. Jacks and had a GREAT time,...all 5 pro's mingled all night and treated those contestants like they were their best friends....talk about a private party...man that was too cool!!! Shoot, who am I kiddin'??..I was on cloud 9 too!!! LOL Sat across the table from Denny and Tommy,.....and talked about deer huntin'!! ahahaha...there is a god!!!
Mac