Yamaha Angler Appreciation Night Bigger Than Ever Before

Florence, AL (May 23, 2017) –  Yamaha Angler Appreciation Night is part of the action-packed, week-long celebration of college fishing held during the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Presented by Cabela’s. Known as one of the most popular and fun gatherings in college fishing it’s packed full of activities and prizes. During the 2017 Yamaha Angler Appreciation Night, anglers had the chance to win prizes, go on boat rides, learn more about marine electronics, and much more.

To start the night off, anglers were welcomed with a pizza buffet provided by Yamaha – a perfect meal after a long day of practicing on Pickwick and Wilson Lakes. And when we say buffet, anyone that has fed a college student knows that will be quite a lot of pizza – 115 pizzas to be exact we’re consumed in about an hour.

Once fed, anglers had options to start the casting contest, go on the Ranger Boats Yamaha Powered Demo rides or get lessons on the latest marine electronics technology from Garmin.   At each stop that night all the anglers had a chance to win a wide range of prizes.

When it came to the casting contest there was a new twist added in that had the anglers shooting a bow at the Cabela’s Safe Archery target set up before grabbing the Abu Garcia Rod and Reel Combos set up at the various stations which mimic various distances and angler may have to cast or pitch a bait towards.

The top 10 anglers with the lowest scores after all the anglers had done the event all then moved on to the final round.  As the top ten was cut down to the top three, it ended up being Levi Sharp from Louisiana State University who eliminated anglers from the University of South Alabama and Kennesaw State and thus took home the win.  By winning the contest, he took home a new Abu Garcia rod and reel combo, Cabela’s Cooler and a bag of goodies as well with items from Trokar, Buff.. Each of the remaining top ten anglers also won Abu Garcia Rod and Reel combos as well as items from Buff, Trokar and other sponsors of the event.

“Starting off hitting the Cabela’s archery target was awesome, I love to flip and pitch but do not do it much with a spinning real so that was the most challenging part for me. All the guys in the top ten are great at flipping and I just got lucky in the finals to get the bait in the hole on the first flip.” Levi Sharp, University of South Alabama.

Top Ten Finalist

   For more on the event, photos and videos  Photos and more from the event here.