LUTCOM SA DE CV, of Mexico City, and FLW, the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization just signed a exclusive licensing agreement to begin sanctioning FLW bass-fishing tournaments in Mexico. The signing took place during the “FLW Morning Show” at the Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart. The agreement was signed by FLW President of Operations Kathy Fennel and Jaime Luengo, President and CEO of LUTCOM SA DE CV.
“Bass fishing is a year-round sport in Mexico that is rapidly growing in popularity,” said Luengo, who has experience on the Walmart FLW Tour as a co-angler. “This new era of competitive fishing will bring more awareness to my country to take care of the resources. It is great to have the support of FLW, as it allows our great fisherman to compete head-to-head with the best anglers in the world.”
Mexico will run a series of FLW tournaments that advance anglers, who are citizens of the host country, to the new international division at the Rayovac FLW Series Championship beginning in 2016. Two anglers will compete as pros with FLW providing Ranger boats and two will compete as co-anglers.
The top pro award at the Rayovac FLW Series Championship is $95,000, including a Ranger Z518C if the pro is Ranger Cup qualified, and the top co-angler award is a Ranger Z117. The highest finishing pro from the newly introduced International Division at the Rayovac FLW Series Championship will advance to the following year’s Forrest Wood Cup for the chance to compete on the sport’s biggest stage for the biggest payday in bass fishing. FLW will also provide a Ranger boat for use in the Forrest Wood Cup.
Mexico is the fourth country to sign on for international sanctioning, joining Canada, South Korea and China as FLW partners under the new program.
“We are thrilled that Mexico has joined Canada, South Korea and China in running FLW-sanctioned tournaments in 2016,” said Kathy Fennel, FLW President of Operations. “It is well known that there are some fantastic bass fisheries in Mexico. There are also some incredibly talented anglers, and we look forward to welcoming them to the new international division of our Rayovac FLW Series.”
Additional FLW qualifying tournaments in other countries are forthcoming. Watch FLWFishing.com for details.
Named after the founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW introduced its Fishing League Worldwide tagline last year to better reflect its status as the world’s largest tournament fishing organization. Earlier this year FLW expanded its presence on the world stage with the introduction of a sanctioning program allowing international partners to license the iconic brand and run FLW tournaments abroad.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWFishing.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.