There are a couple of great contingency programs in our industry that I think should get more publicity. They are the Toyota Bonus Bucks and the new Yamaha Power Pay programs. I’m going to take this opportunity to highlight them and encourage everyone who is eligible to enter to do just that.
This is an important topic. It’s money — cash on the barrelhead. Who wants to turn that down?
The Toyota Bonus Bucks program has been around for a while. It covers bass and walleye tournaments. You can go to their website, toyotatrucksbonusbucks.com, and get all the details. Check it out if you currently own a Toyota truck or if you’re in the market for a new one.
The great thing about their program, and the Yamaha Power Pay, is that you don’t have to win a tournament to get some cash back. Basically, they pay to the highest finisher that’s in the program.
That’s no small thing. I’ve earned a fair amount of money over the years from the Toyota program without winning. It came in handy, too. You don’t have to be a big-time pro to qualify, either. They pay lots of recreational tournament anglers. The list of qualifying events is too long to put in this column. I can tell you, though, that there’s a lot of them.
The Yamaha Power Pay is new, but it works along the same lines. Basically you have to own and run a Yamaha in a qualifying tournament and not be sponsored by Yamaha. It’s super easy to sign up and to qualify. Check it out on their website yamahapowerpay.com.
Their program applies to a ton of different types of tournaments. Bass tournaments are covered from the Bassmaster Elite Series on down to recreational anglers who fish for fun on the weekends. Along with that other fishing tournaments like walleye, kingfish, redfish and wahoo qualify, too.
If you’re in the market for a new boat, or just thinking about replacing your outboard motor, check out Yamaha.
These contingency programs are sweet deals in more ways than one. You can own and fish with first-class equipment and earn extra money at the same time. As nice as that is, though, it’s also important to not forget that they say something positive about the companies and about the health of our industry.
These companies want to put something back into fishing and outdoor recreation. They don’t just sell and then take the profits and run back to their offices. They’re making it easier for us to enjoy the outdoors and pass that heritage along to future generations.
But, as nice as that is, they can’t do that unless they’re making a profit. That’s where the overall health of the industry comes into play. We’re doing fine. From my perspective we’re stronger than ever. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be buying trucks and outboard motors.
For all the upheaval and changes in the fishing industry that have happened over the past year or two we’re in darn good shape, and that’s a good thing.