AIM Pro Walleye Series™ Tournaments

AIM™ tournament sites and the details concerning the upcoming 2012 AIM Professional Walleye Series™ season have been outlined below. Many innovations are incorporated in every AIM tournament to make fishing fun and rewarding for the competitors while being exciting to the fans.

Exclusive AIM Format Innovations

The primary innovation is the exclusive AIM Catch-Record-Release™ (CRR™) format. With CRR, teams of Pro Anglers and Co-anglers measure each walleye on the official AIM ruler and take a digital photograph, record the length of each walleye on the official scorecard, and then immediately release the live fish. NO fish are brought to the “weigh-in” stage. Instead, the Pro Angler selects the SEVEN largest walleyes that are tallied for his daily weight. (The length of each walleye is converted to pounds and ounces using a standardized formula prior to taking the stage.)

The photos of the largest walleyes caught are displayed to the weigh-in fans – and also included in the live streaming of the proceedings on www.aimfishing.com. Because all fish are recorded and then immediately released, Pro Anglers are allowed to “weigh” fish within local “slots” that would otherwise be excluded from the daily bag.

The AIM Catch-Record-Release™ format has three huge advantages for the sport of competitive angling.

• First, AIM tournaments can be scheduled at the best times of the year for catching the most fish at each tournament site. Tournaments have been prohibited in many locations at certain times of the year due to fish kills associated with conventional formats that hold the fish in “live wells”.
• Second, AIM tournaments reward the Pro Anglers that catch the biggest fish – not the anglers that were fortunate enough to catch fish in a certain order, dictated by local slot limits and possession rules. As noted above, the daily weigh limits for AIM tournaments include the SEVEN largest walleyes. This also means that a Pro Angler can come from behind and advance many places; the excitement continues up to the last minute of the last day!
• Third, AIM Pro Anglers can not suffer penalties that are assessed in other formats for fish that are not releasable. With many events being decided by mere ounces, “dead fish” penalties are never a deciding factor in AIM tournaments.

A Festive Atmosphere

Another key component of AIM Pro Walleye Series™ events is that most are being scheduled to coincide with local festivals. While tournament angling is exciting to the participants, it receives lesser interest from the general public. Scheduling AIM events within festivals helps to expose the sport of fishing to an audience of literally hundreds of thousands of new people. The festival attendees will see tournament anglers, along with their impressive boats and tow vehicles (and sponsor affiliations) up close at the AIM weigh-ins.

Cutting-Edge Internet Presence

In addition to the weigh-in stage show for the local fans, the entire weigh-in is also broadcasted live at www.aimfishing.com. This live streaming includes interviews with the Pro Anglers and Co-anglers and photos of hundreds of the largest walleyes caught that day. Also featured are numerous videos taken by the AIM camera crew as well as video clips recorded by the anglers themselves.

AIM has adopted the latest video technology to actually upload videos during the course of each tournament day. These “On the Water” videos are added continually to www.aimfishing.com (plus your iPhone) during the day and they provide the head-to-head competition that’s exciting to see in tournament angling.

On Day Three of each tournament the top Pro Anglers’ boats are equipped with the AIM Pro Track™ GPS systems. Pro Track™ systems provide continual GPS tracks that can be followed all day at www.aimfishing.com. The GPS tracks not only show the exact locations of the leaders but also their travel speeds – allowing viewers to discern whether the trolling bite is working or the leaders have switched to jigging or are making a high-speed run to try a different “secret location.”

AIM Pro Walleye Series™ details

AIM Pro Walleye Series™ tournaments pair the Pro Anglers (or Pro Team) with a different randomly drawn Co-angler each day. The Pro Anglers’ daily weights are cumulative over the course of the tournament. AIM utilizes CRR and allows seven fish to be weighed each day.  This offers the potential for HUGE come-backs, therefore ALL Pro-anglers and Co-anglers will fish all three days!  

AIM Pro Walleye Series™ events will provide the winning Pro Angler with a first prize of $30,000 (based on a field of 100 boats).  Each AIM tournament guarantees a payout of not less than 100% of pro entry fees. Additional cash and prizes may boost the totals beyond 100%.

Pro Angler entry fees are $1,200 per event (the Brimley Can/Am is $1,500).  Co-angler entry fees are only $300 for a guaranteed three days of fishing with the nation’s top walleye Pros. Co-Anglers do not compete for cash prizes, but instead receive great prizes provided by the AIM Marketing Partners.

2012 AIM™ Tournament Schedule

Event #1 – Brimley, MI
May 31-June 2, 2012

The first event of the 2012 AIM Professional Walleye Series schedule will be AIM’s first CAN/AM Invitational.  Bay Mills Resort & Casino has teamed up with AIM to conduct an “artificial bait only” event where 31 American Teams will compete with 31 Canadian Teams for the grand prize of $40,000!  The Resort, located on the prime fishery near Brimley, MI, has also pledged additional cash to the event purse making this the most lucrative tournament of 2012!

Event #2 – Loraine, OH
June 28-30, 2012

The second stop on the AIM Professional Walleye Series schedule will be held out of Loraine, OH.  This will be the first time AIM will be holding an event at this location.  The central Basin of Lake Erie is one of Ohio’s best kept secrets!  Especially during the month of June, all of the action is right out of Lorain.  Plus with AIM’s CRR (Catch, Record, Release) format and with the ability to count the seven largest fish each day, this tournament really holds the potential for some record breaking baskets!

Event #3 – Oconto, WI
July 20-22, 2012

The third stop on the AIM Professional Walleye Series schedule will be held on Green Bay out of the host city of Oconto,WI.  AIM will be introducing the exciting new format called “The Pro Team Challenge”.  Each boat will have three anglers instead of two!  Anglers will sign up as a two person PRO Team and will draw a different co-angler into their boat, allowing for six rods instead of four!  Wisconsin has a no-cull regulation for tournament fishing (once a fish is placed into the live well, the fish can’t be upgraded).  Once again AIM’s format of CRR (Catch, Record, Release) to the rescue!!!  As fish are caught, the fishermen simply take a photo, record it and the fish goes right back into the water!  The seven largest fish recorded determine the boat weight for the day.  Additional fishermen + additional rods = additional fun!!!

Event #4 – Lake of the Woods, Baudette, MN
August 16-18, 2012

The fourth and final stop on the AIM Professional Walleye Series 2012 schedule will be held at Lake of the Woods out of Baudette, MN.  This is the first time the AIM circuit will be fishing on Lake of the Woods.  With the current regulations on Lake of the Woods this would normally be a slot restricted event where anglers are only allowed to keep fish under 19-1/2” and one fish over 28” (fish between 19-1/2” and 28” must be released).  The AIM CRR (Catch, Record, Release) format allows the anglers to record their seven largest fish with no regard for the protected slot limit.  All seven fish could be over 28”!!!  (If you’re lucky enough to catch them)!  Anglers love the fact that they can simply fish!  The team that brings in the heaviest weights during the three day tournament wins!!!!