The Event In a Nutshell...

The 2nd annual Ron Schara’s Minnesota Bound Invitational is set for July 9th – 11th, 2009 on Gull Lake. Event headquarters will be Cragun’s Resort.

The tournament will feature a unique pro only format which means each competing angler will fish alone. On day 2, the top 10 anglers from day 1 will have an observer with them in the boat. The observer will not be allowed to fish or assist the angler in any way. This will result in the purest and most exciting form of head to head competition in bass fishing today.

Events will kick off on Thursday, July 9th with the first ever Minnesota Bound Invitational Kid’s Fishing Clinic. The clinic will run from 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. The competing anglers will take a break from their tournament preparations to assist kids as they go through the various stations which will include casting, knot tying and lure rigging, just to name a few. Additionally, there will also be a Pro/Junior tournament going on with the weigh in taking place at 1:00 PM under the big tent, just like the pros. This will be a great chance to see how a tournament of this magnitude functions. There will also be other activities for the kids including the National Guard Rock Climbing Wall and Inflatable Obstacle Course, a casting competition and of course, Ron and Raven will be on hand for photographs and autographs.

The highlight of the week will be a banquet on Thursday night honoring the members of the Hall of Fame. All participating anglers, observers and sponsors will be invited to attend. Tickets will also be available to the general public for $25 each, while supplies last. The majority of the current members of the Hall of Fame are expected to be in attendance and there will be plenty of opportunities for socializing, autographs and pictures. In addition, there will be a raffle/auction with lots of great prizes including guided fishing trips with members of the Hall of Fame and autographed memorabilia.

Tournament competition will get underway on Friday morning with the top anglers in the state competing for over $50,000 in cash and prizes. Weigh in will start at 3:00 PM on Friday and Saturday, with the awards ceremony immediately following the conclusion of the weigh in on Saturday.

All events will be at Cragun’s and will be free and open to the public.

Ron has partnered with the Minnesota Federation of Bass Anglers (MFBA) to provide the event management for the Minnesota Bound Invitational. Rick Pelletier, President of the MFBA, will serve as tournament director. Rick is a long time tournament competitor and organizer and his accomplishments include being the first Minnesota Federation angler to qualify and compete in the Bassmasters Classic.

Joining Ron and Rick on the Tournament Committee for the Minnesota Bound Invitational are Mark Fisher and Scott Bonnema, both well known and respected tournament anglers on a local, regional and national basis. Mark and Scott are the originators of the idea for this event and brought it to Ron to help make it a reality.

Mark is the Director of Field Promotions for Rapala as well as the co-host of the radio show “Bear Facts and Fish Tales” which is broadcast on Sunday nights from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM on KSTP 1500 AM.

Scott is the owner and President of North Star Imaging, a locally based manufacturing company. North Star Imaging will be sponsoring the Thursday night banquet honoring the Hall of Fame members. Additionally Scott was a member of the Fuji Film Pro Fishing Team for over 8 years and is now a member of the Rapala Pro Fishing Team.