After a lot of internal debate over all the incredible submissions (There are some very creative people in the Fetha Styx family), we decided on one name:

CHROME

We feel it represents us and our Pacific Northwest anglers the best.  We’d like to thank everyone for submitting and participating in this fun contest, it was a blast for us!

Last year, the team finished second at the Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship on Lake Lewisville in Lewisville, Texas, and followed that up with a second place finish at the 2010 FLW Northern Regional — giving the team a berth into the 2011 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

The club hosts local tournaments bi-weekly and attends invitationals put on by other schools like NC State, Murray State, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Auburn.

The club also hosts two invitationals a year where colleges from nearby states come to UNC Charlotte and compete. Schools that usually attend include: NC State, Clemson, East Carolina, Wake Forest, Chapel Hill, Virginia Tech, Radford University, West Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and UNC Wilmington. Trophies and prize packages of goods are awarded for 1st-3rd place.

UNC Charlotte helped to establish an Adopt-A-Ramp program in North Carolina that follows similar guidelines to the Adopt-A-Highway program. The forms, requirements, and guidelines were developed with the assistance and help of many of their members. UNC Charlotte was the first group to adopt a ramp. For more information and photos of the Adopt-A-Ramp program, visit the North Carolina Public Access Foundation website.

Through our efforts, all of the college fishing teams in North Carolina have adopted a ramp, and several bass fishing clubs in the state have followed suit.

UNC Charlotte Bass Rats clean South Point Boating Access Area as part of their Adopt-a-Ramp project.

The following UNC Charlotte fishing team members have joined the Fetha Styx Pro Staff: Joe Kinchen, Eric Self, Tyler Beam, Eric Norris, Jake Whitaker, Adam Waters, Jon Bennett, Tyler Teer, Joshua Jolly, and Thomas McGukin. Fetha Styx has granted discount programs for the rest of the team and looks forward to adding more members to the Pro Staff in the future.

2011 Major Tournament Schedule:

3/27 — Smith Mountain Lake, VA — FLW Regional Qualifier
4/7-4/10 — Kentucky Lake, KY — National Championship
5/21-5/22 — Alabama River, AL — College B.A.S.S. East Super Regional
5/24-5/27 — Lake Lewisville, TX — Collegiate Bass National Championship
6/25 — Lake Champlain, NY — FLW Regional Qualifier
6/27 — Kentucky Lake, KY — Pepsi Collegiate Bass Fishing Open
7/30 — 1000 Islands, NY — FLW Regional Qualifier
8/20 — Lake Erie, NY — FLW Regional Qualifier
November — TBD — FLW Regional Championship

Check out the links to the three different college trails below:
FLW College Fishing
College Bass
Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series

UNC Charlotte Bass Rats can be found online, here.

From the ESPN Bassmaster Classic release:

Held Friday to Sunday of Classic week, the Expo offers something for every member of your family.

With pro angler autograph sessions, kids activities, product demonstrations and tips & techniques from industry experts … the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods is a must see and do!

2011 LOCATION
Ernest Morial Convention Center
900 Convention Center Blvd.
New Orleans, LA 70130

Get directions to the Expo.

2011 EXPO INFORMATION
Exhibitor List (2/11/2011)
Expo Floor Plan (2/11/2011)

EXPO HOURS
Fri., Feb. 18 — 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. (Preview | Life and Federation Nation Members)
Fri., Feb. 18 — 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Sat., Feb 19 — 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sun., Feb 20 — 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Deborah Smart | Director of Media Sales
407-566-2466 | deborah.smart@bassmaster.com

For customer service, phone 877-BASS-USA.

Follow Fetha Styx on facebook, twitter and our blog for more fishing updates!

Saturday, March 12th at Three Rivers Marine & Tackle featuring Josh Hughs of Fetha Styx Rods and Agitator flashers.

Learn from the best on how to catch spring kings
-Trolling Techniques
-Anchor Fishing
-Herring Curing and Rigging
-Kwikfish (set up, wrapping and tuning)

There will be great in-store sales on Agitator Flashers, Gamakatsu hooks, Okuma reels and tons of other gear! As well as:

Free hot dogs and pop!
Free raffle prizes!

This one fills up fast, so please RSVP by calling 425-415-1575 or emailing Kent@3riversmarine.com

Doors open at 9 am — seminar is from 11am to 3pm.

This is a FREE SEMINAR and a great opportunity to take advantage of an awesome fishery!

Three Rivers Marine & Tackle
24300 Woodinville Snohomish Rd
Woodinville, WA 98072
425-415-1575
www.3riversmarine.com

Official Release and Event Information:

Vern Eide Subaru – Clearwater Snake Steelhead Derby – November 6-13, 2010

The Clearwater Snake Steelhead Derby, now sponsored by Vern Eide
Subaru and the Lewiston Chamber of Commerce, is the largest steelhead
derby in the Northwest. Derby entrants have a chance to win over
$10,000 in cash and prizes. The overall heaviest fish this year will net
$2,000 for the lucky winner. All derby participants will automatically be
entered to win the Grand Prize from Cabala’s valued at $1,000. Entrants
have a chance to win daily cash prizes for the heaviest fish and four
mystery fish. A FishSkins contest wins additional cash prizes for the weight
of the three heaviest fish during the derby. Participants will receive a
pocket knife as registration gift while supplies last.

The opening ceremony is November 5th from 6pm to 9pm at Vern Eide
Subaru, and is quite an affair. Be entertained by Glenn Hall, host of Hawg
Quest featured on Fox Sport Northwest. There is a chance to win a guided
fishing trip with Toby Wyatt of Reel Time Fishing and be part of a Hawg
Quest fishing show! The festivities will include great food from Rosie’s
Ribs, beverages from Boomer’s Garden and live music. The first 200
registered participants will receive a goody bag.

The Steelhead Derby also features a youth contest sponsored by
Clearwater Power. The two High School essay winner’s will get to enjoy a
day of fishing with Nate Luther’s Guide Service.

The closing awards ceremony will be held, November 13th from 5pm to
8pm at Vern Eide Subaru. The celebration will include door prizes, raffle
drawings and a silent auction with some great “must have” items for all
anglers, and the Grand Prize drawing winner will be drawn and announced.
The Chili feed is free to all derby participants who show their registration
card.

Vern Eide Subaru – Clearwater Snake Steelhead Derby – November 6-13, 2010

Derby Entry Fee: $25 per person (14 and older)
Derby & FishSkins: $45 per person (Adults only)
Youth Entry Fee: $10 (13 and under)

4 Mystery Fish Daily: $50 each

Overall Derby Heaviest Fish Grand Prize:
1st – $2,000
2nd – $500
3rd – $250
4th – $100

Youth Derby participants win daily prizes for the three heaviest fish (Gift Card’s to Cabala’s)
1st – $25
2nd – $20
3rd – $15

Overall youth derby winners will win prizes valued at
1st – $100
2nd – $75
3rd – $50

Smallest Fish Prize will be awarded at the Closing ceremony.

FishSkins: Registered anglers will enter 4 of their heaviest steelhead throughout the derby, the angler must indicate at weigh in what fish they’re placing in the FishSkins competition and must be marked accordingly on their weigh in slip. At the end of the derby, the anglers 3 heaviest fish out of the 4 they entered in the FishSkins competition will be tallied to come up with the overall derby winners.

Mystery Fish: Su Brown, CPA owner of Su Brown and Associates randomly selects 4 different weights each day of the derby, and the derby participants who weighs in a fish that’s the closest to the selected weights of the day wins the $50 cash prize.

Daily winners are posted the following day, based on the daily weigh in cut-off time of 5:30pm. The daily winners will be posted in the Sports section of the Lewiston Tribune and the Steelhead Derby website. www.steelheadderby.com

$25 per person (14 and older)
$45 per person (Adults only)
$10 (13 and under)

FishSkins Competition
1st – $500
2nd – $250
3rd – $200
4th – $100

For more information, visit steelheadderby.com or find Clearwater Snake Steelhead Derby on facebook and twitter.

• We’ll be doing fishing demonstrations in our HUGE tent.
• Bass pros Andy Montgomery and Bink Desaro will be stopping by for fishing demonstrations on Friday and Saturday.
• Pat Patterson host of the Front Stretch will also be there.
• Also, come by and check out Dale Earnhardt JR’s #88 sprint cup car parked right by us Friday and Saturday.
• The UNCC FLW Bass team will be on hand to answer questions and show off our NASCAR rods.  They are one of the top 10 teams in the country on the FLW College Fishing Tour.
• There will be Ranger boats on site to check out.
• Giveaways galore and a chance to win a trip with an FLW/Bassmaster pro.
• We might even go fish a couple ponds so keep a lookout for the Fetha Styx EZ GO carts.
• Lastly, stop by and just say hello!  We’d love to meet you and exchange a tall fishing tale or two.

We will also have demonstration areas on ‘The Midway’ and at the ‘Kids Zone’ with fun fishing games.  Our main demonstration area will be across from the Turn 1 Condominiums / Gate M / Tim Flock Campgrounds.  Check the map below:

The biggest news is that Andy Montgomery has recorded 4 top 10 finishes in the past 2 months on the FLW / Bassmaster tours.  This all happened at the exact same time he switched over to Fetha Styx’s Homewater series, he says the sensitivity of these rods are unmatched for the tours.  Andy and our Homewater series will be on hand at our demonstration tents.  Stop by and get personalized lessons from Andy on rigging and more.

About our NASCAR Bass Rods:

When you are in tight quarters, and need a little more finesse, this rod is our number one choice for jigs and worms.  This extremely versatile rod has tons of power to move fish out from heavy cover, and is very effective in all depths of open-water.

For more information on our NASCAR series of fishing rods go HERE.

We’ll be live tweeting and facebooking the event, so if you can’t make it, make sure to stay tuned to our Social Media pages.

Go fish. And take NASCAR with you.

That’s the plan for Fetha Styx and the Charlotte-based licensing division of NASCAR. Late this year, Fetha Styx’s line of NASCAR fishing rods will debut, selling for $150 to $250 each for adult models and $99 for children. Forty-five retailers have agreed to sell the rods, with national stores such as Bass Pro Shops included, according to NASCAR.

A 2,400-square-foot distribution hub here will serve the primary Southeastern market, though the rods will be sold nationwide.

Fetha Styx, based in Seattle, tapped Chuck Morrison, former owner of a NASCAR souvenir company, as a consultant on the launch of the fishing rods. Morrison lives in Columbia, S.C., but spent many years in Charlotte working in sports marketing and promotion.

To start, five drivers will be featured in the fishing line: Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick. The drivers’ car numbers and signatures are featured on the rods. All of the drivers except Patrick are part of Hendrick Motorsports, home of the most popular race teams in the sport. Patrick drives for Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide Series team, which includes Rick Hendrick as a co-owner.

Next month, the rods will debut in Las Vegas as part of the fishing industry’s annual trade show. Tie-in promotions at BASS tournaments throughout the Southeast begin this fall.

Next year, Morrison, who has extensive experience in NASCAR collectibles and merchandise, hopes to organize a fishing demonstration with some drivers and fans at the Daytona International Speedway’s 29-acre lake on the track’s infield as part of the season-opening Daytona 500 race weeks.

NASCAR touts a strong connection between racing and fishing.

“It’s a natural fit,” says Paul Sparrow, NASCAR director of business development. The price and quality of the fishing rods reflect NASCAR’s belief that authenticity is crucial. “We didn’t want to just slap a logo on something,” he says.

NASCAR fans are twice as likely to fish as non-NASCAR fans, according to a study by research firm Experian Simmons.

Fishing and NASCAR share more than the same audience. They both want more young fans, too.

“Our industry needs to get more kids involved, and NASCAR as a sport needs more kids — it’s a double-whammy,” says Paul Marcoux, managing director of Boyce Jones Investments, the parent of Fetha-Styx.

Taking advantage of NASCAR fans’ fondness for fishing, camping and the outdoors provides mutual benefits, industry experts say.

Last year, NASCAR and a resort company negotiated a deal to put the stock-car sanctioning body’s name on campgrounds across the country. At Bass Pro Shops, NASCAR-themed sections reinforce the strong bond between race fans and the outdoors.

Sparrow, the NASCAR executive, points to a charity campaign tied to the new line of fishing rods as another hook. For every adult fishing rod sold, $10 goes to the driver’s favorite charity. For the youth line, each one sold includes a $3 donation to the NASCAR Foundation.

If the fishing rods sell well, accessories won’t be far behind. Talks have already begun on companion tackle boxes, cases and other items bearing driver names and logos.

Jason and Rod, Winners of 2010 Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic

Official Press Release:

Two anglers, two custom made Fetha Styx rods, 12 fish caught!

Redmond, Wash. (June 2, 2010) — Fetha Styx, a Redmond, Wash.-based manufacturer of high performance fishing rods, congratulates anglers Rod Hewitt and Jason Bauer for winning this year’s Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic tournament in the Potholes Reservoir. The event was sponsored by the MarDon Resort in Othello, Wash.

The teammates placed first among 79 competitors, netting 12 fish weighing in at 39.44 pounds over the two days of competition, while battling wind gusts of up to 45 mph. All fish were caught using custom Fetha Styx True Hero Series rods, which honor the work of firefighters and police officers.

Hewitt, a firefighter with Monroe Fire Department, purchased his customized “True Hero” rod from Fetha Styx last year and said, “This is just what I wanted and is the best rod I’ve ever fished with.”

No stranger to competitive fishing, Rod has fished in over 35 Walleye tournaments over the past eight years. This most recent win marks the second time he’s come out ahead with his True Hero rod, having placed 3rd at the Washington State Walleye Championship last July. His experiences were so positive, in fact, that he placed a True Hero rod into his teammate Jason’s hands.

“The rod was so incredible that I ordered another one for Jason. I’ve developed my dream pole and now Jason also feels the difference,” said Hewitt.

What makes the Fetha Styx True Hero rods shine is their sensitivity. Like many fish, the walleye is known for light biting. “With this rod, I can sense even the slightest bites,” said Hewitt, “Despite the tournament’s high wind conditions, the rod’s sensitivity helped Jason and me pull through.”

Not only has his Fetha Styx rod helped him win big, Hewitt is proud knowing that a portion of the proceeds from every rod sold in the True Hero line goes to support the work done by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation or National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (depending on the rod purchased). Every rod from every series the company sells—from True Hero to the recently launched series that contributes to the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA)—supports an aligned non-profit organization.

“This just speaks to the quality of the company,” says Rod, “I feel good about what I’m fishing with—for the bites and for the social benefits.”

Jason and Rod shown here with Dan Conrath (middle, Ranger Boat Sponsor).

ABOUT FETHA STYX

Based in Redmond, Wash., Fetha Styx offers a rod for every type of fishing—from salt to fresh water. Every rod the company sells undergoes a rigorous two-tier quality control testing process to ensure product reliability and consistency. Because the people behind Fetha Styx are as passionate about fishing as their customers, they work hard to continually refine their current designs and upcoming rod series to create rods that are a pleasure to fish.

Fetha Styx is a rod company with a social conscience, allowing customers to cast out good intentions and reel in change. Proceeds from every rod sold contribute to environmental and social solutions.

Please visit fethastyx.com for more information.

Information on the organizations mentioned in this release is also available. (NFFF: firehero.org, NLEOMF: nleomf.com, Coastal Conservation Association: ccapnw.org)

Under the new agreement, Fetha Styx will manufacture and sell a line of rods featuring the CCA brand with models for salmon, trout, and “big game” fish such as sturgeon. A portion of the proceeds from each rod sold will go to support the work of the CCA-PNW. This line of rods will only be available via retailers located in Washington and Oregon—the areas in which the CCA-PNW operates.

Since 1984, the national chapter of CCA has worked to advise and educate the public on marine resource conservation and stewardship issues. The PNW chapter, which works to raise awareness of marine and fisheries sustainability in the Northwest, has had a significant impact raising millions of dollars and improving the region’s fish populations while helping Northwest fisheries implement alternative harvesting methods. CCA-PNW includes 25 local chapters.

This partnership aligns with Fetha Styx’s corporate initiative to make a difference with every rod they sell. Each of the company’s rod series is affiliated with a charity—anglers can take pride in knowing the proceeds from each purchase contribute to environmental and social solutions. In addition to the CCA-PNW series, Fetha Styx offers True Hero, which supports the families of fallen firefighters and police officers.

For more information on CCA-PNW, please visit ccapnw.org. A full listing of rods available from Fetha Styx can be found at fethastyx.com.