Major League Fishing Episode Three: Injured Angler, High Winds

From Major League Fishing

TULSA, Okla.- Harsh morning weather and a courageous effort by a "one-armed angler" draw attention during the third episode of Major League Fishing's Challenge Cup.

Dean Rojas, who injured his right hand in a freak accident at another event, feared he wouldn't be able to lift a rod above his waist and would, therefore, have to withdraw. Instead, he recovered just enough to offer a gutsy, mostly one-armed effort as he attempted to stay with the field.

The third webisode features action from Day 3 Elimination round of the Challenge Cup and can be seen on Outdoor Channel in primetime Thursday, April 12, at 9 p.m. ET. Days 1 and 2 were featured during the past two weeks.

Major League Fishing, a partnership with 24 of the world's best anglers and Outdoor Channel, America's Leader In Outdoor TV, features competitive bass fishing events designed to bring high-level challenges to participants and entertainment to audiences. The Challenge Cup, the league's first event, includes six consecutive days of competition. The first three days comprise the Elimination Round, with eight anglers competing each day and the top four advancing.

Among other highlights, the third day of competition features two anglers running away from the field, leaving the remaining six to scrap for the two remaining qualifying positions.

"We're ecstatic about the overwhelmingly positive reaction we're getting from people who have watched these episodes so far. And, I promise you that this third installment will offer another outstanding day of fishing," Major League Fishing Commissioner Don Rucks said.

"The weather made things a nightmare at the start," Rucks said. "We had to change ramps and change fishing zones. It just proves how good these guys are. Basically, they didn't even know where they would be allowed to fish until after their boats were in the water."

Third-day anglers include: Dean Rojas, Boyd Duckett, Skeet Reese, Mike McClelland, Jeff Kriet, Kelly Jordon, Ish Monroe and Byron Velvick.

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Those eight anglers battle for the right to move on to the next round, called the Sudden Death Round, where they will face other elimination round survivors from Days 1 and 2: Jason Quinn, Gary Klein, Kevin VanDam, Brent Ehrler, Mike Iaconelli, Todd Faircloth, Alton Jones and Takahiro Omori.

For extended coverage the Major League Fishing Challenge Cup, viewers have the option to watch Internet-based pay-per-view shows. The online broadcasts, called ADVANCE CAST, are only offered on Major League Fishing's web site. All seven pay-per-view webisodes are currently available for purchase. Each webisode represents one day of competition. The seventh ADVANCE CAST webisode is a wrap-up show, featuring in-depth, on-the-water segments with the winners from each round and the Challenge Cup champion. The ADVANCE CAST total-event BassPass, a package of all seven webisodes, cost $17.94, with individual episodes available for $2.99 each. (The seven-event BassPass package features a "free" week.)

Each ADVANCE CAST shows many attractions, including:

• Commentary from anglers during competition about how they searched for, found and caught fish
• Anglers' reactions to their own failures and successes, and reactions to other competitors
• More than twice the coverage than what is televised on Outdoor Channel

The Challenge Cup, held November 6-11, 2011, on Lake Amistad, included 24 of the world's best-known competitors and utilized an innovative angler-created format. The anglers were not allowed to practice before the event, could not compete with pre-determined GPS waypoints, and were limited to fishing on designated sections of the lake that were disclosed to them less than 12 hours before their competition rounds began. Each day's action served as an Elimination round.

The anglers' boats were equipped with real-time leader boards. Boat judges accompanied all anglers who administered penalties and scored every legal fish as soon as they were caught. After the weight of each catch was recorded, bass were released back into the lake.

The Challenge Cup included six consecutive days of competition. The Elimination rounds took place during the first three days, with eight anglers competing each day. The top four anglers from each day advanced to the Sudden Death round, which was comprised of the 12 advancing anglers. During Sudden Death, six anglers competed on the first day, the remaining six the next day. Two anglers advanced each competitive day of Sudden Death, setting up a Championship Final featuring the top four anglers.

About Major League Fishing

Major League Fishing is a partnership of 24 of the world's most talented, influential professional bass anglers and Outdoor Channel. For more information about the new game, with new rules and no limits, visit: www.majorleaguefishing.com.

About Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc.

Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: OUTD) owns and operates Outdoor Channel, America's Leader In Outdoor TV, and Winnercomm Inc., an Emmy Award winning production and interactive company. Outdoor Channel offers programming that captures the excitement of hunting, fishing, shooting, off-road motorsports, adventure and the Western lifestyle and can be viewed on multiple platforms including high definition, video-on-demand, as well as on a dynamic broadband website. Winnercomm Inc. is one of America's leading and highest quality producers of live sporting events and sports series for cable and broadcast television. Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc. also owns and operates the SkyCam and CableCam aerial camera systems which provide dramatic overhead camera angles for major sports events, including college and NFL football. For more information, please visit www.outdoorchannel.com.