Garmin International Inc. today announced that it has added fishing legend Bill Dance and 2012 Bassmater Elite Series Angler of the Year Brent Chapman to the company pro staff.
A professional angler for nearly 50 years, Dance has introduced thousands to the sport of fishing through his television show “Bill Dance Outdoors,” which has aired since 1968 – more than 2,000 episodes.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to fish with Garmin’s completely redesigned fishfinder and GPS units," Dance said. "Not only do they have the clearest sonar and the most detailed lake maps on the market today, but Garmin units are designed to be easy to use."
Chapman is preparing to compete in his 13th Bassmaster Classic next month. A native of Lake Quivira, Kan., Chapman lives just a few miles from the Garmin headquarters.
“It’s obvious that Garmin is ‘in it to win it’ in the marine electronics business, just like I am on the tournament trail," Chapman said. "Without a doubt, their new lineup of sonar and GPS is going to help make me a more competitive and successful angler. And because they’re so simple to use, I can spend more time fishing and less time figuring out my electronics.”
Garmin’s new 2014 marine lineup features its brand-new DownVü and SideVü scanning sonar, which provide a near picture-quality representation of objects, structure and fish that are found both underneath the boat and also to the sides. These true-to-life images give an angler a better idea of the most ideal spots and underwater structure for fishing, and provide the clearest sonar picture of fish returns available on the market today.
Also new for 2014 is an expanded database of LakeVü HD maps now available on Garmin marine GPS units. A total of 17,000 inland lakes are represented, including over 5,700 lakes with 1-foot contour lines shore-to-shore. In addition, Garmin is also offering LakeVü HD Ultra with MaxDef, which features Garmin-surveyed lake maps of more than 40 of the top fishing lakes in the U.S. These MaxDef maps are the highest detailed maps available of any inland cartography Garmin has ever produced.
“These new partnerships, combined with our new lineup of marine electronics, clearly demonstrate that Garmin is committed to being a top player in the freshwater fishing industry,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “We’re very excited to have Bill and Brent on the Garmin team and we’re thrilled that they will have the full suite of sonar and electronic mapping to help them in their pursuits.”
