Provo, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/09/2007 --Angling Masters International today invited North American freshwater anglers to become founding members of its social networking Web site, AnglingMasters.com, in advance of its official launch in early 2007. In addition to providing anglers the opportunity to share their fishing stories, the Web site's proprietary, multi-species ranking system allows anglers of all abilities to compare their catches with other North American anglers.

AnglingMasters.com is designed to make it extremely easy for anglers of all stripes to post fishing-specific stories and photos to its free, personalized user pages knows as "cabins." Within an online cabin anglers can
· Write and post stories about their trips (a fishing blog),
· Upload photos,
· Create and manage a list of online fishing buddies, and
· Create and manage a list of preferred online "marinas" (Web sites created by businesses, clubs or other organizations).

Central to the unique nature of the AnglingMasters.com community is its proprietary Web-based software program which includes a multi-species, algorithm-based ranking system that compares the significance of catching a fish of one species with one of another species.

AnglingMasters.com's mathematical algorithm includes 12 eligible freshwater species in each individual state, province and territory in Canada and the United States (excluding Hawaii). The points system takes into consideration the size each species typically grows to in each geographic area and scores them independently to allow a side-by-side comparison of different fish species. In effect, AnglingMasters.com turns North America into one big lake where anglers can share stories, compare catches and participate in tournaments.

"We unveiled the beta version of AnglingMasters.com this fall in Manitoba, Canada in conjunction with The Fish'n Line magazine for an inaugural four-week 'Fish'n Win' tournament," said Dave Abbott, co-founder of Angling Masters International and everyone's 'fishing buddy' on AnglingMasters.com. "Not only did we get a great response to AnglingMasters.com, but one of our members caught a potential world-record 29-inch brook trout during the tournament as well."

Under the terms of the Founders Club restricted enrollment program, the first 50 anglers in each state, province and territory in North America that join AnglingMasters.com will receive an exclusive founding member card, hat, t-shirt and the ability to participate in future Founding Club members-only fishing tournaments and promotions.

For more information about Angling Masters' Founders Club program, please visit http://www.anglingmasters.com/index.asp? too=2003&eve=5&pag=foundingMembers.

AnglingMasters.com is the brainchild of Canada native and lifelong fisherman Dave Abbott, an angler who dreamed of making it easier for others to share their fishing stories along with the ability to compare the significance of catching one type of species versus another. With more than 40 million licensed freshwater anglers in North America, fishing consistently ranks as one of the top 10 participatory sports in North America, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

For more information about Angling Masters, please visit www.AnglingMasters.com.

To find out more about the 29-inch record brook trout, please visit www.AnglingMasters.com/brooktrout.

About Angling Masters International and AnglingMasters.com
Formed in 2005, Utah-based Angling Masters International intends to transform recreational fishing into a competitive sport available to any angler. Its online sports fishing community, AnglingMasters.com, is a Web 2.0 community where North American freshwater anglers of all interests and abilities can share their "I-caught-one-this-big" fishing stories. A strong believer of catch and release fishing and the idea that anyone can catch "the big one," AnglingMasters.com levels the playing field with its online, multi-species algorithm-based ranking system which allows anyone on any lake, river or stream to share and compare his/her catch with the fish caught by other anglers. To learn more, please visit www.AnglingMasters.com.