Pam Martin-Wells, the famous fisherwoman from Lake Seminole, will now be promoting Bainbridge and her home lake as a travel destination while she’s out on the water.

The Bainbridge Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, which is funded by local lodging taxes, is now the major sponsor for Martin-Wells, who has a new fishing jersey and boat featuring Bainbridge and Lake Seminole.

Martin-Wells recently brought her new fishing boat by the Bainbridge Welcome Center to show off its design, which is predominantly blue and green with some white accents.

The Legend boat has a Mercury Pro XS motor and can go up to 76 mph, Martin-Wells said.

“Sometimes, when you are out on the lake and it gets windy, those waves can get pretty choppy, so you need some speed to cut through them,” Martin-Wells said.

The boat also has a state-of-the-art aquatic navigation system made by Lowrance, a special seat Martin-Wells uses when she is fishing instead of driving, compartments for equipment and a live well to store fish in.

It also sports the logo of the Bainbridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, whose mission is to boost tourism to the city. Already, many people from Florida, Alabama and other places in Georgia and across the Southeast come to Lake Seminole for its abundance of largemouth bass. Bainbridge has hosted a number of professional bass tournaments out of the Earle May Boat Basin over the years and local officials hope that will continue to bring visitors to Bainbridge.

There’s perhaps no better ambassador for Lake Seminole than Martin-Wells, who is associated with the lake almost as much as the late Jack Wingate, who first brought professional bass fishing to Lake Seminole in the 1960s.

Martin-Wells has won 19 national professional bass fishing titles, and five angler of the year awards. She also has 56 top-five finishes and 62 top-10 finishes.

Martin-Wells won the 2007 Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship in Birmingham, Ala. She was the 2009 Bassmaster Women’s Tour Angler of the Year and became only the second woman in history to qualify to compete in the Bassmaster Classic.

After the Ladies’ Bassmaster Tour became defunct, Martin-Wells joined the Lady Bass Anglers Association and has won two events on that tour so far. She was the 2011 LBAA Angler of the Year.

This past March, she was inducted into the Decatur County Sports Hall of Fame.

The Bainbridge CVB’s website is www.visitbainbridgega.com.