Have been talking to a couple of guys that want me to fish with them this year , Will probably fish a couple of the early spring Steelheader tournaments with Wing Nut , then fish South Haven Steelheader tournament with a buddy from Jenison , Tim from "Verdict" out of Ludington asked me to fish Mich. City with him as well , next will be the Manistee Bud Pro/Am in June with Big PaPa and my brother inlaw , possibly the Gander Mt. Offshore in Ludington but still up in the air on that one { don't know everyone else's plans yet} and then Manistee Steelheaders in Aug. and the Benzie Frenzy in Frankfort in Aug. That leaves time open for GLPAA tournaments when they are set and hopefully slip a couple more in there along the way if the money is there to spend on tournaments and outtings. Sounds like I could leave the boat out of the water this year and still fish every weekend if I wanted. Now I'll just have to wait and see if I do really get to fish em all , need to find a sponsor I guess!
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Rick If you find a sponsor then I'll fish them all! I haven't made any plans as far as tournaments go but I'm hooked on them and will worm my way into as many of them as possible this year. Fishing with you guys on the Purple Taco team last year was a blast! Construction wages and small kids will be my major obstacles to overcome. I think it's time for a career change. Anyone want to pay me to fish?
Jim...I Fish Therefore I Am
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well if you guys ever need another hand - let me know. I got a tournamnet rigged boat that's in ludington all the time too. Whaler, H2O, and I are trying to figure out which tournaments to fish. We're not competetive yet - we still have a lot to learn - but I love tournaments! That's why I'm moving from Oakland County to Fruitport ... and why I started an outdoor-related company. I figure I may never be good enough to make it in the tournament scene (maybe I will - you never know) but I can apply my strengths to be able to go fish and not feel guilty about it - cause it will be my work!
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As far a sponsors go _ I'd love to sponsor you guys - not sure how much money I can spend but I got some! and we will be trying to promote Educated Angler and Experience Outdoors (www.experienceoutdoors.org). Let me know what you think about it?
Post edited by: tiara3600, at: 2004/12/19 12:57
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Greg , may take you up on offer of tournaments in Ludington with you guys { Wing Nut may like to as well }, will have to see how it plays out but sounds like fun. Wing Nut and I have talked about sponsors in the past , we just havn't figured out how to go about it yet , you maybe our first attempt. I don't expect to get paid to go fishing { thats more of a fantasy} but it would be neat if sponsors could help out with entry fee's and such and tackle promotions. I have thought that if you could get a sponsor to help out you could offer them a chance to go fishing on one of the prefish days before a tournament or even tournament day or offer to take one of thier suppliers out for a trip. They could in turn take photos or video and use it as promotion for thier products and suppliers. Kind of like the NASCAR teams do with the pre race promotional deals and interviews . I also think it can be written off under advertising for the co's involved. I know several who use thier prefish days to run charters to help defray the costs and in turn scout fish. Once you are shown to be a winner or at least reasonalby successfull the easier it should be to get sponsorship in a bigger way and fish larger and more tournaments. The Best Chance boys have it down pretty well and do very well in the tournament schedule. The important thing is to keep it fun , I don't think I'd like it if it turned out to be a job , one of the reasons I havn't started chartering. I want to fish because it is fun , not because I have to. I am kind of picky though , some may call it anal , but I want to use the best equipment I can afford and maximize the effort and equipment and try my hardest as ," second place is the first loser". I am kind of a stickler for details and I like to be organized and know what I am going to do and where all my equipment is at all times , fishing is fun but when tournament time comes around that is a day or two of serious competion and you should be ready to give it your best , no second guessing or "I'd rather be some where else" thoughts , you have to remain focused on the goal. And lastly , there is no " I " in team.
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I'm absolutely sure that sposnorship is an advertising expense - which means a write-off. Unfortunately write-offs aren't as attractive as they once were - but it certainly helps.
My plan is to have my work be an enabler for fishing and other outdoor activites. I want to get a six-pack license - but not to charter just because I think it would be fun to take the classes and accomplish that goal. I defintely love competition though - but I don't put my self-worth on winning v. losing, that being said I want to win no matter if we have or chance or not. I'm pretty anal as well, I hate to lose a fish becaue of equipment or a bad knot, angler mistake I cahlk up to all of us still on a steep learning curve.
The problem with real sponsorship is that our tournaments don't get enough exposure ... so sponsors are advertsing to a small audinece of already motivated buyers. Granted that is their key customer base and target market - but it needs to get more pervasive *** more visibilty = more sponsor money ***. These are some of the things we'll be discussing on Wednesday - I got a briefing book for ya - just finished putting it together few minutes ago.
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Cool , can't wait for Wed. Greg , I will have a couple of ideas to throw at you as well that is sort of tournament related but also educational related and something you maybe able to handle as you have all the expertise and equipment .
Post edited by: FLATRATE, at: 2004/12/20 16:21
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We will for sure fish the 2 Algonac tournament to start.
Then we will have the boat in Sanilac to concentrate on the classic. Next we will 80% for sure be at Grand Haven. Not sure if I will do the Manisttee Bud Pro/Am. Had fun there last year with a 5th place pro placing. I am getting married on July 8th, and I will be gone for two weeks then. Hopefully we can fish the Ludington Offshore. I have probable 3000+/- hours out of that port without doing the math, though most of that is fishing staging Kings in August. And if we qualify, I want to fish the AM side of the GLPAA so hopefully we get to the showdown.
If we don't get the showdown. I want to fish some new ports with less traffic. Ludington is getting unbearable on the weekends in August.
I fished 3 points tournament on Lake Michigan last year. First time ever for that. I need to change some of my thinking for them. In every one, we had more weight that some of the boats that places ahead of us, but the 10 points a fish killed us every time. Not weighing in a limit of fish kills you. And it is near impossible to make any ground up. Where on Lake Huron, they go by weight. The best example of this is our showing at Ludington Offshore. We took 20th in points, but had the 12th best weight. Both spots are not very great, but it just shows that you need to fill you limit for the bonus 10 points.
Mike
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Mike we fished the Pro-Division of the GLPAA this year and qualified 2nd in Harbor Beach and was in 2nd the first day of the Show Down but as you said not having all of your fish will hurt you , we had all nice fish but lost our last one and got knocked out of 2nd in Rogers City by the 1 fish. I have found as you said that you need to get your tournament limit and then start looking for quality fish to sort if need be. I fish out of Manistee all summer and your correct , the weekends get crowded in that area in Aug., particularly around the stick. Have never fished the Grand Haven Off-Shore and it is on my list of possibilities this year. The Benzie Frenzy in Frankfort is another good tournament to fish and it isnt so crowded there.
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FLATRATE wrote: Greg , how far do want the site to expand and are you open to an idea that I have that maybe a little on the far side ? Talk to Wed.
I want the site to expand as far as it can - it is completlely scalable from a technology standpoint - so I'm defintely up for any idea. I actually came up with a flyer idea too ... based on some comments on the site I'll tell you about it on wed. I think it could be very cool.
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