Walleye Discussion Forums
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| Jump to page : 1 2 3 Now viewing page 3 [25 messages per page] Walleye Fishing -> General Discussion -> As Big as Bass? |
| Message Subject: As Big as Bass? | |||
Jimmer |
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| It is refreshing to witness a post that has been conducted with professionalism and well thought out opinions. For the most part everyone has restrained from personal attacks as well as finger pointing. Walleye tournaments do indeed have a long haul before they become a mainstream in every day sports. Hell, even BASS fishing is still struggling with being accepted as a legitimate sport but it has made impressive strides. To stay on topic, it is extremely difficult for a lot us to understand why tournament directors do not hype the big names prior to the tournament. I sincerely believe, just like any successful corporation, the product is the people. Trust me... The Packers are far more marketable when you toss in the name Brett Favre. I truly wonder how many tournament directors have actually researched the cost benefit of releasing the names prior to a tournament. | |||
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| Numbers |
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| Jayman, I certainly don't think our sport is boring, to the contrary. It's so exciting to head out onto the water at the start of an event and do battle with the elements and outwit the walleyes. It's awesome. Boring to us who participate, no. Boring to those who simply observe and never participate, probably. Walleye fishing is a sport you need to do to really understand. Casual observers can see the BASS Elite Series, FLW Redfish shows or Tarpon Tournament Series on TV and get it. But all of us pulling boards for fish that don't battle with flying leaps and drag screaming runs is difficult for casual observers to understand. We need to recruit more anglers to the sport and share our talents to get this sport to grow. | |||
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| stacker |
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Member Posts: 2445 Location: Fremont, Wisconsin | This is a quote from Numbers: Walleye fishing tournament coverage is generally only of interest to anglers who like to fish walleye tournaments or are thinking about fishing them. There are many walleye anglers who detest tournaments. I don;t know the numbers, but I'd guess an awful lot of the bass guys are fans of tournament fishing. This is a good statement. Lets start with the section that says, generally only of interest to anglers fishing or thinking of fishing tourneys. How do you get more people interested in watching?? My initial post suggested listing the players and getting fans for each player, very much like bass and nascar. It works. support for individual players. The next quote is many "fisherman detest tournaments. I guess many bass guys like tournys." Well, I know alot of bass guys, and they idolize and buy what there heros say is the best, yet they are not tournament fisherman. woo davis rods and gary yamamoto plastics and so on and so on. How do they do this? marketing of the fisherman, it all starts by telling the world who is playing the game come saturday. When I bring up listing the players, that is just that, list the players. Tell us who we are cheering for and start to tell the world who they are. Has anyone noticed that the FLW Walleye mag has had the top league anglers showcased the last few months. You want more guys in your sport? showcase them, Ego's are everything. I want my picture in there as well. Why would Stacker need to see a list of players before hand? Well, I hope this spells it out a bit better. Honestly, if you put more into this thought process, you are over thinking marketing 101. To T.J.= Getting a attitude when someone is proposing a idea that has not been introduced to you before because it has not been the "Norm" is no way to get ahead in life. Open mind. | ||
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| Jayman |
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Member Posts: 1656 | Numbers, It's not boring, maybe to the casual observer it is. I understand, you're nto going to get everyone. I personally find Nascar boring, I can watch cars go in circles for about 5-10 laps and then it looks the same. The animosity between drivers and teams is more exciting to readon monday morning than the race itself. I not a follower of nascar, but I can tell you a good handful of names of drivers. Like Stacker said get the names out there, market the players. I watched last years FLW League championship on DVD, I know John Schnieder personally, but watching him on TV. The guy has energy and was fun to watch. It can be done. We just need to get the publics attention. And before anyone thinks I'm overstating this, NO, I don't think Walleye tournament fishing is ever going to be as big as Football, Baseball, or Basketball. But I'm willing to bet there are more everyday people that fish than there are that play those three major sports, beyond highschool. "but we keep getting richer, but we can't get our picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone" | ||
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| Mike from Missouri |
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| I am new to Walleye fishing, what I do not like about the tourey's, is the PRO making all the decisions. Now I understand it's their boat, but telling me what to fish with and what lure I am allowed to use and when I can or can't fish and how many poles. In the bass world the am. brings three or four rods, a couple of tackle boxes and they fish from the same boat, but if Iwant to throw a crank, I thow it, I don't have to ask permisson, or if I want th throw a jig I throw a jig. Now If the pro wants to troll, so be it, or stop and jig so be it. But to have total control over the am is the one reason many of use will not fish at the large tourneys. We run our local club events with new people and seasoned people, the person who owns the boat decides whether to stop or troll, but the other guy throws whatever type of lure they want. Just my thoughts. P.S. you can fish for Walleye in 3/4 of the United States, west to the mountain states, south to Arkansas and east to the ocean ecept for the deep south. | |||
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| TJ DeVoe |
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Member Posts: 1040 Location: Stevens Point, WI | I'm more than happy to be the punching bag of your very direct comments to me, no big deal. Most people will never fully understand absolutely everything on how these things are handled because your not there at the PWT and FLW events on a daily basis, I WAS! You just won't understand it. I understand marketing just fine in the fact of posting a list, I totally do. But your not reaching your full marketing potential by just putting them on the internet. You want people to notice these guys and what this walleye game is all about, well it has more to do with than just posting a list of who's fishing. To be honest, it's more of in my opinion the work of the anglers to get out there and promote the tournaments and to draw attention through shows during the winter, doing T.V. shows like The Next Bite, The Glorvigens show, and any other shows that these pros are able to get themselves on. A tournament trail can't get bigger by simply putting names up on there site. Have you taken a look lately at the Walleye In-sider? They don't go a month without talking about the tournaments and promoting them. The In-Fish magazine also runs flyers in almost every magazine they put out for the tournaments. The last time I checked, the In-Fish magazine was the most widely distributed fishing magazine in the industry of it's kind. But the kicker is T.V., you want more attention, I told you where you can get it. Broadcast at least those championships live and you will get attention! People that really don't even care about tournament fishing tune into the BASS Master Classic cause it's live, it gets air time and then mix in some controversy things that have happened the last couple Classics, that will draw attention! It may not always be good controversy but people will want to know whats going on. The internet is, yes a very important tool in promoting, but there is much more than just posting a list! It's a culmination of T.V., radio, print and probably a very unthoughtful source is "here say". People talk to other people and that's how they get drawn into wanting to know what this is all about. Marketing 101, ha, it's more like commen sense 101! Your simply talking about a list, how is a single list going make the tournament trail bigger and better? You need way more than just a "list." I'm not saying a list won't help, because you are right, it won't hurt anything, it can only help by getting that list out there. But like I keep saying, you want this game to get bigger and better, get some of these tournaments live on national t.v. like BASS and you WILL see more attention then! But go ahead, keep taking your knocks on a college kid, I may be 20 but do not blame my expressiveness on being young. I'm fully away of what I'm saying, but then again I'm not the average college kid when it comes to this! Edited by Merckid 4/5/2007 4:09 PM | ||
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| Jimmer |
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| It would seem the directors of the FLW are adopting the ideas to which Stacker has proposed. A move in the right direction that even Merckid would have to agree with. http://walleyetour.flwoutdoors.com/ See Pundits' Picks | |||
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| butch |
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Member Posts: 701 Location: upper michigan | Lets put it this way you have to start somewhere and knowing who the players are would be a huge step in the right direction. | ||
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| Sunshine |
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Member Posts: 2393 Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | Merckid, Jayman, and Stacker: Very interesting thread. The more I read the more I believe that you are all saying the same thing. You all want what was is best for the sport and the fisherman. The thread has evolved from a simple question of “why not release the names earlier”, to how can we all work outside the box to promote the walleye industry. As far as releasing names, the main question is what’s in for the Tournament Series. They are the ones that should be (and I’m sure are) asking what are the pluses and minuses of the decision. I’d guess (because I do not have the insights of Merckid and Stacker) that the organizers always want to show a full field before releasing names. The more the better. They show growth, importance to sponsors and strength as an organization by showing as many entrants as possible. I also believe that threads like this are positive and that they read them. Your conversation may be showing them another option. You are showing them a need that they may not have considered before. Accolades to all of you for putting this in the spot light. My take on making the sport more interesting involves the personal interest stories. Some of us will always watch the shows and read the articles because of our love and passion for the sport. But to grow, we need to attract others. I believe that we need to put a story with a name and give people a reason for wanting to follow the individual through the season. The idea of having a fantasy fishing league is a great idea. It gives a reason to follow individuals but we can do more. Take my buddy, Eric Schuelke as an example. I believe that it would be interesting for people to know what he went through to get to the PWT and win a fourth place finish. How many know that he had MAJOR back surgery this winter? How many know that he has been struggling with back problems for some time and scheduled his operation so he would be able to get into the boat in time to do tournaments this year? Would people be interested in knowing that he risked his physical health last year? That he had to pull out of tournaments at the end of the season because the doctor said that he could end up paralyzed? These are the kinds of stories that make interesting reading that people like to follow. Some would think that with a one day tournament, the PWT will have a hard time coming up with a show. IMHO nothing could be further from the truth. Show the conditions, show people coming off the water on Tuesday with ice on their bodies and on the equipment. Give a quick lesson on hypothermia and what could happen if someone did fall in. Make it interesting and give lessons for everyone to learn. Merckid, you have knowledge beyond your years. Continue to give us insights learned from your experiences behind the scenes with the PWT. Stacker please give all us more information on what it takes to organize an event. Both of you have stories to tell and I and others look forward to hearing them. | ||
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| stacker |
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Member Posts: 2445 Location: Fremont, Wisconsin | Well, I think I made my point, and several people have understood. I will leave it at that. I hope that one of the 2 circuits decide to lead the way for the future fans. Denny Fox | ||
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| sworrall |
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Location: Rhinelander | I spoke with Julie at the PWT this week, and she said it would be possible to list the Pros in advance. I'll be encouraging that as the year progresses. We would appreciate the listing as well, as we can and do link all the ranked Pros in the WWR. The exposure through the rankings is 'fan based' to a large degree, so I get what Denny is trying to say. Here's the most popular pick from the 'ten most popular' from this week, it's not rocket science to see why. http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/rankings_fisherman.asp?fmid=9452&r... | ||
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| hgmeyer |
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Member Posts: 794 Location: Elgin, Illinois | Dennis we have talked about this before... But, I truly believe you are onto something... Generate local interest and the effects will grow "outside the box". I would like to see the Pro circuits encourage a few pros (rotating or whatever) to take out local celebrities prefishing... Get the local paper/TV outlet to spearhead finding the right four or five choices... "A local hero", the Mayor, a Congressman, The Governor or Lt. Governor, a "high school kid" picked from a random drawing, a local sports figure... you name it... somebody that would be a great local interest 30-45 second spot or short article in the paper... Work through a local bait shop or the local Walmart to raffle off a 1/2 day in the boat with a pro for a few dollars that are then donated to a food pantry, Habityat for Humanity, the local YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, whatever... Something that would get the local media down to the launch site and later in the day to get an interview with these lucky folks... Talk about exposure for Sponsors... Free Media... | ||
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