Tournament Fisherman?

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RJ
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Tournament Fisherman?

Post by RJ »

If you are a tournament fisherman you'll likely get a kick out of this video. Assembled Charles Sim, Tim Baker and Ryan Flaro for a roundtable at our place to discuss the state of tournament angling from 4 different perspectives.



Hope ya enjoy it!

RJ
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ShawnD
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by ShawnD »

Great Video RJ, a lot of what was discussed hit home for me.

When's the next one?
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lape0019
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by lape0019 »

RJ,

Great topic!

I so wanted to watch this when you posted it but kind of forgot about it. I just managed to finish watching the whole things and I'm glad I waited because your conversation touched on basically every point that was brought up in our small group.

No matter how you look at it, the options for an angler looking to get into the tournament scene outway the amount of tournament anglers willing to fish them. All of you stated that there isn't a market for these events and I have to disagree with this. There is a healthy market which consists of people in their twenties all of the way to their 70's and possibly older. What you did get right is that the "pie" only has a certain number of players for the time being and the amount of tournaments on any given weekend is cutting that pie into too small of pieces.

Tournaments like BAA (competitive as all hell but fun with a low entry fee) have not had issues filling a field of 30 boats in recent years. It even looks to be trying expand to 40 teams this year. OVSB has had a healthy amount of anglers for the last few years as well. The area that seems to be struggling are the "premier leagues" in our area which went from one major series and some pretty large one offs when I started fishing to 3 major series (even though the TIO and B1 are more opens than series) in the last couple of years. What is happening is the segregation of that premier group and an unwillingness for the up and comers to step up to the plate.

I honestly see at least one of these major series' folding in the next few years as instead of working together, they seem to be trying to tear each other apart to the detriment of the tournament anglers.

What can be done? Well, I'd like to see some of these groups work together but I don't think that will ever happen. Just like you, I'll wait and see what happens in September.

Adam
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by RJ »

lape0019 wrote:
Tournaments like BAA (competitive as all hell but fun with a low entry fee) have not had issues filling a field of 30 boats in recent years. It even looks to be trying expand to 40 teams this year. OVSB has had a healthy amount of anglers for the last few years as well. The area that seems to be struggling are the "premier leagues" in our area which went from one major series and some pretty large one offs when I started fishing to 3 major series (even though the TIO and B1 are more opens than series) in the last couple of years. What is happening is the segregation of that premier group and an unwillingness for the up and comers to step up to the plate.

Thanks Adam. Working on another round table this week with guys who fish those series locally. Should be another fun one.

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TheMaverick
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by TheMaverick »

Since I’ve started fishing tournaments, I have noticed a considerable incline of “political agendas”, online disputes as to which series are morally superior in regards to fish care, and a generalized patronizing attitude towards rival series.

The reality is, anglers will draw their own conclusions, some will join ranks by association, while others will chose to sit on the side lines and enjoy the show.

Our market is nowhere near what it is in the States, it’s not even close to what it is in the GTA.
That being said, I feel as though our series are trying to model that bigger professional format.
I don’t care to be on TV lol, nor am I living off my tournament winnings :cry:

I’d be curious as to the majority of our present regional household.
Hardworking families struggling in today’s economy?
Typical 2-3 weeks of vacation to be spent with the family as opposed to fishing?

In the grand scheme of things, I can’t be donating a hefty registration fee, when I can’t compete due to my present life situation.
Hence, I believe the smaller, less dramatic, politically free series are having no issues filling the entire field because that’s where our market is at.

Now I’m taking BAA as an example, because that’s the series I’ll be fishing once again.
Total registration fee including big fish pool is 500$ per team, a total of 6 events, with a guaranteed 2 day classic.
If you break it down, that’s roughly 40$ per angler, per event.
If I end up missing one event, for whatever reason, a 40$ loss isn’t much to cry about, and I have not sabotaged my chances of fishing the classic.

IMO, a few series need to stop competing against themselves, they need to adjust, and ride out the wave.
I’m positive our upcoming generation of anglers will make for great tournament seasons, as to which series will still be around, who knows!
If fishin ain't your mission, then you can kiss my Bass!
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by procrafter12 »

Very interesting topic. There are two reasons why im not returning to renegade this year. First reason is time, because a lot of the lakes I do not know well and if I dont want to come last then I need to practice. Its tough when I can only practice the weekend before and half the guys have a cabin on the lake for a full week before and also have history to draw on... yes some are amazing sticks but also a lot of these guys just put more time, effort and money into it then I can afford.. Reason two is simple they are returning back to the St Lawrence for 2 of the same events as last year and until i can get 18 + pounds (10 pounds is hard some days lol) out there whats the point.

For the mega bucks event I did this the first 3 years and did manage some money back in this event. I loved the first year I think only 47 boats?? and still 1000 an hour to be won. With 80 boats now this event doesnt seem worth it to me anymore once it passed 60 that was it for me...but that is just a sign that the event is super popular and it is a ton of fun so you are on the right track with it!

So with the lack of time I have this year I will probably do a few tournys here and there maybe a shootout. Hopefully I can get more time in the future and try out a series again
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by RJ »

More tourney talk! If you are wondering about local clubs etc. this video outlines it all.

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lape0019
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by lape0019 »

Great second videao RJ,

Having fished both BAA and OVSB, I can say the level of fun and camaraderie is definitely there. Both series are fun but the off season meeting OVSB holds add another layer to the camaraderie I find.

What these videos have done is made me think of why I tournament fish and why I choose where I fish.

I fished OVSB the year after first fishing the MS Bassin Tournament. Shawn actually convinced me to go to a meeting and that is all it took. The following year I fished BAA because I wanted to fish as a team. This year, it was a toss up between BAA and Something new. I ended up being asked to fish the 150 and unders so went that route.

What do these three options have in common?

Low entry fee
Capped Field
Competitive.
Smaller waterbodies.


See, the reason to tournament fish is the drive to compete. For me, it has nothing to do with winning per se. It has more to do with seeing how you stack up against the rest. I have been fortunate enough to usually at the very least have my entry fees recouped and that's all I can really ask for.

As for the comment Stefen made about the boat shouldn't hold you back; I can tell you that's why I am not yet fishing Renegade but it really has nothing to do with speed or me being laughed at showing up with what I've got. It has everything to do with safety. I have a family cottage in Franny, I see all of the time what that lake can do within 10 minutes and prefer to pick my days instead of being told which day to fish big bodies. After typing that out, although the St-Lawrence and Franny produce massive bags every year, I am thinking the size of the waterbody may also be deterring people from joining Renegade. I could be wrong here though.

All in all, I'll say again, good job with these videos.
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Re: Tournament Fisherman?

Post by ShawnD »

Thanks for having me RJ!
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