Why pro walleye tournaments suck from a fan's perspective!!!

[jigstop]

Artifical only tournaments would be a welcome change to the archaic live bait in walleye tournaments. It would get more bait manufactures to spend advertising and contingent money on the tournaments. What bait company is going to bother sponsoring a tournament on Green Bay when every fish is caught on live crawlers?

[John Gildersleeve]

There was a shortage of bait in the Cass lake area. There has been a shortage all year. The ice being on the lakes so late really messed up the bait situation. The dealers were struggling and trying to do their best with what they had.

I do however feel that the sponsorship of the tournaments does play a negative effect to the fan base. Don't get me wrong I don't blame the sponsors for wanting to get their moneys worth out of the sponsorship fees they pay. The promoting of the product does get a bit overbearing and will tend to make people become disinterested. An example of this is: one of the functions of a dvr is to get rid of the commercials right, so a person can enjoy what they are really wanting to watch. I have fished tournaments and also really enjoy watching the shows. Some shows are better than others. I do however miss seeing the old approach that Mark D. and Sonny R. had created with the FLW. They should go back to the basics and get into the jump in the boat attitude and interview the tournament participants. People want to learn so they can maybe add a technique to their style. All they can do is try, if the participant does not want to interview then find another participant that will. Maybe try interviewing some not so in the limelight anglers. Sometimes it seems like you see the same anglers all the time being interviewed. I think if they tone down the constant promoting of sponsors and increase the learning base by getting good interviews on/off the water they will have a winner in my book. A good angler will share their information. However you could tell someone straight to their face what your doing and most others will not believe you anyways. Tournament anglers are funny this way!

[dutchboy]

Originally Posted by John Gildersleeve

There was a shortage of bait in the Cass lake area. There has been a shortage all year. The ice being on the lakes so late really messed up the bait situation. The dealers were struggling and trying to do their best with what they had.

I do however feel that the sponsorship of the tournaments does play a negative effect to the fan base. Don't get me wrong I don't blame the sponsors for wanting to get their moneys worth out of the sponsorship fees they pay. The promoting of the product does get a bit overbearing and will tend to make people become disinterested. An example of this is: one of the functions of a dvr is to get rid of the commercials right, so a person can enjoy what they are really wanting to watch. I have fished tournaments and also really enjoy watching the shows. Some shows are better than others. I do however miss seeing the old approach that Mark D. and Sonny R. had created with the FLW. They should go back to the basics and get into the jump in the boat attitude and interview the tournament participants. People want to learn so they can maybe add a technique to their style. All they can do is try, if the participant does not want to interview then find another participant that will. Maybe try interviewing some not so in the limelight anglers. Sometimes it seems like you see the same anglers all the time being interviewed. I think if they tone down the constant promoting of sponsors and increase the learning base by getting good interviews on/off the water they will have a winner in my book. A good angler will share their information. However you could tell someone straight to their face what your doing and most others will not believe you anyways. Tournament anglers are funny this way!

Nice idea on the interviews. Only once will they need to broadcast
" Joe Blow of blankity blank boats declined a on water interview."

After that the pro's will find 3 minutes for a interview.

My two cents. I am a veteran as a co-angler with PWT, AIM, FLW and NWT. A former pro on the FLW, and I plan to fish as a pro on NWT next year.

First of all, the walleye culture has way too much bickering. Look at the threads. It is great to express opinion, but it usually turns negative. If I had money to give to a tour, and came here and read these threads, I don’t drop a cent into this market. I want a positive representation of my product and the anglers which surround it.

Second, and this applies to smaller tournaments….Walleye fishermen are poor interviewers. The main tours have some good representation, but the depth is not there in the smaller circuits. I’ve heard so many times. What did you catch them on?….answer “lures”. Where were you fishing?….”in the lake.” Why bother holding stage events at that point? Part of being a great pro is being prepared when you walk onto stage. Also, Don’t blow off the co-angler. There is some great talent out there which never is asked a single question. But it is the tours job to screen the co’s which can add color to the commentary.

Third. Up and coming anglers are usually short lived. The sponsors are not taking chances on new talent, and the old guard holds the sponsorship dollars. This makes it tough for anyone to survive. There is great new talent in the walleye world right now. Let’s hope financially they can survive. New anglers invigorate the tour, and give new stories to the telecasts. The tours have taken very little time to tell the back stories of the anglers. Give me someone to root for, even if they aren’t in contention to win.

Fourth: Walleye fishing is not pretty. Walleye events are held in unfriendly weather. Bass guys are tan, wearing expensive sunglasses, a visor and flip flops fishing in perfect conditions. They react with the camera, smile and play the game. Walleye pros are wearing knit hats, gloves, hoodies and bibs. Most of the time you can’t make out the face of the angler as it’s buried in the clothes. Just the facts of walleye fishing in the Midwest.

Finally: There are not enough talented local walleye fishermen giving back to the sport. Most of the NPAA guys do an excellent job. But locally, the thinking is “these are my secrets, and nobody should ever learn them.” It is this selfishness in all species of fishing which hinders our growth as an industry. Walleye guys are especially protective of their secrets because the season peak timetables are short, and the walleye world is quick to copy someone who has had success. Teach interested anglers about their area lakes, and it is amazing what you might learn in return.

We all can do a better job representing this sport. And yes, I realize I will get ripped with this post…But if this post makes the sport better, then I could careless how much i get beat up.

[zummy]

Just thought I would add my view as a relatively new walleye angler. It seems like a lot of walleye fisherman are snobs. We have seen it in this thread. Saying bass are dumb fish, etc. I fish with a guy that does tourney bass fishing, and he is trying to get me started in it. Talking to those anglers you rarely hear them talking down on other species and their fisherman. My perception is that walleye anglers kind of act like snobbish. Its a turn off frankly. Heck the tournament catfishermen around here will bend over backwards answering questions.

[S.Larson]

Originally Posted by zummy

Just thought I would add my view as a relatively new walleye angler. It seems like a lot of walleye fisherman are snobs. We have seen it in this thread. Saying bass are dumb fish, etc. I fish with a guy that does tourney bass fishing, and he is trying to get me started in it. Talking to those anglers you rarely hear them talking down on other species and their fisherman. My perception is that walleye anglers kind of act like snobbish. Its a turn off frankly. Heck the tournament catfishermen around here will bend over backwards answering questions.

My comment about bass being dumb was went as a joke, I guess I should have added one of these,....

I just can't make myself interested in flipping plastic lizards at fish,.........

[jigstop]

Originally Posted by guest from around here

My two cents. I am a veteran as a co-angler with PWT, AIM, FLW and NWT. A former pro on the FLW, and I plan to fish as a pro on NWT next year.

First of all, the walleye culture has way too much bickering. Look at the threads. It is great to express opinion, but it usually turns negative. If I had money to give to a tour, and came here and read these threads, I don’t drop a cent into this market. I want a positive representation of my product and the anglers which surround it.

Second, and this applies to smaller tournaments….Walleye fishermen are poor interviewers. The main tours have some good representation, but the depth is not there in the smaller circuits. I’ve heard so many times. What did you catch them on?….answer “lures”. Where were you fishing?….”in the lake.” Why bother holding stage events at that point? Part of being a great pro is being prepared when you walk onto stage. Also, Don’t blow off the co-angler. There is some great talent out there which never is asked a single question. But it is the tours job to screen the co’s which can add color to the commentary.

Third. Up and coming anglers are usually short lived. The sponsors are not taking chances on new talent, and the old guard holds the sponsorship dollars. This makes it tough for anyone to survive. There is great new talent in the walleye world right now. Let’s hope financially they can survive. New anglers invigorate the tour, and give new stories to the telecasts. The tours have taken very little time to tell the back stories of the anglers. Give me someone to root for, even if they aren’t in contention to win.

Fourth: Walleye fishing is not pretty. Walleye events are held in unfriendly weather. Bass guys are tan, wearing expensive sunglasses, a visor and flip flops fishing in perfect conditions. They react with the camera, smile and play the game. Walleye pros are wearing knit hats, gloves, hoodies and bibs. Most of the time you can’t make out the face of the angler as it’s buried in the clothes. Just the facts of walleye fishing in the Midwest.

Finally: There are not enough talented local walleye fishermen giving back to the sport. Most of the NPAA guys do an excellent job. But locally, the thinking is “these are my secrets, and nobody should ever learn them.” It is this selfishness in all species of fishing which hinders our growth as an industry. Walleye guys are especially protective of their secrets because the season peak timetables are short, and the walleye world is quick to copy someone who has had success. Teach interested anglers about their area lakes, and it is amazing what you might learn in return.

We all can do a better job representing this sport. And yes, I realize I will get ripped with this post…But if this post makes the sport better, then I could careless how much i get beat up.

Right on! In one walleye tournament it was won on bass spinner baits, it took two years for that to come out in the public. A bass tournament was won on an Alabama Rig and it was immediatley known and it was the hottest bait for a year.

[TAH]

And yes, I realize I will get ripped with this post…But if this post makes the sport better, then I could careless how much i get beat up.

Telling like it is??? How can anyone disagree?? Good points and well said.

Anyone that would say it took 2 years for the spinnerbait story to come out either lives under a rock or just loves to stir the pot with non sense. I can think of 3 sources that publicly announced it within 2 weeks. What more do you want Chip Leer to make a personal call to you to tell you what bait? It was available for people to see. And no it wasn't a scavenger hunt.

[hnd]

Originally Posted by jigstop

Right on! In one walleye tournament it was won on bass spinner baits, it took two years for that to come out in the public. A bass tournament was won on an Alabama Rig and it was immediatley known and it was the hottest bait for a year.

yeah...no. we knew it almost immediately the day after that a spinner bait was being used.

still funny to me everyone thinks the bass tourney guys are any different.