lmoore

This thread is just awesome. I had 2 tackle boxes and 5 of my nicest rods grow legs last fall, so I'm doing some restocking. I should have some photos to contribute here before too long. In the meantime, cabin fever held off for just a bit longer with this thread.

Hey guys, As many of you have probably heard by now, Scott Martin has left Kistler rods to join the Okuma fishing team. It was purely a business decision, and I'm sure everyone at Kistler wishes SM the best in his career.

If you're not fishing to win, you might as well sleep in!

The results of the FLW college tourneys are negatively effected by being held after the EverStart series. 100 boats fishing hard for two days before the tournament can really effect the fish. That being said, there are also a lot of guys fishing those that don't belong in a bass boat. That's probably a product of FLW providing boats for the tournaments. There are good and bad things with the FLW College circuit, just like with any other. IMO, the College BASS is the best college series out there. Big time tournament experience, not held right on the tail of a big tournament series, and people have to bring boats so you basically only get the serious competitors.

From personal experience, it's the ability to adapt that has been my biggest mistake in tournaments that haven't gone well. I have had two tournaments in my first 4 years that really stick out to me. In one, I found fish at a spot that I had fished in a previous tournament and done well. The last day of the original tournament, the weather had switched and the fish completely moved out of that spot, so I knew there was a chance it would happen again if the worng weather came up. Naturally, the wrong weather hit, but rather than adjusting to it, I pounded that spot for most of the day and it killed my tournament. In another, we found fish on points in early spring the weekend before the tournament. Well, the week leading up to the tournament was sunny and very warm for that time of year. Instead of moving shallow like the fish did, my partner and myself pounded points until the tournament was half over. By then, it was too late to make up for lost ground. Failure to adapt to the weather killed me in both of the tournaments.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. They did nothing outside the rules since they didn't pay the guide anything. Another big part of tournaments is having resources available to you that give you a slight edge over the competition. A lot of the elite guys probably have contacts all over the U.S. so they can get a headstart when they get to a lake. Just because this team had contacts on this lake, doesn't mean they will on the next one. I know it sucks right now, but what if the next tournament you're in is on your home lake, are you going to tell all of your friends with knowledge of the area not to help you before the tournament?

The better anglers definitely have some atheletic ability. I'd love to see somebody with no coordination attempt a skip cast, even after practicing for a while. To that extent, I would agree that most of them are athletes. However, I wouldn't say that just because they fish the Elite series, they are automatically athletes.

I see your point, since the Elite Series is basically February to late June and the FLW Tour is February to early August, but both series have opens later in the year that a lot of guys fish.

They have the Elite Series and the FLW Tour. If they fished the Bassmaster Classic 5 times each year, it would be the Elite Series. If they fished the Forrest Wood Cup 5 times, it would be the FLW Tour. Keeping the championships at the end of each season makes them that much more special.

Right now is a great time to get into college fishing. This is my last year and I kind of wish I had four more. It's growing like crazy right now, though. I checked and Radford is fishing the FLW tournaments this year. If you click on the Northern Division tournaments you can see the schools you compete against. http://collegefishing.com/schedule.cfm FLW pays a travel allowance based on ho far you go. It's won't cover all of your expenses, but they're also the only tournament series I've ever fished that does that. They also have anglers who don't make the EverStart finals stay and provide boats to the college members. It's a pretty good deal. Your club will be able to tell you all about how they go about funding tournaments and things like that.

I have a friend who knows an elite series guy and, according to him, lots of the bg pros spend almost as much time on the phone as they do fishing when they first try to get an area figured out. These guys have developed contacts in a lot of locations over the years. I'm sure none of them cheat or do anything that other anglers would frown upon, it's just another way for them to get pointed in the right direction.

I'm not real familiar with the entire North Fork line-up, but I beieve they have some lower end blanks that would be less than what Duckett's rods sell for. Not positive on that but that would explain the confusion here. I can tell you if he means the exact same blanks as the Z-Bone, he's losing a lot of money with that rod business.

i do more things than just fish. i buy tools and lumber for woodworking and ammunition for hunting and shooting. btw until today i was too young to get a legit job in new york state. i came here asking about a resume. i worded it wrong. yes im was looking for free gear but not much. i wanted a resume and sponser to look good. i love it how you guys bash when they ask a legit question IMO, the above reasons won't land you any pro-staff positions, and getting free gear is almost out of the question for you. Not saying it can't happen and I would encourage you to work as hard as you can on it, but I just hope you're being realistic about things. One little note, it's spelled sponsor

Agreed. The right crank will catch fish under almost any conditions, and you usually get a lot longer use from one than you do with a plastic bait.

;D Good point. I was flipping burgers at Mac Dons to afford my "habit" at that point. You'd be surprised how many crankbaits you can get with a minimum wage check for 20 hours of work

I agree with you that it's unlikely a company will pick him up right now, but what if he takes the information he gets here and uses it 5 years down the road? Maybe by then he'll have a better understanding of what a Pro-Staff position is all about and realize it has very little to do with him getting free stuff. If this forum is only here to help the people that don't need help, then what's the point of having it?

I do see where you're coming from there Speed and I actually kind of agree with you on that. And J Francho, I'm not trying to support the OP at all. I personally think he should complete high school before he even considers attempting to join a company Pro-Staff. I just think that this forum sometimes turns into a spelling bee quite often and can really take threads off topic. Especially one like this. While I don't think that the OP has his mind right, he came here asking for help and instead he ends up with almost 20 posts that get him nowhere.

With all due respect here Speed, I've been led to believe that this forum is used as a place to correct "resumes." If people want a general English lesson, they'll take a class. It really detracts from the general idea of the thread when everyone gets on here thumping their chest about how awesome they are at posting.

Thanks for the update. We're covered in ice so I'm living through the fishing reports in this forum :'( Have you noticed water temps for any other part of the lake or have you just been by the dam?

Agreed on both of the above. If you perform well at a good level, you get a payout from the tournament. If your not performing well enough to get a check, then you aren't performing well at a good level. Expecting anything beyond tournament winnings is just a false sens of entitlement, IMO.

After you wade through the grammar police, here are a few sections I would include. 1) Personal Bio: Let the companies get an idea of who you are and what your personality is like. 2) Tournament finishes: Not the most important part of promoting a company, but it definitely helps. 3) Positions of leadership: Let the companies see that you are comfortable taking initiative and being involved in a team effort. 4) Things you are willing to do for companies: Self-explanatory, but probably the most important aspect of your resume. A couple more tips: 1) Don't run around with your hand out looking for free stuff from anyone and everyone. I can almost guarantee that you won't land a deal where you get free stuff or a true "sponsor" position. 2) Develop relationships with companies you really believe in. It's much easier to promote products that you actually like using. 3) Don't let NO get you down. You'll hear it a lot. Accept it with some dignity and move on.

Send a paycheck my way too. You're going to have to work a long time to back up that post ;D

Unfortunately, I'm going down to help prefish for the college tournament there. The tournament is mid-March sometime, so I'll be down there one of the first two weekends. Hopefully we have a decent spring so the water is relatively warm when we get down there. Last year I fished in that tourney and outside temps were in the low 70s the day before. It never got above 40 during the tournament. Talk about a cold front! I think water temps were in the mid-40s and we still found a few fish. Hopefully it's a little warmer than that this year.

I believe for the FLW tour you can theoretially sign up without any qualifications. However, they only take a certain amount of boaters so if you don't qualify through one of the lower divisions, it's unlikely that you'll get in due to the guys who qualified already being signed up.

That's exactly the typ of information I was looking for. Thanks for your help Nick. I'll be there in March sometime so I'll stick to finding fish on the rock transitions and in any coves with warmer water. Thanks again