I'm new-- so hello all! Spent an hour reading this thread, and a few have danced around the point I'm going to make but not focused on it. For fisherman that are truely either making or trying to make there living from fishing the sponsor relationship is very complex,, but in the same word really simple. There are those that will represent what ever they are approched with-- they make a finacial decision just as anyone would if they needed a job. It may not be there choice of jobs, but it may pay alot better than the alternative. Guys that have the finacial means to make a "choice" who they work for based purely on there love of a given product are the fourtunate ones. Even when they aline with "there choice",, sometimes thats is used against them and the realationship doen't work- hinse they find another job. I guess the point is -- JOB is the key word,, the idea that any angler can work just for who he chooses, well, is unrealistic. If you got a job that was paying big bucks, but was not your dream job, would you walk for a 50% pay cut to move to the dream? In the workplace, do you care more about what the company is making, or the people you are surrounded with? Relationships make a great workplace, not a product. Oh,, and money helps a whole bunch too.