Could I Get Sponsored?

[J Francho]

Just pick a program you'll finish.

[Logan S]

You want a 'pro-staff' title, patches for your jersey, and a small time discount?  I'm sure if you write a few letters and present yourself professionally you can achieve that.  I can't see how that is going to help you 'make it' in any meaningful way, but that's just me.  If you want them for the 'coolness' factor that's OK too...Fishing is about enjoyment so if that's part of it for you, go for it.  Nothing wrong with that. 

 

You want to be a semi-pro or pro angler?  Worry about fishing.  Win a club/local/regional AOY title, those show more than individual wins.  Fish different types of water.  Tidal water, non-tidal rivers, reservoirs, natural lakes, power-generating lakes, etc.  Go look at the BASS Open or Rayovac schedules, those are littered with all different types of waterways...And that is the road you need to take to 'make it'.  Throw all the different seasons and weather/water conditions into that mix too.  

 

The other side of the coin is that pro-fishing, unfortunately, is very much a pay-to-play sport.  Boats/trucks/tackle/gas/lodging/entry fees/etc all add up.  Nobody is going to foot any those expenses for you until you've proven yourself (Nationally, not locally) and even then, VERY few get even half of that stuff paid for...Which means you're own your own for quite a while.  Unless you are fortunate enough to be born into money, you'll need a job that can support all that stuff while your starting out.  

 

For the OP, don't take offense to criticism...Most of what I've seen here is constructive.  Personally, I have dreams of fishing at a higher level some day too...I've had them since I was 15.  I chose to take the hard-work to afford the boat/truck/tackle and work my up route.  Bought a boat at 15 and have been fishing tournaments all over the east coast as a boater since 16 (on average, 13 per year).  It's a long term plan, you're never really too old to be a 'rookie' in this game. At 29 now, I feel that I am an extremely good angler, won many tournaments and multiple AOY titles, but I still don't think I'm quite good or consistent enough for the top ranks.   

 

Never had, nor cared to get a 'pro-staff' position...I've worked hard and can afford what what I need for the most part, small time discounts don't mean much to me in the grand  scheme of things.  I'm still focused on gaining experience.  There is no substitute for experience and it's the number one commodity in bass fishing. 

 

Take it or leave it, just advice from one guy who shares a similar goal (I think).  

[SirSnookalot]

If I had a child in college the last thing I'd want is for him/her to focus on fishing, college IMO is for an education.  What ever degree or career is chosen, you get out of it what you put into it.  Not everyone is college material or has aspirations of attending, the same rules apply to life, it's up to the individual.

[flyfisher]

Marketing is great degree to have, especially with the boom of online marketing.  I would also venture a guess that many don't even know what marketing entails as there are many facets of the business.

 

Another potential avenue of study that is applicable to pretty much every single business is that of process engineering aka Six Sigma.  It can be used in industries from banks to factories and everything in between which gives you tons of options for a job later on down the road.

[RanndomUndead]

Here's some more advice. As far as looking into a college that has a fishing team, personally, I think that's silly. College is a huge step as far as financial & time considerations, pick a college based on what will carry you through life , not fishing. If the college has a fishing team , great, but it would be the last criteria on my list as far as choosing a school.

 

 

 

College is already a debt scam as it is. I can only imagine how much debt youd amass doing full time college and fishing....Agree, school be a no-go

[etommy28]

If I had a child in college the last thing I'd want is for him/her to focus on fishing, college IMO is for an education.  What ever degree or career is chosen, you get out of it what you put into it.  Not everyone is college material or has aspirations of attending, the same rules apply to life, it's up to the individual.

So you would what prefer that your child do what other students do every night, go out drink do drugs..... so on. I was extremely focused on fishing in college, traveling a lot fishing a lot. I can assure you fishing and fishing only kept me from doing a lot of dumb stuff i otherwise would have and made me do all my work so my grades were good enough to be able to tournament fish. 

[ClearCreek]

If I'm going to market myself I think having a marketing background would be useful but so would Marine Biology honestly.

 

Marine Biology would not do you any good if you were hoping to be freshwater bass fisherman.  Try some Fish Management, Ichthyology, and Limnology courses while in college if you are interested in freshwater angling.

 

ClearCreek

[gulfcaptain]

College is already a debt scam as it is. I can only imagine how much debt youd amass doing full time college and fishing....Agree, school be a no-go

Yep it is expensive.  But now they offer scholarships for fishing teams at certain schools.  You fish for your school as a team, do the right things to get some local businesses to help with expenses by sponoring and donating to the team then makes it a bit more manageable.  

 

Marine Biology would not do you any good if you were hoping to be freshwater bass fisherman.  Try some Fish Management, Ichthyology, and Limnology courses while in college if you are interested in freshwater angling.

 

ClearCreek

Sorry correction, freshwater biology.  But say if you wanted to work for any of the state fisheries that have saltwater fishing as well then it wouldn't hurt to have some marine biology background as well. Gotta think back up plan incase the Pro Angler pipe dream didn't pan out.

[SirSnookalot]

So you would what prefer that your child do what other students do every night, go out drink do drugs..... so on. I was extremely focused on fishing in college, traveling a lot fishing a lot. I can assure you fishing and fishing only kept me from doing a lot of dumb stuff i otherwise would have and made me do all my work so my grades were good enough to be able to tournament fish. 

Pretty narrow minded opinion of non fishing students, they don't all walk around mindless and buzzed all the time. Kids are kids and will experiment, a college fisherman never took a drink or did drugs?  Dumb people do dumb things. In today's world job competition is fierce, just getting by with grades good enough isn't good enough.  You need the best college resume to get the best jobs.

 

Not a thing wrong with being a pro fisherman, I don't see that much need for college in the first place.  Fishing for a living is like any other business, start at the bottom and try and work your way up.  Just about all businesses require an investment (usually means some debt) and the need to generate revenue starts from day 1, few people start at the top.  I did not persue my college career, if making 6 figures from 1975 on was good I guess I did ok.   That ok put me on the bottom rung of the ladder of many of my contemporaries.  There isn't a day that goes by that I think my "good enough" was the best I could have done.  I wish I would have taken my schooling more serious.  It's more that income, it's about being the best you can be, I fell short.

[etommy28]

Pretty narrow minded opinion of non fishing students, they don't all walk around mindless and buzzed all the time. Kids are kids and will experiment, a college fisherman never took a drink or did drugs?  Dumb people do dumb things. In today's world job competition is fierce, just getting by with grades good enough isn't good enough.  You need the best college resume to get the best jobs.

 

Not a thing wrong with being a pro fisherman, I don't see that much need for college in the first place.  Fishing for a living is like any other business, start at the bottom and try and work your way up.  Just about all businesses require an investment (usually means some debt) and the need to generate revenue starts from day 1, few people start at the top.  I did not persue my college career, if making 6 figures from 1975 on was good I guess I did ok.   That ok put me on the bottom rung of the ladder of many of my contemporaries.  There isn't a day that goes by that I think my "good enough" was the best I could have done.  I wish I would have taken my schooling more serious.  It's more that income, it's about being the best you can be, I fell short.

I think you missed my point, i did a lot of dumb stuff in college, but at the end of the day what drove me to make sure i had everything done that i had to have done was the ability to go fish. If i did not have that motivating me i would have never gotten through college much less graduate school. 

[flyfisher]

College is already a debt scam as it is. I can only imagine how much debt youd amass doing full time college and fishing....Agree, school be a no-go

Not sure it is a debt scam when on average those with a college degree amass about 1M more in salary over the course of their career.  I would say even at a 75k investment that a 14x return on your money is a pretty good deal.

[SirSnookalot]

I think you missed my point, i did a lot of dumb stuff in college, but at the end of the day what drove me to make sure i had everything done that i had to have done was the ability to go fish. If i did not have that motivating me i would have never gotten through college much less graduate school. 

You may want to read what you wrote.  You said fishing kept you from doing a lot of dumb stuff, now you say you did do a lot of dumb stuff.  You said grades were good enough which may gave the impression of just getting by, now you say you went thru graduate school.

 

I don't believe I missed anything based on what was originally posted.  There seemed to be a blanket condemnation of non fishing students, like many aren't as motivated as you were.  I had children in college that were very motivated, did they do dumb things, of course they were kids. 

[J Francho]

I don't think debating the semantics of what was posted is gonna help this kid get sponsored.

[RanndomUndead]

Not sure it is a debt scam when on average those with a college degree amass about 1M more in salary over the course of their career.  I would say even at a 75k investment that a 14x return on your money is a pretty good deal.

I could say the same thing about taking life savings to Vegas.

[J Francho]

Pretty sure Vegas isn't handing out student loans and financial aid, lol.

[flyfisher]

I could say the same thing about taking life savings to Vegas.

sure you could say that or anything else you wanted to but that doesn't mean it is the same thing.  If you can take the averages of all the people who visit vegas and it turns out that the customer makes 1M over the course of their life then you are right.  I would say that the casinos aren't in the business of losing, and as can be seen by the opulence present on the strip, they aren't.

 

Maybe a college business or statistics class would help lol

[buzzed bait]

Pretty sure Vegas isn't handing out student loans and financial aid, lol.

 

but are they handing out sponsorships?????

[SirSnookalot]

If an education can earn a million or more over a working career, there isn't an investment that will earn 14% each year for 30 years.  IMO an education is the best investment.

The average person may make a score now and then in Vegas, over time most of it will be given back.

[gardnerjigman]

Not sure how this thread turned into a debate over education, but I'll give my 2 cents. 

 

Education is simply what you make of it, just like everything else in life. If you put your heart and soul into it (or anything for that matter) you will be successful. Do you have to have a college education to be successful in life??? Depends on your definition of successful. I don't have a college degree (I do have a technical cert, but I don't use it) but have busted my buns in the same industry for 7 years now. Worked while my wife went to school to get her degree. Now 7 years later, she has been in the work force for 2 years and is smoking my salary like there is no tomorrow. 

 

Do I regret not having a college degree? Not at all. I make a good living and if something happened to my wife's career tomorrow, I could support her and our 2 children. 

 

Would it have been easier with a college degree? Hands down yes. But I have a great sense of accomplishment for getting where I am today. 

 

You live and you learn. College may be for you, and it may not be. If it's not, then understand you are going to have to work harder, longer and better than the guys to your left and right, because chances are, they do have a degree. If you can deal with that, and go into everything you do like that, you will be fine. 

 

Good luck.

[Matthew2000]

So, by popular vote I believe we don't think you could get sponsored. Here is my reasoning.

- The way you presented the idea of "soliciting" sponsors, you made it seem like you were entitled to them.

- You have provide no real proof of you're tournament "domination" in the BFL's and such. You could be another guy who claims to do great in all these tournament online but has no written proof.

- You had a little bit of an attitude about our opinions, if you want to get sponsored you have to be able to take some hate and backup what you are saying or presenting. You can't just say thanks for ruining my fanbase on this product.

- If you really did so well in tournys why don't you have sponsors already. You didn't even list some connections that you had.

I don't want to discourage you, but it's construsitve critisism. It might help you in the long run.

Have a good day!

[Jar11591]

I think everybody is confused about what the word "free" means. Sponsors don't give out free stuff to ANYBODY. Sponsorships are

give-and-take. If you promote a company, and in return you receive product from the company you are promoting, then what is free about that? You paid with your time and effort, just like any job in the world. Let's say for the sake of this argument that my boss pays me in apples, not cash. So after a long day of work my boss pays me my apples. Now, since I didn't personally go buy those apples, were they free? No! I worked for those apples. I paid for them with my time and effort. Sponsorship is no different. Saying this kid wants sponsorships just for free stuff is the same as saying you only go to your job for the free cash. Now how many of you would work your jobs if you didn't get paid?

[slonezp]

I think everybody is confused about what the word "free" means. Sponsors don't give out free stuff to ANYBODY. Sponsorships are

give-and-take. If you promote a company, and in return you receive product from the company you are promoting, then what is free about that? You paid with your time and effort, just like any job in the world. Let's say for the sake of this argument that my boss pays me in apples, not cash. So after a long day of work my boss pays me my apples. Now, since I didn't personally go buy those apples, were they free? No! I worked for those apples. I paid for them with my time and effort. Sponsorship is no different. Saying this kid wants sponsorships just for free stuff is the same as saying you only go to your job for the free cash. Now how many of you would work your jobs if you didn't get paid?

In his original post, he is asking for "help on baits and stuff"  If he was KVD he could more than likely go to any bait company and dictate his salary just as an accomplished(fill in the blank) can negotiate a salary on a job interview. He is no KVD and, without a proven track record, is not in the position to be dictating his wants. Just as an entry level employee needs to prove himself before getting a raise. Whether his intentions were to get free stuff or to be the best d**n sponsee he can be has yet to be determined. The way the original post reads makes him look like he is asking for free stuff.

[gardnerjigman]

I love this section of the forum! The real SHARK TANK!

[bradc36]

I'll sponsor you. I'll give you a $100 TW gift card to be used for whichever baits you want, if you wear a sublimated fishing jersey in all of your tournaments with my face on it.

 

 

.....all kidding aside. I have experience dealing with sponsorships in the hunting industry, and the best advice I can give is to be different than the thousands of other people who are fighting for the same thing. Use social media, YouTube, Vimeo, get involved with the community, working with the next generation and teaching the sport, etc..... 

[gulfcaptain]

Not sure how this thread turned into a debate over education, but I'll give my 2 cents. 

 

 

Think it started with mine about going to college and getting on a fishing team if his goal was to pursue a career in pro-fishing and something about I'd get a marketing degree to market myself.  Then it just went all down hill.  I'm still looking for the answers to Francho's question.