Interesting article on walleye tournaments

Thought this article was interesting look at walleye tournaments

http://outerboundarymagazin.wix.com/outer-boundary#!competitive-fishing/cxt8

This guy is mad at the world! This is what I got out of it…..”This maneuver created a problem for others though, it devalued the current outdoor writer’s work and compensation for articles plummeted.” He must have lost some business along the way. Good Grief!

A very good read. Thank you! It’s just a small part of the culure we live in today that is solely driven by money!

I understand his [censored], but it is no different than bass fishing. The local walleye tournament or grass roots as he calls it, are there, but walleye fishing isn’t at the same scale as bass fishing. Walleye fishing is historically a flesh fishery and that remains true today. I’ve run charity tournaments here locally in a CPR format, and I still can’t get guys to do it. And they were fishing right next to me, asking about the tournament on the water.

When the FLW was here in the Quad Cities this fall, it was interesting to see who complained about the conditions and who adjusted and rose to the top. The money guys vs the talent guys on the circuits becomes apparent quickly and locally we call that the dead money. That is what increases payouts and helps keep my hobby cash positive. I would love to have a $60,000 boat and $25,000 in gear, but I chose to invest my resources elsewhere (wife and 2 kids). When starting out, a lot of the bass guys sleep in their trucks, campers, and scrape it together each and every week just to compete. If you want something bad enough, it takes sacrifice and belief in your own talents. AND EVERYONE FAILS IN THEIR LIFE at times, so if you want it, work for it.

Just my 2 cents.

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I understand his [censored], but it is no different than bass fishing. The local walleye tournament or grass roots as he calls it, are there, but walleye fishing isn’t at the same scale as bass fishing. Walleye fishing is historically a flesh fishery and that remains true today. I’ve run charity tournaments here locally in a CPR format, and I still can’t get guys to do it. And they were fishing right next to me, asking about the tournament on the water.

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There are many smaller tournament circuits, but they aren’t feeder systems for the big tournaments. I don’t keep up on all Bass fishing, but I believe that winning a tournament such as the college bass fishing championship qualifies an angler to fish at the next level or maybe gets them a paid entry. Except for qualifying to fish the NTC, there isn’t anything like it in walleye fishing. One of the perks of winning the FLW league championship was qualifying to fish the FLW tour championship. One could argue that the league was a true feeder system where an angler could start at the lowest level and could make it to the top in one year simply by their accomplishments. That is pretty much the path that Bill Shimota took to get to the top.

Great arcticle and a good perspective from someone who obviously knows a lot about the sport. I agree that the sport cannot reach an elite status as long as people can get into the top events just by paying their entry fee. There has to be a qualifying process.

I have read every issue of this magazine since it came out a couple years ago and I find this unique brand of honesty in outdoor journalism refreshing.

This is a magazine that called Cabela’s and Pradco onto the carpet for basically stealing the Reef Runner design from the family business that invented it. Without this type of brave and honest journalism your chances of ever having a good idea come to profitability and securing your family’s financial future with it is slim to none because a big company can steal it without worry of being held accountable. There was also an article about how Northland tackle stole the hard work of another Minnesota family business.

The articles show and list numerous legal documents to support its claims and since the publisher has never been sued one can reasonably assume that the articles were accurate and Northland, Cabela’s, and Pradco did in fact try to rip off the American family business for their own personal gain. All I can say to that is “SHAME ON THEM”!

I say kudo’s and props to Outer Boundary Magazine for having the stones to print the truth at the risk of doing battle with an almost 3 billion dollars in annual sales giant like Cabela’s.

They should have said that Walleye tournaments are to small of a market and a small audiance in a couple midwest states and sponsors arent going to spend much money on that. Bass on the other hand not only covers most of the US its worldwide. What would you invest your advertiseing money in? You could get a bigger audiance for Catfish tournaments.

Hey now…

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I understand his [censored], but it is no different than bass fishing. The local walleye tournament or grass roots as he calls it, are there, but walleye fishing isn’t at the same scale as bass fishing. Walleye fishing is historically a flesh fishery and that remains true today. I’ve run charity tournaments here locally in a CPR format, and I still can’t get guys to do it. And they were fishing right next to me, asking about the tournament on the water.

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There are many smaller tournament circuits, but they aren’t feeder systems for the big tournaments. I don’t keep up on all Bass fishing, but I believe that winning a tournament such as the college bass fishing championship qualifies an angler to fish at the next level or maybe gets them a paid entry. Except for qualifying to fish the NTC, there isn’t anything like it in walleye fishing. One of the perks of winning the FLW league championship was qualifying to fish the FLW tour championship. One could argue that the league was a true feeder system where an angler could start at the lowest level and could make it to the top in one year simply by their accomplishments. That is pretty much the path that Bill Shimota took to get to the top.

Great arcticle and a good perspective from someone who obviously knows a lot about the sport. I agree that the sport cannot reach an elite status as long as people can get into the top events just by paying their entry fee. There has to be a qualifying process.

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the new mwc format is set-up like this now. Team of the year gets free entries into nwt events and a boat to use for a year