Finders Keepers

Anyone know of a decent shop in and around Seneca Lake/Geneva/Waterloo area? We're in need of another weigh-in station around that area for the NYS Winter Classic Tournament this winter season. We were hoping for Roy's Marina, but they will be gone the entire month of January... Thanks! Tim.

Ok, thank you!

We now have 27 weigh-in stations across the state covering all major waterways for the NYS Winter Classic. Get registered before December 1st to get in on over $500 in early bird drawings!! Visit www.NYSwinterclassic.com to register!

Both the IPA and Winter Classic events are in full preparations mode! We now have online registration for the Winter Classic OPEN and the IPA will soon. This year's banner line-up of sponsors has once again made these tournaments the most sponsored events in the state. Check out all the latest with both tournaments at: www.NYSwinterclassic.com www.NYSiceproam.com

We now have the Winter Classic set-up with online registration! Any river guides, ice angling guides, or winter charter captains, here is a great way to get your clients into a winter season tournament! We have one-day passes available for the anglers coming for a weekend or single day charter (only $10/angler), as well as the full tournament pass ($25/angler). There is no cap to the prize structure for this tournament, so the more anglers that get into it, the higher the payouts become and the larger the prizes we will be able to offer. Check out all the details on the new website at: www.NYSwinterclassic.com Enter today and help us create a tournament that will rival the largest in the country and bring attention to our amazing fishery here in NYS. It's time anglers headed east to fish big money tournaments during the winter season!!

Nice design and thank you for the feedback! Yeah, we are familiar with the process working with Gemini. So far I am very impressed as they are sending us samples of all their materials this weekend for us to check out.

We're looking at possibly using Rayjus for next year's jerseys - anyone have any experience with this company? How are their jerseys quality wise, good graphics, etc.? Thanks!

Wish it was here on Ontario! We'd be applying for sure!! What events are included and are all the dates for them set?

Thanks for the support fellas...Let's just hope you don't catch that monster eye or crappie or any of the other species that would put you in the running for $1,000's, a free fish mount, and who knows what else we'll be giving away at that time...

Foolish I think is a better word. And yes, it is not for everyone...

The site is up to date. Getting 200 people won't be an issue - we haven't even started our advertising campaign yet. Considering our target angler base is over 300,000 with ice, open water, rivers, etc included, there will likely be thousands of anglers registered by December. Anyone fishing this winter in NYS would be foolish not to get in this IMO! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

With the huge potential this tournament has and the increasing interest in the Ice Pro-Am events, we have received a huge response from sponsors this year! Can't wait to see what the final prize structure will look like!! Registration for all tournaments is now open and can be found at www.NYSiceproam.com.

I agree. Put ideas "out on the table" as we say, to ponder, think about, discuss, massage, and put to action the ideas that the most sense. Having a dinner option (salmon fish fry) is always a great incentive - one less thing to worry about after a long day of tournament fishing. As for the larger sponsors, whoever does the negotiating with the companies needs to do several things to keep everything on the up and up: lay down what the tournament expects (like allowing the teams to wear their tournamernt jerseys sporting the team's supporting companies' logos), put together a great pitch that includes the maximum exposure (which requires a lot of legwork to get the advertising campaign set and a solid sponsor packet created (ours is 14 pages long) before going to the sponsors), and follow up with the sponsors with great pictures/videos taken during the event that they can then use for their advertising. (just to name a few). We work with both big box stores as well as some of the largest fishing companies in the ice fishing industry and we don't have any restrictions because we set it up that way.

As noted, there are many factors at play when it comes to tournaments. The "draw" as we have found putting together the Ice Pro-Am's, is a guaranteed payout. The bigger that draw is, the more participation. The problem is getting that initial "carrot". Can the directors and those responsiible for putting on the tournaments put the time and effort into securring large cash sponsors? As a tournament director I can attest that it isn't easy to pull cash out from sponsors, let alone a large sum!! In the end it comes down to exposure and getting the sponsoring companies their bang for their buck. The trick is piecing it all together into an amazing event - no small task and very time consuming!! I'm sure we all want the mega tournaments that we see in the saltwater realm and BASS circuit with $100,000 payouts, but who's willing to put the time and effort in to get us there?? The WHI and Atommik Inv. are getting there - the others have a ways to go. Those of you who fished the Fair Haven Challenge saw what we can bring to the tournaments (and we are relatively new to the scene). It would be great if more "players" stepped up to the challenge, offered their help in securring larger sponsors, and making our events bigger and better then they ever have been...But it's gonna take work and unity amungst everyone...

An interesting point to ponder was brought to our attention this summer by a friend who used to fish the Lake O tourney circuit but no longer does due to this and other personal factors: Why are the observer swaps for the larger tournies (invitationals and pro-ams in particular) done prior to the captains meetings and not LIVE at the captains meetings? They are supposed to be "random" but over and over again the same boats are paired up. I know there was a discussion a while back about why smaller boats were paired with smaller boats and larger with larger and to some degree I can see the reasoning (although weak and if asked, I don't think there is a single observer from our boat that has had a negative experience), but this does bring doubt into the integrity of the tournament if the same boats are always paired up. If we were often paired up with Apple Boy (for example), it would be possible for us to introduce foul play while adherring to the tourney rules. Not that we would, but the point is it allows for foul play - and there shouldn't be any room for foul play. Keeping the boat size (if it's that important) and female observers in mind, why not have all the boats with female observers put into a hat and drawn first, then boats 24' and under put in a hat and drawn, then 24'-29' put in a hat and drawn, and finally 30' and up drawn (or other groupings) all live at the captains meeting? If there are two sides to the port, then split those groups into east and west sides for the draw. This would be random, and eliminate any questions of foul play. Now, we have not run a tourney with observers, so there may be logistics we (and the general population of anglers) don't know about that may require the swaps to be done ahead of time. If that is the case, then it would be great for the integrity of the tourneys (and piece of mind for those in doubt) to know those reasons for not doing a live draw. Just an interesting point to ponder and hear back from the tourney directors on...

I agree, yellow NBK's (Stingray size for us), mixed veggies UV mags, and meat rigs. Meat has produced the larger kings for us the last couple trips out of Sodus.

We have made the decision to make the Chaumont Bay/Black Lake IPA Event a 1-Day shootout to avoid all complications. Exact timing of the event is still being worked out, but it will occur on Jan. 31st only. All Weigh-in stations for the Winter Classic now have registration forms along with the rules/regs. Get in before Sept. 1st for your chance at the first round of giveaways!!

You may need to fill out a 1099 for us in the event your total winnings in all of our events total $600 or more, but unless the total value is over $600 it will not be sent in. I see us having well over 500 anglers in this event and the prize monies being fairly substantial - we're targeting over 350,000 anglers, even 1% would be substantial! Not to mention we will likely have product to supplement the prize checks and if you place 1st, you will have a 1 in 7 shot at a $1,000 bonus that we will be doing a blind drawing for from the seven 1st place finishers. Either way, it should be well worth it for the 1st through 3rd place finishers to be there. If for some reason (like you mentioned) it isn't worthwhile for an angler to attend, we will likely adjust that requirement.