Finders Keepers

We use Arctic Spurs and love them. However, the Kahtoolas look very nice too.

We're hitting all the central and eastern NY weigh-in stations this weekend with NYS certified scales and tourney materials. After Sunday they will all have registration forms so anglers can register in-store, as well as online or mail-in. They will also be displaying a sign or banner advertising that they are an official weigh-in station. Also, anyone who registers in-store at any of the shops will be supporting that shop as we will be giving them a kick-back for every registration they collect! So support your local shops by stopping in and registering for NY's largest winter tournament event this winter!!

We now have 29 stations across the state (see map on website), with all of the eastern stations now completely set-up and taking registrations. This coming weekend we will be outfitting the rest of the state's weigh-ins. Stop in to one of the weigh-in locations for all the details or go to the tournament website: www.NYSwinterclassic.com

Oh yes, I missed the "boat"!! Lol!! Thanks Rick! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Ok wasn't sure, just wanted to clarify in case he was. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Since this is an ice fishing tournament, those who are ice fishing guides or are sponsored by ice fishing related companies are the only ones (and those who have placed 1st in the Open Division in previous years) that are required to enter the Pro-Am Team Division. All others can enter the Open Division, including open water charter captains. Ice fishing requires a whole different set of skills from the open water.

Thanks for the responses! For the Winter Classic any waterway is fair game (ice or open water) - as we do know Seneca does not freeze (usually) and this also allows the tourney to go on even with a warm winter. We would prefer a tackle/bait shop since they would have vested interest in being a weigh-in station for us since it will bring more potential customers through their doors, and offer us more exposure to their customers that may not have heard about the event yet. The Geneva area is a centrally located area amungst the Finger Lakes, that's why we were looking there. We may just have to split it and acquire one in Canandaigua (Runnings perhaps) and another towards Auburn/Syracuse. But that may have to be pushed off to next year as our gear is now allocated to our current spread of stations plus one more towards NYC and another potentially in the Finger Lakes Region.

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.