Paul Czarnecki

WOW...you guys are unbelievable! You **** about the meager payouts so we make changes to make the payouts bigger. Bigger payouts can ONLY come from more publicity and BIG sponsors. Our own TV show will attract those bigger sponsors resulting in bigger payouts resulting in more people bringing more money into the communities but yet you guys **** about that too. Has it occurred to ANY of you that the tournament is still run almost entirely by volunteers who have other jobs to do? When we posted results quickly without checking and cross checking the numbers you guys ****ed that no one knew what they were doing and the numbers were all wrong. If an error was made in the Challenge Cup points we were deluged with irate phone calls. Has it occurred to ANY of you that the tournament is still run almost entirely by volunteers who have other jobs to do? We are taking the time the make sure ALL of the numbers are right so you guys have nothing to **** about. But, then again, I'm confident you'll find something to complain about. The Series has enlisted the help of our very own Chad Lapa (Blueye) to assist with web updates. Now that you all know that you can bash Chad on his own website! UNBELIEVABLE!

Skipper....that's an Atlantic beyond any shadow of a doubt! And a nice one at that! Congrats.

LOL....those guys were on my boat last year. OMG they're huge!

Ray, check with Michelle at Captain's Cove. She has a list of observers.

Mark, the results were pulled so the files could be redone with the team names that some teams had wanted. You'll remember the giant scuffle that ensued on here a few weeks ago about team names. The team names (Screamer/Atomik, Striker, Atomik Meatheads, etc.) that were not allowed on the scoreboard or the televised portion of the awards ceremony because it was "boat name only" are being put on the web site results list as promised. It should be back up with the revised team names shortly.

You don't "harass" me Matt. I ignore you like everyone else.

Jeremy is the president of the fishing club? Matt, I realize you just renewed your membership but Jer isn't the President or even on the Board anymore. He is, however, a great walleye fisherman! With success like you just had this weekend I hope you're fishing the Niagara ProAm. Looks like you guys will be a shoo-in!

What were you saying about being "Polish" Ray????

Sean is talking about fishing the Orleans ProAm Ray. The Captain's/Observers meeting is under the bridge in the Orleans County Marine Park on Friday May 11th. Sign in starts at 5 PM with the meeting starting promptly at 6 PM. The Captain's meeting for NIAGARA is at the Sunset Grille on Friday June 4th with the same sign in/meeting times.

It happens to everyone Ray.... . When my friends get kinks or frays in their copper (it never happens to me ) they simply cut it and do two haywire twists over each other. Does that make sense? If not, try making a small loop with a haywire twist. Thread the other piece through the loop and then do another haywire twist going back the other way. Its MUCH easier to do than to explain.

Thanks for getting this thread up Vince. To add to what Vince already said you can also register for the Open Division up until Thursday the 10th by paying CASH ONLY at Narby's, Captain's Cove, 4 C's or Lake Breeze Marina. Registrations for the Friday Condor Memorial event will also be taken at these locations up until 7 AM on Friday. Again, CASH ONLY. See ya there! Paul

WRONG! That year the Ams were paid exactly what they should have been. The taking of am money and giving it to the pros was a bad, delusional rumor started by a disgruntled volunteer. Who, by the way, is no longer involved in the event. I hope you'll fish the Orleans this year. The entry deadline is Sunday. You might be very pleasantly surprised. [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Tom, its not "hogwash"---it is the opinion of the Directors of the Series and and an explanation for their reasoning and it should be regarded as such. To say their opinion is "hogwash" but yours is important enough to be heard on a World Wide Forum kinda puts you in the class of "opinionated, egotistical trouble maker", doesn't it? For three pages you and everyone else has been clamoring for an official explanation. Dave took the time to write a very lengthy and detailed explanation, I posted it for him and all you can say is "hogwash"? You and I are still friends but that was the most classless thing you've said in a LONG time! Thanks to Pete, Rod, Billy and everyone else that wrote intelligent posts expressing their opinions.

ProAm Director Dave Turner has asked me to post the following Official Statement in response to what is now 3 pages of assumptions, innuendo, heresay and political sabre rattling. Please read it in its entirety and try to understand everything that is written before continuing with the rants. Thanks, Gentlemen: I try not to engage in online debates because as many of you know, these things can go on forever and are usually not a productive use time. However, it was brought to my attention that Tom Allen had decided to use this forum to announce that he was no longer going to sponsor the Lake Ontario Pro-Am Tournament Series. Once I had the opportunity to read the posts, which included several requests for the reasons why, I thought that it was important for you to better understand what actually transpired. The Pro-Am tournaments have been around for over 25 years and have grown from one event in Niagara County to the now four unified events that stretch across the entire southern and some of the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. This growth has provided new competitive opportunities for you and enhanced the tourism activity for our host communities. The tournaments, and the respective promotion that goes with them, have also helped to promote the Lake Ontario sport fishery to the world. Which, from the perspective of anyone who makes their living in the sports fishing industry, is one of the most significant benefits of growing the tournament series to the point that it has now become, and we hope will continue to be, a televised event. Last year, hundreds of thousands of viewers, mostly anglers, were exposed to the Lake Ontario fishery, the Pro-Am series and our various sponsors through our partnership with the television series Angling The Great Lakes. We also recently added a tournament magazine as another method to promote our events and the sponsors who support them. This year we are close to securing the support we need to film all four events for national airing later this year and/or early next year. As the only tournament series on Lake Ontario that pays back 100% of all entry fees it is important for us to continue to seek new and enhanced sponsor support if we want the tournament series to grow. At the end of the day we want more visitors in our communities and more teams in our events. More visitors means more support for and hopefully from our local businesses and sponsors and more teams means bigger payouts for you our customers. Successful growth also potentially raises sponsor commitments again resulting in bigger payouts for you. The Pro-Am events have enjoyed sponsor support from A-Tom-Mik Manufacturing, Shakespeare, Lowrance, Gander Mountain, Health Imaging and countless others. Many are still with us and some have left due to corporate buy-outs, mergers, the recent recession and other reasons. Even so, we continue to work to grow and improve the events for you and for our sponsors and will, we hope, for many years. With respect to our sponsors, we are in effect, selling them a product and like any business we need to be consistent in what we offer and how we treat our buyers. And, like most businesses, larger buyers receive enhanced benefits. In our case, that means more promotional opportunities. Sponsor support for the tournament series is entirely different from sponsor support of individual teams or charter businesses. The fact that someone pro-staffs for a manufacturer is unrelated to our events and does not guarantee them the right to use the tournament series to promote that product or company. As a protective measure for our sponsors it became apparent to us that we needed to have certain controls over where and when sponsors names appeared so that every sponsor who was putting money directly into the tournament series was treated fairly. One of these measures was to limit the places where sponsor names appeared. As your level of support for the tournaments grows so do the opportunities for recognition. This is no different than any other well managed sponsor based sporting activity. Very recently we had a gentleman’s agreement (nothing signed) with Tom Allen where he had agreed to continue his support for the tournament series and in fact increase it from past levels. We were excited to have him back and in fact gave him an extra spot in the tournament magazine based on his commitment. Tom later became upset that he would not be allowed to have his company name after every team that he also supports independently of the pro-am series. Our response was that this only applied to the official scoreboards and score sheets and that we would and he could use their full names in press related materials, including those on our website. Tom’s new commitment also guaranteed his company enhanced coverage during our filming project this year and the opportunity to have cameras on board one or more of the boats that pro-staff for him. A benefit to both his company and that captain’s charter business. The limitations that we have placed on names serves several purposes. First, as we have mentioned, it protects our sponsors by preventing someone who is not a tournament sponsor from getting recognition during our events. Second, it makes it clearer to our pier spotters which boats are actually in our event as they rush to be in the harbor on time. And third, it helps to diminish the perception that there are organized teams made up of several boats all working together to ensure their success in the events. This has been brought to our attention by several independent teams that aren’t based on Lake Ontario but who enjoy coming here for our events and have started to feel that they don’t really have a competitive chance against these groups. In the end, the small group of lakewide volunteers that works to put these events together is only trying to make the tournament series bigger and better for all involved. In order to do that successfully and fairly we need to have structure and rules. Not everyone will always agree with the rules but every successful business has established processes, protocols and procedures that are put in place to ensure the continued success of that business. Most businesses have an end goal of generating a profit, ours is simply to manage and grow the Lake Ontario Pro-Am Tournament Series to a point that it becomes known as the premier fresh-water competitive event. Our hope is that this makes the events more enjoyable for you as competitors and more lucrative for you as winners. Thank you for your continued support.

Read the Tweets Tony. West of Wilson was HOT this morning.

That's actually a sea lion not a polar bear. Look at the ears. Still a way cool video and I"ll bet BOTH guys had to change their pants afterwards.

HUH? That's not what I'm seeing. You can keep it trailered all weekend if you want but I'm fishin! .FRIDAY...SOUTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS BECOMING SOUTH. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. WAVES AVERAGING ONE FOOT. .SATURDAY...SOUTH WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS BECOMING SOUTHWEST. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES AVERAGING ONE FOOT. .SUNDAY...SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 15 KNOTS. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES AVERAGING ONE FOOT.

The site isn't up yet guys. Just like LOU tweets there are a LOT of things that have to be tested and run through before it can be launched. The Online Store is the last thing that needs tested and tweaked---its almost done. Please be patient---it'll be worth it!

Thanks Ray! I will talk to Dave about getting you some packets as soon as they are ready and the website is up. Its pointless to talk to someone about sponsorship when you don't even have a website to direct them to. Thanks for "getting it"!

Yep....no more wind blown, drowned cat looks for the P-Man with that machine! Awesome looking boat!

He did that in the 30' Penn Yan Bill. The only thing is now when he does it in the 35' Viking he won't get off the bridge looking like a wet cat that just got launched by an aircraft carrier catapault.

Why would you "get into a pissin' match" with me, Howie? What did I do? You've been in contact with Bill H. and Bob C.. Bill is the Director and Bob is the Chairman. You've told them where/how you can help. When they need your help I'm sure they will contact you. If they don't.....well....at least you volunteered which is more than most can say. Still not sure why you would get into a pissin match with me? Scratchin' my head over that one Buddy.?

Just for that, Mr. Funny Pants, I'm gonna follow you around more this year than EVER. Expect to see that BIG, FAT decal covered 33' hunk of super slow fiberglass everywhere you try to hide. I might even fish browns this year.

Just sure what you mean by that Howie but, if you volunteered to help with the Niagara tournament you can expect to hear from Bill in the near future. We will be needing a bunch of volunteers --especially those not fishing the event--to help with LOTS of things. So Howie.......be careful what you wish for.

Here ya go Vince! I'll make ya a deal......you teach me how to fish and I'll teach you how to post pics on here.