CONFESSIONS OF A TOURNAMENT TRAIL PRESIDENT

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So you want to start a tournament trail? I did. Seems simple right??
At least that’s what I thought when a group of us got together and decided to start the Georgia Nitro Owners Tournament Trail. Heck yah I was all in!! This truly was a “hold my beer” moment if there ever was one. It’s important to note going into this that none of us had a clue as to what we were getting into; or what it takes to run a tournament, let alone a tournament trail.   How hard could it be? Heck, I mean all you have to do is pick a few lakes, a few dates, weigh a few fish and give out a little money.  Well let me tell you, just in case anyone reading this has a “hold my beer” moment of their own.  Please take notes and learn from my many, many mistakes.
Let’s start with the obvious which is picking lakes.  You can do it the democratic way as I did and try to give everyone a say in what lakes to fish.  Eventually, after a few weeks of going back and forth; and listening to why we should fish this lake and not that one, you will have the it narrowed it down to a manageable number.  You’re home free now right??  Just keep that word “free” in the back of your mind.  So now you got the lakes, now you need the dates, seems easy enough. You pick one Saturday a month and pick a lake, right?  Yah…umm no.  You see you are not the only person in town that has said; “hey let’s have a bass tournament.  I would venture to guess there are hundreds of clubs in Georgia alone, not to mention the pickup tournaments or charity tournaments that come through from time to time. All those tournaments need a place to fish and you can bet your sweet butt that at least one of them has the same lake and same landing in mind as you.  Now, this isn’t the end of the world, unless maybe you schedule your tournament the same day and location as say, maybe the Bassmaster Classic. I’m not going to lie..that’s going to suck for you.  So my advice would be to start early and call the appropriate person when picking a lake and ramp or Marina.

Okay cool.  You got the lakes, you got the dates, and you got the ramp.  So, remember that word “free” I asked you to keep in the back of your mind a minute ago?  Yah…you can toss it out the window…nothing in life is free.  So, let’s say for example you want to fish Lake Hartwell up in north Georgia.  You would think it’s as simple as showing up and fishing, but no.  You see that lake like several others is managed by the Army Corp of Engineers. If you are going to fish one of the lakes, they manage you are going to have to apply for a permit.  When you apply for the permit, there is an administration fee which runs between $75.00 and $125.00 depending on the park or ramp you want to use.  Oh, but wait there is more!!!! If you are going to fish an Army Corp of Engineers lake and apply for a permit you must first have liability insurance.  No, this is not the same as your boat insurance.  This is insurance in case one of your participating anglers decides to try to outrun a jets ski and actually does so but runs him over in the process.  While insurance varies from company to company if you are going to pay for the year, look to spend around $650.00. It was an expensive lesson learned but trust me if you are going to do something like this do it right.

Now that you have all the administrative stuff out of the way you can finally start your tournament trail, right?  Sure, you can.  I mean who needs sponsors, you can keep paying out of pocket for everything and just sleep in a van down by the river.  (I’ll be there soon). This is where it gets kind of tricky. When you contact a potential sponsor, if you are lucky enough to get one of them on the phone or to respond to an email, they are going to ask for numbers.  No not your phone number or your credit card number but pertinent numbers like; Tournament turn out for each tournament and traffic to your social media sites and website.  Oh, I forgot to mention, yes you will need a website to attract sponsors.  If you are tech savvy this won’t be a problem as there are plenty of sites out there that will allow you to build your own site.  However, if you are like me and you are doing good to work email you will need to find someone. I was fortunate to find someone like The National Outdoors to build my site for relatively cheap. (But you can add that to your expenses along with the monthly hosting or maintenance fee) The sponsor wants to know that you are being seen by as many people as possible before they invest whatever it is they are going to invest.  On the other hand, the anglers want big payouts that come with the big-name sponsors.  It would be nice if you could get the angler to understand that they need to show up in order to get the paydays they like but good luck.  (Of course, maybe you are the angler whisperer and can make that happen.). You will have a few that will show up on a consistent basis or as I like to call them, friends.  They believe in what you are trying to do and want to see you succeed so they will be there.  I know I have a few and I am thankful.  For the most part most of them will sit back and wait for you to either strike a deal that lands you the big sponsor and then fish, or just sit back and watch you sink. I can’t say that I blame them.  If I am being honest, I would rather fish for five thousand dollars than three hundred.  At the same time, I like the group of anglers I’ve had turn out up to this point. I can honestly say they are a good group of guys who I would probably hang out with outside of fishing.  In that respect no matter the outcome all is not lost.

So how do you get around the sponsorship dilemma?  Good question.  I have no clue.  All I can tell you is what I’ve done.  I’ll admit that I was naïve going into this.  I thought sponsors like Nitro, Bass Pro Shop, and some others would just line up to sponsor the trail. I mean, after all, we are promoting their product.  Well for reasons already mentioned that was a big fat “no”, again for reasons I’ve already mentioned. I am chalking up this year to a learning experience.  Knowing what the sponsors expect and knowing what I can realistically give them has made me change my approach.  This year to be a sponsor a company simply has to donate some product for us to raffle to help with operating expenses and the end of the year classic.  In return of course, we will list them on our webpage, put any decals or banners up during our weigh in, and of course talk about them on all our social media sites.  This will give us a season to cultivate what I hope to be a lasting relationship between sponsors and our trail.  I have been fortunate to have what I feel are really good sponsors. Backwoods Outdoors, The Basscast.com, T.G. Custom Rods, The National Outdoors, and motleyfishing.com.  I have used the good and/or services provided by each of these sponsors and I can honestly say they are good at what they do.  So, to them I say “thank you”.

I hope that as I continue to write about my experiences during the inaugural season of the Georgia Nitro Owners Tournament Trail, the story I tell is a success story.  Whether we have eight boats or 80 boats I can promise you this, I will remain committed to the trail, and the anglers and sponsors who support it.

Sincerely,
Ron Bradley
President, Georgia Nitro Owners Tournament Trail
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