Unfortunately, “NIH” (Not Invented Here) is rampart within the rod building community. The suspects are easily recognized as though who are the first to criticize or condemn but often the last to complement or concede. Whatever happened to common-courtesy, common-decency, common-sense??? I miss those days!!! While reverence and respect is certainly due to our rod building forefathers, stifling the efforts of the up-and-coming new-breed is absurdly and ignorantly counterproductive to our industry’s overall health. Allow and encourage qualified newbies to carry-on your legacy!!!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Mark,

Exactly. Which is why I freely offer to publish articles and information, on my dime, from anyone that wishes to submit such.

...........

El Bolinger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Whoever is running tackle warehouse already had a
> better idea than bass pro, there's a reason they
> get the nod by almost every single YouTuber and
> practically nobody mentions anything about bass
> pro ever. But thats not the point here.
>
> Mick, well said all around my friend, you've been
> here for quite some time and I hope you are heard
> well.
>
> Nobody here said you don't know what you're doing
> Tom, nobody said anything about you at all. I
> merely made an observation about the outdated
> technology here - nothing about 25 years or
> ideas.
>
> But with you making those comments I must ask, are
> you the only one in the industry with good ideas?
> Are you the only one who understands the market
> and the demographics? Are you the only one who has
> nothing left to learn?


Bass Pro Shops does more business in one day than Tackle Warehouse does in a year.

No I'm not the only one in the industry with good ideas, but I'm one of a few that has produced actual results from my ideas. This is why many in the industry consult with me on a host of things from product introductions to business dealings. Am I the only one that understands the market demographics? Sometimes I think so. Otherwise all those who have tried to duplicate things such as the Expo would have been able to do so. Again, the proof is in the pudding.

...........


........

El Bolinger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm pretty sure Mick is using the App, his problem
> will persist until there is an update for the app
> as it does not remain logged in.


You may be correct. I'm not involved with anything having to do with the App so I cannot advise on anything regarding it.

............

My comment on the necessity to sign in every time is only on my Android phone. I cannot find a setting to fix it. The phone in some ways is smarter than I.

@Mark, another well constructed comment by somebody who's been here a while - Much respect my friend, I hope you are heard.

@Tom Bass pro sells $40,000 boats and $30 boots, guns, ammo, hiking, hunting, camping, candy, home decor, toys and that is just a very short list of what they offer - if we're talking fishing Tackle Warehouse absolutely holds their own against Basspro (I'd love to see strictly tackle sales minus overhead etc for the two), like I said that is the reason nobody talks about bass pro unless their sponsored and on the circuit. Every fisherman I know orders from TW and a couple other online retailers in the game, I've never seen any YouTube channel recommend shopping at BassPro whether they have a hundred subscribers or 500,000. I go to Bass pro once every 1-2 years to play and almost never buy anything there, but their arcade hunting game is fun.

There will never be an actual competitor to Amazon or Google - they got in early, laid the foundation, and have a monopoly because its familiar. Certain things just can't get off the ground or truly compete on the same level in certain markets because people already use/buy/go to "x" so why use/buy/ go to a different one. I don't think most people going to the EXPO will also pay for another trip and spend the same amount of money again in the same year at the same capacity, its just impractical. Sometimes doing it first is enough, nothing wrong with that.

The demographics made the Googan Squad MILLIONS, and they weren't trying to make another EXPO, most people bet against them and hated on them, a lot of people in the industry doubted them and still got beef - largely because of the demographic they themselves were in. Youthful guys just having fun fishing, and it changed their lives forever and made a huge impact on the fishing world - for that demographic at least. Lots of people are making pudding now Tom :)

And just to be clear, if I were to construct a well written article containing worthwhile content and submit it you would publish it in the magazine?

@Mick, feel free to email me and I can try to help trouble shoot the log in stuff my man

Building rods in MA, Building the community around the world

You're basing your information on the YouTube audience, which represents about 10% (at best) of the total fishing public. Bass Pro spends more on hard copy catalogs than TackleWarehouse brings in from sales.

In terms of the Expo, all the similar large scale type events failed because of the promoters not understanding the demographics involved. Unless you do, you'll not choose the right location, at the right time of the year and market it through the correct channels. We know this to to be true because we've seen it happen about 10 times now. I'd love to see more "pudding" in the rod building craft but too many, all with good intentions, aren't seeing the big picture and most also tend to take the least expensive path, which is rarely the best path, at least if you want to have the sort of event that can draw 40+ vendors and a couple thousand and more custom rod builders.

I publish articles in every issue from a variety of rod builders. I've never turned anything down unless it was somehow patently dangerous, simply did not work, etc. Otherwise any technique, idea, method, etc., is welcome. Over 250 people have submitted articles for the magazine over these past 26 years. Nearly all of them were published, probably 99% of them in fact. If you have an idea or technique that you'd like to share, write it up and send it in. If you aren't comfortable taking your own high resolution photos, I can do that here from the instructions in your article. I never change content and allow the author to have a look over the layout prior to publication. Mark had an article published something like two years ago (time flies) so you can ask him how the process went.

..........

I live near a BPS...any day of the week its packed...people drive from near by states to go there.

I'm sure TW sells good quality products...
But having said that...there seems to be some security issues with them.
Maybe they fixed em by now...I cant say.
For more info just Google: tackle warehouse credit card fraud

@Chris that happens to all kinds of online entities, even banks and credit bureaus have had breeches. And like I said, they have a lot to offer to a massively larger audience, of course they are busy. Especially in areas where there aren't a lot of other options, but I bet many of those people pass by or maybe glance at some fishing stuff. They have stuff for kids, furniture, food, the one in my state has a restaurant. I agree with Tom, Morris had a great idea for sure, lots of appeal to many audiences and for things that a lot of people want to see/feel before buying. Fantastic business model for the outdoors walmart like multi department store, Morris was absolutely an astute businessman. BassPro is not a tackle store.

I said this in another post here before when this happened:

"According the the US Census 48% of all anglers are between the ages of 16-44. You can say it's not worth your time and effort and marketing funds *which you said and what my facetious comment earlier was referring to* , and it probably isn't if you don't know how to market to the younger anglers. But I guarantee that out of the $89 Billion spent annually (and more since this survey was conducted I'm sure) that Billions of dollars are being missed by not marketing the right way to the current generation of young anglers - the next generation of builders - that is if they ever find out about it."

IDK where you are getting 10% of tackle consumers are using youtube, but I highly doubt that even only 10% of those 16-44 year olds are watching YouTube, even my pops who's 53 is watching fishing on YouTube. I also think we're mixing terms here a bit, talking about BassPro and TW and rod building - all related in a way but definitely different.

My contention is still that of the 90 Billion dollars of annual tackle revenue in America about 50% of those sales are to people under the age of 45, and I think there is a generation gap between current builders and would be future builders. I just want more people to be part of this community. I wish I could say I was there 40 years ago when things were really poppin off. I wish I could say I started when I was 16 because I think its wicked cool.

This started with me making observations about tech capabilities and formats on a website, nothing about people, their thoughts, their legacies, their impact, their contributions, the work they've done, or anything at all about any person or people, or EXPOS or tackle stores. The next generation of builders watches YouTube, relies heavily on technology for so many aspects of their life they are practically cyborgs, and wants the tech they use to meet their short attention span fast pace impatient demands.

People who were 20y/o in the '60s, 20y/o in the '70s, 20y/o in the '80s, and 20y/o in the '90s, have a lot more in common with each other than with anybody who was 20y/o from 2000 (maybe more so 2005 or so) and beyond. An absolutely different world they have grown up where everything is tech driven and even the poorest of people have access to smart phones and chromebooks. We've reached the Jetsons generation, they'll be fishing with laser beams soon - I just wanna get them involved in something real like rod building.

Grace and peace,
El



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2023 12:07PM by El Bolinger.

Your comment is about anglers in general, not rod builders and I never said it wasn't worth the time to market to the younger people. I said that for every dollar you spend getting a younger person into the craft, you can get ten middle aged and up people into it for that same dollar. All the industry research says the same thing.

By the way, what do the three most successful rod building component supply dealers have in common?

..........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2023 01:11PM by Tom Kirkman.

I am getting in here a bit late. Good read.

I am extremely similar to El. His description of himself nearly matched how I would describe myself.

I think this forum definitely gets the job done. No doubts there. Keeping momentum in an organization is very hard yet quite essential. What that looks like is now up to the new owners. I have no reason not to trust them in their vision for maintaining and improving this community based resource.

I have not researched the numbers much, but YouTube and social media is making a large impact on people in the most impressionable times of their lives. While today's numbers may reflect a retail lead in the brick and mortar of Bass Pro, my belief is a shift will happen when these younger generations like EL and I, or younger, settle into our lives with more time and resources. The BP website is too far behind TW currently. The YouTube marketing is building a loyal fan base of consumers. I believe if someone such as El or myself built a YouTube and full social media presence targeted to the younger demographics while focusing on self sufficient angling/outdoors it would benefit the industry. If this organization decided to do the same it could even do it while showcasing the sidebar sponsors products.

This site is a unique resource that I make out to be much the same as user developed content in professionaly published video games. The site has been developed and the momentum is based on quality participation of the user base. The user content keep this site flowing. But what keeps new users coming to this site? I built for years prior to finding this gem. I stumbled upon it on the second page of results while looking for technical help on guide layouts.

I guess you market to the people with money. Much to be learned from videos, and quickly. My prayers have apparently been answered in that people actually read past posts. My hat's off to you!

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> By the way, what do the three most successful rod
> building component supply dealers have in common?
>
> ..........


I have two guesses--- they're the oldest component dealers still operating or they all still print hard copy catalogs and mail them out. I am thinking the latter one is the reason those three are the biggest component companies around.

I'll let those of you with the debate bone in your bodies debate. I would just like to add, because I feel it germane to the original post, that I have just visited page 1876. Sadly, I did not experience any euphoric sensations. I merely observed that it does, in fact, exist. Logically, after seeing three pages dedicated to the topic of page 1876, I expected to encounter a rod building forum xanadu. That was not the case. Thus, I shall return to dwell and drink from the fountain of information known as page 1.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2023 09:17PM by Daryl Ferguson.

Daryl gets it, albeit I'm sure somewhere on page 773 there's something worth dissecting.

Who is the third biggest component dealer?

Building rods in MA, Building the community around the world

Also I bet Mike is on to something, one of those first to plant a flag deals - definitely not the latter reason.

Building rods in MA, Building the community around the world

Mike is correct on his latter point - the three most successful component supply dealers all publish and mail hard copy catalogs. In fact, it is their catalogs that drive the majority of their internet sales.

............

I sort of figured that might be it. Companies that operate at that level do not waste money. If the catalogs were not producing strong results they would not spend the money to produce and mail them.I order most of my supplies on the websites but usually it is because I saw something in a catalog while I was browsing through it. I almost never just browse a website unless I am looking for something in particular but if you send me a catalog I will take it to lunch or where ever and go through it. Almost always end up buying something.

I personally rarely open the catalogues I receive. I actually just used the recent Mudhole offering to sign documents on so I wouldn't scratch my table. Then to the burn pile. Growing up in the digital age, I carry all the catalogues with me almost everywhere I go. Self admittedly, I spend too much time looking at them in places where my legs go numb from sitting there too long.

I am sure those companies pay attention to large market analysis. No doubt the current form of catalogue is still worth while for now. As mentioned above it is more effective as and advertisement antecedent than it is a tool for ordering. The next generation of rod builder will more and more heavily be the person who gets their news, entertainment, and orders online only. The life cycle likely has such that local ads sent people to the store. Then the catalogue broadened the market space by making it available to order anywhere. Then the internet becomes viable and ordering online becomes an option but it still overshadowed by the catalogue. Now the catalogue is just ads and drives internet sales. Now what do you think comes next? A small footprint brick and mortar with massive warehouse distribution that is super majority online driven? Maybe free 2-day shipping with a membership?

Good businesses are looking to what is next and waning businesses get complacent in the now.

IMO Mudhole has done a great job with their videos and the website update. They are doing a good job keeping momentum while not abandoning traditional methods. Others are doing the same.

so..... did we ever get to page 1876 or did we just get hopelessly sidetracked?