"Will Schultz" said:
[quote="mskyprey"][quote="mskyprey"]Hey Jason, can you move us to 4-6pm Friday? Kim will work it with me.
Probably should add Kim to the list too, she is planning on working the booth with us.
Bill, she isn't on the schedule but does have a badge waiting at the door.
Thanks Will!
Had a GREAT time on day 1!!! I thought it was a great turnout for a Thursday night, plus the NCAA tourney going on. Thanks to Will for supplying the live TV stream, although did not have much time to watch it due to fairly constant stream of folks checking in.
For those folks working the booth, REMEMBER- the replica on your right, the little one, is property of MMA and should be offered to any youngster who would like a chance to hold it!!! Do not worry about breaking it- it will be just fine. This fish has been handled by literally hundreds of kids from 2-15 years old at events just like this. It's a hoot- the kids love it! And you can use this durability as a promotion for replicas vs. skin mounts too, when talking with the parents and anybody else who brings up the mounts. All the nicks and dings in the fish I did intentionally to make it look more "real".
Steve,
Easily, the vast majority of the people that stopped by our booth (Friday 11AM-4PM) were in awe of Will's fish and that made it quite easy to start a conversation about the new regs, MMA, know the difference, and muskie fishing in general. We had a handout which alluded to the regs and had our website on it for more info. It was kind of funny how this traffic kept coming up because across from us and next to us were fishing lodge booths from some town in Ontario I never heard of which had these obscure lodges on them. Their pics of a few walleyes and small pike were almost embarrasing compared to Will's and Duke's replicas. The guys behind those booths were bored and worked crossword puzzles or filled their faces with junk food most of the time. After a while this one guy in the next booth made a "plea" to a couple guys finally leaving our booth area like, "We have big fish at our lake too"….they just kept walking on. Around noon some of our visitors were into the beer and this one guy saw the four St Croix Custom Legend Tourament split grip rods and reels on hand and actually asked if he could borrow one of the rod/reel combos, and try it out for the early season and return it later. I said sure…not a problem…Will wouldn't care?!?!?
It definitely was a hit. I was fun watching the different reactions the kids gave, some were amazed that they could even hold it, others were outright afraid of it!
But all in all it was great to see a lot of excitement in guys newer to musky fishing, and all but one guy I talked to was excited about the new regs, and by the time the one left he thought it was a great idea.
Not sure about new membership, I am sure a few will show up, and hope a couple do that I talked to.
Im glad I was able to work again this year, and hope we can do it a gain next year.
I took the AM shifts for three days and wow…..what a great opportunity to educate, promote, and just enjoy talking muskies with ALL types! X 3 for the appreciation on the mounts….the only problem is I can't take it after all the "talking" and not fishing, so the wife is upset that I'm bailing for Indiana next week on a whim. i was like "deal with it, you knew i was sick when you met me."Lol
"Steve S" said:
Duke, did you get alot of interest in people joining? What kind of questions?
Sorry Steve- I'm just seeing this after taking the usual weekend off from the stupid computer!
We had like 2 people ask about membership on Thursday- one was a young kid who works at the Wolf Lake hatchery coincidentally. But, membership drive is a very low priority focus of these types of opportunities as I'm sure you all know. Its all about the education and the good PR!!
Great job guys- I can't wait to work it next year, hope we get a booth again. It's literally one of my favorite musky-related things to do that doesn't involve actual fishing.
I had a great time Saturday. We had a couple guys real serious about signing up. I was really impressed at how most if not all people that I talked to really liked the new regulations and the direction the DNR is going with the musky program, even the non-musky anglers. I think having one Northern Strain mount and one GLS mount really helped to explain to people about the switch over to stocking GLS. Watching the kids with the mounts and the 2lb dawg was funny also, we had a little girl start crying when she saw Will's fish. I will definitely be looking to help out again next year. I think its a great opportunity to reach out to a lot of people.
It is good you guys got a chance to educate people about the new reg's etc.. because I just picked up my license at the local shop and my dad's buddy that works there didn't even know about the new muskie reg's nor did the DNR mention anything about the tags etc..
So most people in the general public, unless they actually read about the changes, prob have no clue about the muskie regs in some areas
Big thanks to everyone who helped out at the booth! Wish I could have made it as it was a lot of fun last year. I actually talked to a couple people at Cabela's who said they visited the the MMA booth and really liked it. It sounds we're heading in the right direction as far as education goes so congrats to MMA and all of its members!
"swanezy" said:
It is good you guys got a chance to educate people about the new reg's etc.. because I just picked up my license at the local shop and my dad's buddy that works there didn't even know about the new muskie reg's nor did the DNR mention anything about the tags etc..So most people in the general public, unless they actually read about the changes, prob have no clue about the muskie regs in some areas
That's BS, the DNR has been communicating the new 2013 regulations for months. If they didn't read the email and other communications up to this point, page two of the fishing guide has all of the regulation changes. At the very least, it's their responsibility as a license vendor to read that page so they can answer the simple questions.
"swanezy" said:
It is good you guys got a chance to educate people about the new reg's etc.. because I just picked up my license at the local shop and my dad's buddy that works there didn't even know about the new muskie reg's nor did the DNR mention anything about the tags etc..So most people in the general public, unless they actually read about the changes, prob have no clue about the muskie regs in some areas
we talked about this at the last meeting too! is there anything to come of that or do we need to kick something in the rear??? Anything we need or can do???
I agree, it is their responsibility to check the reg's and what not, but he said the DNR in our area never mentioned anything to them about it when they come in and give them all the new stuff so they prob ignored the email. It does say it right there when he pulled up the license stuff
Just shows a lot of smaller shops etc don't normally check changes like that etc.. I was just expecting him to ask if i wanted a musky tag and I didn't so i just wondered how your average joe will even know about it.
Im sure if this occurred at a smaller local shop there are plenty of others around the state that do the same or just don't acknowledge it
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