Summer Salmon Fishing Tournament Update

[Beave]

I just wanted to give everyone an update on the 2006 MS.com Summer Salmon Fishing Tournament.

I finished the first revision of the website and it should go up soon. My part is done, I'm now waiting on Steve to upload the files to his server.

Sponsorship is going pretty strong this year. So far I've heard back from ~2/3's of last year's sponsors and all but one have said they're going to return. The other 1/3 are probably busy running charters or making product as fast as possible, so they'll require some badgering. I'm working to add a few new sponsors as well. As the event grows it becomes a little easier each year to target manufacturers of "bigger ticket" items. I hope we have a few more rods, reels, and rod holders to give out this year to go along with the bags full of flies and spoons.

The best news I have is that our returning sponsors continue to grow the size of their donations as our event grows. I can't emphasize enough how generous they are or how greatful I am. Anyone who received a goody bag last year should realize how nice they were and how many lures I need to put even one bag together. Now multiply that out by 80 to 100. If you paid full retail for all the stuff in a goody bag they were valued at well over $50 last year, and we gave out over 80 of them. That's a lot of tackle, and that doesn't even figure in all of the other prizes we had. As we hand more goody bags out we either need more donations, or the goody bags are going to contain less stuff. Right now it's looking like the donations will keep pace with the growth of the event.

I'll try to post updates periodically when donations show up so people get an idea what I'm getting.

[DonP]

Beave...

On behalf of all of us "Cold Water Forum'ers" ... thanks for all the time and effort that you put into MS.com Summer Salmon Fishing Tournament.

You do a 1st class job of organizing this event... and I just wanted to pass along the well deserved kudos that you deserve. If it's anything like last year... there will be some great prizes that will be waiting to be snatched up!!

Of course... those 2 brand new electric Walker Downriggers that I got last year sure helped alot too!! :D :lol:

Good Luck with the event... I hope it turns out even better than last year (if that's possible)!!

[Beave]

Glad you're enjoying the riggers Don. With how much fishing you do an "old guy" like you would lose an arm if he had to use manuals. :D

We do have a couple of pairs of riggers from Walker again this year. Both manuals and electrics.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Thanks Dave! Your hard work is appreciated by all of us. Let me know if you need any help and I would be happy to do so.

[Beave]

I'll keep you in mind Tim. Mark (Adjusted) has also offered to help so I should be pretty well covered now.

I should've been doing this all along, and I'll eventually go back and recognize each sponsor's donation.

Today the UPS man brought me a box of fishcatchers in all three sizes... 5", 8", and 11". Included in the box were a dozen Big Kahuna flashers, which is Bechhold and Son's new product line this year. You get the basic fishcatcher design with a bunch of spinner type blades to generate even more noise and flash.

http://www.fishcatcher.com/images/new%20product/11BigKahunaClacker.jpg

http://www.fishcatcher.com/images/new%20product/green_big_kahuna.jpg

This is a product I've yet to hear anything about, so if anyone has run them please share your experience. It's also worth pointing out that Bechhold now offer superglow fishcatchers as well. Bechhold and Son have been with us as a sponsor since the very first year we asked for donations, and they've always been good enough to donate a few dozen flashers.

[double trouble]

i talked to both jerry and his son at the novi fishing show. they were very proud of their newest crestion. his was the first rotating flasher and i'll still take a white or green crushed ice glow over anything on the market for large staging fish. i did not buy any because i'm stocked with them ,but i'd be more than happy to test a few out.;)

[Beave]

Let me recognize another sponsor while I'm on the board. Red Hook Tackle, maker of Raider Spoons, are back for a 2nd year as a sponsor. I have quite a few Raiders in my box, and one of the things I like about them is the fact that they come with a large single hook rather than a treble. A lot of guys switch their hooks over, with Raiders you don't have to. Josh has added a line of superglows this year:

http://www.fishdogco.com/super-glows2.jpg

You can guy Raider spoons from site and Summer Salmon Fishing Tournament sponsor Fishdogco.

http://www.fishdogco.com/raiderspoons.cfm

[Beave]

Time to mention another sponsor. Mike Steffes of Fishlander is one of the good guys in the sport. He does a lot for the tournament scene as well as making great downriggers and spoons. Mike is another sponsor who's been with us since the first year we started asking for donations. I think he donated 2 dozen the first year, and he's increased his donation every year as we grow.

Here's a link to some of Fishlander's new colors for 2006. Like most of the spoon makers, Fishlander has listened to their customers and added a bunch of new superglow patterns this year:

http://www.fishlander.com/Catalog_New.asp

Mike donated a bunch of patterns to put in the prize bags, and one of them is named Chipmunk, which my wife thought was cute so I'll probably have to pick a few of them up for myself. (Anything to get her more interested in fishing and the boat without her actually questioning the fact I have over 500 spoons and paid $4-6 a piece for them.) :D

http://www.fishlander.com/Products/a_672.jpg

[Beave]

It's saturday, but the US Post Office still delivers, and today it was Northport Nailers (http://www.northportnailer.com). I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but Capt. Dave German is a great guy who loves to talk fishing, and he too has been supporting this event since the very first year we asked for donations. Dave sent a nice selection of spoons for our goody bags and a bunch of gift certificates to use as prizes.

[Beave]

Another fine sponsor who has been with us a long time is Tite-lok. I know a LOT of us use or have used their holders, and you really can't beat a tite-lok for the price. This year they've donated some of their "trolling systems", which are mounting plate and triple holder.

http://www.titelok.com/images/5760-710-3.jpg

They've also added a new product this year, which is a gimble mount trolling system.

[Beave]

A box full of mono from Mason showed up today. It's a bit light for salmon fishing (8-12lb test), but they sent enough to put a spool in every goody bag! Mason doesn't have a website so I can't link to them. However, I will say that they're a Michigan-based company so keep them in mind when buying line.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Sweet, hopefully we can catch some big ones again this year. Thanks again for all of your efforts to put this on Dave, the prizes are awesome. Looking forward to fishing it again this year.

BTW got my plugs yesterday, thanks.

[Beave]

Another sponsor we're glad to welcome back this year is Reef Runner. Reef Runner is a Midwestern family owned company based in Ohio. Besides being great all-around bait for bass, walleye, and salmon, I love their color selection. Reef Runners are available in more colors and patterns than probably any body bait on the market.

http://www.reefrunner.com/images/colors.jpg

Scott donated a couple dozen ripshads and ripsticks this year. We put special goody bags together for the pier fishermen and try to avoid trolling flies and spoons, so the Reef Runners are always appreciated by them.

[Beave]

A box from C-Map showed up today. It has ruler stickers for the goody bags and a gift certificate for $200 towards a C-Map card of the winner's choice.

[Beave]

Several dozen NorthernKing spoons today. Yet another company that's been with us year after year and continues to help us fill our goody bags.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Thanks sponsors and Dave!

[Beave]

I've been away for two weeks in Michigan. The good news is I got to do some fishing and we had a great day out of St. Joe going 9/13. I get back and I have some more donations waiting at the post office!

First, I have some magnetic release divers from Kastaway Joe Kulis. These are often mentioned on the site. They're one of my favorite fishing gadgets. A big improvement over your standard dipsey.
http://www.kastaway.com/images/DIVERS.jpg

And I also have a box from Flintstone spoons! Fred doesn't have a website or I'd link to it here. Ask Gomer and Fishdevil about Flintstone spoons some time.

[Beave]

A great day for donations. Over 100 lures from Michigan Stinger and Moonshine!

From Stinger we have an assortment of their spoons in a variety of sizes. Coppers, golds, and silvers in both traditional stinger and Magnum size.

http://mistinger.com/cover.jpg

[Beave]

I'd also like to thank Tom Gudwer, the new owner of Moonshine Lures. Tom purchased the business this year and was generous enough to continue the sponsorship relationship between Moonshine and the Summer Salmon Fishing Tournament.

As part of their new product line for this year Tom has added a variety of exciting new colors and some new products like cowbells. Tom made a special point to donate some casting spoons for the participants in our pier division too, a group that often gets left out since most of our donations are trolling lures.

Casting Spoons
http://www.moonshinelures.com/castingspoons/glowbloodynose.jpg http://www.moonshinelures.com/castingspoons/agentorange.jpg
http://www.moonshinelures.com/castingspoons/glowperch.jpg http://www.moonshinelures.com/castingspoons/mongolianbeef.jpg

Cowbells
http://www.moonshinelures.com/cowbells/agentandyellowtail.jpg http://www.moonshinelures.com/cowbells/bigyellowtail.jpg

Some of 2006's new colors
http://www.moonshinelures.com/lures/bluesmolt.jpg http://www.moonshinelures.com/lures/midnightspecial.jpg
http://www.moonshinelures.com/lures/tnt.jpg http://www.moonshinelures.com/lures/shockwave.jpg


You can buy moonshine lures from the good people www.fishdogco.com.

[Beave]

Slide Divers arrived today!

http://www.slidediver.com/prod_files/page2.jpg

[Beave]

I was in the basement taking many of the donations out of the boxes they arrived in and putting them in some plastic organizers I bought tonight. My daughter came with. Here's a 4 month old's endorsement for Dreamweaver and Legendary Products flashers. She locked onto those two and wouldn't let go. She yelled when I tried to take them away. Someone is going to get some lightly gummed packaging.

http://www.salmonking.net/flashers.jpg http://www.salmonking.net/flashers2.jpg

[STEINFISHSKI]

Going to be some great prize packs!

Three cheers for Dave! Hip Hip...:woohoo1:

So who is playing this year? I'm in, and if anyone would like to get out that needs a ride maybe we can work something out.

[Beave]

My wife says there are 5 dozen Howie Flies waiting for me at home.


http://www.howiestackle.com/acatalog/flyicon.jpg http://www.howiestackle.com/acatalog/riggedhowiefly.jpg http://www.howiestackle.com/acatalog/howiefly.jpg

Howie's is yet another of many sponsor's who've donated to us year after year, and every year they're willing to donate an extra dozen flies as this even grows. I honestly runout of new nice things to say about our sponsors, since we have so many and they're all great people.

[Beave]

The UPS and the FedEx man stopped by today.

A donation from American Maple, makers of Ahi Tackle and Promar nets arrived this afternoon. They’ve sent a box of hats and a collapsible landing net. I’m not sure the net is the ideal size for kings, but it’s definitely walleye sized and might be perfect for someone in a smaller boat without a lot of room to store a net. I've seen people net kings in smaller nets.

http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/4767001/Promar%20Nets.jpg

[King Crawler]

Shaping up to be quite a tourney this year. Thanks Dave!

Any word yet on Vector as a sponsor? I know they changed owership this year and are now part of Aqua vision. The triple rod holder I won last year is great. In fact I now need a matching set for the other side:D

[Beave]

Vector says they're in. They do indeed have new ownership, and it sounds like Aquavision is interested in continuing the sponsorship. I'm not sure what they're going to be donating yet. My contact there is out of the office until next week.

Nothing helps the tournament out more than when you guys let the sponsors know that A) you appreciated their sponsorship of the tournament, and B) that you won their stuff and you're now considering buying more. If anyone here wants the contact information for any of our sponsors to tell them thanks let me know.

[Beave]

MS.com member Ranger Ray sells industrial lubricants, and for the last few years he's donated something for our prize bags. Last year it was those handy little tubes of precision lubricant for reels, this year he donated several boxes of spray cleaner for the boat.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/539/prolong.jpg

Ray doesn't have a website and isn't looking for new customers, so the least we can do is say "Thank You!"

[Beave]

Whoo Hoo! Big donation from ProKing today. ProKing is one of several companies under new ownership this year, so I'm very happy to announce that the new owner Tom has chosen to continue their support of our event. Pro Kings are one of the most durable spoons I've found. Fish teeth will chip the paint off most spoons, and once the chipping starts most spoons aren't long for this world. The adhesive tape ProKing uses is incredibly durable, and a few scratches don't affect it at all.

http://www.salmonking.net/proking.jpg

With the transfer of the business ProKing doesn't have a website up yet, so I can't send you there. I can tell you that it sounds like there are going to be some exciting new products in the works for next year.

[Beave]

The J-Plug thread in the other forum reminded me we had a donation from Silver Horde! They were one of the first sponsors to ship their donation many months ago, so I almost forgot to post some nice things about them.

Silver Horde make plugs as well as Gold Star spoons and flashers. They're high quality, and have a lot of color combos and patterns you can't find from Luhr Jensen. The yellow suplerglow w/ orange speckles plug is one of my favorites (not pictured here). We just railed the steelhead and salmon on them out of St. Joe last year running that plug on 3 and 5 color cores. At the time we only had one of them, and it took half our fish. We even had two hits on it before we even had all the core out. I now own four of them.

Here's a sample of plugs Silver Horde sent us for this year. A good mix of superglows and chrome patterns.

http://www.salmonking.net/silverhorde.jpg

[Beave]

We're in the home stretch now. The tournament starts next weekend and I'm still waiting for a few sponsors. At this point I start to wonder if they're too busy to do anything for us, and then I get a massive box from UPS! Special Mate Boxes! Both divided body bait and regular spoon style boxes.

http://www.salmonking.net/special_mate.jpg

A big thanks to Skip and the crew at Trinity Industries for the generous donation. These are always some of the first prizes selected from the list.

[Beave]

Another new sponsor today! Oki Tackle Mfg. (http://www.okitackle.com/), makers of Kingfisher II flashers among other fine products. These are some of the sharpest flashers on the market, and from what I hear they're hard to get ahold of right now too. Not only did the fine folks at Oki send us a bunch of Kingfishers, they also sent us a couple of boxes of their new JDF (Juan De Fuca) Baitfish Heads. The JDF are plastic bait heads perfect for cut bait or whole baitfish like alewives.

http://www.salmonking.net/oki.jpg

[Beave]

Big donation day! Three sponsors....

I'll start with Purple Taco Flies. Curt has been with us for several years, and in the past he's always donated flies to put in our goody bags. This year he's donated several of his Killer Combo Kits. Each kit contains VMC hooks, a dozen pre-tied skirts, a large selection of beads including superglows, and it's all in a plano box. The hard work is done, and now you can build your own flies. These are going to be given away as larger prizes to winners in our many divisions.

http://www.purpletacoflies.com/images/pt_301_lg.jpg

Curt is out fishing most weekends of the year chasing the tournament trail. If you see his boat make sure to thank him for his continued support of our event.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Man this just keeps getting better! When can we start fishing Dave?

[dajinkx]

Please refresh my foggy memory.......how do we register for this tournament?

Thanks,
Bob

[Beave]

First, I want to get to another new sponsor for us this year, Deathwish Lures. Ron Avery and Ken Mattson are very active on the tournament trail as well, and if you read Great Lakes Angler you'll find a picture of Ken in this month's issue holding a pair of atlantics that helped them win the Atlantic Tournament this June in Detour. They've been generous enough to donate several dozen of their Bugeye Flies, a product I'll admit I hadn't seen until today, and I'm definitely impressed. It's great to add yet another new sponsor, especially guys like Ken and Ron who fish so much.

http://global.haja.com/content_images/bug_eye_fly/items/147_l.jpg

http://global.haja.com/content_images/bug_eye_fly/items/161_l.jpg

[Beave]

Okay some info on the tournament for those of you who never visit the mainpage...

The event starts this Saturday! You need to send an email to me to pre-register before you fish, take digital pictures of your catch that follow our picture requirements, and then send me your results and pictures. It's totally free, and it's that simple!

Here's a link to the tournament webpage again:

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/Tourney/Tourney06.htm

Follow the links on the webpage to the rules and pre-trip registration form. Have fun!

[King Crawler]

Speaking of Great Lakes Angler magazine....Did you see that great picture that our own "Far Beyond Driven" submitted of his 3 year old daughter with a big 'il king on her lap. On the last page of the magazine. Great picture!

[Beave]

I put over 700 spoons, body baits, spools of line, flies, and cut bait heads into 90 prize bags tonight! We already have ~15 people registered for this weekend, which is well ahead of last year. This year I made special bags for the pier/river fishermen with casting lures in them. About 2/3's of the bags this year will have a flasher, which is an improvement from last year when we made less bags and only half had flashers.

[Beave]

Another new sponsor I want to recognize this year is Tecla USA, makers of Bert's Custom Tackle rod holders, planer masts, track systems, etc. Tecla has donated some track and a few accessories to get someone started rigging their boat. I personally have Bert's on my boat, and I love them.

http://www.teclausa.com/bert/products/MF2957b.jpghttp://www.teclausa.com/bert/products/rodholderanimation.gif