Not good news

[misfish]

CRK’S CANADIAN FISHING TOUR CANCELS SEASON

 

 

 

CRK’S CANADIAN FISHING TOUR CANCELS SEASON

 

Bracebridge ON- After an incredible and unforgettable inaugural 2006 season, Canada’s premier tournament series, CRK’s Canadian Fishing Tour, is closing its doors for 2007 and will revisit the opportunity for 2008. The tour marked its first season with close to a million dollars in guaranteed paybacks and the finest promotions through television, radio, internet and print the sport has ever seen in over two decades.

 

CRK’s CFT Management understood the importance this tour has had within the industry and the affect it had to encourage individuals to take up the great sport of fishing, and to support the industry financially by purchasing tackle, boats and other related equipment. It also managed to launch and promote the careers of many great Professional anglers who supported the tour and represented the tour with great passion.

 

After carefully reviewing the 2006 season, which included the highest guaranteed paybacks and most elaborate operation ever seen in Canada, the high expenditures were and never could be off set with the lack of financial support. One contributing factor was the lack of angler support with below than average size fields in 2006 and even less forecasted for 2007. Further, what was even more disheartening was all the negativity that surrounded this organization throughout the fishing industry despite their proven attempts to invest great deals of money and time to a positive cause and to a type of series that the angling community has wanted for over two decades. It ultimately comes down to business and the belief is that Canada may not be ready to support a tour of such caliber. Management has concluded that in many ways the company is just not viable.

 

Over the last four months registrations have been taken and all anglers will be fully refunded in a timely fashion within 30 days of this announcement by cheque through the mail. The office will operate until April 30, 2007 to take any calls and tend to any administrative matters.

 

CRK’s Canadian Fishing Tour would like to thank the anglers, the sponsors, the staff, the numerous locations and municipalities, and the all the fans who supported the tour. CRK’s CFT has been the benchmark for many improvements to the sport of competitive fishing and leaves behind a tradition that will live on for some time. With this door being closed, many doors of opportunity will open offering others possibilities of success.

 

CRK’s CFT wishes the entire angling community the best and encourages everyone to continue to support the sport of competitive fishing.

 

 

CRK’s Canadian Fishing Tour

 

Most of us know the pros from this board and the ones that were going to experinece thier first AM .

 

I know it,s not the only series thats out there,but there are alot of people involved with big time dollars involved with boats/motors entries that are going to be effected major.

 

Hopefully someone will step in and resurect the series again. Maybe BASS PRO ?????????????????????

Edited April 9, 2007 by misfish

[brandon]

Its horrible news but like you said hopefully a big company with $$ will take things over.

[misfish]

There is also Shimano from what I have been reading. Guys put alot of money out for this sport,Im sure someone with dollars, will step to the plate and bring it back. It,s just not the pro/am series that is going to be missed,but all of it. I know there are guys here aswell that fish the one days and the 115 series.

[brandon]

I think it would be cool if a U.S. Series took it over....like make it a BFL division or something along those lines. They sure know how to get people hyped about bass fishing in the U.S. and I think that in order for a series to try and make it big in Canada they need to learn a thing or two from the U.S. ones.

Edited April 9, 2007 by brandon

[mart]

This is a huge blow to tournament fishing in our country!! I'm in disbelief. Like you said misfish it would be nice if a big company stepped forward to keep this series going. Some anglers dreams or anglers living their

dreams are going to be set back by this.. Good thing there are other tournament series out there which are

going to have close to full fields now. Still a SAD day...

[wingman]

That sucks. I was planning to join the pro am in july.

[Terry]

man that sucks..

I would think someone will step up and fill the gap

[cityfisher]

Brutal !! I had plans to join a pro am with my brother this season...CrappppppP !

[charlesn]

I am saddened by the news. The thing is, I can totally understand their decision as the business model needs to make sense. From what I heard, operating losses in the 6 to 7 figure range last year so the prospect of more corporate bleeding due to lack of support was enough to justify the cancellation. But anytime a vacuum is created in a market, the demand will find a supplier. That's free enterprise and the hope is that something new and sustainable can come out of this.

 

From a selfish point of view, sure I would like to have seen it continue, but it wasn't my wallet that was taking a beating. I'm glad they are going to offer full refunds and I hope they do revisit in 2008, although I'm not certain what could change in the meantime to make it viable. I am extremely thankful to the CRK Marketing Group for taking a chance and investing what they did in to the tournament industry. It was unprecedented and greatly appreciated by many of us. Last season's Super Series was incredible and something I will never forget and always cherish the memory of even though it ended with my boat sunk and me stuck wet and shivering on an island. lol

 

For those that were planning on fishing the CFT 1-days or 115s, there are more than enough 1-day choices (Bassmania/CSFL, Essex, Cindy & Dean Franklin SW Ontario circuit, Top Bass, Renegade, Quinte Fishing Series, and clubs and special events like Emerald Isles, Stoney FireFighters, etc) out there for those that wish to fish 1-day team events. All series have their pluses and minuses. Please do not give up on the sport. Be positive and good things will happen. It's like the stock market, there will be tumbles and downturns, but things will get better.

 

For those of us that prefer the multi-day pro/ams, I guess we will have to wait and see what opportunities arise, but there will always be clubs and message boards around to try to get new people involved and enjoying this great sport. We need to continue to be ambassadors to the sport and to always stay positive.

 

C'mon sunshine and warmth, I need to get out there and fish!

 

Charles

[lookinforwalleye]

Sorry to hear that but I guess this just reinforces that without a deep pocket sponsor a major professional tour in this country is a no go,you would think that at least one big company Bass Pro,CTC,Shimano etc. could throw a couple of million dollars into the pot a make it viable but in order for them to do that there would have to be some payback I guess they can`t see the investment paying off.

[Smokey]

Too bad but with all the problems that had last year I can't say I'm surprised.

[misfish]

Sorry to hear that but I guess this just reinforces that without a deep pocket sponsor a major professional tour in this country is a no go,you would think that at least one big company Bass Pro,CTC,Shimano etc. could throw a couple of million dollars into the pot a make it viable but in order for them to do that there would have to be some payback I guess they can`t see the investment paying off.

 

 

INVESTMENT NOT PAYING OFF???????????????????

 

They get more then enough payback from sales. Come on.

 

How often is PBS and Shimano talked about here. CTC the same.Please.

[Roy]

Easy fix. If a majority of our members are in agreement, why don't we carry it?

[Steelcat]

I'm really sadden by this news. I was all excited as bass season getting close... I really hope everything will go well soon.

[tonyb]

Sounds like someone forgot to complete a realistic business plan...

 

It is a blow to the competitive fishing scene in Canada, but ask anyone in the industry...there is not the level of support that there is in the U.S. here, and resulting from that is a lack of available funds by Canadian companies for financing things like the CRK CFT series.

 

Tony

[lookinforwalleye]

INVESTMENT NOT PAYING OFF???????????????????

 

They get more then enough payback from sales. Come on.

 

How often is PBS and Shimano talked about here. CTC the same.Please.

 

Perhaps I am wrong I only offered a opinion but I stand by it,perhaps you can enlighten me as too why the series died it seems to me that if Shimano for example saw this as a great avenue to market their product and they were making money on their investment they would have stepped up to the plate.

 

I also don`t believe these companies get mentioned on this site because of their limited involvement with the CFT but who knows maybe I am wrong about that to.

[bigfish1965]

Events need to be viable in order to continue. Unless a sponsor is the primary one and gets to be part of the name of the event, there isn't much of a return. Most corporations aren't willing to be happy with the 'intangibles' they get back.

If last years sponsors see a big drop in sales from not having this series, it will be back.

[camillj]

Thats Too bad ... but the reality is the Canadian Market is not that large and the sponsors costs (if they really are in the 7 figures) are probably simply not justified by the potential returns from product sales .... having said that, I would be surprised i it really did need to be that high ... I would have thought that each event could be 'self-sustaining' ... of course I could be wrong

 

On the other hand maybe we need to get old FLW on side .... they seem to have deep pockets

[Minnow]

Wow, this news really hurts! I was planning on fishing the 115's this season and maybe doing a pro/am on simcoe. Was so pumped for the bass fishing season and try competitive fishing for the first time. I guess I will have to try other events, this is a really blow to competitive bass fishing in Canada, sponsors probably didn't see any substantial sales boosts from their investments and didn't want to cough up the big bucks. Even though I thought since it was televized there would be more sponsors this year but I guess not. Really sucks!

 

I watched the FLW tour in the states and always wondered why they can't do a few competitions in Canada, Wal-mart definately has enough money and maybe this would bring some of the big american bass fishing names up here north of the border which would really be cool.

[love2fishhave2work]

It is to bad. I did compete in a Pro/AM last year and wanted to do the 115 as well as more Pro/Am's this year but frankly I am not surprised. When I was in the Pro/AM, I certainly did not feel any sponsor presence except for seeing a couple princecraft boats. I just don't think these events get any level of real sponsorship. They are run by people who care and who put in alot of time into it. They certainly lack any professional corporate oversight and I don't entirely blame them. The market is way to small relative to the US and we still buy the products they push from the 2-3 good fishing shows and magazines. These companies want to make money and the way to do it is to sell product. CFT's disappearance will not change that. What would make sense is for the US national Bass circuit to do 1-2 stops in Canada and to incorporate one of the northern divisions with Ontario. The US guys would come up here and the Canadian guys would go down there. I know that this may get expensive for mose but it certainly would seperate the real pro's from the weekend warriors who live on Rice lake or Simcoe and know it like the back of their hand. It would also give the amatuers that enter these Pro/AM's greater exposure to real dedicated tournament anglers and an opportunty to learn something from guys that spend 5-6 days a week on the water as opposed to a local guy who becomes a professional angler because he or she paid a 500 dollar entry fee. If the top guys in the sport get together and put some lobbying effort into place, something like this could become a reality. Who knows maybe when I am watching the WPT Fishing Tour in two years, one of the stops may be Simcoe.

[Guest skeeter99]

I think some of you are confused the cft was the canadain fishing tour elite anglers very limited dates, the csfl still exisits there elite series is called the pro bass tour

 

 

the 115's are run by (old bassmania) CSFL and are still in existence and they still have the pro am's

 

here is the link lots of dates and pro am's

 

http://www.csfl.ca/

 

 

and dont forget top bass **2 walleye dates**

 

http://www.topbass.ca/topbasshome.asp

Edited April 11, 2007 by skeeter99

[Guest skeeter99]

it was not so much the corporate sponsorship

 

it was the lack of pro's to fish

 

the way theses are setup are pro-am the pro pays the full entry/gas/hotel etc. to get and be there with the old team format the cost is split

 

it just made the anglers broke, hence low entries cft makes less money

 

think of the money they got from the wfn to brodcast **the cft did not let them do it for free**

[fliptheslop]

I hate to burst anyones bubble here but you pay to run your show on WFN, they dont pay you, the CFT had three seperate series, The Super Series, The One Days, and the 115s. It died a premature death before it even had a chance, yes compared to other series it was more expensive, but your return was also much greater,I for one do not buy the theory that theres not enough money to run a series like this in Canada. Its not for everyone, but nothing is.

[charlesn]

Skeeter99,

 

The CFT had a 115 series and a 1-day series in addition to the Super Series. The low entry numbers were not just in the Super Series, in fact, the Super Series was by far the best attended circuit of the 3 that the CFT ran last year with 71, 121, 51 & 72 pro entries (an average of close to 80 per event) versus an average of 45 or so in the 115s and about 55 in the 1-days.

 

WFN was an awesome partner and opportunity for the Super Series last year. WFN covered the series and handled the production. They did not pay the CFT anything, however they did have significant operating expenses and invested heavily into the production and it showed in the best tournament tv coverage that Canada has seen by a wide margin.

 

Fliptheslop,

 

I agree with most of your post. However, I believe the CFT was a special case for WFN. There was a partnership between the two. I don't know all the details so I won't speculate, but I do know the CFT did not have to pay for the tv coverage this past season.

 

For those wondering how I know this stuff, I was very very involved in helping out with the series on a volunteer basis and thus was privy to some details not necessarily made public. I cared very much about the series and watching it expire has been a painful experience. I hope that like a phoenix, something positive will rise from the ashes. I believe it will.

 

Charles

[David Chong]

Well written as always, Charles! It was a sad day for tournament fishing up in Canada! I also don't buy into the

"Ohh, we're only Canada we can't have what the States have" attitude! I do believe that we can have the potential to have a truly elite series up here in Canada, I do believe that the Super Series proved that! If I'm not mistaken the Co-Angler side was being held at 50 with a waiting list. Maybe we won't have a B.A.S.S. Elite Series or the FLW but we can have much better than we have right now! What we need is the right combination of organizations/sponsors posssibly working in partnership with the pros to grow a bigger better circuit! Just reading some of the posts by OFNer's who have tried or had interest in trying a Pro-Am(Angler/Co-Angler) event tells me there is a market there! Keep the faith, I'm sure that something will happen shortly!

 

Just my humble opinion,

Dave

Edited April 11, 2007 by David Chong