I've
recently had a few opportunities to save a good deal of
money through a few different fishing reel companies.
Naturally, my first reaction to finding out about these
opportunities is to be excited and inclined jump all over
them. However, none of the companies I have a chance at
getting deals from are from reel companies that I currently
use. The more I thought about it the more I realized that if
I did go after these opportunities, I would be making a
decision based on money and not on the merits of the
equipment itself. Not that those companies make poor reels,
it's just that if I really wanted to provide those reels for
my customers (or to use them myself), they would already be
on my rods on my boats.
If you look around on my
website,
www.captainclay.com , you won't see any links to
"Sponsors". There's a couple of reasons for this. Long
before I started guiding, I used to run fishing tournaments.
Part of running a good tournament was having good prizes to
supplement the cash awards. That meant I spent a lot of time
on the phone calling reel companies, motor companies, and
lure companies asking for sponsorships. The phone
conversations always seemed to go the same way. I would
introduce myself and tell the voice on the other end of the
line what I did and asked if they could help. Almost on cue
with almost every conversation the tone of the voice on the
other end of the line would drop. Even those that helped
never really seemed excited to send product for me to give
away. The reason is that the fishing industry hits these
guys up all day long, every day, for free product. They kind
of get tired of hearing people ask for hand outs. I quickly
got tired of asking for them myself. So ever since I started
guiding I never really felt much of a desire to get back
into making those phone calls. Another reason I've never
really pursued is that there are a very select few products
that I trust and like using. If I'm going to be sponsored by
someone I want it to be by those companies, not just any
Tom, Dick or Harry rod, reel, or lure company just because
they'll give me a nice little discount.
When someone hires me for a day
of fishing, I always strive to give them my best in every
aspect of what I do and provide. If it means paying full
retail for tackle and boats then that's what I'm going to
do. You pay a full price for a charter and you deserve a
full service fishing experience, complete with the best
boats, rods, reels, and lures I can afford to provide you.
Now, just because I don't list any official sponsors for my charter business doesn't mean that some companies haven't recognized my loyalty to them and how I sing their praises every opportunity I get. Because of their appreciation for me as a customer, a few companies have offered me some discounts without asking me for sponsorship recognition in return. They do this because they know that I shop at their store because I value the service they provide or I buy their boats because of the craftsmanship and personal attention they give to each and every customer, not because of a discount.
Now after rambling on about the
"whys", I feel obliged to mention the "whos"... I get a few
discounts from a FEW of these companies, but nothing that
the every day weekend warrior couldn't swing if they asked
for it. These are the companies I use because I trust them,
believe in them, and have had great experiences with.
I use
G.Loomis,
Shimano, and Kistler
rods. Simply
because they build superior products and their customer
service has never let me down.
I
almost exclusively use Daiwa
reels because
I am convinced that there isn't any better reel on the
market today. Of all of all of the Diawa reels I have ever
owned (and there are a lot) only two have ever needed
service and all are still with me working flawlessly today.
I cannot say the same for other reels made by other
companies. I've never had to give up on a Daiwa but I bet
I've laid over 50 other reels, by other brands, to rest in
the last 10 years.
I use
Yamaha
motors on
both of my boats. Simply because I've never had one fail. In
fairness, I've only ever owned
one of it's
competitors... but it blew a power head.
I use both Berkley Gulps as well as Exude lures. I believe they both have their place when one works better than the other but each are always in my tackle box.
I'm probably a Ranger boat owner for life. When I first bought a
Ranger it was second hand boat.
I had a few problems with spider cracking in the floor and
Ranger discovered I had a busted bulkhead. After they
inspected it, their Florida rep just looked at me and said,
"This isn't right, and we're gonna make it right." They did.
They called me 3 weeks later and asked me what color I would
like on my new hull. I had never given them a dime at that
point but they made a long time customer of me with how they
treated me like king.
Well, there you have it. These companies don't endorse me, I endorse them. What do I get out of it? Well, I get the satisfaction of knowing that when I take you fishing that I am giving you my best. Not just the best of what I get discounts on. A true endorsement is when you speak highly of someone because you believe in what you're saying, not because you're getting a discount for saying it. Should one of these companies approach me one day for a sponsorship, you can bet I won't turn it down. But, you'll be able to come back to this article and say, "See, he doesn't use company 'xyz' because of a discount, he's been using them all along."