I figured it out Mitch. I hope everyone had a pleasant winter! The full-out fishing season is drawing near and I'm ready to have at it. I will not be fishing the FLW Tour this year; as much as it pains me. I am however, signed up for the Northern BASS opens, and the Northern FLW American Series. I'm going through withdrawal not being out on the road fishing, but the time at home with my wife and kids is definitely worth it. Traveling so often and being away from home, you don't realize how much you're missing out on.
Going into 2010, I wasn't sure at all about sponsorship of any kind. Berkley had cut all but a handful of it's prostaff including me, and there were no open spots on any FLW teams. If you read the post that Mitch put up on this thread, you'd see that Sponsorships with FLW were at an all time low. Things started to look up when I received a call from Berkley telling me that they would be able to continue my sponsorship with them for 2010. They no longer had an FLW team, but they considered me enough of an asset to them to keep me on as a national pro-staffer; it feels good to know that someone is noticing all the hard work I put in for my sponsors. I will be slaying the fish once more this year with my super smooth casting, light as a feather, fish catching Abu Garcia Revo's! That's right, I plugged my sponsor!
My other sponsors that I have back for this year are Ranger Boats, Evinrude, Minn Kota, Humminbird, Navionics, and stalker Bait Company. I'd like to thank my sponsors for all that they do for me. Please consider these manufacturers when you're ready to purchase equipment; even if you don't like these brands in particular, choose the ones that sponsor the sport of fishing.
I have some good news about the UCONN fishing team. The club finally got started last semester, and is already signed up with the National Guard FLW Collegiate fishing program. Members of the club will get to compete against other college teams during the final day of the FLW American Series Northern division tournaments. The University would not let me help start the club because I am not a student, but once a student had taken the steps to start it I could help in any way I wanted. I am going to try and get some donations from my sponsors to raise money for tournament jerseys for the team. So keep an eye on my thread for possible raffles, or something of that sort to try and raise money to help them get started.
Even though the year started out on a sour note for me, I'm really excited for another fishing season. Good luck to everyone this year!