Duane Hicks
Local delegates are en route to the 2010 Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo, which runs this Friday to Sunday in Birmingham, Ala., to promote Fort Frances and Rainy Lake as a place not only to visit and fish smallmouth bass, but for those in the fishing industry to do business.
Having made a similar sojourn down to Shreveport, La. last year, Doug Cain and Jim Cumming of the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship will be joined this year by Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce manager Anthony Mason, who also is an FFCBC director.
The trio left for Birmingham today, and will spend tomorrow setting up their booth in anticipation of the three-day trade show.
With booth space twice as big last year (20’ instead of 10’), they hope to meet and talk with as many people as possible while handing out pamphlets with information about Fort Frances and Rainy Lake.
“We’ll be promoting Rainy Lake and Fort Frances as a smallmouth [bass] fishing destination, and the other thing we’ll be doing this year, which is new, is we’re promoting the area as a possible place to do business for the fishing industry,” Cain noted.
Like last year, the delegates will be asking people who drop by the booth to fill out surveys/entry forms for a draw for a three-day trip for two at Campfire Island.
They will be asked questions like have they ever been to Canada, are they aware of Rainy Lake, how often do they fish, why would they like to win, and so on.
Entrants also will get promotional items provided by sponsors Northland Tackle, Fin-tech Tackle, Canada Jam, Canadian Tire, Faculty of Fishing, Rat-L-Trap, Rapala, Bass Man Magazine, Lindner Media, and In-Fisherman Communication.
But something new this year will be a “Rainy Lake Canadian Fishing Adventure” draw specifically aimed at fishing industry personnel.
This is similar to the other survey/entry form, but also includes questions such as whether their companies are interested in doing business north of the border.
The prize includes a five-day multi-species fishing trip for two, with a three-day stay at Camp Ontario on Rainy Lake and a two-day stay at La Place Rendez-Vous here.
In addition to making new connections, Cain said the trio is hoping to meet with various companies they’ve met in the past and follow up on any leads.
“We had some interesting talks last year, and even this year, with a couple different companies. We have a couple leads,” he remarked.
“The fact that Rapala uses Rainy Lake as a testing ground, we’re using that,” he stressed. “We’re using our contacts through the bass tournament.
“It’s tough to measure these things when you walk away from a show, six months after or whatever,” Cain admitted.
“But the town and Rainy River Future Development Corp. made a commitment to do it more than one year because you can’t walk away from it after just one year,” he argued.
“[And] with the ‘Classic’ being in a different location, it’s a different market, too.”
Cain said the trip mainly is sponsored by the Town of Fort Frances, the RRFDC, and FedNor, with the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce and FFCBC “supplying the legs” to actually go down south, and in the latter’s case, use their fishing industry connections to make it all happen.
For example, fishing lure company “Fin-tech Tackle” again will be hauling their booth and materials from International Falls to Birmingham and back.
A couple of district businesses also have gotten involved. For example, they will be giving away 10 cases of Cloverleaf Canada jam at their booth this weekend.
Cain said the scope of the Bassmaster Classic is hard to imagine if you’ve not seen it yourself, calling it the “Super Bowl” of bass tourneys.
Likewise, the trade show in Shreveport last year drew 107,000 people through the gate over the three days.
While Fort Frances and Rainy Lake may be a long way from the southern U.S., Cain was amazed at people who recognized the picture of the Noden Causeway at their booth.
“[They said] ‘Jeez, I drove over that on my way to Lac Seul, Red Lake, Pickle Lake, Sioux Lookout.’ And our line was, ‘You drove over the best fishing of your trip,’” Cain chuckled.
“Our tournament was won a couple years within sight of the Causeway,” he noted. “It gives us something to talk about.”
All in all, Cain said he is “looking forward to it.”
“It was amazing how small the world was when you were down there—there people who knew people who I knew—it was unbelievable,” he remarked.
“And the thing is, doing it the second time, you can work some bugs out that you had the first year and fine-tune your spiel,” he reasoned.
Mason, who has never been to Alabama but has been to large-scale sport fishing shows before, said he’s excited to go.
“I am going to Alabama, it’s warm down there,” he chuckled.
“I’ve never been that far south. It’s new to me,” he added.
Unlike last year, where the bass tourney weigh-ins and trade show took place in separate venues 20 miles apart, all of the 2010 Bassmaster Classic will take place in the same building,
As such, Cain said the local delegates will get a chance to see at least some of that event.
