BIG NEWS from Gary Dobyns

[WB Staff]

2012 ICAST

Gary Dobyns announces new tournament circuit - Outdoor Heritage Inc.

[VJ]

This is great news and huge for the west. I was at the meeting with Gary held at C &C marine and was very excited about the idea back then, to see it coming to life is very motivating and im just happy. Thanks a lot Gary and if you need any help feel free to pm me.

[Larry Hemphill]

I'm not even a tournament guy and it sound exciting to me! Anything you do turns to gold and I'm sure this circuit will be a big success. Congrats - ahead of time!!

[civicrr]

Looking forward to hearing more on the new tourny org.

[Gary Dobyns]

Guys this is a lot different than I talked about in C&C last year. It has grown and changed a lot. There are 6 of us involved in putting this together. Lots of info coming soon. Some different twists and what the west has needed for a long time. Going through the permit process on Friday...today

[RipnRog]

If I remember correctly I thought what the west needed was less tournaments. I believe I have heard you say that a few times Gary....

[longshot]

What the west needs is a circuit that is WORTH fishing!!!! If a circuit can come out that atlas a format that draws enough anglers it will do away with the others and that is what we need!!! I'm excited to hear the details of the circuit because I have stopped fishing tournaments waiting for something that has more than 25 boats and a cheesy toc.
My ears are open???? Team event? Shared weight??? Ect let's hear it???

[dbbasser]

Good seeing you Gary and talking to you about the new TX thats being unveiled on the West Side Since i'm offically retired, 62 as of last Friday at ICAST , I might have to move back from Fl and fish it myself ...Best of Luck looking forward to all the details !!
Danny B

[Roger Saraiba]

He is making something totally different. Stay tuned.

[Gary Dobyns]

Actually Roger....We decided last minute to do one team region. Five different bodies of water like the old days....but with a few different twists. I've said team tournaments are not fixable for a couple of years, but we decided to give it a shot. If it works, maybe others will follow and we can start seeing some numbers in team events again. If it don't work....... We are working on our website and will launch all news soon. Thanks guys.

[mike goodwin]

Gary, if anyone can get guys excited about competing again you can. Can't wait to hear the details.
As always, best of luck to you.

MG

[fishmore]

This sounds great! I can't wait to hear more about it. I've only fished one tournament as a coangler. I bought a new boat recently and was thinking about joining a circuit. This might be the one.

[RipnRog]

Actually Roger....We decided last minute to do one team region. Five different bodies of water like the old days....but with a few different twists. I've said team tournaments are not fixable for a couple of years, but we decided to give it a shot. If it works, maybe others will follow and we can start seeing some numbers in team events again. If it don't work....... We are working on our website and will launch all news soon. Thanks guys.

we changed the folsom region for ABA this year to a 4 lake region to try and make things more interesting... Good luck to you... I will keep an eye out for the website...

[Brian D.]

Don't forget about the Southern part of the state. I'm itchin to fish something new as well.

[DL]

Don't forget about the Southern part of the state. I'm itchin to fish something new as well.

That's just what SoCal would need. 6 orgs fighting over 30 teams makes for stellar numbers. Not long ago people were bitching about too many circuits and now we have at least one more and rumors of another in SoCal. With the SoCal Jamboree this week, we will find out whats in store for the south soon enough...

[Dom]

Problem with the west coast is we dont have the sponsors on board no one wants to full on put up the money. Yea we have events and companies donate some product here and there but nothing like they do down south. What we need is a circuit that gives back to the anglers and by this we need sponsors to step up BIG TIME they sponsor to get noticed and plug thier brand name but yet they are giving minimum.

The way I see it us anglers pay our entry fee and we only get a return of 50-80% on our investment provided we finish high enough and then its only gas money back unless you win or finish in the top 3. Heck we would be better off fishing turkey shoot where 100% is paid back. Sounds like I am downing the west coast and thats not the case I just see what we really need we need companies to put up some cold hard cash (pay for the advertisement) offer enough cash to pay back more then gas money to the top 20.

Now your saying we have to pull the numbers in order to do any of this , but the fact is the economy is bad (unless you believe Obama) people are not spending like they did 6-7 years ago. Like myself, people are picking and choosing which tournaments are more affordable to fish i.e. Like close to home , lower entry fees , bigger reward. Its a revolving door that keeps spinning I dont see any circuit doing big things until this economy turns around Or sponsors step up I want to see nitro give out a $25,000 boat for every tournament go a head and charge a $200 entry fee the way I see it my investment of 500.00 (to fish the event with gas hotel,etc..) could yeild a good return and therefore worth the gamble. or put up $ 10,000 to back 100% payback PLUS 80% of the entry charge $150.00 entry again the return would be worth the gamble. We need a pro-am, team circuit with real sponsor backing

This is just my 0.02

Tight Lines Dom

[Gary Dobyns]

Dom, You are right in a lot of this. Times are tougher now for sure. One reason there is lack of major sponsorship is ...no television. The #1 marketing tool. Guys, we are going to be doing so many things differently than the other orgs. Right???? I sure hope so. To draw the large sponsors, you need to promote their products, but the big deal in the west is getting the angler numbers at events to show sponsors. The Sac Jamboree went very well. We moved a couple of dates to help others and they moved a couple to help us. The fact is we will be running events and after the same fishermen. We need guys to support us, so we can put the angler numbers to the sponsors. I will NEVER ask anglers to not fish another circuit. I personally will be fishing the others more than ever, to show my support of them. My hope is that we can get enough sponsor support to build a circuit that "our" anglers can fish, and not feel like they have to go back east to "make it " fishing. Fact is guys, most of us work here, our families are here, and most of us simply cannot go back east to chase our dreams. But, if the opportunity was here........that's a different deal. There are six of us that have wrote large checks to start this circuit. We will be doing things a lot different. We think it's the right way for the west. All six of us have a lot of tournament experience and "think" we know what to do. Even though six of us make decisions, we will be running advisory boards for additional impute. Both Tony Franceschi and I will be coming to marine dealerships and tackle shops to talk with anglers. We want to tell you the things we are doing, why we think it's the right way, and get feedback from you. These meetings with start in August, I’m anxious to spread the word and get feedback.

[CN]

I sure hope it work's out for you Gary. The big problem is the Economy as most of us already know. We have to forcast what we see coming down the road and unfortunatly the company I work for,which is a construction based company, we see another down turn after the Election's. Even though we had a very good year which run's from August to the end of July all we concentrated on is getting any and all debt down to zero before investing in anything period. So any sponsership not related to the fishing industry will be very hard to get right now and in my opinion that is where you need to look also. But until I see all the details as to what this will offer that the other's do not it's just unknown whether it will draw more. Also do you really think there are that many people sitting on the fence until something new come's out. I don't know if there are but is it going to be that significant that this will draw them out.

Good luck, Mike Nance.

[Gary Dobyns]

Good points Mike. I hope this works out great too. All six of us believe in the concept and are working hard at both in and out of industry sponsors. I've heard from guys that have not fished an event in 4 and 5 years. One of them is a friend that I'd just kind of lost touch with and he's excited to be coming back. Another says "great, now I've got to buy a new Ranger"...imagine that. He's fishing for sure. These are the calls that get me fired up and believing we have a solid plan. Timing on starting a high level trail is never good and we will have to work harder, but there are six of us to carry the load. We have many meetings with potential sponsors over the next few weeks. Then we will start our angler meetings. Question? Has anyone ever traveled all over the west coast for meetings with anglers? We will be doing it and have talked with many locations already. It's easy to play things safe and fish for a limit. It's much harder throwing the big baits and fishing to win. That's what we are trying to do. The winners will be the west's anglers. Just give us a chance and we may just surprise you.

[swimbait]

Good luck Gary - don't fish chicken Excited to see new formats and schedules.

[Rich hamilton]

Gary,

Your name has always been grouped with words such as honesty and integrity. I will follow you my brother. With all the folks we have lost lately in our fishing industry please consider some type of way to memorialize these folks as your business grows.

Consider your group of six watching this professor speak online. He does a great presentation on business start ups. It will help your business. He was one of my daughters professors at the HAAS school of business in Berkeley.
http://www.steveblank.com

As always I wish you continued success, Richie Rich

[leachman90]

This sounds really good Gary.Hope you can get the guys to come out and support a new trail. BUT knowing you for as long as I have I have to believe this will work out. Peace and Success my Brother...Jim

[Gary Dobyns]

Rich that's a great idea. We have lost some GREAT people in our sport lately. I think it would be awesome to pick one person per event and let guys know who and what they did for our sport. I like that suggestion a lot. Ron Crews , Don Lee, and Pat Donoho were all very close friends of mine and I miss them terribly. Thanks for the idea.