Give a Man an Auto...TTM Return in 4 days!Aly

 The Thing With Pro Fishing Is...

Aly Akers (right), Host of Major League Fishing returned my TTM request in 4 days!

As I've posted about before I love Professional Fishing and collecting autos and stuff from those guys! Two differences stick out in my mind between Pro Fishing and Pro Baseball; size of fan base and circulation of money. Both of which are much smaller for Fishing than Baseball, but I would have to argue that Fishing might be the national pastime; historically. If you didn't know, these guys can, and do become millionaires through the sport. If you visit the Bassmaster website you can see each angler's career earnings in just tournaments alone. Some of the numbers are staggering.

I had a very interesting interaction with an up-and-comer fisherman last week that I had some thoughts on I'd like to share. If you recall I attended the Bassmaster weigh in when it was here at Lake St. Clair and got autographs and took pictures. I printed some of my favorite pictures and have been trying to contact the guys in them to see if they will do TTM autographs for me.
The first guy I contacted was Jacob Wheeler. My favorite fisherman hands down. I sent him an email via his website and received a response the next day saying he would love to sign my picture. He is awesome. The dude literally just tied the knot and might not even be back from his honeymoon yet. I have always been blown away with how interactive he is with fans in the community.

With that success under my belt, I sent to 3 other fishermen. Two are pretty successful, award winning guys and the third is like I mentioned earlier an "up-and-comer" in the sport but quickly becoming more popular. I haven't heard back from the 2 more successful guys yet.
I messaged the rookie via social media because his website is broken. I asked him if he had a fan mail accepting address that I could send him a photo and a SASE to for a signature. He is the one guy I expected to say "Heck yes" because of him just coming off his rookie year. He messaged back 2 days later and said he had no address and could not sign. Here are my self-righteous, deserving, disgusting uber-millenial disappointed thoughts on this:

First, this speaks volumes to how great Jacob Wheeler is with his fans. Wheeler has career winnings of $1.37 million and this other guy has made $159,454. To put into Detroit Tiger terms it would be Michael Fulmer compared to Buck Farmer where Fulmer signed for you and was instantly your best friend and Farmer denied you. I know these guys have free will and don't have to do anything I want them to but my next thought explores a little more of that.
Pro Fishermen rely on sponsors. They are walking, talking billboard ambassadors. Their jerseys look like Nascar vehicles with logos plastered everywhere. Their boats are no different. Now, do I drive a certain brand car because some Nascar dude does? No, but I am not a racing fan. Do I now throw Gene Larew plastic baits while fishing in a pond pretending to be Jacob Wheeler on Major League Fishing? Yes. I would think a guy who is sponsored and depends on those sponsors would go a little farther for the fans.
Lastly, this is where racking my brain over this gets into the (for the lack of a better term) shitty side of society. The gentleman that denied me is not Caucasian. He competes in a very white dominated sport that has the majority of its fans in the southern states. I hate to think this way but maybe he was afraid of his address getting out. I don't know. I expected a reply like "Yeah send it to my sponsor with my name on it." I didn't need the guy's home address. The funny thing is I sent an email to Aly Akers the host of Major League Fishing who is a former Miss Oklahoma, I believe. She replied instantly "Yes, send it here." The current state of the country would lead you to believe Miss Akers would have more to fear giving out an address than the other man, but who knows. This world is crazy. I could be wrong about all of it and the guy is homeless and lives off his boat.

I am still a fan of his and hope he stays successful and maybe if the Bassmasters come back to Lake St. Clair I can get him to sign the picture for me. In the meantime; Aly Akers signed for me adding to my huge stack of fishing autos I need to create a display for.

She tossed in some stickers for my canoe too!