CRAPPIE CAMP 2020 AGENDA / TOURNAMENT

Your 2020 co-hosts got together to discuss how we would like to put on this years fish camp.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIARS CLUB:

In addition to the fellowship and food we always do for liars club, we will be following in J&J’s footsteps and holding a members only prize giveaway, this costs the member nothing and will be by a lottery system/ticket drawn style. We will be collecting prizes throughput the year of various things not necessarily fishing related.

SATURDAY TOURNAMENT/S

Since Houghton Lake has an abundance of fish species we will be having subspecies winners this year but you MUST BE entered in the Crappie/Wilbur tournament, and here’s how it works:

CRAPPIE/WILBUR TOURNAMENT

Entry fee is $10.00 per person and winners will be by length of a single Crappie.
First place will be awarded the Travelling trophy and choice of one prize.
Second place gets choice of next prize.
Third place gets 3rd prize.

These 3 Prizes will be a EGO Sliding Net, a very nice rod and reel combo and a Blackstone Griddle.

SUB SPECIES TOURNAMENT

You must be entered in the Crappie tournament to enter any of the sub species.
They will be:
Longest Northern Pike
Longest Walleye
Longest Bass (largemouth, smallmouth, Rock, etc.)
Longest panfish other than Crappie

Entry fee is $5.00 per subspecies
Prizes are going to be a custom made paddle such as this one

Attachment 351974

That will be painted by professional cartoonist Bill McElroy and will have one of the four subspecies fish on the paddle, these are not a full scale paddle but rather a small version of a paddle suitable for display in your home, cabin or RV.
In addition to the custom paddle we are working on getting gift cards for each winner as well.

50/50 DRAWING

This is pretty much the same as every other one we have done, winner gets half of the money brought in.

SILENT AUCTION

We loved the Silent Auction that was done at the Rose Lake camp and want to do that again so we are asking members to donate/make items to be given away to winning bidders for this event. We ask that any used item you may give is gently used. You can purchase as many tickets that you want and dispense those tickets in an appropriate container marked for a corresponding item.

I know we have very talented members who make wonderful items and others would love a chance at owning something made by you if possible.

I hope I haven’t left anything out and have explained it well, if there are any questions John or I will answer them.




Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Great idea getting the word out early for all of this!

Thanks for getting the info out early , but I was wondering about the prizes or more of how we acquire the goods. In the past we have done a host of different things to get these items.
I think the most successful was when we started approaching different companies, (fishing or other), asking for their partnership in our annual event in the form of monetary gifts or products.
The main problem we encountered , back then, was timing, we were either a day late or a dollar short. But because theres an actual agenda and planning is pretty much done.
It’s a good thing because whenever you make contact with these individuals at potential donor companies , they want to know about us, what we’re about, how their product will help us and in return how can we help them out.
In the past we would post all of our sponsors at the end of crappie camp on the website. But what if we would do that in reverse...... I’m thinking, by getting an early start making calls to potential sponsors/donors, this would help get our event on a lot more of the sponsorship lists.
With all this being said the ultimate goal is to have all of our sponsors included in a flyer of our event, that we can then post around the communities we live in. This could too help attract new people/ members to the world of crappie fishing or just fishing.
Hopefully this makes sense, it would be fantastic if this works and we can gain some new individuals/families to our MCDC group!!



Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Kevin, the camp we had in June had a pretty good selection of prizes. Some were donated by those who attended, we got a few from local small businesses and donations from Pico and Fish USA. The rest were bought with club money left from the previous year.

The problem we had was that no one wants to donate unless you are a non profit, which we are not. I contacted all of the C.C sponsors by e mail and never got an answer. I started in September and tried again in January. "G" helped me with the Pico donation and "D" helped with Fish USA.

It's tough for the people hosting the camp to contact potential sponsors located outside the area they live. I think it should be a group effort with all of us chatting up our local sports shops or connecting with people we know in the fishing industry. Even outside the fishing world, this past June the non-fishing related prizes went before the fishing related prizes.

I'm sure Steve and John have things under control and will put on a great camp. If we all pitch in it can be the best ever.

I don't know if I should make a seperate post about sponsors or just let it go on this thread......

Kevin I think we can get some flyers made up and get them distributed early, take them with us to businesses then do another one of the sponsors we do have around February to drum up excitement for the event.....my .02

Jerry brings up a good point, a group effort will help a lot and we welcome any and all support in this camp.

That being said:
Steve Ash Construction will be a sponsor and count on me for a donation of $100.00 to start things off
Maybe Haulin Ash on YouTube could donate a day of fishing as well (really have to twist his arm on that one)

:twocents

In years past, the only reason we really ever did a silent type of auction was to either A: raise money for a specific charity in the area or B: raise money to help offset the cost of hosting a camp (IE, fill the coffers so to speak).

The hopes are always that T-shirt sales and a fishing tournement can keep you at or near a straight line in regards to money spent and money received. Some years are better than others. It is always hard to guage from one year to the next.

My opinion on it (and Jerry even said it) the majority of the prizes that went first are in fact Non-fishing related. The question we need to ask is: Why? The simple answer is that the majority of us always purchase what we want in the fishing world. I think if you poll most everyone that attends, they will probably say the same thing: They don't come for any prizes or anything like that. It is cool and fun but... nobody really comes for that.

That being said, maybe the thing to do is to take a step back! Tournament placement prizes are great but... if you cannot make up the cost by tournament entries, then something has to give. I think the ideas above are great.
1 crappie going specifically by length (great idea)
size prizes for other fish (another great idea)

Other than that.... don't concern yourself with other prizes. Whether it be jigs, cranks, or other things. If a sponsor WANTS to donate something because we either use their products or they want us to use their products, that is great. The majority of the time, if a company has something new (say Case has a new color they are coming out with) they usually want to send it out and test it. These are the types of places where it works well. BUT, we really shouldn't be out trying to get a bunch of stuff simply to get it. Besides, many companies do not like to give away stuff IF they find out that you are selling raffle tickets to win it.

To summerize:
The tournament is great.
Make sure that you can make enough money to offset the cost of what you spent.
If you cannot, either reduce the cost of the prizes OR, find another way to offset the cost (like a 50/50 raffle).

With all the above being said....

Here are a few ideas in regards to possibly making some additional income WITHOUT the need to sell raffle tickets and collect prizes:

Cornhole (bean bag toss) tournament. 5 bucks to enter, winner gets half the pot. (round robin starting at liars club with the tournament finally taking place during the luncheon. This way, everyone gets to talk smack while the two finalist go head to head.

Flipping contest: Setup a coffee can. Entrant has 5 chances to see how many times they can flip a 1/8oz jig in to the coffee can.
Horse shoes (Houghton Lake West has a pit).
Games associated with bragging rights! Remember, these are not to make money but to simply offset the cost of what you are doing in regards to the event.

I loved the diversity of the prizes last year (and I think the women did also :)...)
every year is different and I think everyone that has hosted one of our events has done a good job. we just keep trying to keep it entertaining for everyone .
really hoping that some of these ideas will help to generate even more people to join our group.
would love to see more of the little's and maybe even some teen's :yikes :biggrin and of course our womenfolk too!
I noticed the same thing as Jerry did last year about non fishing related prizes going first.
we will definitely have a nice selection of those. Steve and I are working rounding up some of soon.
keep the ideas and suggestions coming as all of this only help in running one of these events.

I do say that one of the things I enjoy most about our camps is the Friday night liars club, campfire , good friends and good stories and making new friends.
oh and the FOOD on Saturday!!!
I will definitely NOT be on a diet next year!!!!!!!!

Agenda's can be revised, we have a lot of time to get input from the members....it helps!

To Richs' point, I agree that our camp shouldn't be dictated by the amount of money being raised, unless there is a specific charity to donate it to. I am fine with buying tickets for prizes and, as we saw last year, many of those who win prizes give them to some one else. The format needs to be set by those who volunteered to host the camp.

This years Friday night freebie was patterned after Louisianas D'arbonne camp and was meant as a way for everyone that showed up to get something. That way no one felt like they had to spend money to win a prize. A few of the things Jeff and I did were different from previous years and that was on purpose. You don't know until you try. Some things might stick and some will fade away.

The best part of our group, the C.C family, is that we can connect with like minded members from across the country. Hopefully our camp will become a destination for members from other states. The fact that we had visitors from three other states is something to be proud of. With luck, next years camp will have 5,6 or 7 states represented.

I'm also going to make a donation. I will offer up another fun filled stay at the Beats-a-Tent lodge on beautiful Townline Lake. I'll even throw in some steaks or something for the grill. Depends on what I find on sale :dono.

I'll donate a fishing trip to Saginaw or Erie on my boat.

I hope to be one of the other state guys there. Thought I would give my opinion. I don't come for the prizes and find them a little distracting at times. The giving out tends to take up time we could be telling more lies.(and eating more) I have all the fishing gear I could ever use. Could be possible to just distribute the entry fee for the fishing contest as the prize. Maybe the t shirt sales and the 50/50 would cover the rest. Then maybe do a silent auction for "member donated" prizes and sell the tickets real cheap, like a dollar a piece or 6 for $5. Stick out cups in front of them for everyone to put their tickets in.That should be enough to cover costs and provide some entertainment.Just set the donated fish baits on a table and say have at it. I helped put on a couple events and my least favorite thing was soliciting prizes. All that being said, It's your party. If I am invited I am gonna try to be there. You guys are what makes the drive worth it. Good bunch.

Danny, your always invited.