How Many Boats Are You Going To Have?

I heard this question many times today as I delivered programs and banners to area retailers. Of course, we never know what the total is going to be since everyone usually waits until the weekend prior to the tournament to enter. I think on Friday last year prior to the week of fishing, we had 91 boats when the office closed. Forty of those had entered during that week. When it was all said and done, we ended up with 176 boats....... you just never know. In good economies and bad we have usually hovered somewhere around 180 and I don't expect this year to be any different.

If t-shirt sales are any indication, they are flying off the shelves. We are getting tons of calls everyday and slips are full for the week of the tournament with waiting lists. The tournament is certainly spending the same money on great entertainment, food, seabags, etc. and in general, the Big Rock excitement is building around town.

The weather has finally been nice and charters have been bringing back large dolphin while releasing white and blue marlin. Fuel costs are half what they were last year and everyone seems anxious to get out on the water.

All in all, I believe we will have a very good year at Big Rock. I hope that the extra tuna rollover money of $23,000 will encourage smaller boats to come join in the fun and see what they are missing!

-The Keli Wagner Lady Angler (KWLA) shirts and license plates are now available for purchase at the Big Rock office.

We have already received entries for the tournament as well as many "non-fishing" entries. The non-fishing entry, dreamed up by Sarah Strange, is proving to be one of the better ideas to come out of the Big Rock think tank in a while. There are a mulititude of people that would like to participate in this tournament in some way but have not been able to do so because of distance. This is an excellent way to be a part of giving back to this community.

-We ran a local commercial recently about Tiger Runner winning the Release level in 2008. I wonder how many people realize they can win this kind of money just by entering Level I? Information like this get's lost in the hoopla of someone winning $700,000 or more, but what a payout..... for $2500 you can win $92,000! Now that's a deal!

-The marsh outside my window is starting to turn green, so I know Spring is getting close. It is amazing how much the marsh actually changes during the year.

We have recieved our first entries from Triple A and Figment. The media is always surprised when I tell them we have 5 or 6 entries but we always get the bulk of our participant entries on the weekend before fishing. It makes planning somewhat difficult but we manage to do pretty well!

-T-shirts were delivered last week to area retailers and everyone was really excited to have their shirts for Easter weekend. Retailer feedback has been very positive.

There is a light blue that is only sold at the Big Rock office along with a dark pink in a ladies cut shirt. We always have something special here!

We had the press conference yesterday to announce the naming of the ladies tournament to The Keli Wagner Big Rock Lady Angler Tournament.

Since that press conference and email blast, we have been inundated with calls and emails with those who want t-shirts and would like to either fish or donate funds! Later, I posted the information on Facebook and we had 21 comments on the design of the shirt, etc. Everyone is so happy we are honoring Keli in this way! BTW- check out our page on Facebook, The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.

The items for the seabag, the shirt with Cole's marlin, etc. all look great and I love the fact that the items are all special to Keli. I feel like Keli would be proud of this but would be most content that because of her, money is being raised for the comfort and care of others.

The chosen charity for this tournament, the RAAB Cancer Clinic, offers services to so many people that they are now looking to build a new office in the near future. The donations raised from the KWLA tournament will continue to support this wonderful center.