Seminar Time: Sharing the Passion

As someone who is very passionate about fishing and ice fishing in particular, I believe it is important to share that passion with others and help get out new information or new tactics that might help make others more successful themselves on the water.

Because of this desire to help others get on some fish, I've been doing a seminar series I call, the "Lure of Ice Fishing" for the last four years now at the library in Rapid City as a way to get this information out. Luckily, thanks to help from places in town like the Rooster Bait Shop and other ice fishing companies like Clam Outdoors, Vexilar, and Northland Tackle, who have donated various items for me give away at these seminars, the attendance has kept growing with each new seminar I do.

I usually do them in the first full week of December when the lakes are usually frozen or at the very least starting to lock up. This year has been an exception of course as the warmer weather is preventing any of the larger lakes from freezing still.

This year, I decided to focus on different lakes and point out areas where I've had success or had seen others having success as well as how to use the screen readings on a Vexilar to tell what sort of composition the bottom is composed of in terms of whether fish may be hanging around.

I would also show some of the new tackle and gear options for the year and let people come up and get their hands on them. Last year, I had seen attendance skyrocket, going from nearly 40 from the previous year to 75 at last years.

While I secretly hoped to beat that mark, I figured that if 40 to 45 people showed up, I consider it a success. Well, thanks to some social media help from a few places in town, my expectations were blown away, as 85 people showed up by the time the seminar started at 6pm and it was a good thing too, as I had a bunch of door prizes and various other items to give away.

I enjoyed that there was such a mix of experience levels, ages, and genders and when I'm not sure about a question, there is always someone there who has a bit more information to help me out. I love that kind of crowd participation, as it allows me to learn some new things as well.

After the presentation, I had well over 40 minutes of questions, which is my favorite part of this series. To watch the seminar, check out this link--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx7bwZVZIvs&t=11s

After it was over, I received many good comments from attendees and still more questions as well and during ice fishing promotions at our local Cabela's two days later, many of them came to the store to look for items that I had discussed and to ask more questions.

I was happy to see that many took my tips or advice and were looking to try something new or catch more fish. That's what it's all about for me doing this seminar series. I want others to have fun and be successful on the ice and to pass it on to their kids or grandkids. They are the future of the sport and why we need to pass on our knowledge and our outdoor passion.