November 14, 2012
By Florida Sportsman Newswire
Courtesy of www.JacksonvilleKayakFishingClassic.com.
We are already starting work for the 2013 Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Classic which is scheduled for May 3-4. Once again it will be for the benefit of children's and conservation charities featuring the Down Syndrome Association of Jacksonville and the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. Your support last year enabled us to continue as the world's largest kayak fishing event with 407 anglers, maintain a sensational $38,500 level of charitable benefit, and put your products in the forefront of kayak anglers' minds.
We sincerely hope you can commit to supporting the 2013 Classic. Our plan is to open registration and begin promoting the 2013 Classic and our sponsors December 1, 2012. While we recognize that these are difficult economic times, we hope that you recognize the value the Classic has brought to your brand and products, and can find a way to continue to support this industry leading event.
Our media center at www.JacksonvilleKayakFishingClassic.com contains numerous articles and recognition of the 2012 event and your support. The event was covered by the Florida Times-Union and other Florida newspapers, fishing and paddling magazines nationwide such as Florida Sportfishing Magazine, Florida Sportsman, Coastal Angler Magazine, Kayak Fisherman Magazine, KayakFishingMagazine.Net, Kayak Angler Magazine, Canoe&Kayak Magazine, and Fly Fishing in Salt Waters Magazine. It was also covered locally on our fishing talk radio shows the Outdoors Show and the Florida Sportsman show, on the local television news, and throughout the internet.
Our goals for the 2013 tournament are to continue promoting Kayak Fishing in the North Florida area and putting on another world-class annual event:
- To provide a fun event for over 400 Kayak Anglers to compete in,
- To promote the products, brands, and businesses that serve the kayak fishing community,
- To raise money for our local children's and conservation charities,
- To raise awareness of fish and estuary conservation issues.
Once again the tournament targets Redfish, Trout, Flounder, and a slam/aggregate class with awards to 4-5 places in each class. We also have awards for top lady angler, junior angler, senior angler, and fly fishing angler. The tournament format is catch-photo-release, with paddlers attending a captain's meeting/check out event Friday evening, launching wherever they prefer to fish, and coming to a check- in/BBQ/Awards event after fishing.
Since we focus on a fun event rather than a professional event, we award trophies and non-cash prizes. We also provide each entrant a captain's bag that consists of a measuring device for scoring, a tournament shirt, and numerous products such as jigs, lures, artificial baits, promotional coupons, and brochures. The captain's bags in our last event were over an $80 retail value. All net proceeds from the event go to local charities and we drive the charitable contributions with great raffle prizes donated by our sponsors and sponsor cash contributions. Due to our relationship with our charities all sponsor cash and product donations are eligible for tax-deductible status as donations to a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
We also offer the Winner's Circle marketing program to help incentivize kayak anglers to purchase your products and use them in the Classic. We dedicate a section of our entry form and website to coupons for discounts on your products as designated by you to stimulate sales at local retailers. The Winner's Circle also enables our sponsors to make contingency prizes available for anglers that win or place using their products. This program is quite flexible and details are best handled directly on an individual basis.
We can't emphasize enough how much we appreciate your generous support that makes this special event a possibility. We are looking for sponsors to contribute prizes, cash, and charitable donations in exchange for advertising and promotion to make this tournament a success. At this point we have many sponsors onboard, but we would like to make this opportunity available to you before beginning our tournament promotion campaign in early 2012. This letter and more sponsorship information are available online. If you are interested please contact me at 904-382-5007, or via email mike@jaxkayakfishing.com.
It is our sincerest hope that you will be back with us in May 2013 for the next Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Classic and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
To view tournament and sponsor information PDF, click here.
