MN Fish

Buzz wrote:

Curious, those who single out the HOF , when was your last visit?

Never visited probably never will. HOF is of no interest to me. However if enough people of mn fish are interested in this and expressed that a functioning HOF is important to MN I would support, after all I am only one voice and one opinion. So far to my knowledge the question has not been put to the group (or any question for that matter) if HOF is important, does it deserve our support? How much money needs to be raised to keep it operating? What type of fundraising events as a group can mn fish put together? What resources such as time and energy of members would be required to make it succesful?

I know Gary Roach donates guide services to raise money. Maybe mn fish is getting corporate sponsors together to raise the money to support the HOF and in return features their names prominently in all communication. Who knows what they are doing? Which is the whole point of us chatterheads sniping.

It’s amazing how far we have advanced fishing tackle, techniques, electronics. I’m doubtful that hardly any of the HOF members made enough to raise a family and spent their lives on the water. It’s their example and character that I admire.

Buzz wrote:

Curious, those who single out the HOF , when was your last visit?

Never. It sounds like the stupidest thing ever. If it was in Darwin, I’d rather go see the ball of twine.

I personally don’t expect a whole lot from them..if they can be involved in some of the decision making and help steer the decision makers in the pro-fishing direction rather then some of the anti – fishing direction I’ll be happy. From experience I will tell you that it takes time and no one ever gets everything they want..just doesn’t work that way…the flame throwers should at least give it a chance of at least one legislative session before they start spouting with their bar stool patriots. Having fished in a lot of different states freshwater and saltwater I would say that Minnesota has fallen pretty far behind the times as far as quality, quantity of resources..the legislature seems to be more interested in how can we get more money from the fisherman and not give them anything in return..look how long it took to fix the trout hatchery in SE Minnesota, took them forever and a day to make a decision on the French River Hatchery..Mille Lacs..its a joke..two fishing line rule..another no brainer..you can only keep so many fish, so what difference does it make how many lines you have?.the Anti Muskie people.. “their eating all the walleyes” .. Lake Shore Associations telling everyone else how to treat “their” lake…and the list goes on..I believe there is a person out there that can make a lot of these things happen, we as fishing people have to stop the infighting, finger pointing and start voting for people that actually care about the sport/fishery ..how do you think the arts, biking path, ATV and other assorted groups made things happen?..just my 2 cents but from now on I promise I will be asking candidates their position on fishing and the resources in Minnesota and will be voting accordingly…

fishmantim wrote:

I personally don’t expect a whole lot from them..if they can be involved in some of the decision making and help steer the decision makers in the pro-fishing direction rather then some of the anti – fishing direction I’ll be happy. From experience I will tell you that it takes time and no one ever gets everything they want..just doesn’t work that way…the flame throwers should at least give it a chance of at least one legislative session before they start spouting with their bar stool patriots. Having fished in a lot of different states freshwater and saltwater I would say that Minnesota has fallen pretty far behind the times as far as quality, quantity of resources..the legislature seems to be more interested in how can we get more money from the fisherman and not give them anything in return..look how long it took to fix the trout hatchery in SE Minnesota, took them forever and a day to make a decision on the French River Hatchery..Mille Lacs..its a joke..two fishing line rule..another no brainer..you can only keep so many fish, so what difference does it make how many lines you have?.the Anti Muskie people.. “their eating all the walleyes” .. Lake Shore Associations telling everyone else how to treat “their” lake…and the list goes on..I believe there is a person out there that can make a lot of these things happen, we as fishing people have to stop the infighting, finger pointing and start voting for people that actually care about the sport/fishery ..how do you think the arts, biking path, ATV and other assorted groups made things happen?..just my 2 cents but from now on I promise I will be asking candidates their position on fishing and the resources in Minnesota and will be voting accordingly…

They say on their site they’re not going to get involved in the big hot button topics.

I just wanna be able to watch 2 corks, that’s all.

Any other positive actions would be a bonus.

Buzz wrote:

EEL, I don’t think its appropriate for me to speak for them on this question. However, I think you got it in your head that they are something other then a Lobbying Group. These types of groups operate at about 70,000 feet. As they grow into the organization they want to become, they’ll let their grassroots members know what type of support thy need. This year dollars for the MN Fishing Hall of Fame and Hatchery were a focus. By the way the Hall of Fame needs donations and a guided trip with Gary Roach is on the table. They are on the verge of closing visit

Holy Carp! Sorry I missed this last month.
Grass roots runs at 70,000 feet?
Just wait until those at 70,000 feet tell us what they will do with grass roots money?

Grass roots wants representation of the hot button issues. If they won’t touch them, what is the point? Feel good initiatives? What does that change? I won’t donate to feel good initiatives and legacy funds for HOF member’s retirement.

MN-Fish can stop pretending.

Buzz the Smallmouth Alliance put out more info then MnFish has. We have all the secretes we need with the DNR, what we need from MnFish is transparency. We need to know a game plan and how that plan is progressing. They aren’t smarter than we are so they might as well start acting like one of us. They will find the money spigot is closing because of the lack of information coming out.

It’s unprofessional and shows a lack of respect to take people’s money, yet give no written or verbal communication through any of the many platforms that are super easy to communicate off of.

We all know it takes time.

We all know we all aren’t going to agree with them on everything.

But a brief, short video, letter or Facebook post could eliminate or alleviate the growing angst and doubt many have that is only escalating with each passing day, week and month.

Everyone’s schedule is busy. But when you take money for something, you d @ m sure better be giving some indication of what’s transpiring. Even it’s just a hey, we got your money and we are trying to get our feet underneath us, a start up organization. But 6 months and absolutely zero information, other than a couple brochures and decals. Really?

It might seem harsh and impatient, but let’s be realistic, they are having no problems cashing the checks. They’ve had little problem getting the accepting cash part figured out. They are starting out on the wrong foot with most. Fair or unfair, when you take people’s money, they have a right to want to know what’s going on, and some acknowledgment that the ball is at least starting to roll vs radio silence. Have no problem with them being cautious and not want to say to much or say the wrong thing. But they have been to quite for to long to inspire a great deal of or perception of confidence. That’s going to bite them and the initial buzz is gone and all that’s left is suspicion and reasonable doubt. That will be hard for them to get past in a group of anglers who are already skeptical of the dnr and people who make a living marketing and pitching products 24/7. Yet can’t come up with even a snippet of real info.

Good luck mnfish. You got my money and hooked me once. Unless something drastically changes, won’t be fooled by that lure again.

Signed sincerely,

Disappointed, underwhelmed and unimpressed.

Buzz wrote:

It’s their example and character that I admire.

Umm when I asked the head honcho how a person that was ticketed for poaching could be inducted in the HOF, I didn’t get another reply.

Yes, I admire their character too.

Anyone go visit their both at the game fair?! I’m sure Babe is up on all the current battles they are fighting in the MN legislature

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Didn’t know they had a booth there.
It would be nice if they updated their websites “Updates and Events” page

Evan Pheneger wrote:

Anyone go visit their both at the game fair?! I’m sure Babe is up on all the current battles they are fighting in the MN legislature

Better chance of me buying season tickets to the “smoke & mirrors tour” than MnFish

Sign up! Sign up! Sign up now! That’s all that comes out of them. It’s a joke if not a outright scam. I signed up for the free side of it just to see what info they would send via email etc. Nada not a thing for months. I would never give these scammers a single nickel. If I had signed up and paid as a life member I’d be kicking their door down for my money back awhile ago.

Ok don’t shoot the messenger!

Buzz I am sorry I jumped on your post about MN Fish as I’m repeating pretty much what you have already said in an earlier post July 19th.

In my post on August 7th I said I got through to MN fish answering service as
Buzz reported they were setting up back in July and asked for someone to contact me. I was frustrated as are many of you with the lack of information coming from MN Fish.

Today Chip Leer called me and we had a good conversation and I feel better about my investment in MN Fish and do feel they will get this up and running. Here are the highlights of the conversation.

1. The founding group members do not get paid they are doing the work as volunteers.
2. They have mostly been working to sign up corporate sponsors. The reason I was told is that all manufacturers of fishing equipment from rapala to mercury pay excise tax on sales in MN. The majority of these funds are being diverted away from fishing causes and MN Fish want to change this. Chip says even gaining back a small percentage of these funds would translate into a large amount of money and would go a long way to fund fishing projects around the state. The manufacturers interest is selfish ofcourse in that they want to see their tax dollars strengthen MN fishing and water sports to sell more equipment.
3. MN Fish now has an answering service to take anyone calls and it appears they will answer your questions put to them. They are working on getting a newsletter together and will start polling members as to their concerns as soon as they get their systems to the point it can handle the email and phone call volume they expect to receive. Timeline I was told would be later this year.
4. Chip mentioned they did have one win this year that was not highly publicised they were able to get the legislature to fund $ 200,000 to the MN Highschool fishing league. Sounds like a good investment to future fishing to me and a cause I can support.

Is MN Fish moving as fast as we would like? As we have discussed on this forum the answer is no. You cannot ignore the fact though that they are making progress.

So it is not a scam, we need to be a bit more patient.

tomr wrote:

The manufacturers interest is selfish ofcourse in that they want to see their tax dollars strengthen MN fishing and water sports to sell more equipment.

Precisely what I said earlier.

Everything you learned sounds legit but until Mn fish can start communicating themselves, they won’t see a penny of my money. It wouldn’t take much for even one of the celebrity founding members to write up a short recent wins blog.

tomr wrote:

Ok don’t shoot the messenger!

Buzz I am sorry I jumped on your post about MN Fish as I’m repeating pretty much what you have already said in an earlier post July 19th.

In my post on August 7th I said I got through to MN fish answering service as
Buzz reported they were setting up back in July and asked for someone to contact me. I was frustrated as are many of you with the lack of information coming from MN Fish.

Today Chip Leer called me and we had a good conversation and I feel better about my investment in MN Fish and do feel they will get this up and running. Here are the highlights of the conversation.

1. The founding group members do not get paid they are doing the work as volunteers.
2. They have mostly been working to sign up corporate sponsors. The reason I was told is that all manufacturers of fishing equipment from rapala to mercury pay excise tax on sales in MN. The majority of these funds are being diverted away from fishing causes and MN Fish want to change this. Chip says even gaining back a small percentage of these funds would translate into a large amount of money and would go a long way to fund fishing projects around the state. The manufacturers interest is selfish ofcourse in that they want to see their tax dollars strengthen MN fishing and water sports to sell more equipment.
3. MN Fish now has an answering service to take anyone calls and it appears they will answer your questions put to them. They are working on getting a newsletter together and will start polling members as to their concerns as soon as they get their systems to the point it can handle the email and phone call volume they expect to receive. Timeline I was told would be later this year.
4. Chip mentioned they did have one win this year that was not highly publicised they were able to get the legislature to fund $ 200,000 to the MN Highschool fishing league. Sounds like a good investment to future fishing to me and a cause I can support.

Is MN Fish moving as fast as we would like? As we have discussed on this forum the answer is no. You cannot ignore the fact though that they are making progress.

So it is not a scam, we need to be a bit more patient.

Tell Chip to spend 30 seconds of his time and put that information on their Facebook page…..

Their last post was months ago…..

Their lack of updates and information is unacceptable, especially for how simple it is to do.

Deuces wrote:

Oh no they are active. Still out they are still asking for money ???? good crew there.

Deuces wrote:

Oh no they are active. Still out they are still asking for money ???? good crew there.

Deuces wrote:

Oh no they are active. Still out they are still asking for money ???? good crew there.

Deuces wrote:

Oh no they are active. They are still out asking for money good crew there.

Whoops didnt mean to reply 6 times lol.

Lol,
I thought you were making a point.

MNfish should put bearcat in charge of PR releases. No shortage of posts

Hallelujah, the second coming is here!

Mn-fish is back from the dead

Got a response from an email I sent this spring.

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Not that I care exactly who it is, but does Tiffany have a last name? I would think that an organization email would include full names in the signature.

biggill wrote:

Not that I care exactly who it is, but does Tiffany have a last name? I would think that an organization email would include full names in the signature.

Didn’t she sing the pop song “I Think We’re Alone Now”?

biggill wrote:

Not that I care exactly who it is, but does Tiffany have a last name? I would think that an organization email would include full names in the signature.

I’d rather see a picture than a last name.