Florida’s TrophyCatch Program Update
Here’s an update on Florida’s promotional fishing program, “TrophyCatch”:
Participation: As of February 10, we have 1,700 registered anglers with 43 approved submissions to TrophyCatch clubs. Considering the first quarter was scheduled for a soft launch to debug the website and our procedures, we are very pleased with the initial response. We are heading into the primetime for bass fishing, and just launching our major promotional efforts, so we expect these numbers to increase rapidly throughout the year.
Marketing Efforts: TrophyCatch business cards (PDF) are being distributed at various locations and events around the state reinforcing the “grassroots approach” to participation. A brochure detailing benefits of the program and highlighting how to participate is being produced, along with banners for weigh stations, fishing shows, tournaments and fairs.
Television show personalities: Th3Legends (Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston and Roland Martin), One More Cast with Shaw Grigsby, Bass2Billfish with Peter Miller, the Chevy Insider Fishing Report with Rick Murphy, the Average Angler with Glen Pla, and Under the Bridge Productions have each demonstrated their support for TrophyCatch. We continue to post appropriate videos on our YouTube channel (YouTube.com/TrophyCatchFlorida), including a selection of “My Trophy Swims in Florida” testimonials. We would appreciate your connecting your site to ours and have listed your site under Partner Channels where available. Feel free to submit relevant YouTube videos to us for cross-posting.
TrophyCatch will be publicized nationally this spring on NBC Sports, Outdoor Network, the Sportsman’s Channel, and Sunshine Network. The program was also featured on several radio stations airing throughout the State.
Our first full-page TrophyCatch magazine advertisement (PDF) will be placed in various publications and is available for your use. The ad is designed to be flexible, allowing us to replace the photo/background to customize messages that encourage expanded distribution and additional use by various partners. Print publications such as Florida Sportsman, GAFF, Coastal Angler, the Fishing Connection, and online e-magazines such as ODU, the Fly and Light Tackle Angler, and the Online Fisherman, World Fishing Network, Bass Online and others have carried articles promoting TrophyCatch and in various ways offered additional support.
Our first major bulk email campaign is underway, with 200,000 emails having been sent out. We are using a multi-staged deployment to Florida fishing license holders that will ultimately connect with nearly 600,000 anglers. We will also be reaching out to guides, tournament sponsors, marinas and bait-and-tackle shops with more specific offers. The initial templates link to official partner pages via the TrophyCatch prizing page. We encourage each partner to create a TrophyCatchFlorida page that promotes their offer and support for this wide-reaching, value-added angler recognition and conservation effort. When you do, please notify us, so we can update our links to your most appropriate pages.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came into existence on July 1, 1999 - the result of a constitutional amendment approved in the 1998 General Election as part of the package proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission.
In the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Florida Legislature combined all of the staff and Commissioners of the former Marine Fisheries Commission, elements of the Divisions of Marine Resources and Law Enforcement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and all of the employees and Commissioners of the former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Five years later, after consulting stakeholders, employees and other interested parties, the FWC adopted a new internal structure to address complex conservation issues of the new century. The new structure focuses on programs, such as habitat management, that affect numerous species. It will focus on moving the decision-making process closer to the public and did not require any additional funding or additional positions.
