Fishing tied to tourism

Fishing tied to tourism is next step

Bob DiCesare
The Bassmaster Elite Series pulled out of Buffalo Monday having once again reaffirmed the world-class state of smallmouth bass fishing in dear old Lake Erie. Come September the cars will start coming in from neighboring states and beyond, reaffirming the world-class quality of our steelhead and salmon fisheries. Once winter arrives a whole new group of hearty souls will emerge to drill holes, set up huts and do a little ice fishing. And then after the steelhead and salmon runs of spring we’re back to bass season again.

Buffalo is one of the few places in North America that offers quality, quantity and diversity of fishing on a year-round basis. Charter captain Jim Hanley of Northeast Outdoors books clients from as far away as Texas. Ditto charter captain Tim Braun of Braun’s Outdoors Bass Charters. Chris Cinelli, another local captain, has regulars from Utah. The area’s reputation has expanded through word-of-mouth advertising that certainly fits nicely into our lean state and county budgets. But could we be doing more, should we be doing more, and are we creating lasting relationships with the tourists or merely allowing them to leave town with hopes they’ll someday return of their own volition?
“It [the fishing] is promoted, but I’d say on a scale of 1 to 10 it’s about a 3,” Braun said. “If you look at our waterfront, publicity-wise they publicize everything else but they don’t publicize anything about our watersports, not just fishing but boating and the outdoor industry altogether.”

If Buffalo’s going to make a go of it in the tourism industry, Lake Erie’s the place to start. We spent decades talking about the need for waterfront development and finally have come around to doing something about it. Meanwhile, the area’s fishing industry remains woefully under-marketed. Erie County offers a helpful Web site, www.erie.gov/hotspot , that includes a listing of area charter captains. However, that site provides only the basics and makes no attempt to educate out-of-towners on Buffalo’s other attributes. For instance, a link to the Buffalo Visitors and Convention Bureau site probably would be more relevant to would-be tourists than the link to the Erie County Legislature. “We have a lot to offer here,” Braun said. “When my clients come in they ask me what they can do and I say the wives, if they don’t fish, can go shopping on the Elmwood strip. Usually if they come up with the family they’ll fish with me for one or two days and then do the Niagara Falls thing, Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds. Most people when they come out with me, I’ll give them an itinerary of things they can do. A lot of them will go to a baseball game.”

What if the Web site offered fishing and hotel packages?
“That would be huge,” Braun said. “I already work with some of the hotels to get my clients discounts.”
Why not prompt out-of-towners to register on the site in exchange for, say, fishing maps of the area? Think of the possibilities presented by data collection. Those outside the area could be encouraged via e-mail or mobile marketing to time their fishing trip to Buffalo with our many summertime festivals. Registered users in Ohio could be reminded that the steelhead fishing is in high gear if they’re coming in for the Bills-Browns game in mid-November. We needn’t incur great expense to bring sophistication to our marketing and promote all aspects of the region. And since fishing’s a proven draw, with room for more growth, leveraging its value is a good place to start because the potential impact abounds.

“Just the tournament that was here this weekend, I’ve already booked four trips off it,” Braun said.
And his is just one of 50 charter companies listed on the “hotspot” site.