2018 Collegiate Angler Survey Results

COLLEGIATE ANGLER SURVEY 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

04 ANGLER DATA 06 TIME SPENT FISHING 08 BOAT OWNERSHIP 11 PURCHASING / RETAIL HABITS 12 RAINWEAR 13 RODS AND REELS 16 FISHING LINE 17 FAVORITE PRO AMNGLER

OPENING STATEMENT

The following pages offer an in-depth look at the brands college anglers are us- ing, own and prefer. The pages also provide an in-depth look at the amount of time on water, average age, social media usage as well as insight into some of their interests. Anglers fishing this event earned the right to represent their club at the Cham- pionship and many aspire to move into positions in the fishing industry or to compete full-time on a professional fishing level. There are also some anglers fishing their first major Championship event ever. We do believe this survey is as accurate as can be given this background and data. Keep in mind not all ques- tions on all surveys were answered by each angler, so not all totals will add up to the number of anglers completing the survey. We will provide analysis of some data that is based on hosting this Champion- ship event for 13 years now, as well as operating other collegiate fishing events and reviewing various other surveys. . If you have any questions or would like to know more, please email college@carecotv.com.

ANGLER DATA

AGE: The average age of the anglers fishing the 2018 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Cabela’s was 21.9 years old. TOURNAMENTS: The anglers fishing the Championship stated that they fished on average 16 tournaments per year. SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE: In this year’s survey it should be noted that the anglers said on average they spend 1.3 hours daily on social media sites with 234 reply- ing they felt they were active in sharing or posting fishing information. Instagram was an overwhelming favorite among college anglers! Facebook, Twitter, and SnapChat followed as other choices, in that order. The reported average time spent daily on social media is down from the 2016 survey – where the average time spent viewing or posting on social media was closer to 2 hours of time daily. In addition, Facebook usage fell while Instagram usage rose. Twitter remained about the same overall. Snap Chat usage remains limited when it comes to fishing content by these anglers responding.

ANGLER DATA (cont.) HUNTING: 245 of 299 anglers said that they hunt -- Whitetail Deer, Waterfowl, and Turkey being top species -- with 50 saying they do not hunt and 5 not filling in an answer. In 2016, 246 said they hunted while 45 said they did not hunt. We feel many of these anglers are also dedicated hunters in some shape or form. DISCOUNTS: Finally, 231 OF THE 299 SURVEYS STATED THEY USED A DISCOUNT CODE , provided to them by the partners of the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series, to make a purchase over past 12 months. In 2016, 197 said they had used a discount code while 110 said they had not used a discount code provided to them.

HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN BASS FISHING?

1-3 years 4-6 years 7-9 years 10-13 years 14-16 years 16 years +

7% 17% 15% 20% 17% 16%

HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU ENTERED YOUR FIRST FISHING TOURNAMENT?

Between ages of 1-7 years Between ages of 8-10 years Between ages of 11-13 years Between ages of 14-16 years Between ages of 17-18 years Between ages of 18 years and up

5% 10% 16% 25% 23% 21%

HOW MANY DAYS A YEAR DO YOU FISH? 2018 Results

The 239 That Own a Boat Fish an Average of

The 58 That Don’t Own a Boat Fish an Average of

0-50 days a year 51-100 days a year 101-150 days a year 150 + days a year

0-50 days a year 51-100 days a year 101-150 days a year 150 + days a year

3% 38% 35% 24%

45% 26% 13% 15%

2016 Results*

0-50 days a year 51-100 days a year 101-150 days a year 150 + days a year

28% 31% 28% 12%

*Not broken down by Boat/Non-Boat Owner

DO YOU OWN A BOAT?*

*From the 2016 Survey, out of 309 anglers replying, 241 of them owned a boat and 68 did not own a boat. 239 YES 58 NO 2 NO ANSWER

PERCENTAGE OF OWNERSHIP BY YEAR MODEL 2016-2018 2012-2015 2009-2011 Before 2009 26% 11% 12% 42%

WHAT OUTBOARD IS ON YOUR BOAT?

Mercury Evinrude 51% 31% 8% Yamaha

Johnson 2%

Suzuki 0.4%

Interesting Note

Honda and Mariner both have dropped off the list in 2018. Suzuki was mentioned for the first time. Top 3 are ranking in same order as in 2016 survey.

WHAT ELECTRONICS ARE ON YOUR BOAT?* Lowrance Garmin 41% 39% 16% Lowrance & Humminbird 3% 1% Humminbird Lowrance & Garmin

*This question was not asked in 2016.

There has been a 20 boat increase from the 2016 survey data of boat ownership in the newer year model categories. There has been a 10 boat decrease from the 2016 survey data in the category of boat model ownership that their boats are 4-6 years old (built between 2012- 2015 model years). There continues to be a large segment of ownership of boats that are 10 years or older in the college angler ranks. In fact, this segment of boat ownership is the largest when looking at all four age classes of boat models at this time. College anglers seem to mostly be either in a boat less than 2 years old or older than 10 years old.

BOAT OWNERSHIP BY BRAND 1. Ranger Boats 2. Skeeter 48 37

3. Triton 4. Nitro

35 32 22 13

5. Phoenix 6. Bass Cat 7. Pro Craft 8. Stratos 9. Champion 10. Tracker 11. Legend 12. Bullet 13. Pathfinder 14. Viper 15. Sea Ark 16. Shadow 17. Lower 18. G3 19. Express 20. Dyna Craft 21. Charger

9 8 7 5 4 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

22. Sprint 23. Hydro

Interesting Note

The top five brand rankings remained exactly the same from 2016.

Specific aluminum boat brand mentions dropped from 8 to 3.

PURCHASING / RETAIL HABITS We asked each collegiate angler what locations or websites they shop for fishing gear-tackle. As part of the question, they were also asked to list their top three choices where they did their shopping. In some cases they listed only one or two answers and ten didn’t list anything.

TOP 3 PLACES TO BUY FISHING GEAR/TACKLE

2018 Results

2016 Results

1. Tackle Warehouse 2. Bass Pro Shops 3. Cabela’s 4. Company Website 5. Academy Sports 6. Amazon 7. Dick’s Sporting Goods

1. Tackle Warehouse 2. Bass Pro Shops 3. Cabela’s

77% 50% 44% 29% 11% 4% 3% 2% 2% 0.6%

66% 50% 43% 24%

4. Company Website 5. Academy Sports 6. Gander Mountain 7. Field & Stream 8. Dick’s Sporting Goods 9. Sportsman’s Warehouse

9% 3% 2% 1% 1%

8. Tackle Addicts 9. Land Big Fish 10. Field & Stream

Interesting Note

We’re seeing a large number of smaller website fishing companies sponsoring collegiate bass teams and these anglers are displaying their logos on fishing jerseys. Another thing to note is that Amazon , Tackle Addicts , Land Big Fish are new- comers in the Top 3 choices for college anglers to shop.

RAINWEAR / COLD WEATHER CLOTHING

When asked about what rain gear / cold weather gear they wore when fishing, below are the replies, from the most to least of the 294 answers.

2018 Results

2016 Results

1. Bass Pro Shops 2. GILL 3. Cabela’s 4. Simms 5. Frogg Toggs 6. Carhartt 7. Huk 8. Columbia 9. Academy H20 10.Stormr 11. Wal-Mart 12.Frabill 13.Onyx 14. AFTCO 15.North Face 16.Sitka

28% 18% 16% 12%

1. Bass Pro Shops 2. Cabela’s 3. GILL 4. Huk 5. Stormr 6. Frogg Toggs 7. Columbia 8. Gander Mountain

27% 25% 11%

9% 5% 5% 4% 2% 2% 1%

9% 8% 6% 3% 3% 1% 1% 1%

9. Frabill 10. Simms

0.6% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3%

Interesting Note

GILL moved into the 2nd most worn set of rainwear after being in 3rd in 2016.

Huk and Stormr saw the largest drops in the survey with Huk dropping from being listed on 26 surveys in 2016 to just 16 surveys in 2018, and Stormr from 15 to 4. Simms moved from up from near the bottom of the listings to 4th in this sur- vey. Academy H2O Brand also saw a good increase from 4 to 10 users in this most recent survey.

RODS AND REELS COMBOS

When asked the question about how many rod and reel combos do you person- ally own, we broke it down by boat owners and non-boat owners.

Non-Boat Owners Group (59 replied)

Boat Owners Group (233 replied)

1-5 rod and reel combos 6-7 rod and reel combos 8-9 rod and reel combos 10-12 rod and reel combos 13-15 rod and reel combos 16-19 rod and reel combos 20+ rod and reel combos

1-5 rod and reel combos 6-7 rod and reel combos 8-9 rod and reel combos 10-12 rod and reel combos 13-15 rod and reel combos 16-19 rod and reel combos 20+ rod and reel combos

0% 2%

22% 36% 27%

13% 19% 13% 18% 34%

5% 8% 2% 0%

2016 Results* *Not broken down by Boat/Non-Boat Owner

More than 10 rod and reel combos Between 5-9 rod and reel combos Less than 5 rod and reel combos

67% 29% 3%

RODS The question asked in 2018 was, “What fishing rod brands do you own and how many of each fishing rod?” We had the anglers list all rods and we provided the 18 options below as well as a line for ‘other.’

2018 Results

2016 Results

1. Abu Garcia / Berkley 2. Lew’s 3. Shimano

1. Abu Garcia / Berkley 2. G-Loomis

380 373 298 193 173

58 31 24 23

3. Dobyns 4. Duckett 5. Temple Fork

4. Falcon 5. Denali 6. Bass Pro Shops 7. Cabela’s 8. Ardent 9. Temple Fork

16 15 15 13

6. Lew’s 7. Denali

117 92 85 65 61 55 52 45 41

8. St. Croix 9. Shimano 10. Daiwa

9 9

10. G-Loomis 11. Quantum 12. Castaway 13. 13 Fishing 14. Daiwa

15. Dobyns 16. Duckett 17. Okuma 18. Favorite Other Brands Not Listed on Form

38 32 28 11 889

Interesting Note

‘Other’ was the leader in the rod breakdown by a large margin.

Hammer Rods was the leading name written in when they chose to write in a brand.

REELS We had the anglers list all the reels they owned by brand and number for that brand. The totals are listed below for the Top 10 most owned reels by college an- glers.

2018 Results

1. Lew’s 2. Abu Garcia 3. Shimano 4. Daiwa 5. Bass Pro Shops 6. Quantum 7. Cabela’s 8. Ardent 9. 13 Fishing-Concept 10. Okuma 1. Lew’s 2. Abu Garcia 3. Shimano 4. Daiwa 5. Bass Pro Qualifier 6. Quantum 7. 13 Fishing-Concept 8. Cabela’s

1,087 801 738 222

118 112 109

87 74 11

2016 Results*

94 78 51 12 10

8 6 3 2 1

9. Okuma 10. Ardent

*In 2016, we did not ask them about how many reels of any brand they owned, we asked what was their favorite brand of reel.

FISHING LINE

The question was what fishing line brand do you buy the most of.

2018 Results

1. Seaguar 2. Sunline

42% 25% 18%

3. Trilene 4. P-Line 5. Bass Pro Fishing 6. Cabela’s 7. Stren 8. Spiderwire 9. Power Pro, K9, Suffix, Hi-Seas and YoZuri 10. Vicious, Lew’s, Academy, Gamma, and Izorline

5% 2% 1% 1% 1%

0.6% each 0.3% each

Interesting Note

The Top 5 is identical from the 2016 survey, and the percentage of ownership of each of those brands is within 5% of where it was in 2016 to 2018.

Cabela’s, Spiderwire, K9 Fishing Line are new to the list this year.

WE ASKED WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE TOURNAMENT ANGLER?

2018 RESULTS

The following anglers had received votes each in 2018: Ott Defoe, Skeet Reese, Ca- sey Ashley, Jason Lambert, Brent Ehrler, Steve Kennedy, Mark Rose, Randy Howell, Randy Haynes, Takahiro Omori, Chad Pip- kens, Fletcher Shryock, David Dudley, Clark Wendlandt, Chris Lane, Drew Benton, Bran- don Mosley, Zack Birge, Cliff Crochet, Wes- ley Strader, John Cox and Aaron Martens

1. Gerald Swindle 2. Jordan Lee 3. Brandon Palaniuk 4. Kevin VanDam 5. Greg Hackney 6. Jason Christie 7. Edwin Evers 8. Justin Atkins 9. Mike Iaconelli 10.Dustin Connell 11. Seth Fieder 12.Bryan Thrift 13. Scott Martin 14. Jacob Wheeler 15.Mark Daniels Jr. 1. Gerald Swindle 2. Kevin VanDam 3. Greg Hackney 4. Mike Iaconelli 5. Aaron Martens 6. Mark Daniels Jr. 7. Brandon Palaniuk 8. Edwin Evers 9. Brent Ehrler 10. Takahiro Omori 2016 RESULTS

44 23 19 18 17

15 12 8

7 7 7

Numerous anglers had one vote.

5 5 4 4

46 31 27 23 20

15 14 14

8 5

college@CarecoTV.com