BassMastMag (rant)

[JiggaMan512]

Ive really been noticing over the last two issues of bassmasters that none of there debuted products (or ANY products) have a price tag next to them if your gonna put 50 new lures in you magazine in one issue, i think pricing them makes a world of sense. It would definitly narrow down the lures i was intereesting in. now i could move on to the ones in my price range , and work from there.  >

[Bass XL]

i know what you mean....the only 2 things i can say....they have the websites(i think) and the websites have the prices...and another thing is the prices might vary in different places

[JiggaMan512]

yeah i realized the price issue as i was typinthe post but couldnt they say "suggested retailed value" or something cuz the prices are usually VERY simliar from store to store unless there on sale and i dont see why these new lures would be on sale already, ya know?

[Bass XL]

yeah the general price will probably be about the same in most tackle stores

[Troutfisher]

I don't like the new bassmaster look.  I got mine yesterday, and for the first time, I was severly dissapointed.  >

[JiggaMan512]

yeah i got mine in the mail yesterday too. the new look i can learn to live with but its the stuff they leave out (like prices) and it seems to be more bs in each new issue like ads for the next miracle lure, etc..

[Matt Fly]

Same could be said about the majority of magazines and pricing, its moot point, they are all pretty much like that.

Matt

[jdw174]

The reason they leave prices out is because they don't want fishermen dropping dead due to sticker shock

It seems to me that every tackle maker thinks that their product is worth a whole lot more than I'm willing to pay.  $400 for a reel?  GET REAL!  $300 for a rod?  Not this guy.  $15 for one crankbait?  Not likely.....yet that's almost all you ever see any more.  Seldom have I seen any writeups on decent yeoman duty reels/rods/lures.  Everyone is trying to tell you you need to drop half a paycheck for one rod/reel combo.  I still manage to catch fish despite a lack of all this expensive gear.  And for my money, the best buys out there are still Bill Norman cranks for under 5 bucks, or the Berkley Frenzy lures for around $3.

[Matt Fly]

jdw174,

Welcome to the forum.

Hookem

Matt

[FIN-S-R]

Im not too thrilled w/ the bassmasters mag in general these days, I would be happy with "A day on the lake with a pro" in every issue, that would make up for all that isnt there

[Raul]

I don't like the new bassmaster look. I got mine yesterday, and for the first time, I was severly dissapointed. >

You guys worry about the look, if I lend you an old BMG, those I got 20 years ago to compare you will see that the look is the least important aspect that would make you feel dissapointed, today 's BMG content is trash because there isn 't any content at all. Heck, not even Harry N 'Charly are funny any more.

[jagdbdg]

Bass Mag has its uses for new gear and so forth and yes it would be nice to see prices but overall to me its second hand in getting knowledge and info. To be completely honest 90% of what I buy and learn comes from the information and recommendations I get from the members of this great site.  Ive learned much more from Bassresource and its members than i believe i could learn from any magazine or tv show or DVD.  

[Guest avid]

Bass and Bassmaster seeme to be getting kicked around alot lately.

Some of it is valid, like BASS events being sponsored by CITGO.  Which for whatever reason has stopped.

But when you look through a magazine and see products on display, whether they are adds, or features, it is not uncommon to not see prices.

I notice it especially with cars, watches, and jewlery.

I like Bassmaster.  I like the articles, I like the tournament trail, which unlike many other places, Alwyas lists the tackle, lure, and technique used by the winner and runners up.

I even like the ads.  Ads are a great way to keep in touch with the new products being released.

The look is very modern and in keeping with current periodical chic.

Yes they have an agenda, but so does EVERY magazine and newspaper.  It's called their editorial point of view and is reflected throughout the periodical.

Sure theres always room for improvement.  But Bassmaster is still a mag I look forward to getting every month

Avid+++ BASS member since 1979

[Troutfisher]

You guys worry about the look, if I lend you an old BMG, those I got 20 years ago to compare you will see that the look is the least important aspect that would make you feel dissapointed, today 's BMG content is trash because there isn 't any content at all. Heck, not even Harry N 'Charly are funny any more.

That's what I said when I mentioned "look." What happened to Harry and Charlie?! I mean, a teeny tiny article, not even half a page big. And it's also just a list. I liked "The ADVENTURES" of Harry and Charlie.

I'm a person who won't usually spend more than 5 bucks on a lure, and I am still catching fish and satisfied. I seriously doubt that most people run out and buy 300 dollar top notch rod'n'reels because the magazine said they would work. I buy Bassmaster because of it's rich variety of bass fishing information.

[Keithscatch]

Question for you guys that get magazines. What do you do with them all? I used to get BM and Bassin and a few others here and there. My problem was and always will be having stacks and stacks of magazines laying around in the way, cluttering up everything. So I do not want any magazine now period. Thank God for the Internet. I can read all I want to read and not have a room full of garbage that I have to throw away some day. Plus, no trees where harmed in the Internet haha.

Personally, I think magazines are a dying commodity. Being that I have worked in online publications for numerous years now I can say that printed materials have suffered set backs due to the electronic format. Now print will never go away completely but believe me it has already diminished and will continue to diminish over time. Heck, I hate getting newspapers because I have to throw them away too. That is just too much trouble for me. Give me the Internet anyday.  ;D

Oh, and the notion of not listing prices is a HUGE MISTAKE that has been going on for a long long time. Again my advertising background tells me if you are going to advertise a product then list it's price. Now if you are promoting your image only which many companies want to do then listing prices would be foolish. Look through these magazines and try to decide what the company is trying to sell you? Their repuation? Their reliability? Their low prices? Their selection and prices? Based on that and that alone should dictate if an ad lists their prices. Mistakes I see are ads that are pushing product and selection but withold prices. That is a shame because those ads are just like direct mail ads that are mailed to your house. How many of those ads  that are pushing product list prices? I would venture to say all of them or a huge majority of them.

Just what my experience selling advertising has taught me.

[Troutfisher]

I have a large stack in my room.  

[sodaksker]

Yes I was a little disappointed in the latest issue of "Bassmasta". Maybe I'm going nuts but , I could not find the "day on the lake" article they usually have, or possibly I am just mistaken and that article is in a different mag.

On a positive note, I thought Ray Scott had an excellent column about the gentleman Dr. that originally loaned him $3500 to get the first bass tournament off the ground. I can't recall the guys name but I think it was "Applegate". Nice story proving how everything big, starts as one mans dream.

[cart7t]

I've been getting Bassmaster since 1974 and they never put prices in on the tackle edition, or the Bassboat edition, rod n reels or any other.  All they'd be able to print would be Suggested retail anyway which usually isn't what the lures are selling for anyway.

[bassclown]

i for one keep certain magazines for reference. i give away many others though. and as far as just reading on the net....nah. i'm not taking my laptop with me to work. i like the fact that i can sit back at lunch and flip through the pages of a mag and then just toss it in my bag when i'm done.

[Bass XL]

AVID-

I agree 100% on everything you just said!

[Troutfisher]

Yes I was a little disappointed in the latest issue of "Bassmasta".  Maybe I'm going nuts but , I could not find the "day on the lake" article they usually have, or possibly I am just mistaken and that article is in a different mag.  

That's my favorite article in bassmaster, and it wasn't there this month.  

[earthworm77]

Keith, I wonder what responsibility BASS has to list the prices. They would help us out but after all they really are not selling anything, just doing a small write up. Advertisers are paying them to do that so the listing price to them is irrelevant and it is less print over all. I suspect that BASS has fallen on hard times with the PA Classic 2 years ago, the new format and shcedule to follow the spawn up the US. There is a reason all of these changes are happening..... the Citco thing, the exodus of talent leaving for FLW. We have not had them come out and say it but they must be hurting. They are sharing the top billing with at least 1 other organization.

I heard a rumor that Ray Scott was coming back, don't know if that is true or not but the timing makes this interesting.

[Guest avid]

I think it would be incredibly wise for BASS to bring Ray Scott back on board.  The big hoopla they had surrounding him may be prelude to some kind of announcement.

It could in fact "turn the corner" for BASS.  Ray S is the man who started it all.

It would be as they say in the Guinness commercials. "Brilliant"