Hello there Shaun,

Thank you so much for the reply and I fully understand and appreciate the reasons on how and why you choose your bait testers.  I am an avid carp angler and wanted to try and may be using bait testing to put my name around in the carp fishing general.  Hope I’m not ask too many questions, but how would I go about in getting mentions in magazines etc?   I hope you can help and I really appreciate the reply you sent.  I wish Quest Baits all the best and tight lines!

Carl

Hi Carl,

It is very important to be seen to be catching fish and generally getting people to recognise you. I started carp fishing in 1977 and it took until 1987  before I picked up my first sponsorship/tester role and this was after a few years writing in the monthly magazines of the time. These days things are a little different as many companies run with a big army of so called testers who are nothing more really than offered bait/tackle at a cheaper rate. At Quest Baits we decided not to do this and only have people involved who have been picked/chosen by us.

These days there are many avenues to get your face recognised. When I started there were only 3 or 4 different coarse angling magazines (no carp fishing ones in the high street). Your best bet would be to start putting some catches on Facebook (free of charge and you are in control of it), Send a few catches to some of the On-Line magazines and Carp Talk. The secret to catch reports is trying to make the story interesting. At the end of the day the Editor needs to keep his magazine enjoyable there is a lot of competition out there. So, rather than stating the bare facts, bait, rig, hook etc try and think if there was something unusual about the capture, something which will make a bigger report. Perhaps you moved swims, or changed tactics, anything which gives the reader extra information and the Editor more to work with.

Attend your local meetings, chat to people on the bank and simply get yourself known on a local scale which will then automatically lead to you being known on a wider scale. If you set yourself a goal to be well known and you really want that then you will achieve it. Angling is probably one of the easiest sports to become well known in but like anything in life you need to put the effort in to promote yourself in the first place so that you become an asset to a company. There are so many anglers out there now after sponsorship/testing deals that I am sure in the next few years many of the companies seemingly prepared to hand out cheap goods here there and everywhere will suddenly start to take a step back and think “What are we getting out of this”?

Hope this helps a little and remember anything is possible if you want it enough.

If you want to get into the writing side of things approach the on-line magazines first. It is easier to get your foot in the door this way before moving onto the news agent magazines. Once you start the ball rolling and get a couple of pieces accepted you will find people will start to come to you.

Best fishes and best of luck – Shaun

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