Sounds really great and I would love the opportunity to take a shot at something like this except that I'm a poor yaker stuck in deep south Texas. Pretty long drive up to DFW.
Maybe someday similar will happen down here.

Corporate structures our Pro Staff Programs much like basic government ideology: the idea is that "local" bodies know how to govern themselves better than a remote alternative. Having said that, there is nothing stopping the new Austin store from following our direction.

They will, of course, need someone on the inside to champion the cause. The Pro Staff positions typically go to hunting and power boat tournament anglers. I have been fighting for the past few years to get kayak fishing a piece of the pie, and I am starting to make some progress.

Austin can do the same thing but they will need leadership.

Lets blow this thread up and post a link to everyone we know around the country to let BassPro know how much we think of this first step. Hopefully your kayak friends will post a hello, including what part of the country they are. Bet that might encourage BP to expand the program to other areas.

Every store is empowered to give out Pro Staff Positions as they see fit.

We do have budgets, so basically, there is a cap on the number of positions each store has available.

As I said, those positions tend to go to hunting and power boat anglers.

Austin could easily designate one or two of their spots to kayak anglers, but they will be competing against hunting and power boat anglers. Someone on the inside with a little bit of passion could get this done.

Otherwise, I would encourage the Austin boys to go shake some hands as soon as the new store opens. Build relationships with the store management and let them know you want to create something.

This would be an absolute awesome opportunity for whomever may be chosen!

There are a lot of great guys in N Texas Dean! You are going to have a good pool to pull from. Good luck with it all and congrats to the chosen candidates. Yall will be working with a pretty good dude as well!

What a great opportunity this will be for someone!! To add to this you'll get too work with one of the nicest guys in the sport. Dean is very good people!!!!

Herzy, after some talks with a certain person a couple months ago, I will say this. If said person gets the spot they are pushing for at the BPS up here, the kayak scene will benefit greatly in Austin.

Very cool deal, Dean. Looks like you're gonna have your work cut out for you.

Just wanted to update and thank all of the applicants.

The response has been, well, pretty awesome.

All applicants will hear from us on June 1st, and at that time, we will begin interviewing the top selections.

-Dean

Wow. Cool! Seems intresting.

I live about 10 minutes from this BPS store. Awesome idea!