Just funnin. If your a Ranger or Johnny minion no reason get up tight. Ranger has had a mass defection. I don’t know the reason but I don’t see you losing the anglers that have moved on unless something is up. (Christie, Monroe, Cody Meyer, Martin), those are some stout long running names to leave your brand.

Them young “googan” types in Jr high ain’t buying $75k+ boats.

But their parents are.

Yup, plenty of kids around here rocking $200k wakeboard boats on their parents dime.

Ranger initiated most of the angler dumping. This includes touring professionals and regional guys.
There are some exceptions, with an example being Jason C.

Yeah a 100K (outfitted) bass boat is just chump change to some of them!

When I first moved to Plano in the 90's, working at EDS I was shocked driving around an seeing the High School Parking Lots that looked like new car dealers. It has only expanded beyond that to the other suburbs and various 'toys'.

DKB

I think this has a good bit to do with it. I think people like Cody Myer who was Tackle Warehouse, Daiwa, Strike King, Ranger were told they need to be Bass Pro/Cabelas, Lew's, Strike King, Ranger going forward. He's now in a Blazer boat and has mention the Jack Hammer and not the Thunder Cricket in a couple of posts.

Ish Monroe as Bass Pro, Daiwa, Ranger. Now he's Fisherman's Warehouse, Daiwa, Skeeter.

Also saw that Mark Zona is now with Lew's, who was previously a few seasons with Daiwa. So now he's under the "same two umbrella" with Bass Pro, Nitro, Lew's, Strike King.

This is all speculations and just what I've pieced together watching social media & pod casts so take it all with a grain of salt.

I think this is the main reason. Young people influence their parents and it's an untapped market that the YouTube crowd has really tapped in to. That and with so much coverage it doesnt take as many pros to reach that part of the market. YouTube is also very transparent in what reach a person has where a pro isnt so I think it's easier for a sponsor to track analytics from website clicks and stuff from that person's media and see just how many people are watching their videos. Overall, it's mainly just that there is so much coverage and media that I dont think a pros impact is as needed as it once was. Now, maybe that's just what it appears to be and the trend could reverse back to pro sponsorships

The Zona move is not surprising. He is a Strike King guy first so the move to Lews just follows suit with the rest of SK anglers that switched to Lews.

Some people build businesses with the sole purpose of becoming an acquisition target. No sure why everyone gets mad at the person buying the business and not the guy who sold the business. I mean the seller is the one who ruined the brand chasing the almighty dollar. They knew who they were selling to yet took the money and ran.

I'm still trying to figure out what "Googan" is? Guess I'm to old to understand.

Just buy your baits from here and be quiet:

As a younger dude who has fished THSBA(Texas High School Bass Association) tournaments, I can say that this is all partially true.

The YouTubers have gotten a lot of people into fishing, but with most of them just remaining bank/pond fishermen. There are a lot of kids who get their parents to buy a bass boat. With that said I don't think the YouTubers advertise their boat sponsors or have much influence on what brand of boat their parents buy. Of course this may change with a switch in marketing tactics. (I am not 100% sure on all of this but this is what I think as a younger dude).

It seems that many of these newer YouTubers do not actually go in depth and their primary goal is just entertainment, so I don't think they actually help someone who wants to do good in tournaments. With that said they are still getting many younger people into fishing (As previously stated).

I myself do not watch the Googans or many of the other YouTubers. I just watch tacticalbassin and Scott Martin's tournament videos(yes, he does entertainment too but I take more stock into what he says because he is an actual professional).

Couple more good guys and sticks added. Looks like Todd and Jason from Rayburn went Skeeter as well.