| If
you're going to spend 25 years on television,
you can't fake enthusiasm, and you can't
pretend to be something you're not
That's why, through
all those years, a natural bond developed
between Babe Winkelman and the people
who watch him fish and hunt on TV.
As the host of "Good
Fishing" and "Outdoor Secrets," seen throughout
North
America on both broadcast and
cable stations, Babe has succeeded in
fulfilling
his dream of being self-employed in the outdoors industry through
a combination of hard work, good
business instincts, and a gift
for communicating his
love of hunting and fishing.
" Viewers
identify with him," says longtime
friend and fellow fishing pro Spence
Petros, "because he seems like the
kind of guy you'd like to spend the day
in the boat with, or out stalking deer
with. That's because he is that kind
of guy; he's intense and focused on what
he's doing, but inside him is a love
and respect for nature that shines through
in everything he does."
In some
respects, Babe's story is a
simple one. But it is also a fascinating
case study of the classic American
entrepreneur. He
grew up on a small farm near tiny Duelm
in central
Minnesota, where
on Stoney Brook he was fishing, hunting and observing wildlife. He
learned to work hard because that's
what you had to do on a family farm.
He learned
by the example of his parents how to run a business and get your
fingers dirty at the same time.
From the time he was
crawling, he lived the outdoor life, in
constant contact with the natural processes
of life and death, and the cycles of nature.
Through endless hours of hunting and fishing,
he polished his skills. During the 1960s,
every possible moment was spent at the
family cabin on Hay Lake near Brainerd,
where he taught himself a "pattern" approach
to fishing that he continues to teach others today. At the same time,
beginning at age eight, he was developing his skills as a hunter of birds,
small game, and deer.
After helping build a
successful construction business with his
father, Babe listened to his true calling
and in the early 1970s took a huge risk
by starting Babe Winkelman Productions.
It would be a company bearing his name
and his personality, its mission to teach
others how to be successful when fishing
and hunting while always remaining respectful
of the natural world.
"I would have been
comfortable and made a good living for
the rest of my life in the construction
business," Babe says, "but it's
not what I wanted to do."
It has been nearly 30
years since his beginnings in the outdoor
business, and now even Babe himself talks
about 'Babe' in the third person, as an
entity positioned to influence many millions
of people, able to bring out people's instinctive
attraction to the outdoors, instruct them
on how to catch more fish and be more successful
hunters, and leave/them with a message
about protecting the earth.
The essence of the story:
"Good Fishing," his original show that's
all fishing, runs the first two quarters
of the year; Outdoor Secrets, a companion
show on' hunting and conservation that
is charting new ground in that category,
continues the Year-around run in the 3rd
and 4th quarters.
A testimony to Babe's
wide appeal is the recognition he's received
from organizations that have never honored
outdoorsmen. Example: in 1992 he was inducted
into the prestigious Sports Legends Hall
of Fame (alongside the world's best athletes
in baseball, football, boxing, etc.) by
the Touchdown Club of Columbus, OH--the
only outdoors figure to be so honored before
or since. In 1988, he was inducted into
the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, in
2001 inducted into the Minnesota Fishing
Hall of Fame.
Babe also frequently
appears in the mainstream press. He has
been featured in countless print and broadcast
segments, including People Magazine, The
Saturday Evening Post, Midwest Living,
Chevy Outdoors, CBS Late News, and NBC
Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. All that "face
time" makes him all the more effective
for companies that tap his charisma to
sell their products and services. He has
served
as corporate spokesman for a host of firms including Chevrolet Trucks,
S.C. Johnson & Son, Johnson Worldwide, Gerber Legendary Blades, Browning,
Deepwoods OFF, Ziploc and Ray-O-Vac. A truly motivational speaker and
on-air personality, Babe is the consummate showman because his act is
genuine, driven by a passionate love for what he is doing
Quietly,
away from the limelight of cameras and
crowds, Babe Winkelman has been
a lifelong hunter.
'I've been hunting since
I was 8 years old," he remembers, "when
my dad would take us out for pheasants.
I shot my first deer when I was 12."
But it's hard to chase
two rabbits at once, Babe says, "so
when I started in this business, I first
focused on fishing."
That's why the world
is only in the last decade, through the
tremendous reach of Outdoor Secrets, discovering
that Babe, like so many of them, is an
avid hunter as well as angler and conservationist,
something that has cemented the bond he
has built with his audience.
A brief glance at Babe's
huge trophy room and you get a feel for
his many accomplishments as a hunter. From
turkeys to sharptails, mule deer to caribou,
he's hunted them all. But his perhaps his
most cherished trophies are the Pope and
Young whitetails that adorn his walls,
his moose that made the cover of Pope and
Young's magazine, or his Boone and Crockett
mule deer and white tail.He learned at
an early age that things don't just happen
in nature, but that wildlife responds in
predictable patterns based on a relationship
of cause and effect. He learned to "Master
the Patterns of Nature®", a truism
which soon became the trademark slogan
for "Outdoor Secrets."
Viewers now realize that
Babe is a skilled hunter in every aspect
of the word. From stalking and harvesting
game to teaching others to be successful
through "Outdoor Secrets," Babe has also
helped sportsmen gain a deeper appreciation
for the legacy and tradition of hunting.
Most people know
Babe Winkelman as a world-class fisherman,
in a boat or a pair of waders, always
excited to be outdoors. His enthusiasm
is
amazing, when you consider he's outdoors as often as most of us are
sitting at our desks, and he's been at
it so many years you'd think a bit of
the wonder would wear away.
But it hasn't,
and it shows on television.
For Babe, fishing
began at the age of six, along tiny Stoney
Brook which ran through his family's
farm in central Minnesota. He remembers
the creek seemed so big to him at the
time, a kid after adventure, and anything
that would bite.
It's been many
years, and Stoney Brook does not even
appear on the huge map of North America
that now hangs in his office. But Babe's
passion for the outdoors hasn't changed
a bit: he still goes fishing because
he loves it, and still chases any species
willing to bite. There is no way to count
the big fish he's caught, and yet a small
fish on the end of his line still brings
out that kid staring into Stoney Brook.
He is often called
"America's Most Versatile Fisherman,"
although he may be best known for his
prowess
at catching walleyes, a fish he was drawn
to as a youngster, on lakes near his
parent's cabin in northern Minnesota.
Babe spent years
guiding, and fished in competitive tournaments
beginning in 1970. He co-founded the
Minnesota Bass Federation, serving as
its president in the early years. He
also co-founded the Masters Walleye Circuit
(MWC), emceed its early events, and has
fished competitively for walleyes, bass,
muskies, crappies, and other species.
The public knows
Babe as a fisherman because he has been
at it full-time, since 1975, and began
appearing on TV back in 1978 on commercials
for Deepwoods OFF. In 1980 he started
producing television on his own.
Millions of us
love to fish, but few are naturally gifted,
called to it--driven by it--like Babe
Winkelman is. Finding a way to catch
fish as seasons and conditions and locations
change just seems to come naturally to
him, through a mind that learns quickly
and eyes that have pretty much seen it
all.
Finding a way to
explain how he did it, in a manner inviting
and easy to
understand, is another natural gift
the Lord gave Babe. The combination
makes him the ideal spokesman for anglers everywhere.
The more you're around Babe Winkelman, the easier it is to understand
why his powerful personality captures the imagination of TV viewers.
His favorite way to enjoy the outdoor sports is in the company
of family
and friends. Regular viewers know that from seeing the many segments
taped with his wife, children, and other family members.
"Fishing
and hunting are not just sports for men," Babe
says. "They're for people, for families.
There's an intimacy in the outdoors you
can't get other places. I like to go
with my family and friends as much as
my schedule allows. People go fishing
and hunting for a lot of reasons besides
catching and shooting, so we've tried
to show that, too.
"The most
successful outdoorsman, or woman, in
my mind is the one who has the best time.
If your predatory instincts dominate
you so much that it becomes only a harvest
of meat, you miss what the outdoors can
be for you, your family, and your soul."
"Don't mistake me, though; I go after it very hard, and I do care whether
I win the game, and harvest that critter or that fish. I think the audience can
see that. But I don't feel like it's a bad day if I don't."
His most memorable
trip, in fact, is a deer hunt to Idaho
a few years back. "I
love the challenge of hunting a critter
on his
terrain," Babe says, "and spending
the time it takes to understand him.
We passed up about 350 deer, and never
pulled the trigger in seven days of hunting.
I was after a specific deer and never
found him. I don't go hunting just for
the sake of dispatching an animal, and
for a lot of reasons that was a great
hunt."
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