News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Major League Fishing Digital Producer and Editor Whitney Dobson monitors audio and video while recording an interview between pro bass fisherman Mike McClelland and feature reporter Aly Akers. There are many people who work behind the scenes to make the television production possible.

ALPENA — The professional bass fishermen may be the stars of Major League Fishing when the television series airs, but it is the work and expertise of production, technical and marketing staff that makes it shine bright.

Filming for a new series for the Wiley X Summit Cup will continue in Alpena through Sunday and as the fishermen cast for bass, a host of activity is taking place behind the scenes.

The Ramada in is home base for MLF and a good brunt of the production, interview recording and where social media work is done.

Including the fishermen there are a total of 69 people working to make the show and provide news and content. That does not include executives and sponsors who are in also in town. To lodge everyone it takes 90 hotel rooms at the hotel, as well as three conference rooms for recording interviews, still photos, meetings and other production needs.

There is also a stage set up at the fairgrounds where some commentary and interviews take place. The champion will also be presented his trophy there as well.

Manager and Marketing Communications Bailey McBride said this is the third time the crew has been to Alpena and they are pleased to be back. She said there are 12 people on the operations crew, five editorial staff, 12 camera operators, 13 boat officials and 27 fishermen working to put the show together. McBride said there are also boat motor mechanics and electronics experts from the sponsor companies on hand while the fishermen compete to address issues with the gear, should it be needed.

“We have operations going on all over,” she said. “We have media and digital media editing going on, our sales staff is here, there are photographers and interviews going on all the time. There are a lot of moving parts and logistics to pull off for something like this.”

Aly Akers is a feature reporter for MLF. She is in many ways the face of it because she is seen in many of the promotional videos that appear on Facebook and its website.

Akers said she is also on the site selection committee and had a voice in the decision making process which brought MLF back to Alpena.

She said there are a lot of factors considered before choosing a location and Alpena filled all of the criteria and needs. Akers said the fact that fishing is good, the water is clean and everyone likes the community were large factors. Past experiences, contacts and community enthusiasm were also reasons Alpena was chosen for a third time.

“I don’t even have to use my GPS any more because I know where I’m going now. Alpena is beautiful and it really proves in our shows,” Akers said. “We love Alpena, the people, the lifestyle and activities and the fact the anglers are killing it out there.”

As viewership grows, MLF depends on social and digital media to provide content, promote events and update fans.

Digital Producer and Editor Whitney Dobson said her job is to make sure the demand for content online is met and refreshed as often as possible.

“I was just hired on because of the expanding popularity of Major League Fishing and the need to bring more content to social media,” Dobson said. “I manage the web-studio here and live from events. I also manage our online talent and coordinate to make sure things run as smoothly as possible and schedules run on time.”

Because Dobson is relatively new to MLF, this is her first visit to Alpena. She said she has heard a lot about it from others but now that she has visited herself, she loves it.

“I want to buy property here,” she said.

McBride said there is one change to Major League Fishing that viewers should enjoy and allow more people to view it. She said the episodes will be aired on Outdoor Channel as usual, but they will also be re-aired on Discovery Channel at some point in 2018.

“That is a really big deal for us and will help bring Major League Fishing to even more people,” she said.

The Wiley X Summit Cup from Alpena is expected to air in February on Outdoor Channel. Replays of it will be on Discovery Channel with times and dates to be announced.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.