What Are Outdoors Shows Like?

[JT Bagwell]

You live in IL in Quad City area?! Im 25-30 mins away from you. 

 

We have QCCA Expo Center. Last year we had some Canadian FLW speaker. He was worthless. Good deals on baits. It was boring last year. 

 

This year I guess Timmy Horton is going to be there this year. I'll be going to just meet him. It'll be a good time.

 

 

I live in Geneseo. I will go to the show at the QCCA Expo center with one of my friends just because that is what we always do.

 

Last year I think the only thing I bought was some bargain bin baits for my kids to stock their tackle bags with and some frogs that

ended up being horrible.

[Scott F]

I will go have fun with the people at the Fred Hall show too and get some Titos Tacos on the way lol. I could have bought a few things but had to much fun visiting because on the water ... it's just me. At the show it just people ; )  I also had a Blast this year at bassathon in Southern Calif too. I picked up a few things there but again had more fun with the people. 

They may not be what they were but if WE don't go , they won't be. 

The reason I will be spending my weekends volunteering my time working a booth is because I get to see and talk to a lot of people who I know and seldom see, and I get to talk to a lot of people who like to fish. I see a lot of posts on BR from guys who are bored with winter and want to get out and fish. When that's not possible, they post here. But better than that, is getting out and being with people who fish.

[basscatcher8]

Yall mentioned the vendors but forgot to mention the people anymore. Any of the shows I go to the crowd is just a sea of jersey's full of fake sponsors. Everybody standing around talking about how good they are and trying to push products for companies that they don't even work for. I get where some of the pro's are frustrated.

[Fishes in trees]

I attended the first evening of the Kansas City Sports Show, yesterday evening.  I was disappointed.  There were only 2 tackle dealers, plus a rod dealer.  The rest of the booths were lodges and others fishing areas, trying to get you to go to their spot.  I had skipped the past couple of years, for some reason I thought this year might be better.  Not so much.\

 

Anyway, I did get a couple of thousand yard spools of Abrazx for slightly less than Tackle Warehouse lists them for.  The other soft plastic vendor had some pretty neat hand pours - a variation combining aspects of a fluke - senko & slug go.   So I guess the goal of getting me to part with some of my money was achieved.

Anyway, I am probably going to send the organizers another disappointing E-Mail - again.  Next year, maybe I will go and maybe I won't - I was really bored when I made the decision to go to this one.

[OntarioFishingGuy]

We have a show here called the Spring Fishing and Boat Show. There are generally good deals on tackle (last year there were Rapalas at 4$ apiece), and some fun seminars as well. This year KVD and Mercer are both speaking, along with a bunch of others. However, my favorite part is the trout pond. Last year I fished it for a good 2 hours and caught nothing, and they kicked a guy out for snagging the trout in the pond. Fun times...

[S Hovanec]

The show in Pittsburgh has been almost all hunting and fishing guides for the last 10-15 years. If you want to book a trip, it's the place to go.

[dave]

Like everywhere else,  all the big shows are long gone.  What we have here in MD/VA are many fishing flea markets.    Local guides,  some regional tackle makers,  seminars by local guides and charter captains and most important,  local fisherman selling used tackle at HUGE discounts.  We have both salt water and freshwater fleamarkets.  All very well attended only costing $2-3 to enter.  We look forward to them every year.

[hoosierbass07]

 I went to my first two outdoor shows last year.  First one was a small one at a 4-H fairground building near Terre Haute.  I only spent ten minutes or so at that but it was decent and I met some guys from El Grande Lures who made me a deal since I was new to fishing - for $10 I got one pack of their five inch lizards, one pack of their giant lizards, and one pack of their stick-baits.  It made me happy.  Plus I got one of my two big bass of 2014 on that five inch lizard.  I asked El Grande lures if they were going to be at the Indy show and they said the cost to rent space at the show was too expensive, they could not make enough money to justify it.  I've read similar comments online about that show in Indy.  

 

 My second show was to the big show in Indy.  My first thought when I walked into it - Man,who can afford all these thirty thousand to fifty thousand boats and pontoons?  Yikes!  The fishing department was very busy with a lot of people and lots of booths.  I didn't stick around for any of the talks though.  I don't hunt but it was fun walking around the hunting area.  The coolest part of the show - I walked by an area that sold duck calls.  So I'm walking and all of a sudden I hear duck calls from the left and right.  It was the coolest thing.  I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone or something, in another world.  My brother was with me and he said all those duck calls were very expensive - in the hundreds of dollars!  Wow.  The Indy show had a lot of representatives from the lodges.  They didn't seem very busy.  I couldn't find me way out of the Indy fairgrounds when we left.  lol.  I had to drive around for ten minutes trying to find the exit.  

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

When I lived in PA I looked into having a booth at the show at SUNY Rockland and almost fainted when I saw the booth rental rates. Having witnessed declining attendance, and the inclusion of non-outdoor related businesses felt like rubbing salt in the wound. I was planning on checking out a "Big" show at the Syracuse Fairgrounds this weekend but the seminar list is less than stellar. I look forward to few small local ones but that's about it. 

[Jd_Phillips_Fishin]

FLW expo was ok but the Classic expo is the best I ever went to. Gonna be a long few weeks waiting for the Classic to come

[Catch 22]

I was put off when the big shows started to fade and many non-fishing/hunting vendors came in to fill spaces.

 

I was tempted one time wrestle a black bear at a show, but the guy in front of me twice my size got tossed around like a blowup doll. Not that I ever saw one of those up close

I faded into the crowd.

 

The internet has changed every thing. I spend that dead loss $100 show expense  online  and have my stuff in my mail box in short order. 

C 22

[geo g]

I have been to several shows in Florida that I thought were excellent.  One was in Orlando 30 years ago and all the big boat companies, tackle companies and many pros were there. 

 

There was a great one in West Palm Beach by the race track that was very good.  That also was 30  years ago. 

 

These were all freshwater shows and went on for several days.  I think the big sporting companies have caused them to fade away. 

[RoLo]

Soon after getting my driver's license at 17, I attended the Annual Sportsman Shows in New York,

when "Madison Square Garden" was still located on 8th & 50th (since been moved to 8th & 33rd).

Even as a kid, it was plain to see that this wasn't a place for learning, but simply a place for spending money.

Some of the kiosks were pretty interesting, but their ulterior motive was highly transparent.

When I got home, all the free brochures found their way into the trashcan.

 

Roger

[WSOzzie]

It has been years since I attended an outdoor show.  I am, however, planning to go to the Chicagoland Fishing/Outdoor show in Schaumburg this upcoming weekend. My hope is that it's better than what I've been reading here...lol.  Starting to scare me off a bit ---- but I do need a fishing fix, I'm afraid.  

 

Tom

[Ratherbfishing]

Outdoor shows are to shows what (most) 4th of july parades are to parades.