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My wife and I went to the Richmond expo yesterday. I must say, it was very good.
- It took us an hour and a half to get there (Meadows Event Park, State Fairgrounds, near Kings Dominion). We could tell we arrived at the right place. About 80% of the vehicles in the parking lot were pick-ups.
- Compared to the MD expo we attended last week, this one was definitely better. At times, we were walking through the aisles elbow to elbow with people. It was well lighted and bright in the building. Lots of people and activity.
- There were a lot of boats on display, but not as much as the MD expo.
- There was a foot deep pond about 10 ft wide and maybe 40 ft long. Waiting in a long line, people paid $3 for a five-minute time to catch trout, which ranged 8-10 inches long. They used 3-4 foot poles with plastic grubworms. There were quite a few parents with kids holding poles and jigging away. The fish weren't biting too much, but we saw a few people catch fish. Limit was two fishes per time period, and we saw this fellow (in his 20's) catch his limit within two minutes.
- Quite a number vendors with fishing gear. Lots of cheap reels and all kinds of lures. I wanted to see the new Penn Squall, but no one I asked had it.
- Kevin Kayak was in his booth talking and selling his CDs/videos. He had a good crowd of people asking questions.
- There was this simulated deep-fishing set-up in one booth. Two people each held poles with mono lines running to boxes maybe twenty feet in front of them. They watched this screen showing footage of game fish hooked up. It was synchronized so that you were "fighting the fish" with actual pulling and reeling of the poles/rods. Quite an entertaining event.
- There were three separate booths with kayaks. One booth area had about a dozen kayaks displayed. A couple yaks were the reps own rigged yaks. One guy said he fishes muskies in Tennessee. The other booth had two Native camo kayaks. One yak was a well rigged SIK. I really liked the comfortable fabric-on-aluminum tube seat. Nice room and layout, but I really prefer SOTs because of their floatability on turn overs. The booth attendant, Cory, also gave a kayak fishing seminar, which was pretty good and well attended. He had a slide show on yak fishing around the wrecks at Kipto Park. He covered rigging, using eels, his own fishing gear and cold weather gear (he show us his $900 custom dry suit). His show topped off with a video of yak fishing. The third kayak booth displayed a couple yaks and sold accessories. Oh, one more. There was a booth with a nu-canoe. It's pretty wide and sort of a kayak I guess.
- There was this long narrow maybe 4-5 feet deep demo tank (on wheels) with bass and other fishes swimming around. This guy was casting from one end of the tank demoing all kinds of lures. Well, he unintentionally hooked up with a smallmouth.
- We attended most of the saltwater seminars on flounder, big striper, redfish, etc. fishing. Lots of good info on how to and where to catch fish. Most of the speakers talked about areas not far from CBBT. The highlight for us was Capt Jimmy Price's seminar on catching flounder. It was great. He's informative and a very funny guy. He said he also does stand-up comedy. It showed. There was standing room only. It was the most crowded seminar we attended.
My wife and I had fun there. Bought some gear. We left after spending eight hours there. I'd do it again next year.
- It took us an hour and a half to get there (Meadows Event Park, State Fairgrounds, near Kings Dominion). We could tell we arrived at the right place. About 80% of the vehicles in the parking lot were pick-ups.
- Compared to the MD expo we attended last week, this one was definitely better. At times, we were walking through the aisles elbow to elbow with people. It was well lighted and bright in the building. Lots of people and activity.
- There were a lot of boats on display, but not as much as the MD expo.
- There was a foot deep pond about 10 ft wide and maybe 40 ft long. Waiting in a long line, people paid $3 for a five-minute time to catch trout, which ranged 8-10 inches long. They used 3-4 foot poles with plastic grubworms. There were quite a few parents with kids holding poles and jigging away. The fish weren't biting too much, but we saw a few people catch fish. Limit was two fishes per time period, and we saw this fellow (in his 20's) catch his limit within two minutes.
- Quite a number vendors with fishing gear. Lots of cheap reels and all kinds of lures. I wanted to see the new Penn Squall, but no one I asked had it.
- Kevin Kayak was in his booth talking and selling his CDs/videos. He had a good crowd of people asking questions.
- There was this simulated deep-fishing set-up in one booth. Two people each held poles with mono lines running to boxes maybe twenty feet in front of them. They watched this screen showing footage of game fish hooked up. It was synchronized so that you were "fighting the fish" with actual pulling and reeling of the poles/rods. Quite an entertaining event.
- There were three separate booths with kayaks. One booth area had about a dozen kayaks displayed. A couple yaks were the reps own rigged yaks. One guy said he fishes muskies in Tennessee. The other booth had two Native camo kayaks. One yak was a well rigged SIK. I really liked the comfortable fabric-on-aluminum tube seat. Nice room and layout, but I really prefer SOTs because of their floatability on turn overs. The booth attendant, Cory, also gave a kayak fishing seminar, which was pretty good and well attended. He had a slide show on yak fishing around the wrecks at Kipto Park. He covered rigging, using eels, his own fishing gear and cold weather gear (he show us his $900 custom dry suit). His show topped off with a video of yak fishing. The third kayak booth displayed a couple yaks and sold accessories. Oh, one more. There was a booth with a nu-canoe. It's pretty wide and sort of a kayak I guess.
- There was this long narrow maybe 4-5 feet deep demo tank (on wheels) with bass and other fishes swimming around. This guy was casting from one end of the tank demoing all kinds of lures. Well, he unintentionally hooked up with a smallmouth.
- We attended most of the saltwater seminars on flounder, big striper, redfish, etc. fishing. Lots of good info on how to and where to catch fish. Most of the speakers talked about areas not far from CBBT. The highlight for us was Capt Jimmy Price's seminar on catching flounder. It was great. He's informative and a very funny guy. He said he also does stand-up comedy. It showed. There was standing room only. It was the most crowded seminar we attended.
My wife and I had fun there. Bought some gear. We left after spending eight hours there. I'd do it again next year.
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