Sportsmen's Show

[cthewrld]

I just got back from the Sportsmen's Show so will provide a review for those who are thinking of going.

 

1) $16. to get in, and $11. to park. Discount coupons for $2. are available from LeBaron's.

 

2) Huge emphasis on travel. There are around 5 aisles of vendors promoting their lodges. Everything from local to as far away as the Amazon to fish for Peacock Bass.

 

3) All of the major fishing manufacturers are there with their product. Everyone seemed happy to provide advice when I asked.

 

4) A large number of fishing retailers as well. There seemed to be pretty good deals on reels and rods. I didn't really pay close attention to tackle. Almost every vendor had product on sale. Most were not charging any tax either. When I did some comparison shopping, I found that most vendors would happily meet the competitors price.

 

5) The only good deals I saw on Fishfinders, GPS etc. were at Radio World. Their prices were marked down from their store, and website. They are charging tax though. As an example: Lowrance LMS 522 c - $619. at Radio World. Others had it anywhere from $649 - 719. plus tax. There were no other vendors willing to match the Radio World price.

 

6) Good selection of boats to see and buy. Most major manufacturers represented.

 

7) Small hunting section.

 

8) Limited amount of clothing available.

 

9) Decent selection of kayaks and canoe's.

 

10) Small section on fly fishing.

 

11) WFN had a large set-up and seminars going on throughout the day.

 

12) Fish TV had a smaller set-up with fewer seminars going on.

 

I think that is about it.

 

I hope this helps those who are planning on attending.

 

Michael

[bbog]

Great report - glad to hear about a decent selection of kayaks and canoes since I'm thinking of another one.

[Stoty]

$27 before you even step foot in the show....WOW, thats ridiculous! Plus the cost of gas to get there.

I think you made up my mind for me! Thanks for the heads up!

 

Unbelievable!

[TJQ]

Im dieing to go.. i got cabin fever... looks like ill get to see alot of people, advertisers and clients!! maybe ill even buy something!!! For me the show is my one time a year where I get all these people in one place!!

[fishinggeek]

Yes I'm going to give it a shot too. I passed on the spring fishing show (or whatever it's called now) because it sounded like much smaller than this one. Thanks for the detailed info Michael. I'm going to really compare prices of the few things I want there, and buy from the retailer who'll drop prices the most. And I wouldn't mind looking at the other things, like boats.

[lew]

Yup, it was a good show this year.

 

I got there at 10 this morning and stayed till about 3:30 and had a nice time just wandering around. As usual, I plarked at Ontario Place, walked an extra 5 minutes and kept the $11 in my pocket.

 

There were quite a few OFNers there and I spent a fair bit of time yakking with everyone.

 

I didn't need much stuff but picked up another Compre musky rod & a Calcutta TE400, from Brian at JB's, plus a bit if terminal tackle.

 

[irishfield]

Lew.. Brian ripped you off... that's a 300 ! LOL

[2 tone z71]

nice thanks for the heads up should be there Sat if I can shake this chest cold

[tbayboy]

So i guess its fair to say if I go after work tomorrow the 3 hours (5-8) may not be enough time eh? The crowds on the weekend were nuts last week (too 1/2 hour just to get inside) but I can't get out of the office before 4:30 all this week

[lew]

Lew.. Brian ripped you off... that's a 300 ! LOL

 

The 300 was the only image I could find on the net Wayne, but your not sposed to look so closely at the pictures anyways

[tinbanger]

Thanks for the report planning on being there at 10 am tomorrow .

7 of us going but luckily I scored 5 free passes so Only have to pay parking and $9 each for the 15 and unders.

 

Looking forward to it .

 

TB

[jjcanoe]

I've been going since I was 10 and have missed maybe 2 or 3 years although some years I went twice. My son is 6 and he has 5 shows under his belt and was on TV there once as well. Great march break tradition, so I guess I'm saying we'll be there Saturday.

 

jjcanoe

[LeXXington]

Look for the OFC hat I will be there Thursday around 4pm

[Meely]

Well......

I'll be struttin' down dem ways on Saturday as I am going to complete my Turkey hunting course.

Should be done by 1:30 ish then I go shopping.

Think I may buy and spool up with 100 lb Power Pro this year when trolling for Muskie.

I'm tired of "donating" lures....

 

Meely

Edited March 13, 2008 by Meely

[SBCregal]

im gonna head down for sunday.

its the only day i can get down for the largemouth bass seminar (looks like its my cousin who's doing the seminar)

hope to pick up a baitcast setup too, need something for bass/pike, nice to hear there's some deals

 

ryan

[LundGuy]

$27 before you even step foot in the show....WOW, thats ridiculous! Plus the cost of gas to get there.

I think you made up my mind for me! Thanks for the heads up!

 

Unbelievable!

 

They way i look at it,its better entertainment than taking my wife to the show at $40.00. Just don't tell her that.

 

The show has always been a good excuse for me to get out and blow off some of the winter blaws. Plus I usually come home with something new, whether I need it or not.

[DMASSE]

Lew good to meet you today, I saw quite a few OFNers at my booth ( flaherty's)

 

Good to meet the new one and I was a pleasure to see the ones that I meet in the past

 

Dave

[Smokey]

I had a great day there as well. There are lots of deals for those looking, I think the higher cdn dollar is help us out a bit. I sat in on a few seminars on turkey hunting and learned lots. Came home with the new navionics 2008 hot map and a couple nice muskies baits. The hunting area could use a few more vendors but the show has improved lots in the last couple years.

 

Like Lew said park over at Ontario place and its free, just have to walk a few minutes to the show and save a few bucks.

[BillM]

I am sure I bumped into a whole wackload of OFC'ers but I really don't know anyone Not many deals to be had on tackle, atleast from what I saw. Rod/reels on the other hand had some nice prices, along with the $20-40 markdown at RadioWorld off their web prices.. I was about to pick up a Intellimap 500C but I want to make sure the maps of GB from Navionics are going to be worth it... Decent price to, $279...

 

I completely forgot to pick up some terminal tackle!! I had 2 buddies with me that aren't hardcore fishermen so I felt kinda bad by taking my time.. If anyone happens to pick up some flourocarbon leaders for muskie, let me know and I'll grab them off you.

 

Lew, did they have any Salmo TT at the show? I've heard (I think from you) that it's pretty much the best.

[lew]

Lew, did they have any Salmo TT at the show? I've heard (I think from you) that it's pretty much the best.

 

Sorry Bill, it wasn't me, and I'm not familiar with that bait, but maybe someone else will see your question & have an answer for you.

[superdad]

We went to the show on Wed also and we enjoyed our selves. We spent a fair amount of time with the outfitters as I was researching info on bear hunting for a friend in USA. Met some nice people - all willing to share info. Even to the prices of the resident bear licenses versus the non-resident - the difference is around $100.

 

We sat in on a couple of seminars at WFN stage and enjoyed the discussion after the presentation, picked up some good trolling tips also.

 

Saw some good prices on some lures, but didn't break the bank. The 'no tax' was agood idea as we saved money buying at the show and the price mathced the USA price - can't beat that with a stick.......

 

We enjoyed the Hunting area as my buds are turkey/goose and deer hunters, so we had lots to look at there. At the OFAH, met Cam and asked about his Quinte fishing.

 

The Fly Fishing area was neat as it gave people a chance to try a fly rod and we met 'on-air' personalities and publishing fly fishing people.

 

We met up with some fishers from western Lake Ontario, who fish in Quinte and we had a brown pop and spun some yarns.

 

To eliminate the parking & gas costs - use the the GO. We drove from Kingston to Oshawa and GO'd over to the show, beat the heck out of drving the DVP and the hassle getting outof TO.

 

All in all, we had a good day, good things to see and buy and it's starts the mind working for the upcoming fishing season - Can't ask for more than that.

[maybe]

Murphy happened, and I didn't make it to the show until 10 to 3 yesterday. Sprinted over to the Fish TV seminar area just in time for trolling motors. 15 minutes of information, followed by coupons for a pet store and "now everybody go watch the Raptors cheerleaders bounce." Sure boys, I'll get right on that.

 

The trolling seminar presenter, Grant Mills (from Boat Tech in Ajax), is an approachable guy. He gave me some great pointers about what's involved in shoehorning a motor onto our i/o bowrider. Really glad to have talked to him.

 

Harrison Sillen had some good tips on some brands/models of soft baits I hadn't tried yet, and an interesting technique. After 20 minutes, they were herding the crowd off to watch the cheerleaders again. BTW, on the way to the cheerleaders, the Toyota girls will give you a Toyota/FishTV lanyard as a prize for sitting through the seminar. They're actually very nice lanyards - soft, and there's a plastic clasp to easily detach your keys without taking it off your neck. Another smaller plastic clasp has a thread loop for attaching to camera/GPS/cell phone.

 

Danny Dunn's bass seminar at 5pm stole the show. FUNNY, and stuck in fast forward. Loved his analogy about dropoffs being like the hallway between his TV and fridge. "I may go to the garage sometime, or wander into the living room occasionally, but 4x a day I'm gonna go up and down that hallway." Since the cheerleaders had left for the day, Dunn got a few more minutes onstage, which was great.

 

Call me a nerd, but I go into events like this with my game plan down on paper. Shopping list, spreadsheet detailing exhibitor name/location/description divided into 6-8 categories, and a color-coded floor plan to go with it. I've got the memory of a goldfish, and this lets me make sure that I hit everything I'm interested in without wasting a lot of time in areas that are irrelevant.

 

When the first seminar ended, I started my wandering in the hunting hall...and realized just how utterly screwed the website's published exhibitor list & floor plan are. Ugh. My paperwork matched the final (March 8th) website update, and it was seriously inaccurate. By the 2nd row of the little hunting area, I completely gave up on it, and just ran a grid pattern.

 

I stayed til 8pm closing, which gave me a total of 3.5 hours to wander around shopping and talking to manufacturers. Didn't spend much time on the shopping, since I'll be back on Saturday with Hubby. This was more of a scouting trip and some "just for me" buys. Anything we'd both use, or only Jeff would want, I didn't bother with this trip. To really do the show in one day, I'd say allow yourself more than 4 hours - or sprint.

 

A couple interesting things I ran into as I wandered:

 

If you'd like to try out a Segway scooter, you can on the south end of the west wall. Just 2 booths over from the yurt.

 

A booth at the south end of Adventure Mountain has those remote control boats that drag lures, like on America's Funniest Videos. The booth immediately south of them, Hand Crafted Canoes has a canoe with a floor featuring a beautiful inlaid wood pattern.

 

3 rows east of Adventure Mountain, the Ontario Travel folks have some kind of a fishing sim set up. You watch a TV and fight the virtual fish courtesy of a motorized box under the TV, reeling your line in/out.

 

Northeast a row or so of there, Mackinnon Tackle have an interesting booth full of their hand blown glass (!!) lures. Big bucktails with huge blades, a 1lb squid jig head, on down to some downright diminuitive little flies tied for them by a club in Toronto. Dunno how they do it, but you can whip this glass at bare concrete, and the jig bounces back 4' in the air - unharmed. Surprisingly low prices. I bought a couple really unusual little ones, excited to see how they do.

 

About midway across the north wall of the main hall, Advanced Taxidermy has a drop dead gorgeous display of replica fish. The booth itself is beautifully finished wood, and features a glass-topped coffee table with fish inside. A definite must see.

 

Halfway between the WFN stage and Confederation's log house build project, there are several live large birds of prey on display. Watch out for people trying to figure out fly casting.

 

A little boy carrying a stack of papers approached me as I was walking from booth to booth. He handed me what turned out to be a mockup cover for the Spring 2008 Bass Man Magazine. Cover shot is a teenage girl in a bikini, with a big white headline "How To Get Her In Your Boat." Strange choice of message to have your 9 year old kid passing around.

 

Heading north through the easternmost archway (toward the All Star Dog Show), there's a large fine art booth on your right. Definitely worth seeing. Beautiful images, very nicely framed. Watch out for a herd of Girl Guides flogging chocolate-mint cookies.

 

If anyone's curious about those Carrot Stix rods made out of carrot cellulose, they've got them on display at the Fishing World booth. I walked right past them, assuming that anything that color must be kid's toys. Luckily, I overheard the staff telling someone else about them as I went to pay for some bait. Strange rods.

 

For the last year, I've been looking high and low for something that doesn't exist - a "pool cue" spinning rod with nice smooth foam around the reel seat. Cork and I don't get along. Higher end foam handles always seem to have rough hardware stuck in the middle. The guys at Shimano whacked a reel onto their 7'2" MH Cumara for me to test, and I think I found my new rod. It may not be all foam, but it's smooth, it's not cork, and it's STIFF. Yay!

 

This time around, I decided to try the underground parking. It was really nice to walk to/from the show in a t-shirt, and get into a warm car at closing time. Same price as above ground spots, and you don't have to wander around looking for the ticket machine - just shove your Visa into the post on the way into the garage. I'll likely go this route from here on out.

 

I'm sure there were a ton of OFNers running around while I was there, but I didn't manage to recognize anybody. Watching the other thread in hopes some sort of time/place gets organized for Saturday. Looking forward to showing Hubby around, now that I know where everything is.

[GregF2]

I am thinking of driving up for the Show on Saturday from Ohio. Sounds like it is a fun and big fishing show to go too. Is it so crowded on Saturday that it may not be enjoyable? Thanks!

[cthewrld]

Saturday and Sunday are definitely the busiest days for the show. If you can, try to get there when the show opens. That way you should get at least a couple of hours in before the crowds arrive.

[Reef Runner]

I'll be there Sunday with addy79 from the board. Hope to see some of you there.

 

reefrunner