Fred Hall - How'd you guys make out?

[goldenglory18]

Today was my first Fred Hall experience and it lasted about 3 hours total. With good advice, I made a list, stuck to it, and got everything I needed with a little extra.

Daiwa Proetus XH - $152
Daiwa Sweatshirt (deal with the rod. $60 retail tag and made by HUK Fishing!) - Free!
Okuma Komodo (outgoing model) - $128
11 packs of various plastics - $11 (.99 ea)
P-Line Pliers - dont remember. LOL

Highlights:

• OEX booth looked awesome. Great displays and bonus points for the goldfish tank.
• Turners had, from what I could see, the best deals of the day.
• San Diego Tackle Traders has A LOT of gear with them. They were really busy when I walked up but I looked at their display cases and they were loaded. Lots of high end resale gear for what I can only assume as great prices.

Lowpoint:

• Holy crap that was a lot of people. I got there early (maybe the 20th person through the turnstile) and I'm glad I did. I can only imagine how bad its going to be this weekend.
• Lots of unsavory people buying or at least attempting to buy stuff in bulk for resale. I'm glad Turners was limiting people on some of the best deals. Lots of chatter from guys about "not making as much off ebay this year."
• Price of admission, parking, food and drinks are STEEP. I was glad I ate before and went alone.

So, not too bad of damage done. After the $18 entrance fee and $15 parking, I figured I saved about $130 by shopping here today. I can definitely see how it could get pretty expensive if you eat, drink, and have multiple family members come with you, but I'll gladly attend again next year.

Enjoy!