Fred Hall show report

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

First I really want to thank everyone that has been helping in my booth the past two days and those that are helping for the rest of the show. It means a lot to me that you would take the time to do this.

So far the show has been great, slow but great. The nice thing about Del Mar is that you do have more time to talk with each person who stops by. A lot of you have stopped by with congratulations on our new endeavour and that also means a lot to me. Thank you all very much. To see what I am talking about you can visit my new site www.EastCapeKayakFishing.com

The seminars have been lightly attended, I think I had nine people there yesterday. This is likely due to my early time slot and the low attendance of the show. On the positive side it does give me more time to answer each persons questions and take the seminar in many directions depending on the questions.

The Pool demos have been a total bust at this point. It was not until late yesterday that they even had a way for us to get into the pool. The flow of the show does not really go past the pool area so most don't even know it is there, and with no PA system it is impossible to get the attention of people passing in the distance. Will see how it goes today.

I have not really done much in the way of walking the show, so I would love to hear if anyone has found any great deals or new products.
There is a a booth just down from me that is selling rods for $5.00 and others at really low prices. Certainly not top quality stuff, but at that price as backup rods or for the kids it is a great deal. A few of the real light ones will make good bay bass rods.
One aisle over from me there is a guy who is selling prints and T-shirts 3 shirts for $30.00 the art work is great and I will be picking up some of the shirts today. He has great ones of Dorado, Roosters, Yellowtail and more. Sorry I don't remember the name, but the guy working the booth is the artist and he is based in Cabo. We spent some time yesterday evening swapping stories about Baja fishing. He has a tackle shop and is a guide down there, so very informative guy and great artist.

The OEX booth is huge and really a nice set up. They once again have all the kayaks plus those beautiful spear guns on display. Anyone that purchases an Ocean Kayak from them will also get a free surf and paddle skills class with me. Great deals on the new Trident.

I look forward to seeing more of you at the show over the weekend.

[dorf]

I took my boys on the first day.
The only “Pool” action we saw was the wake boarding and dog fetching demos out side. Was there another pool?
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The trout pond was a bust! This year they have gone with the kinder gentler approach of catch and release. I am all for conservation but what good is it to have a kid catch a fish, watch it slap around on the hard ground and go belly up in the tank after the tank attendant grabs it hard enough to almost crush it. There were a few dead ones in the first 2 hours. It is a glass tank so you can’t hide that stuff. My boys were looking forward to bringing their catch home to show mom like they have done the past 4 years. The only thing they brought back from the show was “That fish tank sucked!”
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I did manage to get them a couple of new rods from the $5.00 barrel.
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I was looking for good deals on brands I know but they were few and far between. How much of a savings is $15.00 on a rig when you have to pay $21.00 ($9.00 for parking and $12.00 at the gate) to get to that savings.
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There looked to be a few quality demos though. Unfortunately I did not have the time to attend any.
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It is always nice to come to a show and talk to people in the business who know what is going on and to get that little gem of knowledge that I hope will help me catch “The Next Big One” soon. Everyone was great. They took the time to talk to my kids and actually listen to them when they had questions even though they new we were not in the market to by a 40 foot boat.
Great bunch of guys out there.
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All in all a great experience. I just wish I had more time to enjoy the demos.
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Next year I will plan better.

[Oolie]

try not to loose any expensive setups this time..

i'll watch one if you need me to.

[Bait Burglar]

I think I'll be heading to the show today. I'm always looking for some good deals on fishing gear.

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

You're killing melol lol

[aguachico]

Congrats on the new gig Jim. Remeber no bandanas and no mota.

[Holy Mackerel]

Good seeing all the faces up at Fred Hall... Oex booth was cool, got to talk to Josh of Neptonics,
and Chris of seasniper guns, it is nice to talk to guys who are very invested in their sport.

I bought 3 of those shirts jim mentioned for $30, very cool!

I was at SD Kayak Adventures booth, when I heard over the loud speaker, for State Farm,
"Antonio Gates will only be here for 30 more minutes..."

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

I don't do bandanas and never been much of a mota man, so no worries there.