A few buddies and I took in the 3rd annual Ice fishing seminar hosted by Radio World. This is our second time taking in the seminar, we attended the 1st annual event back in 2009 and were excited to see how much it has grown.
The first event was a crowded room of 19 anglers, and this year the crowded room was stretched to fit 90+ anglers. A diverse group of veterans and rookies listened to some off Ontario's best ice anglers as they talked about baits, rods, lines, electronics and lakes. As usual this event was free to all those attending and there was a ton of great draw prizes to be had.
These seminars help get anglers in touch with some of the sports best, as well as many of the leading manufacturers. Humminbird, Lowrance and Marcum all had reps in house to answer any questions the anglers had. As usual there are always some surprise guests and Pete Bowman and Angelo Viola from the "Fish'n Canada" Tv show popped in to hand out some goodies and spend some one on one time with this group of ice fishing enthusiasts.
This years guest speakers included... (below info provided by Radio World blog)
Barry Graves.. has been a professional tournament angler for over 10 years. He lives in Keswick, Ontario which is right on the south end of Lake Simcoe and home to some of the best mulitspecies fishing in Ontario. Barry is one of the best respected anglers in the industry and proves his skill as he competes on the CSFL tournament trails and other various bass tournaments.
Here is a short list of Barry’s most recent tournament accomplishments.
2009 Bass Pro Shops Open Champion
2009 Casey Cup Champion
2004 Bassmania Classic Champion
3 Time CSFL Team of the Year winner
Jeff Chisholm was born and raised in the Bay of Quinte area. He is an avid year round angler with a special interest in hardwater walleye fishing. Jeff enjoys the challenges of ice angling and discovering ways to make each outing successful. Creativity, innovation, and the latest technology are integral to Jeff’s approach. Jeff is co-host of the fishing radio show Hooked For Life and is also on the Rapala Canada, Humminbird, and Navionics Pro-Staff team.
Big Jim.. There certainly are not enough characters in this blog for an exhaustive list of everything “Big Jim” has done in is career which is approaching 30 years. He started his career as a bass tournament angler and seminar speaker. He is a two time bass Canadian Classic Champion and has 28 tournament wins to his credit. He founded what is now the country’s oldest and largest free fishing publication – Just Fishing with “Big” Jim McLaughlin. Some of the top names in fishing have been featured in Just Fishing like Al Linder, Dave Genz, and Ted Takasaki just to name a few.
Wil Wegman is a regular competitor on CSFL’s Bassmania Trail, he is also an accomplished ice angler. Wil was a member of Canada’s National Team at the World Ice Fishing Championships in 1991. He taught ice fishing courses at Seneca College from 1986 to 2006 and presents seminars on ice fishing across Ontario. Wil has several top ten finishes in the Canadian Ice Fishing Championship and won the 2006 Perch Trap Attack on Lake Simcoe. Most recently on March 12, 2011, Wil and his son Izaak placed 1st in the MS Perch Tournament on Lake Simcoe that saw over 75 teams compete.
Wil is an award winning freelance writer with many ice fishing articles published in various magazines as: Ontario out of Doors, Outdoor Canada, Real Fishing, Big Jim’s Just Fishing and In Fisherman.
This was an all day event starting just after 9:30 am and running until close to 3pm. After the seminar was over many anglers hung around to take advantage of some of the crazy deals that Radio World offered on many ice fishing devices. As mentioned above the surprise guests this year were Pete Bowman and Angelo Viola from Fish'n Canada. They took some time to discuss ice safety and sign some caps for all those in attendance. I think Angelo summed up the day and the event well, when he proclaimed it was great to be in an environment where ice anglers, retailers and manufactures all get together the better their knowledge and grow the sport (im paraphrasing here!).
I have to agree with Angelo, what other retailer do you know that will give up his day and part of his store to provide a free seminar to all those willing to attend. Lunch and coffee was provided and draws for radio world gift certificates kept the day moving. The day ended with a draw from a new Fabill portable hut.
With no ice in the foreseeable future, this keep me sane on a weekend in which i traditionally see first ice. I know I speak for 90 others when I say thank you to Jack and the Radio World crew.. see ya in 2012
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