Great Finds @ The Quinte Sportsman Show

This past weekend I swung by the city of Belleville, picked up my father and headed over to the Quinte Sportsman show. This has sort of become an annual thing since he moved to the city of Belleville a couple years ago and we have since watched as the show has become larger and larger each year.. except in one area.. Fishing

Yes I have to say that I find it very odd that no more then 4 booths in the entire show carried fishing gear, 1 of which only carried discontinued products or job lots (although for some reason they thought they could ask $5 a pack for Berkley Havoc when it sells for under $4 from most retailers. A second booth offered a very small collection of gear that was not really worth routing through to find gems and then the final two booths were both owned by local tackle shops.

Both these booths were loaded with a great selection of gear, but for some reason they were charging full pop.. no deals not even a tax break.  I only mention this because most people walking the show paid an $8 admission to get in (unless you know a guy who knows a guy..wink,wink). So technically customers shopping from these local vendors are actually paying more for product then if they had just swung by the shop on Monday after the show.. confused?, i know I was

Other then that I would have to say the show appeared to be a success, the crowd on Saturday was large, and parking was at a premium (no fee thank god). Each room was laid out well and loaded with Boats, RV's, Bikes and tons of info about local camping spots and lodges.

I did not get time to check out any of the seminars, but having seen both Big Jim and Dave Chong speak on several occasions I will state without concern that the seminars would have been worth the price of admission.

For the Kids, a popular stop was the trout pond, although kinda pricey at $5 for 5 minutes of fishing time,  kids got to toss small baits on bamboo poles at a pool filled with Trout from a local farm. I sat around to watch for a bit, and can report that the kids had a blast, fish were caught (and that the 5 minute rule was not strictly enforced)

Great Finds

What I like about fishing and sportsman shows is walking around, shooting the shit with friends and of course looking for good deals. This year the best finds of the show for me have to go to "Pro Advantage" not only were they rocking the all new larger Live Target Field mouse (I guess I was not the only one who complained about the old size options) but they also gave a nice portion of their booth to "The Perfect Jig" a Canadian Jig company that has been knocking out quality jigs and trailers for a few years now.

I personally made a couple purchases, the first was 3 packs of Trigger X baits that were in the Pro Advantage grab bin. Three packs for $12 is not bad (unless you paid an $8 cover) and since this year I will be spending more and more time focusing on jig fishing and flipping, I though these were a great pick-up...

The second purchase was some Perfect Jig trailers, they had a very cool assortment on display including some fairly new "tipped" versions. I personally stuck with my old standbys like "green pumpkin" and "junebug". If you have not checked out the Perfect Jig line, believe me it is worth your time!

Lastly I picked up something I have long been waiting for.. an Accu-Cull tag system. I personally have struggled through the last 2 tournament seasons with inferior culling tags, and my hands are still store.

I have heard nothing but good things about the Acc-Cull and so far it lives up to the Hype.

Well that wraps up another year of the Quinte Sportsman show, no matter the price of admission, no matter the crowds, it is always good to get out and doing something fishing related in March, and more importantly.. score some great finds!