Musky Shows

[Nalod]

Hey Everyone,

I have been having a bad case of the winter blues lately. I think it is because of the warmer weather and not having the opportunity to get out to do some ice fishing. To try to alleviate the blues, I decided to take a couple trips to some musky shows.

On February 11, I drove out to Butler, PA. The weather was not the greatest (and the plowing was even worse). I really enjoyed seeing all of the lure builders that I am normally throwing. If you have not been to this show and fish Chautauqua, you probably would know most of the booths here. Things that I purchased:

- Newmann crankbait (disappointed that he did not have any jerkbaits this year. He has been extremely busy with his painting, that he has not had a chance to get to building new jerkbaits)

- Wiley crankbait

- Legend 6" crank (this thing is awesome. It is 6", but has the same profile/shape as their normals lures)

- A bunch of Lunge Lumber Lures (I would rank these as my favorite lures at the show.)

- A Musky Train 60" Ruler (My mother went with me for the trip. She ended up carrying the ruler around. So many people asked her where she bought it that she ended up going back to Musky Train's booth to ask for commission. )

- I also bought a couple Lunge Lumber Lures for Mike (Ronix52). I know he is anxious to get his hands on them!

This past weekend, I drove to Michigan for their show. I started the trip by going directly to Cabelas and spending a few hours looking around. I did not buy much there, but did manage to get a phantom bait.

I spent all day Saturday at the show. It was smaller than last year and the attendance was not as good as they were hoping for. The booths were completely different from the Butler show. I honestly think the only booth at both shows were Musky Train (Hey, why was the ruler $1 cheaper here?). They had their share of what I could call Basement Baitmakers (basically the local builders), but they also had a large assortment of national manufacturers. Things I purchased from this show:

- Two new Traxstech rod holders that I can use to mount my salty rod holders

- A hellhound glidebait

- a couple river2sea glides

- a t-shirt from the Michigan Muskies Inc

I also got to see Mike's (Ronix52) new custom rod. This thing is amazing! Jeremy from Tuscarora Tackle (he builds some insane looking snakeskin lures also) built it for him. I dropped Mike's new fishing rod a few times while looking at it, but the couple dents won't hurt

While driving home on Sunday, I got to stop in at Jann's Netcraft retail location. This store is awesome! It might have been my favorite part of the trip. They have some tackle at the store, but are known for tackle/rod/net building. I was able to pick up a few things that I have been wanting to dable in. Hopefully these things will keep me busy until our season opens!

If you are looking to attend a show next year, I would recommend the Butler show over Michigan. It is almost the same size and is a lot closer to home.

What shows has anyone else been attending? Buy anything you would like to share? Any experiences?

--Joe

[BlueEye]

Joe -

That might be the best musky fishing report I have read in February on LOU. Thanks for sharing! What was your total gas bill for this whole winter blues adventure? Thanks for picking me up that glider. Spent this weekend at the Outdoor Show in Salamanca, NY (Allegheny Casino). The show was more hunting/gun related than fishing but the place was packed to the max. Saw a couple fishing booths though. If you are into hunting & guns.... this was definitely the show for you!

Chad

[Nalod]

Hey Chad.

Great question on the gas costs...I am going to guess around $250 for the both trips. Well worth it to get me out of my funk though!

--Joe