I went to my first fishing expo and came away unimpressed. Besides paying the entrance fee, the only items I purchased was food.

I walked around for just over an hour looking at the various booths and wares displayed. I was not in the market for anything in particular but if I saw a good deal I would have made a purchase.

However, I saw no real deals, except maybe the Lew’s section that had 20% off everything. But I was not in the market for Lew’s.

Lot’s of custom bait companies that I was not familiar with that had some nice paint schemes on their lures.

Another booth displayed a reel I was interested in, but was the regular price as any retail store. Why would I go to the expo and pay full retail?

There was one company booth, despite no waiting lines, appeared very chaotic. I had no idea what was going on there. I was going to ask about the rod particulars but left due to the odd circumstances.

I did bump into one BassNation Angler, shook his hand and said he looks taller in person then on youtube.

It was an experience I was interested in but left with a "meh", not for me.

I haven’t been to one in years. In our area they have been taken over by 4 wheelers, side by sides and campers. Usually pontoon boats, jon boats and a bass boat or two. Rods reels and other fishing stuff is practically nonexistent.

As far as not getting deals on tackle, it costs a lot to have a booth at a show. The profit margin on fishing gear is pretty small and even smaller if you aren’t a store that sells a ton like a bass pro shop. Considering their expenses, they probably lose money at the show. Discounts just make them lose even more.

I can absolutely understand how you could be disappointed if you went to a fishing expo for the purpose of finding deals. One would think they are a "sale" event, but I think that's rare these days. When I go to a fishing expo, gun show, boat show, new car show, home improvement show, etc. I'm not going there to buy things. Might I end up buying something? Sure, but it's not the reason I go. I go to these events because I'm a "hands on" guy. I can read reviews and I can ask people I know, but that isn't the same as getting my hands on something, checking the fit and finish against MY standards, and being able to ask direct questions to a knowledgable employee if, for no other reason, to get a feel for their company standards. I find these events very helpful to me, even if I don't buy something that very day.

I don't go looking for deals. I go for the seminars and to talk with and support the 'little guys'. I love buying and fishing with lures made by individuals and small local companies.

I usually go to meet up with some fishing buddies I haven't seen since the fall.

We walk around and bust each others chops and have a bunch of laughs.

Might buy some small stuff I don't see anywhere else.

I do like to try out rods from the manufactures, since I need to have them in my hands.

I can't tell how I'll like them until holding them, just can't go by descriptions.

I agree, pretty much no deals, the cost of the booths, moving all the inventory, paying all the staff adds up.

I go for the corndogs……

I go for the pickles too!

I go to fishing shows because I like to jaw jack with other people who love fishing and my house has 1 fishing fan in it. Being retired I don't socialize in public much.

Our local one is called the Ultimate Sport Show so it isn’t just fishing. I haven’t been in probably 10 years or more. It’s pretty much just one big flea market.

I went to an expo once and the best part was bumping into this dude who was just there as a consumer. Me and my buddy ended up talking to him for at least 20 minutes just standing there by the empty chairs because there was no seminar. Dude pulled out a notebook and shared some deep understanding about reading water and retrieve angles and some other golden nuggets.

Found a good deal on a couple packs of tubes. Some KILLER deals on fly tying materials. And found some good people to talk to once in my life, weird how that happens huh?

But mostly its just to hang out with my friend and feel connected to fishing again during the 5 months we can't fish due to the cold or hardness of the water.

15 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Our local one is called the Ultimate Sport Show so it isn’t just fishing. I haven’t been in probably 10 years or more. It’s pretty much just one big flea market.

Used to go to a show in South Carolina that was more flea market than boat show. It was the best, finding old tackle, rods and reels at flea market prices. A lot of fun.

16 hours ago, Banned User said:

But mostly its just to hang out with my friend and feel connected to fishing again during the 5 months we can't fish due to the cold or hardness of the water.

I haven't been to a fishing expo for decades, but ^this^ is why I'd like to go. It's also fun to see the bass boats that cost more than my waterfront land. They're so shiny!!!

I like to go see new equipment and get hands on to see how it feels. God knows I've bought enough sight unseen that I didn't like after using. More than the expo shows I like the swap meets.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

I haven't been to a fishing expo for decades

The NH Outdoor Expo is March 6-8 at the Hampshire Dome in Milford, NH (https://nhoutdoorexpo.com/). It's not a big show, but you'll likely run into other BR members, including me. I go just to get out of the house and talk fishing, though the Tackle Monkey pummeled me yesterday at the New England Expo in MA.

The seminars are sometimes good. Saw many people buying rods, must have been some deals on those. I went to buy some higher quality lures than you can pick up at your local Walmart. Hand tied jigs and spinnerbaits, a few nice trailers. Just enjoyed being among lots of people who enjoy fishing. Taking a break from one of the worst winters so far since the 1970s by focusing on fishing for awhile.

I was worried you were close to me, glad to see you're from the NE. I was at the Kayakjak Expo last Saturday, setup with a booth that was half our kayak club and half my baits. It was a smaller expo but lots of stuff packed into it and tons of cool things to buy. I'm glad I was busy the whole time so I didn't have a chance to walk around and spend money 😂

Other than a chance to support local baitmakers I don't have much reason to go to the expos anymore. For a while they were a unique chance to grab certain swimbaits without going through the whole "drop" process, but many have ramped up their production to make them easier to get where that's not really as much of a concern anymore. And as far as "sales", those are pretty much gone too.

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

And as far as "sales", those are pretty much gone too.

Ben's Tackle Shack offered 20% off everything they brought. Douglas and FX Xtreme rods had a pretty good sale. I bought two Douglas' and one FX.

13 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Ben's Tackle Shack offered 20% off everything they brought. Douglas and FX Xtreme rods had a pretty good sale. I bought two Douglas' and one FX.

I think my sensitivity for what constitutes a sale has shifted over the years lol. Seems like places have 20% off sales multiple times a year that I basically consider that retail and won't place an order until those come up.

After years of attending trade shows from coast to coast as a vendor, my observations were, they are great for the little guy that has a hard time getting his products in peoples hands, great for the guy trying to make a name for himself that is motivated enough to do demo's and they can be great for the boat companies or the like, especially those that sell direct and have little to no dealers. Everyone else is there out of passion in today's environment. The internet is better in just about every way to sell your goods these days...

You don't always know how much you earned via these shows though as lot of guys will come and check stuff out, go home and do more research and then buy weeks later and many never mention they came to a show unless you ask, etc...

For the most part, they are a love/hate sorta thing for the vendors, often times you get sick on the trade show circuit, exposed to all those germs from not so local places, etc... It's a grind... Spent many of days in far away motels dealing with the crud, it always seemed to happen when I had a couple extra days to go fishing somewhere cool too. Bed bugs are also a major drag, I am highly allergic and can tell you, they exist in more hotels, no matter how fancy than most realize... If you aren't allergic, you would likely never know you were being feasted on throughout the night...

You could summarize 95% of the interactions with the general public at these shows as someone repping boats in these three questions.

1) How much does it weigh?

2) How much does it cost?

3) Are those stickers free.

I swear most the people that attend them are just there out of boredom and to get free stickers LOL

I think in the coming years you will see a lot less of them which is a shame, if you were just getting into fishing and truly wanted to learn a few things, generally the folks that do demo's and whatnot at those things just love to teach people to fish and will help folks to no end learn to cast or tie knots or whatever.

I once did a show in Portland, Oregon and they got about an inch of snow, the City shut down, there were semi's just parked and abandoned on the major highways, when my Uber driver showed up to take me from the hotel to the trade show, he informed me he had just moved to the states from Kenya weeks before and had never seen snow before, he was scared to death lol. So we went to a parking lot and I gave him some pointers on driving in the snow lol Best Uber ride ever...

On 1/31/2026 at 7:35 PM, Motoboss said:

I go for the corndogs……

That wasn't on my bingo card for the day.

I go to the one in Indy every year and it is not what it used to be but I still enjoy going