I'm back home in Florida after a good Show in Philadelphia. First I want to thank my friend and Event Promoter Dave DeGenarro for having me and the team there to head up the fly fishing/casting component of this excellent fishing event. Likewise my grateful thanks to the "Crew" that volunteered to assist me at the A.F.F.S. exhibit and fly casting "pond", Members and A.F.F.S. friends. Some included Fly Guide, Chip Jablonski of WALK ON THE WILD SIDE GUIDES Allentown, PA. for his time and skill at the tying vise and the casting pond,  Nick Pullano, N.J., my old fishing buddy, photographer, and media guru. Christian DelCollo, N.J., BATTLEWAGON BOATS President, for providing and transporting my 13' Fly Fishing/LT 13 from the Factory to the Show and then answering all the Show attendees questions about Battlewagon Boats. Also very glàd to have my old friend Steve Monahan, N.J., Fly Fishing Product Rep for Temple Fork Outfitters rods & reels at our display on Friday and Saturday.  Steve provided the latest 5 wt. travel combo for attendees to test cast at the Pond. Providing tips and casting pointers to all that requested them.  A new face at our display this year was Fred Wilson from Candlewood Lake, CT.  He was very helpful with students helping with teaching them at the Pond. I am looking forward to working with Fred again in the future. I always enjoy spending time talking with so many old industry friends and making some new ones as well.  On the business end of things for A.F.F.S. I finalized the deal and worked on many details with Christian about moving his sponsorship forward.   Now I have another official new job. I'm ñow the first-ever National Sales Rep at Battlewagon for the Fishing and Hunting models. The racing boat models will all continue to be the exclusive domain of Christian the owner, designer, and builder of Battlewagon Boats.  Christian is a completely addicted boat racer and I am not.  In fact, most Battlewagon hulls are designed first for that purpose and are later refined and rigged to suit fishermen and hunters in various models to meet those requirements. My little red 13' beauty is an adaptation of the highly successful 12' "Muddy Duck" for waterfowl hunters. The Muddy Duck was designed and built to transport hunters, dogs, guns and decoys safely across choppy bays and estuary waters often in colder climates while doing it both safely and dry.  I first saw a 13' BW at the Atlantic City Boat Show in 2018.  I knew that it would make a great fly fishing micro skiff for crossing rough waters to reach protected backwaters where productive shallow water fly fishing is often found. Would you like a test ride here in Florida? Oh Yes,  we do have some open and sometimes choppy Bays that have to be crossed to reach the best Mangrove creeks. Give me a call and we will schedule it. Other product lines were added at this Event including eyeware, hook sharpeners and a great new underwater camera system. More details on this in upcoming posts.

INSIDE SHOW BUSINESS

I'm getting ready to fly up North again this Wednesday in the middle of winter to participate at another Sportsmen Show.  I love to do Shows but I sure hope the weather will not be too bad while I am there.  Our South West Florida weather has me spoiled. This one is the PHILADELPHIA FISHING SHOW 2/21-23 at the GREATER PHILADELPHIA AREA EXPO CENTER in the suburb of Oaks, PA. This is the second year for this show and for A.F.F.S. being there.  It promises to be even bigger and better than last year, which hit a home run from its opening day. This is exactly what I forecast would happen when the N.M.M.A. in its "wisdom" decided to walk away from its successful (by attendance numbers) Sportsmen Show in this exact same venue.  I advised my long time friend, Dave DeGenarro (Fisherman Flea Markets promoter of 1 day events in New Jersey and New York) to take a shot with this opportunity. Dave is quite glad he listened and I suppose the other Show promoter I also urged to take it but did not, now wishes he had listened to me.  Instead, the other promoters' main event in New Jersey sadly continues to deteriorate in its quality of exhibitors yet it survives simply because of the population density in that market and the general publics' boredom during wintertime in the Metropolitan N.Y.C. area.  There is always a new "crop" of vendors, guides, charter captains, products and services that have a dream and can be persuaded to take an exhibitor booth or space.  Sadly we did not participate at this Event in January as we have for the past 30 years and may not ever again. Generally speaking, the more successful exhibitors become, the more they realize they will do far better by participating at targeted specialty shows such as the FLY FISHING SHOW, SALTWATER FISHING SHOW, KAYAK, CAMPER or BOAT SHOWS. You can put on just about anything in North Jersey called a Sportsmen Show and get away with it as long as no one else comes along and puts on a better one.  Unfortunately, this is now practically impossible, as there is only 1 Exhibition Hall left that has the facilities to host such an event since the closing of the Hall in Somerset, N.J. None of the 5 Boros of N.Y. have one except the Javitts Center which priced way out of Promoters, Vendors and most attendees price ranges.  The only viable venue left is the N.J. Convention Center in Edison, N.J.  The same thing happened in the Philly Market with the closure of the Fort Washington and Valley Forge facilities leaving only the Oaks Expo Center available. It is true that there is the downtown Convention center in Philly but the costs involved there for promoters, vendors and attendees also make it not a viable option. So that's the inside story on the business of Shows.  Looking forward to seeing a number of my old friends and new acquaintances next weekend.