Snow time = Show Time!
Normally, I’d be talking up how you really can still go fishing this weekend. Work over a few options, talk about how time is running out for Sea Bass, remind you about blackfish techniques, you know the drill. However, you would have to be living under a rock not to know that there is a monster blizzard heading our way that is going to hammer the entire region… except for South Jersey. By the way, seas are forecast at 8- to 11-foot, so unless you are trying to decide how to end your life, there ain’t no fishin’ this weekend.
Therefore……Greetings from the Atlantic City Boat Show!
If you ever thought of buying, or just drooling over the boat of your dreams, this year’s show has got it all lined up for you. From a monster center console with quads hanging off it to an inflatable dingy with oars, there really is the full gamut of things to browse or haggle over. It is really a spectacle.
So what would the boat show be without a couple of features for the kids? How about the Swamp Master Gator Show? You and the family can see the Swamp Master wrassle a 200-pound Gator right before your eyes. No, it is not Tim Tebow, it’s a real gator, 8-foot long and the kind that does not graduate. Why, it is almost as dangerous as trying to find on-the-street parking a few blocks away and walking to the convention center.
You also can’t have a boat show without a long list of convicts from On The Water magazine. Come meet Capt. Bob Cope, my weekly partner in crime Mike Shipton, and of course, yours truly, as we wander through the throngs of adoring fans. Why for the show yesterday, there was a line at the booth so long that the uninformed would have thought that they were actually waiting for the Progressive Insurance supermodels taking photos in their bikinis around the corner of the row!
There are also a boatload of our wonderful sponsors at the show. All kidding aside, the list is pretty substantial and some of the deals that are being offered are off the hook. You see, you don’t have to actually BUY a boat to get some value out of the AC Show. The vendor section in the rear of the convention floor (which you seriously cannot see from one to the other end of because it is so big) is just stacked up with great deals. Rods, reels, harnesses, life rafts, and different kinds of lures for everything imaginable.
One of the things the boat show is always good for is to re-up on a couple of things you need. For example, both TowBoatUS and SeaTow always offer an incentive for renewal or new membership at the shows. A good way to save a few bucks on something you have to be out of your mind not to have if you own or tow a boat. Of course, it is also the perfect opportunity to renew your subscription to On The Water Magazine for 10, 15 or 20 years. An item close to my own heart that you may find interest in is a number of captain’s courses that you can sign up for. I am not suggesting that everyone should start running charters (trust me, it is not as glamorous as it seems!), but I can tell you that going through the course simply to become fully educated boat operator is priceless.
Best Bet for this weekend is to be sure to wear good shoes! The kind that you can put a few miles on AND that won’t mark the decks of all those beautiful new boats you are going to be checking out. If you cannot make it to the show, I hope you have all your snow removal gear and bags of ice-melt lined up and ready to go.
Back to fishing next week (I hope!).
Stay Tuna-ed!