fred hall tackle show - long beach, california

it's the biggest tackle show in the western united states.  never been before and it was overwhelming.  next year, i'm flying down for a couple of days, staying at the mariott hotel across the street, and having dinner at hooter's every night!  this trip, i flew down in the morning and flew back in the evening. 

i don't travel much and have never gotten over the novelty of flying.  i caught the 10am commuter flight from san jose to los angeles, but booked too late to get the $80 special.  i ended up paying $254 for my flight!  ouch!  i'll know better next time.



it was only a 50 minute flight to los angeles.  the smog was surprisingly light.











my good friend ben picked me up at los angeles international and we headed out for burgers, then on to the long beach convention center.





once inside, i was in for the surprise of my life.  i could not believe how huge this show is.  we have a fred hall show in san francisco and the international sportsmen's expo in san mateo.  i was told that the long beach show draws more people in a day than the other shows draw in a week!



this is two hours before the opening.  everyone is frantically rushing to get set up. 





meet socalslew, george valenzuela (proprietor of senortuna.com) and my ride and good friend, ben ouano.





so while these guys were working to get set up, i had two hours before the opening to cruise around and take pictures.







the turner's booth is HUGE!







johnson hicks had a nice booth.  i spoke to darryl and galen about a new temp sensor, so we're going to get one more thing added to my boat!  this darned galen is always costing me money!









this is mr. hightower from newell.  we spoke briefly about greased carbon fiber drag washers.  he will still not come over to the darkside!





the izorline guys had their knot testing machine out.  my 6 turn uni knot did not perform very well the last time i tested it on their machine, so i kept moving.....



my favorite rods!



my friend frank on the right, still getting the daiwa booth set up.



i didn't get a chance to talk to these guys, but i've heard lots of good things about ken's!





eye candy!  couldn't pass up this shot!









my good friend steve from penn!  we missed him at the fred hall show in san francisco. 









shimano's new "a" series tiagras!



this lady makes the most beautiful tackle boxes i've ever seen.  my wife would probably be willing to use one as a jewelry box!



avet!!!!!!!!



and bloodydecks.com!



this is dean takahashi.  he's the guy that is importing this new thinner japanese braid.  i'm going to get all of my new accurates strung with his hollow core spectra.  no more bimini's and albright's.  everything is going to be spliced from now on.  i was amazed at how busy his booth was for the entire day.



jonah from hi's tackle. nice to see a familiar face!







did i mention that i was thing about a new boat?  hmmmm, 33 might work......







i finally got to meet one of my most favorite people in the whole world.  this is dawn, of smoothdrag.com.  she has a new handle nut wrench and a basic tool box for any of you guys thinking about breaking into reel repair.  i spoke to her about expanding her website.  that way i can post up a reel repair tutorial for ever reel that has a carbontex upgrade. 









the world famous captain frank lopreste of the royal polaris!







these next four shots are a panoramic of the main floor.















hmmmm, built-in live well!





2pm and the doors flew open!!!!!!!!!!

















hey, a cute japanese girl that actually fishes!



baker frames, great stuff!



the true masters, cal and eric sheets of cals2speed.com. 







harry from avet!





kevan from noah's tackle!











i want to go to costa rica!









mark hilliard!  it was amazing!  i ran into about 50 people i knew during the day!



ben and i grabbed a quick dinner at the show, then back to the senor tuna booth to get his rod blanks, then off to the airport to catch my 8:30 flight. 



good bye, los angeles!



hello, san jose!



you guys should check this out next year.  well, it runs until sunday, so you still have time this week!  i am definitely going back next year and it will be for several days, not just 8 hours.  hope you enjoyed the show!  alan

Wow I felt like I went to the show.  Great photos!

I live 10 minutes north of there.  

yup, it was way cool!  i got in 2 hours before the opener and cruised all over. 

Thanks for the V tour Alan!......and I saved BIG BUCKS $$ too!

Wow...Alan...Thanks for being our eyes at the show.  Please post more pics of the Quantum Kayak Fishing Center if you can.  I hear it's 4X as big as ours at the Cow Palace.

I'm regretting I didn't plan ahead and score some of those cheap $49 one-way Southwest Airlines fares.

A group of us from north cali went down to the Long Beach show.We stopped at all the tackle shops(taking advantage of show sales)Went to West Coast Choppers,blah,blah.We did a fishing nut tour of Socal.It was a fun and expensive trip.Found some Calstars on sale new reels,jigs etc.
 That was a few years ago,wouldn't mind doing it again.Maybe next year!

Thanks Alan, I had no idea all that was happening, wow...you got on a plan to go to a fishing show....wow

Glad ya did, That would be cool, get those cheap flights and do the scene, No Spike Eh?  Thought he was down there..Danglin

Alan-

Great pictoral... you are crazy hard core. Flying down for a tackle show... for just the day no less. A show like that looks pretty dangerous to my pocket book. Looking at a 33... why stop there...? go for the gusto... (JK)

Freddie

  Please post more pics of the Quantum Kayak Fishing Center if you can.  I hear it's 4X as big as ours at the Cow Palace.

The Long Beach show is nuts and big. Very busy this year. How did you manage to gets shots of the other guys booths and miss ours

The kayak center is bigger at Long Beach but not better, the area was set off from the main aisles so people had to come looking for the seminars, much better vibe at the Cow Palace. The kayak dealers were downstairs with the seminar area upstairs.
Setting up today for the show in Del Mar, not as busy as Long Beach but much busier than San Fran, at least I can sleep in my own bed every night. The kayak center will be more like at the Cow palace so that should bring in more passers by.

Alan,Was the Black Steel guy Dean Yoshizumi?I fished with him before,he's really into the "Sano" rigging.(Spliced hollow spectra,short flouro topshots,etc.)He was using all matching accurate twindrag rigs.

Amazing tackle  show. Thanks for the pictures Alan.
That kayak with the livewell looks pretty cool. At first glance it looks like a floating toilet...

  Please post more pics of the Quantum Kayak Fishing Center if you can.  I hear it's 4X as big as ours at the Cow Palace.

The Long Beach show is nuts and big. Very busy this year. How did you manage to gets shots of the other guys booths and miss ours

The kayak center is bigger at Long Beach but not better, the area was set off from the main aisles so people had to come looking for the seminars, much better vibe at the Cow Palace. The kayak dealers were downstairs with the seminar area upstairs.
Setting up today for the show in Del Mar, not as busy as Long Beach but much busier than San Fran, at least I can sleep in my own bed every night. The kayak center will be more like at the Cow palace so that should bring in more passers by.

Jim... thanks for the first hand report.  I was so very curious about how the three shows compared.  I just wished I could have been there like you to see for myself.

cool pictures, thanks for the report.

John