Overall I thought this was a great show. Here are some of my observations.
There was a ton of fishing boats and bass boats! At least it seemed like a lot to us guys who are used to the Cleveland Boat Show. Knox Marine seemed to have all the new Rangers there, plus the tin BB models and a few tin deep V's. Nice display, front and center. We also saw all of the Bass Cat models (a first for me; nice boats!), most of the Nitro models were there and of course the under $10,000 40th anniversary Tracker. There were Trackers, a couple of Skeeters and a few toons. Plenty to oogle and climb around.
There seemed to be a lot of regional booths full of home poured plastics and China imported tungsten trying to subsidize their hobby. I suspect these guys are a product of the internet but I personally didn't see one that really stood out over the other. They have a sameness. I would have liked to see some national manufacturers there, like Berkley, Eppinger, Mepps and Zoom but those days are probably over.
There was one decent retail outlet (Fisherman's Warehouse, I believe), several travel booths (including Alabama with a G-g-g-g-giant mounted bass!) and I was pleased to see old Dan Gapen there, still plugging his wares. And thanks for the 20% coupon from Dick's! I've already used it and covered my admission price with the savings. I was a little disappointed in the Fishermans Central display but they are saving up for their spring sale when they will have Jason Christie in town. March 4th or 5th I believe.
There was an aisle for college teams and club trails as well statewide trails. All were happy to share information
I scored a HUK performance shirt for $20 and a Mojo performance shirt for $20. All and all a good day and I'll definitely go again.