Did you buy anything at the Expo?

[Big J Mac]

Not buy anything from the classic and to be honest with you I was not impressed.

[fly by night]

I bought one re-arming kit at the Mustang booth. I wanted another one for my Mustang HIT but they didn't have any in stock.

[Smalliefan2]

Bought an OG slim to replace one I lost Thursday. About 40% off retail. Got a white bucket. Seemed like several areas where the space was constraned for folks was more open at this one. Parking was not as much an issue as the last Knoxville classic. Did get a number of questions answered, in person, opposed to email. That was very helpful.

[shafer22]

Parked fo free at parking garage. About a 5 minute walk.

[Sylvanboat]

$30 to park is pretty steep.

how much of that got kicked back to BASS?

[mossie3]

They were some decent buys $7.99 jackhammers, $425 NRXs, $6 Berkley Spinnerbaits, $1 Googan plastics, $30-$60 off Shimano reels depending on the model, Suzuki gave out free shirts.

[Cliffprocraft190]

6 of us just got back from the Classic. The others bought more than I did. The University charged $20/day for parking but there were plenty of shuttle buses that would haul you to the 2 buildings full of vendors. One building had a single floor and the other had 3 floors of vendors and kind of a strange layout that made it kind of hard to get around and easily make sure you saw everything, especially when crowded. Liked the layout at Tulsa much better. Not as many good deals as the 2 Tulsa Classics or the Ft. Worth Classic. There were good deals on lower tier rods and lots of rods and combos were sold. Not that many great deals on lures. About the only lure I saw people absolutely going nuts over was that new bowling pin shaped soft plastic bait from Yamamoto. Those things were going about as fast as they were stocking them and I heard the guy in charge at the McKee booth telling his workers that maybe they should save some for Saturday so that some people could get some then. The pink ones weren't going very fast but all the other colors they had were being snatched up. Lots of expensive swimbaits and glide baits there for sale. Some people were buying them, but Magdrafts for $14.99 were probably the highest selling swimbait. Thorne Tackle had Rapala rainsuits for half price and one of the best selections of lures, rods, reels, and rain gear. Had never heard of them before but was told they are big in Minnesota. Some vendors I hoped would be there were not. Some vendors did not seem to have as wide of variety of tackle/baits that they had at Tulsa or Ft. Worth. Would not probably go back to Knoxville if same venue layout is used but am looking forward to Tulsa.

[Jeff Hahn]

6 of us just got back from the Classic. The others bought more than I did. The University charged $20/day for parking but there were plenty of shuttle buses that would haul you to the 2 buildings full of vendors. One building had a single floor and the other had 3 floors of vendors and kind of a strange layout that made it kind of hard to get around and easily make sure you saw everything, especially when crowded. Liked the layout at Tulsa much better. Not as many good deals as the 2 Tulsa Classics or the Ft. Worth Classic. There were good deals on lower tier rods and lots of rods and combos were sold. Not that many great deals on lures. About the only lure I saw people absolutely going nuts over was that new bowling pin shaped soft plastic bait from Yamamoto. Those things were going about as fast as they were stocking them and I heard the guy in charge at the McKee booth telling his workers that maybe they should save some for Saturday so that some people could get some then. The pink ones weren't going very fast but all the other colors they had were being snatched up. Lots of expensive swimbaits and glide baits there for sale. Some people were buying them, but Magdrafts for $14.99 were probably the highest selling swimbait. Thorne Tackle had Rapala rainsuits for half price and one of the best selections of lures, rods, reels, and rain gear. Had never heard of them before but was told they are big in Minnesota. Some vendors I hoped would be there were not. Some vendors did not seem to have as wide of variety of tackle/baits that they had at Tulsa or Ft. Worth. Would not probably go back to Knoxville if same venue layout is used but am looking forward to Tulsa.

A buddy of mine told me that Triton Mike sold out of his big swim and glide baits on Saturday.

[Aj14]

Many of you had a deal as the rest of us had to watch the Classic on Saturday with limited audio.
Most other times due to this "new advancement" in fishing, we had to watch a guy hold a swimbait 12' off the bottom with his back to us.
I left the house to watch the grass grow instead.
Never again.

[Cliffprocraft190]

A buddy of mine told me that Triton Mike sold out of his big swim and glide baits on Saturday.

Maybe he did. I looked at his stuff on Friday and he had plenty still that afternoon, but I don't recall going by his booth on Saturday. As usual, there were much bigger crowds on Saturday. Friday is the day to go if you want a good look at everything. On Saturdays it gets so crowded it's hard to see things for all the people in the way, especially where vendors have baits on peg boards down low because you no longer have room to bend over, bend down, or even reach down and get stuff off the peg to look at.

[Transom]

Maybe he did. I looked at his stuff on Friday and he had plenty still that afternoon, but I don't recall going by his booth on Saturday. As usual, there were much bigger crowds on Saturday. Friday is the day to go if you want a good look at everything. On Saturdays it gets so crowed it's hard to see things for all the people in the way, especially where vendors have baits on peg boards down low because you no longer have room to bend over, bend down, or even reach down and get stuff off the peg to look at.

Soap drop specials.

[Mark Perry]

6 of us just got back from the Classic. The others bought more than I did. The University charged $20/day for parking but there were plenty of shuttle buses that would haul you to the 2 buildings full of vendors. One building had a single floor and the other had 3 floors of vendors and kind of a strange layout that made it kind of hard to get around and easily make sure you saw everything, especially when crowded. Liked the layout at Tulsa much better. Not as many good deals as the 2 Tulsa Classics or the Ft. Worth Classic. There were good deals on lower tier rods and lots of rods and combos were sold. Not that many great deals on lures. About the only lure I saw people absolutely going nuts over was that new bowling pin shaped soft plastic bait from Yamamoto. Those things were going about as fast as they were stocking them and I heard the guy in charge at the McKee booth telling his workers that maybe they should save some for Saturday so that some people could get some then. The pink ones weren't going very fast but all the other colors they had were being snatched up. Lots of expensive swimbaits and glide baits there for sale. Some people were buying them, but Magdrafts for $14.99 were probably the highest selling swimbait. Thorne Tackle had Rapala rainsuits for half price and one of the best selections of lures, rods, reels, and rain gear. Had never heard of them before but was told they are big in Minnesota. Some vendors I hoped would be there were not. Some vendors did not seem to have as wide of variety of tackle/baits that they had at Tulsa or Ft. Worth. Would not probably go back to Knoxville if same venue layout is used but am looking forward to Tulsa.

We sold an incredible amount of Magdrafts and Vision 110s as well as Sleeper Craws. All our product sold well this weekend.

[Caymas ProXS]

Me & the family won way more product in the Academy booth than I purchased from everywhere else combined…

What we won:
(1) Aluminum Costa Cup, (1) XL Costa waterproof dry storage bag, (5) shirts, (3) neck gaiters, (2) 7’6” MH casting rods, (1) 7’6” M spinning rod, (1) Nylon tackle box, (1) L Igloo insulated water jug, (1) Abu hat, & (2pcs) candy

[Stratos285proxl]

I don’t know where you parked but I parked for free both days in a parking garage 1 min from the expo. Only time I had to pay was for sundays weigh in at G10 garage and there was plenty of free parking elsewhere. Just needed a quick out after the weigh in.

[Cliffprocraft190]

I don’t know where you parked but I parked for free both days in a parking garage 1 min from the expo. Only time I had to pay was for sundays weigh in at G10 garage and there was plenty of free parking elsewhere. Just needed a quick out after the weigh in.

We hadn't been there previously and weren't familiar with the area but one guy in our group said BASS info recommended parking at G10 garage so that is where we went and took the shuttle from there.

[Cliffprocraft190]

A buddy of mine told me that Triton Mike sold out of his big swim and glide baits on Saturday.

Does he make swimbait rods as well or sell someone else's rod that he recommends to cast his big baits? On Saturday I was on the other side of the building from where Mike had his baits and some guy asked me where so and so's swimbait rods were and I didn't recognize the rod company name and he said "It's the rods Mike sells to use with his swimbaits.", so I told him Mike had his swimbaits set up in the outer hall on the other side of the building but I couldn't remember which floor and I told him I didn't remember seeing rods there but he seemed very happy to get an idea where to look for Mike's stuff, seemed only to be interested in a new swimbait rod and left the room we were in immediately to head that direction.

[Triton bass]

I got a lews custom Lite reel for 240 and 2 mh custom speed stick Lite rods for free

[fly by night]

I had a lady friend drop me off and pick me up at the Expo on Friday so no cost for parking!

[skeeterator]

A buddy of mine told me that Triton Mike sold out of his big swim and glide baits on Saturday.

I got one of his new soft baits on Friday, it's incredibly soft, hope it doesn't tear too easily.
Went to a couple Garmin boothes Fri when the doors opened at 11 for life members, I wanted to buy a new transducer for my livescope, they only took a few to the show and they were gone.
I bought a few bags of plastics at a discount.
Saw orange rods everywhere Fri so I found them, they were 3 for $80, I don't even remember the brand. Another rod company had 4 for $120, just saw the tags on them as guys were carrying them out by the boatload.

Parking sucked!!! Nothing like driving all the way to the top of a 6 story parking garage and finding out its full and having to go all the way back down. No signs anywhere saying "full" or "open" on most garages, terrible is putting it nicely. Saw boots on some vehicles that had parked in no parking areas so I'm sure the city made easy money. As mentioned already, the layout in the main exhibit hall was tough to maneuver around in and see everything cause of the various small rooms with vendors tucked in them, almost hidden away. Getting up and down to all 3 different levels of the building with a stroller was a "challenge". Not toddler friendly at all. Weather was amazing all 4 days we were down there and we had a great time with our daughter over in pigeon forge so overall it was a good trip. Been to a Knoxville classic now twice though, first time and last time lol.

[PsuHntr]

Does he make swimbait rods as well or sell someone else's rod that he recommends to cast his big baits? On Saturday I was on the other side of the building from where Mike had his baits and some guy asked me where so and so's swimbait rods were and I didn't recognize the rod company name and he said "It's the rods Mike sells to use with his swimbaits.", so I told him Mike had his swimbaits set up in the outer hall on the other side of the building but I couldn't remember which floor and I told him I didn't remember seeing rods there but he seemed very happy to get an idea where to look for Mike's stuff, seemed only to be interested in a new swimbait rod and left the room we were in immediately to head that direction.

Dobyns rods is what he uses I believe