Thursday, March 8, 2018

Flyfishing and Wingshooting Expo

     The Flyfishing and Wingshooting Expo was held the weekend of February 24th and 25th at the Split Rock Resort, Lake harmony Pennsylvania. Over the years I've been to a few sportsman's expos here and there. A sportsman expo is always interesting, but always disappointing at the same time. Not being interested in much of what is on offer at a sportsman's expo, nor a connoisseur of beef jerky, I tend to not get terribly excited about them. The Flyfishing and Wingshooting Expo, however, sounded like it would be right in my wheelhouse. So I secured accommodations, and headed to the Poconos for the weekend.

     The Expo was quite enjoyable, once I found the venue. Split Rock Resort is a kinda funny place. The signage in was lacking, and once I did manage to get inside the resort I had a long walk past a video arcade, and hair salon before I was browsing all thing upland, wetland, and stream bound. Inside I quickly caught up with an assortment of acquaintances, before making the rounds.

     There were a wide variety of exhibitors, both fishing oriented, and shooting oriented. I don't think there were many people not finding what they were looking for, though there were a couple of gaps that could have been filled in a little. Not being a huge expo, I felt the size allowed me to chat with exhibitors without many interruptions, but I fear that the smaller size of the expo may not have allowed exhibitors to meet expected sales. Being the first year of this new expo I hope exhibitors and vendor make that a consideration when deciding whether or not to attend next year.

     The expo offered a number of 1 hr seminars throughout both days. I attended two seminars; a ruffed grouse habitat seminar, and something about English Setters. I always enjoy all things Ruffed Grouse, and the seminar I attended was no exception. The setter seminar? Well, I'm still not sure what the purpose of that seminar was.

     Saturday evening there was a sportsman's banquet held at the resort. I bought in to a Ruffed Grouse Society table with my acquaintances. The featured speaker was Dez Young, of Hunting with Hank fame, who made a nice presentation about the history of his TV show. Oh yeah. The food was great.

     I'm glad I made the trip, and plan to make it again next year. I'm certain as this expo grows it will be the premier sporting expo.