Today Jay and I spent the day in Niagara Falls at the Triple S dealer show.  We were invited to attend by our friends at Daiwa and spent most of the day visiting with some of our friends in the fishing industry.  What a great way to spend a mid-winter day!  We got a sneak peak at most of the tackle that you'll see in the shops this spring, including the offerings from our friends at Daiwa, Northern King, Dreamweaver, and Cannon.



Here I am with John Ruffino from Daiwa.  Daiwa has some cool new stuff for 2008 including a new 57 sized Accudepth Plus reel that we plan to run for our full color cores and shorter copper segments.  There's also a new price-point Downrigger rod (the Wilderness) that I think a lot of guys are really going to like.



Shane Ruboyianes from Dreamweaver was a busy guy taking orders for the new colors of Spin Dr flashers and Dreamweaver spoons.  They have several really hot colors of new Spinnys, including a new Habanero Spinny that I think will be ultra-hot for 2008.  And be sure to check out some of their new super glow spoons that we rocked the kings with last year.



I just love the whole crew at Northern King.  Here I am with Bev Cahill as we look over the new colors of spoons that they'll be offering in 2008.  I especially liked the new Gold Series NBK's, which we tested for them last season and had fantastic results with.  I think that they have a major hit on their hands with that line of spoons and there's no doubt that you'll see them in the water behind our boat this year!  And that Gold Cup Froggy you see on the board up there...yup yup!!



Cannon has upped the ante yet again this year.  They'll be introducing a new series of stainless steel swivel bases, mounts, and accessories that we'll probably have to run on the boat simply because they're incredibly cool looking!  Can you say "Pimp my Ride"?  They've also come out with a nifty new tilt-mount that allows the rigger to be tipped up for easy line retrieval.  VERY cool indeed!  Thanks to Don DeMoss for spending so much time with us today.

We also ran into some Lake Ontario regulars while we were there.  We spent some time talking with Tom Allen from A-TOM-MIK while we were checking out some of his new colors (nice stuff Tom...you keep raising the bar every year).  We also ran into Andy Bliss from Cold Steel, and we spent a good portion of the day with our close friends from the Yankee Troller team, Rick and Rich Hajecki.  And no Rick, the free lunch we had on Daiwa doesn't count towards the dinner you still owe me!

Today was a sure-fire cure for the cabin-fever that has already begun setting in.  There are a ton of cool new products coming out for 2008.  This is such a great time to be a Great Lakes Angler!  Who wants to go fishing?!?!?

Guess that about covers it for today.

Until next time, Fish On!

~Capt. Bill