Toronto Sportsmen’s Show: Day 1

Today was the first day of the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show, and it’s also the first time in years that it was not at the Canadian National Exhibition. Unfortunately, I ended up walking all the way there with photographer friend in tow, only to be greeted for some kind of flower show. We hopped on the streetcar back up the Queens Quay to nearly where we’d started and headed to Toronto’s Metro Hall.

Once there we obtained our admission stamps since the passes were unavailable at the time. It was almost 7PM at this point and the convention closes at 8PM, but we managed to get in and explore the first section pretty well. Unlike the previous years CNE, Metro Hall has broken up the convention into multiple rooms/buildings. If you’re going to the convention get a map immediately! Without it you might get lost or frustrated, and this convention is all about fun, so get a map!

While we were there we covered may of the booths and products we’ve discussed recently such as Koppers Lures, Quantum, Storm, Abu Garcia, and if I had more time I could have completed my boater exam! It was probably a very fine example of the phrase, “a kid in a candy store.” I’ll post more stories and photos tomorrow, as well as tweeting the event tomorrow after work.

Sorry for the low resolution photos, these were taken with my iPhone. I’ll have some real photos tomorrow!

New 2010 Quantum PT Tour KVD!

Kevin VanDam and Quantum have teamed up to produce a new exclusive line of Performance Tuned reels to compliment the custom KVD signature rods. The new Tour KVD PT reels feature a larger spool for increased line capacity (145yds / 12lbs) and are available in 3 gear ratios “tailor-made” to fit Kevin’s aggressive style. Your typical yawn inducing 5.4:1, to an eye opening 6.6:1, and a blistering 7.3:1; officially putting your PT Burner 7.0:1 to shame. The Quantum Tour KVD PT reel about is 299.99 (MSRP).

via Quantum Fishing

2009 Quantum Tour Edition PT Baitcast Reels

We had a look at the new Quantum Tour Edition reel a while back and we weren’t too impressed with the choice of colour. Well the reel has been released (with a $279 USD price tag), and they’ve prettied it up and chromed it out! It looks sharp if you ask me, but I still love the old blue one (which Jon and I both own), and from the reviews I’ve read, the new one doesn’t match the old ones quality either!

Which do you like best?

It’s Funny How the World Works

Years ago, maybe when I was sixteen or seventeen, living in Mississauga, Ontario, I purchased my first fishing rod. I had had a few rods and reels beforehand, all given to me by family and friends. This was my first big purchase that I can remember (I never really had much money to spend growing up). A quantum spinning reel, on sale for $34.99 and a six foot, two piece Shakespeare Uglystick for $39.99. It was a lot of money to me back then, but I had saved up birthday money and I knew what I wanted. My friend Colin Kennedy and I both got equipment that day at Sports Authority, he purchased a Spider brand reel (this was right when they first came out) and I was pretty envious. Together we fished quite a bit. We never really caught anything big, but we caught a lot of fish, and we released them all. One of my fondest memories of him was when we were about eighteen years old and we went with my mother to Bancroft, Ontario and rented a small cottage in the middle of nowhere with no electricity, and we spent our days fishing a secluded lake out of a small canoe with several holes in it. We would fish for twenty minutes then bail water for five, and then fish again. We fished like our lives depended on it, even when it started raining heavily. This was the fishing trip that taught me the magic of the Mepps Black Fury. It caught fish on almost every cast, including some of the biggest rockbass I have seen in my entire life.

Later we started going to fishing shows, and buying more and more equipment; bilding small collections to help us catch more fish. Shortly after, Colin left Ontario and moved west to British Columbia and I haven’t seen him since. I have often wandered how he was if he was still fishing. A few weeks ago I used Google to search his name, I figured it was worth a try, but all I got was an NCAA football player.

Today I got an email from a name I recognized immediately, Colin Kennedy, and with great joy I opened it and read it. It turns out that Colin was looking for some information for a fishing trip and stumbled across a fishing picture that he thought looked like me. He Googled my name and found FishingFury and my personal site. He is still living in British Columbia, but we have made loose plans to get together and fish sometime in the spring.

This is one of the reasons Jon and I do what we do with FishingFury, for our friends and for our family. Fishing has given us some of the happiest moments our lives, and now we are sharing them with the world. It amazes me how common interests help bring people together.