My 2023 Bassmaster Classic Expo Experience
Since 2010, I’d always been on the water during the Bassmaster Classic competition days, often an hour or more away from the downtown arena, which meant that I essentially never got to visit the Expo. For a tackle junkie like me, that’s a particularly cruel punishment. This year, however, I had different assignments, and as a result I got to wander the Expo with Hanna and her friend Donna for a couple of hours each day.
A big part of that time was spent gathering content for this website, but we also chatted and visited with many of the people who we’ve featured here previously – including Brad Vanderpool of F5 Rods, Eric Gomez of Leviathan Rods, painter extraordinaire Jen Kravassi, Dave Davis from DD26 and many others. Even though I’ve long accepted and then semi-celebrated my introversion, the social part of it is a big deal. It’s like getting back together with family once a year.
Next year the Classic festivities will be in Tulsa, over an hour from Grand Lake. If I’m stationed downtown, I will get to relive that experience, but If they have me at the lake this will likely be my last leap into crass consumer culture for a while. Accordingly, I made an effort to drink it all in and get as much out of the experience as I could.
Here are some of my highlights:
What I Bought – After fishing with Daniel Jones on the Chickahominy River, I knew that I wanted a Phoney Frogs glide bait in hot pink (aka “80s Baby”). Accordingly, I made a beeline for the McKee Outdoors booth, where PF owner Jason St. Mary was stationed. We got a great interview with him that we’ll be posting soon, but in the meantime I’m anxious to get out and chuck the big glidah.
What I Acquired – I grabbed some reels, both from companies I’m very familiar with – like Daiwa and Shimano – as well as one that’s new to me, KastKing. They’ll be part of an ongoing baitcasting reel test for Outdoor Life magazine.
What I Coveted – Like many of you, I’ve been a huge fan of the Megabass Magdraft for a while, but I’m always willing to consider variations on that theme. The Berkley Cull Shad is currently the hottest (and hardest to attain) bait of that ilk. I pleaded and bargained with my friends from Pure Fishing to loan me one, to no avail. I was also pretty impressed with the Bass Cat Jaguar paired with a Mercury 400HP racing engine. I love my Puma STS, but part of being a bass fisherman is always wanting more.
What I Already Had – Yamamoto formally introduced the Yamamtanuki at the show, their version of a “scat” bait. I’ve had some for a while, but have yet to give them a fair shake. They will be on the deck for the next few weeks as our fish make their push up super-shallow. I also received some of the Megabass Sleeper Craws just before the show, and cannot wait to crawl them down a bluff at El Salto.
Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Classic Introductions – Tackle Warehouse does a great job of coordinating with tackle and gear manufacturers – both those exhibiting at the Classic and those at home – on their springtime introductions. Here are a few of the ones that caught my eye, with travel in mind, in no particular order.
Finally, I have a feeling that the Smeltinator dude up at Lake of the Woods is going to be set for life. If you want to get ahold of him, or purchase any of his products, do it quickly.
