It's Show Season

Spring in Maine is marked by a number of outdoors shows and exhibits. Over the weekend I attended two of them and as always it was great fun to visit with old friends from around the state and in different aspects of my business. Saturday I attended the LL Bean fishing expo at the new hunting and fishing store in Freeport. They had a good turnout with lots of interesting seminars. I spent a half an hour or so watching someone else teach flyfishing which I found extremely helpful. There is nothing like watching a different approach to teaching an activity. Did I learn anything new yes, was it a big revelation? No. But still a great way to improve my style and I had a chance to visit with many folks I have not seen all winter.
 
Sunday I drove to Orono to take in the Penobscot County Conservation Association’s Sportsmen’s Show  I have been concerned about the future of this show for a few years as the attendance seemed to be low. Sunday morning had a good turnout and again I was able to visit with many folks I had not seen all winter. One of those was Matt Dunlap who was sitting in as the host of the Maine Outdoors radio show on WVOM. I have been on the show a number of times over the years and when Matt told me that his planned guest for the evening had called in sick I offered to sit in with him. So a morning visit to the show turned into an all day event finishing up on the radio that evening. As always we only had a few calls and lots of time to talk about outdoor issues in Maine. I enjoyed the opportunity and look forward to being on the show again.
 
The next shows are in Wilton next weekend, that I won’t be able to make because of a guides small buisiness seminar  and Augusta the weekend after that. Fishing season officially opens on April first but I don’t expect that we will have much water that is not covered with ice and the rivers and streams will be running very high. But still progress toward fishing again.