# If you're headed to the Columbus Fishing Expo Saturday...



## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

A few of us are probably hitting Woodlands Backyard for a burger and beer around 6pm. Very low key compared to last year, just a show up and hang out kinda deal. 

668 Grandview Avenue
Columbus (Grandview), Ohio 43215


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## reyangelo (May 28, 2014)

Wish I could go, I just got back from the expo and do not get off from work until 8:30pm tomorrow. I know last year it was nice meeting other members and talking tricks of the trade. I didn't see an OGF booth, did I overlook/missed it?


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## Workingman (Jan 21, 2016)

Rey, i didn't see ogf on the exhibitor list. How is the show? I'm taking my daughter tomorrow. We were there 2 years ago and she enjoyed it. Supposed to be more / bigger now?


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

Went at noon for a couple hours. Listened to Joe Jordan talk smallmouth at the Hawg Trough grabbed a couple hard to find color Joshy clam boxes and bailed. Much less crowded at the new venue. A welcome change.


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## reyangelo (May 28, 2014)

Workingman said:


> Rey, i didn't see ogf on the exhibitor list. How is the show? I'm taking my daughter tomorrow. We were there 2 years ago and she enjoyed it. Supposed to be more / bigger now?


It was good. Plenty more space. I picked up some swims, jerkbaits, and jigheads at good prices. I really wanted to stock up on jigheads, but didn't see many custom ones. I did catch Troy's presentation that had good info on the importance of tuning lures. Had good chat with Joe Jordan too. Overall had a good time in the couple hours I was there.

Note: about a third of the space was dedicated to some boats, kayaks, and the kids zone. Plenty of space for the Hawg presentations. This is Friday though, so not sure how Sat/Sun crowd will compare.


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## Dovans (Nov 15, 2011)

hopefully something will be there on Sunday. Have to work till 11a.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I was planning on heading up tomorrow, but I think I'm going to wait until Sunday.


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

I went to one (I think it was the first?) 3 or 4 years ago and my uncle invited me to go with him today which is the only reason I went. You guys that didn't go today made a good call because the line was ridiculous and standing outside in that wind wasn't any fun! As someone mentioned, about half of the building was full of boats and some kayaks and the other half was pretty much exactly what I remembered from the last one I went to. Not much catfish related gear so I wasn't there very long but bass fishermen and pan fishermen will probably enjoy it.


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## fishwendel2 (Nov 19, 2007)

Hopefully they will restock but all of the 2.75 and 3.25 Killer Clown Big Joshy swim baits were gone by 6:30pm. They sold ALOT of them!


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

fishwendel2 said:


> Hopefully they will restock but all of the 2.75 and 3.25 Killer Clown Big Joshy swim baits were gone by 6:30pm. They sold ALOT of them!


Happens every year with the "show color"

I didn't go,BUT I GOT MINES


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

haning at the show now. Very very busy compared to yesterday. bought some tungsten ice jigs at a great price 6 for 5 bucks. also a few cranks and checked out some rods. found some rods I am super impressed with. Will probably pull the trigger one one later today. best part is seeing alot of people I have come to know and talking fishing.


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Headed there around 2...you'll have to point me to those rods...cumberland calls!


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## reyangelo (May 28, 2014)

Yesterday at the expo, I found Troy's secret weapon for Saugeyes. Think it's a HJ99 perfectly tuned.


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## All Thumbs (Apr 11, 2004)

just got back from the expo - place was a lot larger and many more vendors - 1 hour to get into the parking lot - 1 1/2 hours to get out of the parking lot - overall (just my opinion) i liked the old building even though it was smaller - getting in and out was not worth the trip for the new building


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## Shields (Mar 30, 2014)

All Thumbs said:


> just got back from the expo - place was a lot larger and many more vendors - 1 hour to get into the parking lot - 1 1/2 hours to get out of the parking lot - overall (just my opinion) i liked the old building even though it was smaller - getting in and out was not worth the trip for the new building


2.5 hours spent in the parking lot?! Weather was awfully nice today to be stuck in a parking lot. Unfortunate because I'm sure the show itself was nice. Glad I opted to spend time outside today instead!


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Attended last night after work but wasn't impressed enough to fight the traffic to get back in there today. (A lot of folks showed up at the store today after 11 a.m. who were tired of waiting in stop-and-go traffic on 71, so I decided to take a rain-check for today.). Ran into Josh and Troy, which is always nice, but, honestly, I didn't see a whole lot that I wanted to purchase. Anyway, I'm meeting a few friends up there tomorrow and hopefully we'll have a better time than I did yesterday.


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

We arrived at 230 pm and no wait at all. Great show!


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

All Thumbs said:


> just got back from the expo - place was a lot larger and many more vendors - 1 hour to get into the parking lot - 1 1/2 hours to get out of the parking lot - overall (just my opinion) i liked the old building even though it was smaller - getting in and out was not worth the trip for the new building


I agree with this one-hundred percent. I had issues last night trying to figure out how in the hell to get out of the parking lot, and I was the only one trying to leave!!! I can't imagine hundreds of cars trying to do the same. 

I also didn't care for the long and somewhat confusing route from the parking lot to the building in the dark. It was kind of creepy.


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## Evinrude58 (Apr 13, 2011)

Hit it today with one of the grandsons. Got there around 1:30 took maybe 10 minutes to park and get inside. Left around 4pm didn't like that they had traffic exit at 11th which made 95% of the cars have to make a left with no light or cop to direct traffic, still only 15-20 minutes to leave. Bought a couple small items. Highlight of the trip was watching one of the girls showing off on the paddleboards fall in.


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## Dovans (Nov 15, 2011)

Have permission to leave work early tomorrow. Looking very forward to the show. Last day, so I am not expecting much. I will say it is disappointing Joshy's booth wont be there.


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

Dovans said:


> . I will say it is disappointing Joshy's booth wont be there.


. 

Ha well you might do a doubletake tomorrow. fishermans warhouse set up all our baits and gear in a real nice way. So all I have heard all weekend while im walking around is people asking about how things are going at MY booth. LOL. 

as far as traffic and parking im sure the gun show had a very big impact on how things went today. from about 4:30 on today imside it cleared out real well and you could easily get to each booth no problem. 12-2 was BUSY!!!


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

Big Joshy said:


> haning at the show now. Very very busy compared to yesterday. bought some tungsten ice jigs at a great price 6 for 5 bucks. also a few cranks and checked out some rods. found some rods I am super impressed with. Will probably pull the trigger one one later today. best part is seeing alot of people I have come to know and talking fishing.


I picked up some jigs from sportsmandirect also. I buy the same jigs they had. I spent 10 bucks for 11 jigs would have spent 30 online from them.

I wanted to look at your plastics. The Vick C booth told me where they were but couldn't get over there with all the people.

I did pick up some Vick C for the walleye run.

All in all it was a good show. My dad and I may get a booth next year. Lots of traffic.

The parking did suck but we did not sit in traffic. The trailers and show vendors should not park at the entrance. They should be out back someplace. We parked way out back.

Show was set up pretty good. I guess it would have spread people out if the vendors were split in half. Half on the right and half on the left with the boats in the middle. Boat side seemed empty and you couldn't hardly walk through the vendor side. I liked that all the state and federal agencies were by the kids area. That made sense.

I won tickets on here but buying presale is the only way to go. We showed up around 12 and walked right in. There was a line for cash sales.

Hit cabellas and field and stream on the way home. They were packed also. Heard a bunch of people talking about the show. So it was good for the stores also. Was going to hit fin feather and fur but missed the exit.


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## Bluegillin' (Jan 28, 2009)

My first trip to the show and was there from 11:00-3:00. I had the opportunity to talk with Troy (great guy) and meet some of the guys from the icefishohio.com group. I thought it was a good show. I attended a couple of the talks and admired the $50,000-$70,000 Ranger boats for awhile. Hopefully will get a chance to meet even more of you next year.


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## Specktur (Jun 10, 2009)

Yes, traffic was backed up and the ticket line was long, but that was because it was a big success. Looked like they had plenty for kids (and I thought there were a good number of kids). Caught at least parts of four seminars. Picked up a Zara Puppy for $4.50 at Mogadore Bait & Tackle. They had lots of Rapalas at reasonable prices. Also got some Big Joshy swimbaits. I did not see them listed as an exhibitor, but happened upon them on a corner. The Genie Jar caught my eye on my last pass. Looks like a good way to take live bait when wading. I bought a cast net a couple years ago, but have not used it much since I could not figure out a good way to keep the bait. This might change things. 
http://www.geniejar.com/


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

They also had a gun show and some volleyball thing at the fairgrounds yesterday which I'm sure didn't help traffic. Fairgrounds were hoppin!


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## Dovans (Nov 15, 2011)

Big Joshy said:


> .
> 
> Ha well you might do a doubletake tomorrow. fishermans warhouse set up all our baits and gear in a real nice way. So all I have heard all weekend while im walking around is people asking about how things are going at MY booth. LOL.


Absolutely Correct... Fisherman's Warehouse had you nicely displayed. Now as far as Slim pushing those pulse baits.....


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)




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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Lol Dovans me pushing I never push a product but I do promote local guys that make baits that work. I had to find somewhere to stand I had no Josh booth to work. Lol


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## Dovans (Nov 15, 2011)

fishslim said:


> Lol Dovans me pushing I never push a product but I do promote local guys that make baits that work. I had to find somewhere to stand I had no Josh booth to work. Lol


I bought stuff from quite few locals today. didnt amount to much but I do try to support them.


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## homepiece (May 11, 2007)

The traffic into and out was much heavier than I expected. I ended up dodging it by staying on 71 and then cutting back on Indianola then coming in the back way. It seemed like there were way more people there this year than the previous few that I have been to. The joshy stand at with Fisherman's Warehouse was selling a lot of gear. I restocked for the year and was very happy to see the sunfish colored J5. I think that color is going to work very well for me out at AEP. I probably should have bought more of that color. Picked up some other things here and there and had a great conversation with the Brazilian Amazon Fishing guides. I need to start saving for that trip, looked and sounded awesome.


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## polebender (Oct 29, 2011)

Deazl666 said:


> View attachment 229641


Son!


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## Fish With Teeth (Mar 1, 2008)

I went on Friday and enjoyed it quite a bit. I did not spend much but it was fun looking. I was disappointed that the Kayak seminar that was supposed to be on stage D at 4:00 never happened. That is half the reason I went. The bass seminar on that stage ran over on it's time so I waited until 4:45 and still no kayak seminar.


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

there was definitely a bass seminar guy who was way rude with running over on one of the side stages saturday. went way over. then stood there and answered questions without moving to the side. kept someone way way more courteous and respected in the industry waiting. Not cool at all. Of course the second guy handled it with class. 

Just checked. yup same guy


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## Fish With Teeth (Mar 1, 2008)

Big Joshy said:


> there was definitely a bass seminar guy who was way rude with running over on one of the side stages saturday. went way over. then stood there and answered questions without moving to the side. kept someone way way more courteous and respected in the industry waiting. Not cool at all. Of course the second guy handled it with class.
> 
> Just checked. yup same guy


Yeah, The guy stood there Friday afternoon and answered questions til everybody was gone.


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## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

reyangelo said:


> Yesterday at the expo, I found Troy's secret weapon for Saugeyes. Think it's a HJ99 perfectly tuned.


Omg that made me laugh so hard!!!


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## quackpot (May 17, 2009)

I really enjoyed the show, I was in the IFO booth. I bought way to many of those tungsten jigs. I enjoyed the 12 year old boy tying flys, which tied a couple on tungsten jigs for me. With everyone wanting to be first ones in I believe that contributed to the line of people. Wasn't near as packed as last year. Crowds died out around 3. I need to make cooking racks for buddy heaters for next year, could have sold mine many times. I enjoyed meeting everyone.


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## Dovans (Nov 15, 2011)

The bigger venue was much appreciated. To Me anyways. The Hot tubs and jewelry did they need to be there?


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Everyone should own a Hot Tub (serious).


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

acklac7 said:


> Everyone should own a Hot Tub (serious).


Lol my wife made a B line for the paddle boards through the hot tub area. The sales lady was on her. Untill she saw she just wanted to look at the boards. Then she leaned up against a hot tub and waited for the next wife


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

acklac7 said:


> Everyone should own a Hot Tub (serious).


Unless your diabetic or have heart problems


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