The Spring Fishing & Boat Show Thanks You

The Spring Fishing & Boat Show would like to take this opportunity to thank all the manufacturers, retailers, outfitters, exhibitors, volunteers and general public that helped make the show a success, and to the International Centre for all their help and guidance throughout our journey.

We wish to thank Her Worship Mayor McCallion for attending the Industry Breakfast and welcoming the show to the City of Mississauga, the city she referred to as the fishing capital of Canada because it has the only fishing show and the Great Salmon Hunt! During the breakfast, the Canadian Angler Hall of Fame inducted three influential people in the industry; Bernard Herbert “Red” Fisher, Rick Amsbury and John Power. It was a great honour to have John Power deliver some words describing his experience and devotion to angling and share some stories along the way.

John Power and Al Lindner took part in the ceremonial ribbon cutting and officially opened the First Annual Spring Fishing & Boat Show.

Special thanks to the marine industry for their commitment from the very beginning. The generous boat donations made by Lund, Princecraft and Yamaha were above and beyond our expectations. Hundreds of children participated at the fishing hole and were entered into the draw for the WC 14’ Lund Boat. Congratulations to our lucky winner Brian Haley of Bradford, Ontario. Thousands of ballots were entered for the Princecraft Yukon 15 Boat and Trailer prize package from the number of sales that took place during the course of the show. Congratulations to Don McCaw of Orangeville, Ontario on your win. Our door crasher G3 Boat by Yamaha saw 1,000 entries with the lucky winner being Vic Diamante of Toronto, Ontario. Thank you to the company representatives that awarded these prizes on the closing day of the show.

Lund Boats premiered their fiberglass boat line and launched their newest aluminum model the “Predator” at The Spring Fishing & Boat Show. As well, many other manufacturers utilized this time to unveil their new lines for the upcoming year. Seniors Day, the show opener, was well attended along with the remainder of the weekend. On Sweetheart Day, the first 100 ladies and young ladies were pleased to receive roses and on Kid’s Day, the first 100 children received a lucky Salmon Masters fishing cap. To celebrate Family Day, Pizza Pizza provided the first 100 families with a store coupon for a large pizza. A special thanks to Pizza Pizza for their partnership in this venture.

We wish to thank Outdoor Canada Magazine for the $50 Show Bucks awarded to the attendees on an hourly basis. We were pleased to see all show bucks utilized at the participating retailers during the course of the show.

Lights, cameras and an elevated area gave the Mega Tank a show stopping appearance. With cameras displaying the expression and true emotions of the presenter on an overhead screen and a second screen showing the different movements of the products displayed in the Mega Tank, our celebrity speakers took centre stage and captured everyone’s attention. Al Lindner was inspirational and brought the show to a halt during his performance. Al held anglers captive during his fishing seminar and not once was a rod,, reel or any tackle needed to illustrate his knowledge of the sport of fishing. Our show would not have been complete without the Canadian talent brought forth by our own celebrities; Italo Labignan of Canadian Sportfishing, Dave Mercer of Facts of Fishing The Show, Leo Stakos and Ron James of Fish TV, Big Jim McLaughlin of Just Fishing News, Rocky Crawford and Paul Powis.

The Masters of Salmon presented by Scotty Downriggers captivated a crowd of 132 anglers during their seminar that commenced at 8:00 am prior to show opening. Wil Wegman presented an informative session on ice fishing and Danny Dunn and Rob Patricio took charge at the CSFL Pro Panel with our bass and walleye specialists getting answers to the numerous questions brought forth by the attending crowd. Thank you to all the professional anglers that took part in this question and answer pro panel.

On Saturday evening, the annual CSFL Awards Banquet took place in the Aviation Ballroom. The CSFL champions, sponsors, anglers and exhibitors to the show were invited to celebrate the success achieved by these individuals and companies through hard work and dedication. A special thanks to Magician Kim Wilson from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who entertained our guests with his incredible magic show.

As the show progressed, we were happy to hear the outfitters were taking on site reservations and tackle retailers were making their sales. We have been assured we can count on their participation next year.

It is with great pleasure that we are able to deliver this well needed show for this industry and we hope to continue to make it grow and get better with the years to come. Your encouragement and faith in us to provide a venue that you can be proud of has enabled us to lay down a foundation for the Spring Fishing & Boat Show.

We thank all of you and trust this partnership will continue for many years to come.

THE SPRING FISHING & BOAT SHOW