Fishing Show Reels ‘Em In

The line of people--almost all of them men--meandered down the sidewalk from the Long Beach Convention Center, past the parking structure and around the corner.

They were waiting for the start of one of the convention center’s biggest events each year, packing the parking lots, drawing 40,000 people over 4 1/2 days.

So what was the lure? Fishing, of

course.

The Western Fishing Tackle and Boat Show is the biggest show of its kind in the nation, and that’s no fish story.

“This show is a happening,” said promoter Fred J. Hall, who is in his 50th year of putting on outdoor sports shows. “It’s Woodstock, only with moms and dads and children.”

Outside, Jim Russell of Moraga stood near the end of the line, patiently waiting.

“Do I look crazy or what?” he said. “But I think this is the best show there is for both fresh and saltwater fishing. If they don’t have it here, they probably don’t have it.”

Russell is probably right. Inside the Convention Center, booths specializing in virtually every facet of fishing filled more than 300,000 square feet of space. Booths touting fishing lures stood next to booths specializing in taxidermy. Alaskan wilderness outfitters were there by the boatload. Every kind of fishing boat imaginable, including a fold-up model, was on display. There was even a glass fishing tank where experts gave tips on how to catch the huge bass that floated inside.

This pointer was jokingly delivered by Don Iovino, regarded as one of the best fishermen in the country: “If you get your wife catching fish, you can spend a lot more from that checkbook.”

There are more than 50 million licensed fishermen in the United States. And in 1994, the latest date available for such figures, they spent an estimated $4 billion on fishing equipment and $3 billion more on fishing boats.

At the Western Outdoor News booth, staffer Sue Goodridge said some people keep a separate bank account with money set aside to spend just once a year--at the fishing show.

“It’s like Christmas in March,” she said. “At one point last year they had to stop selling tickets because they had reached capacity.”

To anyone buying a subscription, the newspaper was giving away the customer’s choice of fishing bait, a fishing glove, pliers, two kinds of knives and a knife sharpener.

Said customer Tom Bakken of Palmdale: “It’s like being a kid with a whole room full of toys.”

Promoter Hall produced his first sports show in 1946 at Gilmore Stadium, now the site of CBS Television. But his events haven’t always gone as smoothly as the one that started Wednesday.

At one, set up outdoors, he dyed the sawdust green to simulate a grassy slope. When it rained, Fairfax Avenue was covered with green ooze. At another, in Chicago, he flooded the streets when he drained a tank used for water-skiing.

The convention runs through Sunday. Admission is $8.