2024 Wisconsin Fishing Expo

Shawn talks with Dan Durbin about the 2024 Wisconsin Fishing Expo - at the Alliant Energy Center from February 23rd to the 25th.

Episode Transcript

(00:12):
Eight fifty thirteen ten WIV. You'retwice of storm track forecast increasing clouds of
high today of fifty seven. Currentlyit is thirty four. We've got a
couple of clouds here at thirteen tenWIB A big weekend at the exhibition hall
at the Alliant Energy Center. Oh, it's back the Wisconsin Fishing Expo.
And joining us from the Wisconsin FishingExpo. A familiar voice, mister Dan

(00:35):
Durbin, Dan, how you doingthis year? I'm doing great. We
meet again. Yes, you know, it's great to die. I always
know Spring is just about here whenyou and I talk, I always look
forward to hearing about the event.And every year you guys bring a big,
big event, and you always hadsome new stuff as well. Speak
of new stuff? Did I seeare you guys expanding your hours on Friday?

(00:58):
Did I? Did I see that? Later? Am I remembering wrong?
No, you're correct. We areactually opening at one on Friday instead
of three. And we more orless had to do that because we just
we had a lot of consumers thatwanted to, you know, spend an
entire day. Yeah, and thatkind of helped them get more bargain for

(01:19):
their tickets. And actually aftermath isthat we're able to pack more seminars in
on Friday as well, so it'sa win win for everybody. Oh that
is great, and we're going totalk about some of those seminars and some
of the other great events going onat the Wisconsin Fishing Expo. As mentioned,
Kick kicks off tomorrow one o'clock,runs Saturday and Sunday as well.
All the details online the website WiPhishingexpo dot com. That's Wi Phishingexpo dot

(01:44):
com. Before we get to thespeakers and the seminars, let's kind of
just do a quick event overview.You guys literally have something for absolutely everybody,
don't you, Dan, Oh yeah, yeah. We're looking at one
hundred and ninety thousand square feet ofeverything that you can do with fishing,
with whether you're you know, newto the sport, if your kids just

(02:04):
getting introduced with it, to aseasoned veteran. I mean, it's it's
fully interactive. We're looking at overthree hundred and sixty booth this year,
which is an all time record,so there's all kinds of stuff for it,
and it doesn't matter what you fishfor fits in fresh water, we
got it. Oh, that isabsolutely fantastic. Again, it is the
Wisconsin the Fishing Expo, kicking offtomorrow at the Align Energy Center in the

(02:29):
ex Bo hall. You mentioned thekiddos, and I think for a lot
of a lot of folks that's kindof Those are important years obviously for a
number of reasons, but also theopportunity for kids to learn about about fishing
and being responsible and you know,really helping, you know, for themselves
and having that skill, and ofcourse the overall enjoyment. And you guys

(02:51):
have a bunch of really really coolopportunities for kids to things for them to
do, to really make it agreat event, to really encourage them and
really spark their interest in fishing,don't you. Oh gosh, yeah.
I mean I think there's at leastseven different kids exhibits, including seminars.
We've got you know, fishing basicsone O one and then a two to

(03:12):
one version for more advanced at thatway. At the first one, we
give away seventy five rodden real combos, the second one seventy five tackle boxes,
and then we got a third onewith it with seventy five T shirts
and a bunch of stuff like that. So a lot of interactive stuff on
you know, taking a class andthen they kind of have to graduate with
their little forty five minute class toget the goodies. Fish Bengals another popular

(03:38):
thing at basically six stops around theex bow that you know, it goes
to various vendors. They get theirwhole punched, and then at the end
they get a little gift bag withsome lures and stuff that's probably worth you
know, six seven bucks just rightthere, yeah, I mean, and
then just you know, of coursewe got the trout pond, we got
the bumper boats and they don't getwet. Parents don't worry thought, it's

(04:00):
completely completely safe. And then youknow, just the goofy things like mental
races, and we got balloon tying, face painting, and a lot of
this stuff is no extra charge.Well fantastic and a great mentioned. Bring
the kids, bring the grand kids, something great for the entire family.
Again. It is the Wisconsin FishingExpo running through the weekend, kicking off

(04:21):
tomorrow at one o'clock. More detailsonline Wi Fishingexpo dot com. That's Wi
Fishingexpo dot com and dan can folksbuy tickets online as well. They definitely
can do it online. You willget that Ticketmaster fee for convenience, so
it is cheapest if you do itat the door cash or credit. But

(04:43):
if you do online, you doget in. You can kind of sneak
in a little bit quicker with theprepaid TECHNT get through that way. I
mentioned some of the some of theseminars. Is there anybody in particular.
I know you obviously it's a busy, busy weekend for you, but I
know you like to take in someof this. Anybody you're really looking forward
to hearing from, or a presentationyou're really looking forward to see. Yeah,
I mean yeah, Like you said, we have twenty five different seminars.

(05:05):
I'm really interested in one that TomHoyne is going to do. He's
just an absolute stud on a walleyecircuit right now, use the various types
of ford facing sonar. And thenanother interesting one is Josh Weisner, who's
a converted walleye tournament angler. Hewas a very good walleye tournament angler and

(05:27):
then switched over to bass fishing,and in just two or three years of
taking walleye tactics and applying them tobass, he's made the Bass Masters Classic
which is it's the Super Bowl.I mean, it's a it can make
or break your career at the twohundred thousand dollars event probably, and so
I'm really interested in that. Andthen I'm kind of going to throw a

(05:47):
few wing you know, flyers outthere and stuff that I don't fish and
check out a species I don't.I don't focus on that that Again,
it should be exciting for everyone.You mentioned a little something as well for
everybody, whether it's something you know, species of fish that you're particular about,
or if you want to learn morethat cool thing. And Dan correct
me if I'm wrong. I mean, here in Wisconsin, we're blessed.

(06:08):
We've got a ton of great lakes. We've got great rivers and streams.
We've also got a couple of giantlakes that touch our state, a couple
of the great lakes. I mean, there's a little bit of something for
you know, different types of andI know that the event caters to all,
but for people that are maybe youknow, traditionally we you know,
we fished a particular lake. Maybewe want to learn about about fishing and

(06:30):
streams or trout fishing or going outon the Great lakes, maybe chartering a
boat or something like that. There'sopportunities for those folks as well, isn't
there? Oh gosh, yeah,totally yeah. Bill Soltz is one of
our bass guys who's doing a streamsmall mouth seminar and making an applicable to
his spot up in Sturgeon Bay aswell, which is cool because there's some

(06:51):
dandy smallmouth fishing right around here thatpeople don't don't know about. And we
have different Great Lakes people speaking andwhether it's walleye or bass or even muskie.
But one thing I like to dois expose people to new waters.
But you know, for instance,fishing Green Bay for walleyes or bass or

(07:11):
muskie. But then we'd have ourseminars also say hey, come, you
can come up there, but howcan you use those tactics on the Madison
Chain as well, or kashkan Onor Lake Wisconsin or the river. So
kind of cool, like they getexposure to new stuff but also techniques that
they can bring back home. AndDan you mentioned vendor what three hundred and
sixty booths, there's a lot.There's a lot to do, a lot

(07:33):
to take in and a great opportunitytoo, and I know as anglers oftentimes
quite particular about about things and howgreat it is whether you're looking at different
lures or different tackle and different typesof equipment. Actually having the experts on
hand to help guide some of thosepurchasing decisions is we want to make sure

(07:53):
that that it's something that you know, we work hard for our money and
that we're that we're really fully understandingwhat we're buying. Having that conversation with
the vendor, with the distributor atone of those boots is a huge benefit.
Oh heck yeah. I mean wehave the national brands of course,
and you've got to have them.They bring out to cutting edge stuff,
technical stuff. But yeah, Ithink what makes us so different is we

(08:16):
have a lot of a smaller boutiquetype of hand painted crank baits or hand
pour plastics and stuff, and you'regoing to talk right to the owner and
oftentimes they built this bait or thispresentation to solve a problem that wasn't already
fixed in the industry. So you'regoing to talk to the actual person who
built it, who cast it,who uses it on a daily basis,

(08:37):
and can really coach you up onhow to do it. And then you
know when I mentioned at three hundredand sixty booth, that doesn't even count
the one hundred boats we have inboth in bulk space. Wow. Yeah,
I see like like twelve different dealers, thirty different brands of boats.
I mean, it's going to bea great weekend at the Align Energy Center

(08:58):
at the ex Bowl Hall. Well. More information available the website Wi Phishingexpo
dot com. That's Wi Phishingexpo dotcom. You can buy tickets online.
Kids under twelve they are free.And some great sponsors as well. Dan,
Who's who's all there to make thisall happen. Oh, there's a

(09:18):
bunch of them. Diowa's One,Wisconsin Outdoor News, Future Angler Fishing Association.
There's a lot to roll through.But yeah, it's it's we're really
blessed to have the show here inMadison. We have such great support from
everybody and we're just we're just happyto be back guns blazing. It'll be
it'll be a great weekend. Lookforward to seeing you Dan again. That's

(09:41):
at the exhibition All Line Energy Centerstarts tomorrow, runs through the weekend.
All the details at Wi Fishingexpo dotcom. That's Wi Fishingexpo dot com.
Dan, you have a fantastic weekend. Look forward to seeing you real soon
you as well. Thank you,and really we really appreciate you having us
on every year. It's invaluable sourceand we just really thank you very much.

(10:03):
I always look forward to talking withyou Dan. It's great to talk
to Dan Durban with the Wisconsin Fishingexpoagain Wifishingexpo dot com. Speaking of Dan's
Dan o'donald comes your way next yearon thirteen ten WYBA