Tri- Essox Show

             Every year in January as the ice thickens on our lakes the fishing shows invade our area with guides, tackle manufactures, and other fish info. But the shining star of these events, for myself and other fellow muskie hunters, is the TRI-Essox Musky Expo, held at Harper College. I made it out there for the opening and there was a line of about 300 or so fishermen ready to descend on the vendors like so many buzzards on a carcass! As usual when you walk through the door it puts you into sensory overload with the amount of tackle, pictures, mounts and people.  As you move ahead you are going to see all the big stores tackle booths and they all have huge amounts of custom colors and lures that can’t be found elsewhere! There is a manufacture that comes every year named Wishmaster who makes oversized lures that are amazing but are also very pricey, starting at around $200.00, it seems that they do a good business as there is always a line at the booth. Then you see some of the best in the taxidermy game, Joe Fittante and Lax reproductions. Their work is beautiful! Moving on you are going to find some smaller manufactures who have come up with some really great ideas and products that you may have never though of.  Check out www.shackattacklures.com who recently released really nice soft plastic swim bait. Another both I found was Ryan’s custom leaders who makes a leader that the line, tie, leader and clip are all one piece of wire, very nice when you want to think small and scale down. As you walk thru the show you will find yourself rubbing elbows with some of the real big names of the fishing industries. This year for the first time I took a whole day and watched the speakers, something I usually opt to pass on. I realized I’ve been missing out! You should take the time out to go in and listen as you have all the pro’s conveniently accessible for the only time of the season. Here comes the great part of the TRI-ESSOX show, it used to be the only game in town but not anymore! There is a new kid on the block, The Extreme Muskie Expo that comes to town in March. They will be at the Dupage Expo Center located at 4050 East Main Street  (North Ave/ RT 64) For more info try www.dupageexpo.com.

Hope to see you all there!

Tite lines!

Ron Fulk