Expo excerpts

Outdoors show complements Forrest Wood Cup with fun, education

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Outdoors shows inherently bring a snapshot experience to attendees eager for insight into activities popularized by its celebrities. The FLW Outdoors Expo brought all that, punctuated by a trio of interest points specific to the Forrest Wood Cup with which it was held.

With a diverse tapestry of fishing and outdoors related vendors and FLW sponsor displays filling the Gwinnett Convention Center’s main exhibit hall, showgoers were treated to this free event Friday through Sunday. Several of FLW’s top anglers, including angling legend Jimmy Houston were on-hand for autographs, souvenir photos and fishing tips. Forrest L. Wood, founder of Ranger Boats and FLW namesake, had a constant line at his autograph table in the Ranger display.

The Cabela’s trout pond allowed kids to fish for rainbow trout under the supervision of fishing coaches who helped the kids with live releases. At the National Guard exhibit, activities such as the elevated ropes course, a surfing simulator, paintball shooting and the ever-popular rock climbing wall provided loads of fun for the Expo’s youth visitors.

Amid all the fun, we found three particularly notable elements with direct relevance to this year’s venue – the heralded Lake Lanier.

Get the drop on spots

By far, the dominant tactic employed by Forrest Wood Cup anglers seeking Lanier’s spotted bass was the dropshot – a mostly finesse rig that hangs a weight below the plastic bait on a leader. Pioneered in deep, clear western waters, the dropshot has made its way eastward – at least among tournament anglers. Yamaha pro Stetson Blaylock, who presented dropshot seminars during the expo, said the rig is still surprisingly foreign among casual anglers in the east.

“Over here in Lake Lanier where the water is clear, I would have thought that a lot of people would know how to drop shot, but a lot of (the local anglers) have no idea what a dropshot is,” he said. “This Expo is a good opportunity to show the public what a dropshot is, how it works and why it’s good to use in tough situations and when the fish are biting.”

Cup anglers were primarily fishing light line and small baits on their dropshots, but Blaylock’s seminars included segments on “power dropshotting” – a technique of using beefier tackle and heavier rods for fishing a jacked-up version of the original finesse rig.

A view from above

Cup anglers spent most of their time fishing the thousands of brush piles scattered across Lake Lanier’s bottom. Locating these spots was step one, but knowing where and how the fish were relating to the structure was intrinsic. At the Lowrance booth, pro-staffer Tom Branch, Jr. explained the invaluable impact of modern electronics.

Lowrance’s HDS-10 with Structure Scan, he said, allows an angler to scan down or to the right or left. Essentially, this provides a much more detailed picture of the target spot. Now, instead of simply finding a piece of structure with a strictly vertical view, Structure Scan will actually show the fish positioned around the object. Such perspective allows for more precise presentations.

“That is so important when you’re dropshot fishing,” Branch said. “You can drop your worm straight down on the fish, you can see your worm falling and you can see the fish come up and eat it.”

Also, Branch notes, the Structure Scan technology helps maximize an angler’s time by minimizing the search for new spots. “An angler may have an idea of where a brush pile is located in 20 feet of water, but they can take their Structure Scan and find another brush pile out to the side of it.”

Keep `em Kool

August in the southeast defines heat and humidity. It’s no picnic for anglers, but extreme heat is a constant concern for anglers worried about keeping their fish alive. Several FLW anglers, including Lake Lanier’s foremost pro and Forrest Wood Cup qualifier, Tom Mann Jr. have started using an innovative product called Koolwell. Created about two years ago to address the challenges of fishing during summer months, the Koolwell system maintains a comfortable temperature in live wells by running the water through a cooling unit.

Operating on a 12-volt system and controlled by a thermostat, the Koolwell uses no chemicals. The company says the system can lower livewell water by 15 degrees in 30-45 minutes.

Lake Guntersville guide and Koolwell pro-staffer Stan “The Bassman” Bass showed Expo visitors how the product works. As he notes, conservation is the No. 1 reason for ensuring the safety and comfort of fish bound for live release. Posterity and economics provide complementary motivation.

“It’s not just about avoiding a dead fish penalty (in a tournament) – it’s about preserving our resources,” Bass said. “I love these fish and I want my son and all the other kids to catch them.

“This system greatly increases the survival rate of our fish because of the 8-hour period we’re on the water. Release tanks can’t correct eight hours of (stressful conditions). With Koolwell, all you have to do is set the temperature, put your fish in there and your wife will be happy because you didn’t lose any money from a dead fish penalty.”

Bass said the Expo provides companies like Koolwell to spread their message verbally and visually. “This has allowed us to show (visitors) an application in a boat and explain it to the anglers. That’s what it’s all about – it’s what they understand about how this is going to help us catch and release fish and make sure the fish survive.

“FLW has always been a proponent of keeping these fish alive. I’ve fished with FLW for several years and I love the organization because they have the same interests as I do. I love to catch fish and I love to cash a check. But also I want the younger generation to come up and enjoy these same resources that we’re able to enjoy.”