NEC Go Fishing - could be better?

Having handed over my twenty quid plus for two tickets and parking I was looking forward to the show. Since I had very much enjoyed the last two I was very disappointed to see that the show was different from last years and not for the better. I watched a couple of the "Ask the Experts" seminars but to be quite frank they were uninspiring compared to last year. The Bagging Zone seemed to be a waste of time as it appeared to be someone banging on about his particular subject with no use for the pool full of carp in front of him (unless I blinked and missed that bit).

All that coupled with less carp fishing, NO FLY FISHING and no lure fishing means I will be reluctant to spend my money next year. I would also like to see less retail stands and no smoking (my jacket was holed by some idiot) but I think others may seriously disagree with me there.

Not the best day out I've ever spent...

I’ll have to disagree with you Robert I’d a great day out and got a couple of good deals. I live out in the sticks, by this I mean a long way from any tackle shops, so it was good to handle the rods and reels. It was also great to see all the youngsters rubbing shoulders with the super stars, it was worth it just to see the looks on their faces.

Hi Robert,

Ten quid a head for a show that featured some of the biggest names in the sport doesn't sound all that bad to me but perhaps I'm biased. It equates favourably with going to watch Doncaster Rovers play in the Vauxhall Conference but is slightly more than a trip to Frickley Athletic.

Can't comment on the 'Experts' seminars but I would like to clarify a couple of points regarding the Bagging Zone. The whole point of the BZ was to give instruction on how the audience might go about catching big bags of carp. It was never intended that the speakers would attempt to take a big bag from a 12 inch deep paddling pool surrounded by hundreds of people.

When the anglers did put a rig in the pool more fish were foul hooked than properly hooked. Can you imagine someone from the tabloids going to town on the idea? Don't know about you but it doesn't sit well with me.

In spite of this it was the perogative of each angler to catch fish from the pool if he wanted to and, yes, we did catch a few to demonstrate playing fish, but the speakers were generally unhappy with actually fishing for them.

Bearing in mind we did 15 shows in three days, how many fish do you think would have been feeding by the end of day one, never mind day three.

I thought the speakers performed brilliantly in what are quite demanding circumstances. Remember that this was the only demonstration area where the audience had to stand throughout yet very few people drifted away once the talks were underway. I certainly picked up a number of tips and dodges that will be incorporated into my plans this season.

Did you see Simon Gould's amazingly simple method for attaching feeders and big wagglers? That was new to me but I'll be using it regularly next season.

Fully agree with your point on smoking though. I was horrified to see some exhibitors demonstrating items of tackle with a fag hung out of the corner of their mouths. Hardly professional in my eyes but you'll guess I'm a reformed smoker - probaly like you?

My advice to you is to be positive and offer your observations in a constructive manner to the organisers. Why not email the Angling Times with your views? I can reveal that there is talk of a flyfishing section next time round but it might take a bit of lobbying on behalf of a few visitors to swing the pendulum.

Bob Roberts

You misunderstood my point about the pool, I didn't want to see anyone pulling fish out as they seemed to be rather stressed. To anyone who wanted ammunition, this pool supplied plenty. I think it was completely superfluous and the items could have been better presented in the usual seminar format. I didn't see much at all as I am 5'4" and the front row seemed to be blokes ranging from 6' upwards.

After last years properly laid out and feature packed show I felt let down by this one. We seem to have taken a step backwards in what is undoubtedly the most visible event in our calendar.

(PS I've never smoked and my hatred of those who think my fleece jacket is a good place to stub out their cancer-sticks knows no bounds).

The GoFishing2003 website was bit of a let down for this years event.

As with last years event, details of which experts and their chosen topics whould have been good to help people plan their day. A more comprehensive list of exhibitors would also have been good (I'm sure we all appreaciate that at an event of this size details will probably change slightly nearer the day).

Maybe a few more mermaids aswell for next year ;-)

I have to admit that I find these things a bit of a let down and wouldn't dream of going and paying (I help out on the SAA stand and get to wander about every now and again). I suppose if I was more interested in all coarse fishing then it may have been more appealing, or if I didn't have such a good local tackle shop.

Rob.

I had a free ticket from this site(Thank you), and I went on the Sunday. I found it very dissapointing, nothing new as such, just a big shop.

There were people on stands doing deals with gear, but it was all at the bottom end of the market, no realy good stuff that I could find.

As mentioned already the kids seemd to be enjoying it, and that is great, but as a whole it came over as being more of a car boot sale.

Quite negative on this thread (oddly different on other areas of the site) so, here's the challenge...

How would you make it the best angling show on earth?

What attractions would you add?

What would you ditch?

What would you improve (and how)?

Should selling be allowed?

If so, at RRP or car boot sale prices?

How much are you prepared to pay for this day out - ignoring car parking ?7, ?14, ?20 or ?25?

Discuss...

Can't really comment on this years show, as it's the first one I've missed.
The reason being that it takes a fair while to recover from jet lag at my age.

The last six weeks have been spent down under and while there I visited their Angling show in Sydney.
Now bear in mind this received extensive advertising on both radio and TV and I was expecting something special.

It was not a patch on our show.

It's very easy to be critical, we are past masters at this game, and we tend to take things for granted.

Every year the organisers ask for constuctive advice on how to improve,but for my part there isn't a lot wrong.

For sure anything that shows us in the wrong light must not under any circumstances be included no matter what pressure is put on. There really oughtn't be any need, the product is good enough to sell itself.

OK constructive stuff now:

I'd have no selling at all, display new stuff and refer potential purchasers to their local stockist. After all we don't want it to get like my other hobby miniature gaming where the ONLY place to buy stuff is at shows and by mail order.

Make the seminar areas bigger and have items for beginners as well as people explaining specific techniques. The Berghaus theatre used for the Outdoors Show a fortnight was fantastic, a proper seated lecture theatre and slide show. Last year there were dozens of more or less scripted lectures on techniques which I enjoyed and would gladly have paid double the ticket price to see. This year there simply didn't seem to be the same range of topics or as many lectures. I want to learn, not shop.

Concentrate on tackle and methods, no live fish. I was talking to someone who had gone along to keep her boyfriend company and the first thing she said was that she thought that the shallow pool full of carp was a bit cruel. We simply don't need that.

Limit the stands to fishing related interests, what on earth was Saga FM doing with a bus there?

Put some seating in for the less able. I had to leave early because the person I'd taken along was having trouble standing and we couldn't find a seat or anyone with the decency to give up their seat to a less able person.

And above all, as I keep saying every year - no smoking.

I tend to agree on some of the negative points, no smoking would have been good and maybe a few more waste bins scattered about. It was so busy on Saturday, impossible to get a seat in the forum area and a good view at the displays. However i still thoroughly enjoyed it and top marks to Matt Hayes who manned his stand all day (except when doing his presentations)and was quite willing to sign autographs and have his picture taken without any complaint.

Perhaps a bit more in the way of seating around the show would have been nice. I'm disabled with arthritis in my lower and upper spine (neck). Unfortunately it decided to kick in with a bad 'go' on Friday when I visited. I did find some seating but I had to sit in the eating areas.

I have to say I was a little dissapointed at some of the free for all selling stalls. Not too bad though.

My highlights were meeting one of the nicest gentlemen in angling again, Bob Nudd. I met him a few years ago when I did some filming for Angling Link - now British Disabled Angling Association. Bob is a truly wonderful guy. I also greatly enjoyed perusing the traditional angling zone and getting to speak to Barry Grantham; very interesting for a pin freak like me I alos enjoyed the history of the float exhibition. Which also served to remind me that I must submit some more float making articles for Graham - illness caused me to pause that series for a while which I apologise for.

The harbour area? Awful? I'm just kidding on that one. I positively drooled over some of those boats. I think they may be a bit out of the price range of the average angler though

Overall I think it was good to be able to speak to some of the guys from the tackle firms to find out ideas in the making and give some feedback from a purchasers point of view.

Kevan

1 - By far my biggest criticism was not enough seating at the lectures, talks and presentations.
2 - I want to buy what I see so I would keep the selling of tackle and bait.
3 – More seating inside at the bars and caf?s, more waste bins etc. If it hadn’t been such a nice day all those eating lunch on the lawns down by the lake would have been inside and then it really really have been chaotic.
However, I did enjoy the day out with a mate, and meeting other anglers were I could spend all day talking about fishing.

Bob,
For me I don't think any of the shows are worth the money but then it depends on what you're after in the way of retail therapy and entertainment. The shows without any selling were IMO a waste of time - although in those days there were almost no shows, talks etc.

There does need to be retail areas for people who aren't well served locally. There should be plenty of talks, q&a forums, demonstrations etc - if nothing else for the younger or less experienced anglers.

It's fairly obvious that a few 'names' appear to attract attention which makes things more enjoyable for some - which is fine by me, but I won't be joining any queues for autographs.

One other pain is trying to find out who's on and where. There appeared to be no central area where people could find out what events were going on, and where.

Rob.

Thanks for the constructive comments. I'll draw them to the attention of Kevin Green who put heart and soul into the organisation of the show and will be keen to hear your views so keep them coming.

Regarding queueing for autographs, Rob, I had an interesting chat with Bob James. He said he used to attend shows and talk about fishing, now he attends and signs autographs...

I went last year & really enjoyed it so i decided to go this year & what an utter disapointment.I`m a flyfisher & last year the show had a few game stands with the new tackle featured.I know you are going to say it was aimed more at the coarse,carp & sea angler but you can use fly to catch fish in all the above.
So next year it would be nice to see a section on flyfishing not just for game fish but coarse fish aswell.Im sure there will be some interest from all you coarse anglers who have another method of catching fish.Thanks to Hywell Morgan who gave my 3yr old son a cap.

I blame Rooney playing for England at 17. Now we've got 3-year old with a Welsh cap. They'll put anyone in that Welsh team these days (or should that be Dai's.)

Yeh,just as he went to put it on my son`s head he started to cry as he dont like strangers.The welsh rugby team needs help.

Strange that, I've always found Hywell to be pretty good with strangers. Bet it upset your son, too.

My son cried not Hywell.So do you think the coarse lads would take to flyfishing or is it too much hard work for them as most prefer to sit on tackle boxes or chairs.