Nine Feet of Regret, and One Damn Good Fishing Show

1/10/20265 min read

Peaks and valleys so far in 2026, and I’d say we’re running about a dead-even split. Let’s get the valleys out of the way first so we can move on with our lives.

Valley number one involved Surgeon Jenn and a mother daughter vacation that went absolutely sideways. Delta delays stacked up, which led to missed flights, which led to missing a cruise ship boarding, which led to a surprise St. Thomas Plan B, which then somehow led to being stranded because of some political stuff involving Trump that I do not understand and will not pretend to. At the exact same time, I was having a peaceful moment on Upper Hamlin Lake, sitting on six to seven inches of ice, feeling very calm and centered, when bloop, my iPhone 16 Pro Max quietly slid into my ice hole and settled at nine feet of water. Hours of magnet fishing and Nick dragging salmon nets across the bottom later, I found myself at Muskegon Best Buy handing over roughly $2,500 for a brand new iPhone 17 Pro Max. The only upside is that it’s orange. That matters!

Now for the peak. The Novi Fishing Show. I have been going to fishing shows basically my entire life. I remember my dad dragging me through smoke filled Cobo Hall, the Silverdome, and some random school in Waterford that smelled like cigs, corn dogs and desperation. I’m not a fishing show rookie. Jenn, on the other hand, was attending her first ever fishing show. And if you're going to your first fishing show, you could do worse than rolling in with me. Just saying.

My buy list this year was simple and disciplined. A big Sea Blue Yeti Camino 30 bag, which was a long shot. Number two swivels thanks to Todd. A new baseball hat because the old Shimano has lived a full life. And an AFTCO Reaper sweatshirt because I apparently shrunk and all my old ones look like I borrowed them.

I have a strict fishing show rule. Walk the entire show before buying anything. No impulse buys unless it is something I know I will not find anywhere else and I already planned on buying. It is amazing how often you see the same thing cheaper two booths later. It is also fascinating how often I never go back for something I thought I needed, which tells me I never actually needed it.

We hit the show around one and started at the Frank’s booth. Frank’s always delivers. Great lure selection, reasonable prices, and shockingly good deals on clothing, especially ice gear. Didn’t buy anything, but great set up Frank’s!

One thing that never stops amazing me is the handful of vendors who pay for huge floor space just to sell absolute junk. I am talking about dusty red and white bobbers that look like they have been sitting in my dad’s garage since 1980. Somehow there are always people crowded around them, digging through bins like they are panning for gold. Hard pass.

Then it happened. The Yeck booth. There was Ged. Same as last year. I do not live in Ludington, but it feels like home, and seeing Ged in his Yeck lure booth just felt right. I do not know him well at all, but he is Ludington folk, and that counts. Sounds like he has been busy rolling out new colors and sizes and working with places like Frank’s. Buy three Yeck spoons at Frank’s and Ged gives you an old school Fireball free. Everyone should own at least two Fireballs. I own way more than that. If you ever find the old school Fireball, buy it immediately – buy them all! Here is the weird part. Ged talked me OUT of buying spoons. Told me to wait and buy them at Captain Chuck’s instead. I am not sure what kind of reverse sales wizardry that is, but I trusted the process. There was zero chance I was leaving that booth without a Yeck Zipper Fireball shirt though. Bought one for Jenn too. In my head, if I am wearing that shirt, have the lucky Ludington coin in my pocket, a Fireball on port and a Chubster on starboard, fish should basically jump into the boat.

Silver Streak: I have not bought Silver Streak spoons in years, but I showed Jenn their legendary three for five dollar bin. Somehow that turned into nine spoons for forty seven bucks. Great marketing. CJ absolutely sold me. I am pretty sure he was walking the Ludington docks in 2005, waist high, explaining spoon names and helping us set opening lineups.

Lake Effect: I really like those folks. They started with tungsten ice jigs and now have a solid lineup. I used their plastics for walleye jigging last year and barely tied anything else on. Great colors, stanky scent, glass rattles. Western Michigan vibe done right.

Schultz Outfitters: I’ve never been to their Ann Arbor shop, but they show up with great deals on fly gear and Simms stuff. Simms is wildly expensive, like gasp out loud expensive. Fifty percent off though. That flannel basically jumped into my arms. They have some kind of expo in Ann Arbor in March. I hate Ann Arbor, but I love fishing. We’ll see.

D and B Fishing is a love hate relationship. Most of their stuff is not for me, but I always look. This year they struck gold. Meat rigs are usually twenty bucks. They had them for ten. They looked dusty and I passed, then I saw a box of John King heads with another box of custom teasers. For thirty three dollars I walked out with parts to build five meat rigs. Not on the list. Bought anyway.

Whitewater Fishing caught my attention too. Jason from Shinin’ Times tipped me off last summer. Their shop is practically next to Jenn’s hospital. I do not need more rain gear, but their Beacon Technical Hoodie caught my eye. It’s meant to compete with the AFTCO Reaper. I scratched my head, tried it on, and bought it. No regrets.

Every year there are two people at this show whose entire mission is helping people catch more fish that I respect. Mark Romanack and Lance Valentine. Both approachable. Both generous with knowledge. I still remember my first conversation with Lance when he talked me out of buying a massive twelve inch Lowrance and convinced me to go with two seven inch units instead. Both dudes I look up to and think about them when I try and help people.

I also confirmed that my streak of bad experiences with Grand Point Marina salespeople remains intact. Same weird vibes, same avoidance, same feeling that something is off. Nothing new there. I was happy last year to see ex-Bass Pro dude Brad Humphry there, now this year he’s gone and they were shady about it. I don’t like hearing or using the word “whatever”, but whatever!

What I learned:

After looking at D& B Fishing and Silver Streak’s website, Yeck’s website might secretly be cutting edge and we just didn’t know it
I had my longest conversation ever with Ged and got his phone number which feels important
I am choosing to believe Ged is short for Geddy like Geddy Lee from Rush and I don’t want confirmation
Ged reads the Pull Hard blogs and Soup Club stuff which is terrifying and awesome.
Ice Hawk Fishing Gear is going to change tip up fishing by sending alerts to your phone - keep an eye on this!
Jenn randomly knows a walleye guy from Muskegon Hospital - cool!
Stumbled across Stealthcraft Boats – looks like a perfect size rig for Tim and Nick’s yellow rod, nice box, fireball venture.
We spent four hours at the show and it felt like ninety minutes – must be the company!

Time to wrap this up before it turns into another long blog that nobody finishes. Ice fishing is next, then probably the Grand Rapids show, maybe a South Carolina fishing detour if things get weird. Peaks and valleys people. Peaks and valleys.