I don’t think last year’s attendees and vendors took full advantage of the 2004 event. Here are a few general tips that can make the 2005 Rod Builders’ Show an even better value and benefit for all involved.

Rod Builders - The vendor list has been published and you have a pretty good idea of which manufacturers and dealers will be there (a few more will come on board in the next few weeks, just keep checking the list). If there is a particular product or item you’d like to see, give the dealers a call and ask them to bring it to the show. If you would like to pick up an order and save on shipping, ask them if they’ll bring it to the show for you. This show also provides a unique opportunity for those of you who hate paying those high shipping charges on long one piece blanks, to call ahead and have your dealer bring those blanks to the show. Then, you simply buy it and drive it home (if you drove to the show to begin with, that is).

Check the seminar list before you get to the show and decide which ones you want to attend. Leave yourself some time to visit the various booths and displays in the main hall particularly on Saturday while the vendors still have a high level of stock on hand. If you’re attending both days, remember that some seminars will be presented both days. This might allow you to break things up so that you can do a few seminars each day, instead of trying to do them all in a single day.

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Dealers - Pay attention to the list of manufacturers that will be attending and displaying at the show. Manufacturers who are displaying at the show will be demonstrating their products and creating a demand for them right on the show floor. Products from manufacturers who are not at the show will not be in nearly as great of demand as those that are.

For instance, when Roger Seiders at Flex Coat demos his new pilot drill bits and foam arbors, builders will leave his booth and come to yours looking for those same products. When Ralph O’Quinn is in the Featured Rod Builders Booth showing his “tricks with Rod Bond,” builders are going to come to you looking for Rod Bond. When Joe Meehan rolls out his display of twilled graphite blanks, builders will be asking you for them. Get it? Products from Batson, American Tackle, All Star, Shakespeare and other manufacturers who are present there, will be in great demand. Consider that when packing up inventory to take to the show.


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I attended the show last year and kinda missed out. I spent two days on the floor of the hall in the various booths looking at and fondling all the things that I did not have. There was so much to see and ask questions about that I totally missed all the seminars that were held in the various rooms. When the second day came to an end Lance Dupree looked at me kinda funny and said "Do you realize that we did not go to one of the seminars - what a waste". Manage your time and do not be like a little kid in a candy store.

Gon Fishn