The Outdoor Expo is always cool. Outside of Icast, it is the premier fishing show imo.

I am lucky enough to get media credentials and have been an observer for many anglers. In 1999 I was in the boat with Alton Jones in New Orleans and we made a 2 1/2 hour run one way to get to his fishing spot. We locked through to the Mississippi River, locked through on to the Gulf, then back into freshwater. I saw alligators and porpoises on the same boat ride. It was nuts. Two other boats went to the same general area, Gary Klein and Dean Rojas. On the way back across the Mississippi Rojas hit a barge wake that had is prop out of the air.

I hate to miss the Classsic, but my consolation prize will be fishing Guntersville in less than two weeks.