Atlantic City Boat Show Saturday

[flatbottom]

I was pumped heading down the AC expressway this morning. My first stop was meeting Gradywhite273 and PitchBait for am breakfast. Arriving a bit late, the eggs were still warm. This is a great way to start a Saturday, any time. Had I looked at the menu before ordering, French toast banana foster would had been the selection. Grady and Pitch had a gleam in their eyes telling me I missed out on a delicious choice. Me being from scrapple country I chose traditional pickings, Scrapple, eggs, cheese on white toast and a dab of ketchup. I am still thinking about the French toast banana foster and will continue doing so with the help of Grady…smile

Off to the show we go. Pitch heading south and gradywhite273 and myself north. The fun started two blocks from the Convention Centre. !5 minutes through the parking garage, he he , only to exit out the other side and look for a new parking spot. Our luck the interior parking filled fast. Had I ordered less food at breakfast…….

Walking to the Convention Centre we met Proheat and his lovely wife. It is great to see friends from the site. Navigating our way to the 2nd floor we were greeted by Joe from Cardinal Yachts. Joe had reserved our tickets. Thanks Joe for every thing!!!.

Wow.. walking through the doors we saw boats, boats, and more boats. A fishermen’s dream come true. The only thing missing was smell of bait and salt in the air. I had no idea where to start, so straight was a good choice. Who do we see right in front of door C?, No other than Lucky Lady at the Contender booth. We tried to conceal our identities, but Lucky had figured who we were hiding our faces in Contender brochures. It is tough to hide with Grady sporting a Sportfishermen.com blue jacket. smile On further, into the Centre, we finally caught up with John (admin). Again it was nice to see our fearless leader. He was working as usual, multitasking as he does best. A surprise before me, I finally met Ron. He is a big part of all of us in many ways and Sportfishermen.com. I was very impressed with his enthusiasm surrounding the AC Show. You guys and gals have a great team working for you.


Moving deeper, I had split from Grady for a moment. I had a mission to attend to. I heard there was a spokes model in the Stalker booth with Whitey. I had to check this out. On I go, in and out of the isles. I remembered 637….that was not the weight of the spokes model or her age, 637 was the booth number. . Man whitey had every lure imaginable in that booth. He also had a new dredge weight/lure. It will remain project X until further notice of testing. Whitey mentioned a 39 SeaVee I should look at, so off I go in yet deeper in the Centre. Lost…yup… among the prettiest boats I go, looking for the 39. Half way there the cell rings. “Hey Flat” where are you. My bud Grady was on the move again. We met up back with Whitey. I knew what was next. Whitey pulled out a new lure and Bingo Bango. Packaged up, paid for, and Grady was in Luv. He is such a Tackle Ho….. We were in the middle of tackle heaven. I had all I could do keeping him from stopping at and purchasing more. At one moment I think he growled back at me.


Around the corner on the back row we walked. This guy (Gradywhite273) could sniff Islander pros through plastic packaging. Where did this lead us…..Tournament Cable and Chuck Richardson. The legion of dume were together again. I was looking for a shopping cart now….. .
Chuck has a slick tool for wrapping wire. Any wire up to 22 gauge. This tool is sick. In seconds you have a perfect haywire twist, not once, but every time. You sharkers out there take head to this. You can wrap till the sun goes down, effortlessly. I think this was the coolest gizmo at the show. I saw three guys go in together and purchase the tool. They said the time saved and wear and tear on the fingers was over, forever. If you wrap one heck of a mess of rigs for sharkin season, do not over look the quality wraps and quantity of rigs you can turn out. While all this was going on, Grady had slipped to another tackle booth…..off I went to catch his azz. We saw Swaun funding group, Canyon Runner and others. Captain Mark was as genuine as the last time I saw him. He is always willing to share his twists on fishing the canyons. Great Guy !!!


We work our way back to home base at the Sportfishermen.com/Cardinal Yachts booth. Arriving there the crowd had thickened around the 36 Cape Horn. This boat is a fishing machine. I heard many talking of how the openness and ease of a layout it was. A no fu fu hardcore CC. One gentleman said the forward fish box was so large he could fall asleep in there. I t is 9’ front to back with removable dividers if needed. The 36 Cape Horn is perfect for the hard core fishermen at a show price that will rock your socks. Included are twin 350 Yamaha’s moving her near 60 mph. Sweet rig. Get down to the show and look her over. The best deal you will find is what the crowd was repeating. It was shoulder to shoulder on the 36 Cape Horn.


Off we went again looking for the 39 SeaVee. I had over heard a quad set up was hanging on the back and I needed to see it for myself. Half way there I saw Midnight Express CC. It had a quad set up I stared at for awhile. Can one dream of 75+ just flat out getting it, I did… . I found the 39 SeaVee. It was well worth the wait. Big, Bad, and a quad group of Verados. The 39 had a side tuna door and plenty of stretch out room on the deck. I really like the fish able area a CC offers. I have never been on a SeaVee, but the hull had smooth written all over it in the big nasty Vee.

Lunch Break……back later

flat

[ffoley]

Flat,
You got alot done before lunch! Was there yesterday. Great show as usual. I filled my bag with new toys. I saw the sportfisherman.com truck when we were leaving the garage - very cool

[Hatterized]

Flat...great report on the show and the mention of the SFC sponsors and their goods...sounds like a great show...now all i need is more pics and i could shop from home....again thanks for the info!

[Cardinal Joe]

Flat - you forgot to mention the " Traffic Jam " !!!! Caused by Admin and this Girl's

[gradywhite273]

It was an outstanding day, spent with old friends, and new ones too. It was nice to meet everyone. But im not getting seatow, because seatow steve wasn't there when i went by.

Couldn't have imagined a better day.

[flatbottom]

OK back from lunch !!

Grady and I slipped out to the restaurant across the street from the Convention Centre. I order light he orders heavy.....go figure....
If Pino was there with us....the line would had wrapped around the building twice, waiting for a table.

When Grady and I finished lunch we were deciding what to see next. Low and behold...he orders more food. Not for himself but for John. John was working his azz off and did not take time for food. Being the great guy Grady is, Lunch is served. Sportfishermen.com style. On the transom of the Cape Horn.


All of sudden come the carpet checker. With a tape rule. Yes the main corner in the show was a jam. I thought everyone stopped to watch John eat his burger. This baby was 1/2 inch thick. But no....the Babes on the carpet had the crowd jammed up. The shmell of the burger had traffic stopped. Grady was in stitches about now. More people climbed aboard the 36 Cape Horn. Does party barge ring a memory. It was beautiful. The Prolines were full the 36CH was swamped. Joe was smiling and the "MAN" with the tape was was was staring at the girls not measuring. He wanted us to think he was measuring.

Ha HA !!

I want to thank all the sponsors from this site. I saw people filling out the chances and inquiring about how to win. This was a winner for all. I also want to thank John, Ron and staff for a tremendous job well served.

Joe you have pulled off another Great AC show in Cardinal Yacht style. Your batting average is 100%

Gradywhite273 I had a great day and a ton of fun. Thanks Man. I would do it all again tomorrow. starting off with french toast banana Foster this time around.........

Flatbottom

[Proheat]

Great Recap Flat!!!
It was good seeing you and Grady again along with Admin and Bryan.

I want to thank Cardinal Joe for the tickets also.
Cardinal Joe had a very nice selection of boats to choose from and I hope he sells them all and has many orders for more! I liked the 36 Cape Horn and I also had my eye on the Proline 35 Express.............I kept debating, but I should probably wait till next years show.

I checked out the Midnight Express with the quad 300's on it..............that boat has to be a rocket!!! One thing I noticed on it was that it had a spray apron ................don't know how long it will stay attached at 75mph!!!

We briefly strolled through the marine marketplace and then my wife and I deciced to leave and take a trip down to Cape May. We took in the sights and then had a pre-Valentines dinner at The Lobster House.

All in all, it was a good day out and started getting me into the fishing mode.

COME ON SPRING!!!

[Ruf-Fin-It]

Lots of nice boats and acessories to choose from.
I wonder how the dealers did this year as compared to last year.......with the way the economy is???

[flatbottom]

I hope most learned a thing or two from the New York show. Some did.....some ...well are slow to the pencil. But I really saw a great show over all. On to Miami they go !!!!!

[livetofishnj]

It was a good time, and there was a nice view

It was great to get a chance to meet everybody and put some faces to people from the board. I can't thank Cardinal Joe enough for all that he did for us during the show and letting us hang out next to that awesome Cape Horn, as most of you know he's one stand-up guy and it was great to meet him. It's been a long week, but from meeting everybody to hanging out with some nice eye candy on my arm , it was one hell of a time.