Ended up taking the whole famn damily to the Sportsman's Show in Portland Saturday morning. At 10:10am (show opened at 10) the road in to the Expo Center from I5 was closed with a sign saying "lot full". Daaaaamn! Took the tram in from PIR for $5, which wasn't too bad.

At first I was only going to take my 4 year old to the trout pond, but when my 2 year old looked into my eyes and demanded that she be allowed to catch a "Lily Fish" I couldn't resist.

We waited the 20 minutes through the line to get in there, during which we watched a kid hook and lose one of the 3-4lb trout due to their cane stick not being able to pull the fish out. Groans went out from the onlookers, which quickly turned to cheers when he hooked it again and the local staff netted the fish for him. Good show!

I took my son and my wife (Southern Cali girl ) took my daughter about 10' down from us. Half way through and no fish caught she comes to switch with me.

As I fished with Lily a young guy next to me caught one. When I looked over I noticed it was snagged!! OH NO! Didn't feel like breaking the kids heart so I sorta looked the other way. Please don't think less of me for it.

Lily went 1 for 3 and she was thrilled. Would have gotten the other two if they were using Vision hooks. When the crowd cleared out all that was left was my son gripping his cane rod tightly and crying, as he had caught nothing. One of the people helping out told him to pull his bait out so he could put some special bait on, so he did. Within 10 seconds a 12" rainbow had that thing sucked deep into his gullet. Tears turned to grins as he got the fish in. Both fish in the bag, and we were off.

Was able to meet BK at the AllStar booth, and also saw Superfly. Boy does Superfly have a reputation around the show. And I didn't even tell them about the ping-pong paddle. Also talked to their rep from Albany, but he posts on a different board so I won't give him a shout-out here. :p

Good show, overall. Heard good reports of busy sales at some of the booths, so at least people are out buying tackle during this recession.
Of course that also means that there will be more anglers than ever out on the rivers this year, so patience will be a virtue as always.

Guess it's time to go get a rod and reel for my daughter sooner than I thought it would be. Someone's gotta raise these kids the right way.

Sounds like a great family outing Dave! Kids remember those kinds of experiences forever. Bottom line is...Fishing is for all the ages!

FJ...out.

I took my 8 year old Sat as well.
Had a great time, met some good people, BK, Superfly etc.
Picked up a few good deals, and a few not so good deals..
Saw Justin Boice, an old High School buddy (owns Boice Jets)
So many others..