“There’s nothing quite like being there in the flesh to smell the new upholstery, run your palm over that shiny gel-coat, or spin the handle on a top-of-the-line reel.”

I’d love to know how many shows and expos I’ve attended across my lifetime… Boat shows; four-wheel drive, camping and outdoor expos; fishing tackle shows; fly fishing conclaves, and so on it goes. The list is extensive. Not just here in Australia either, but also in the US and Canada, where these gatherings are incredibly popular, especially during their long, cold winters, when it’s often more fun to think, plan and shop than actually get outside, brave the great outdoors and do stuff.

I’ve attended some of these events simply as an interested member of the public, but at most of them, I’ve been presenting on stage as well. In particular, I was part of the long-running fishing stage team at the Sydney International Boat Show for many, many years right through the 1990s and well into the new millennium. It was an honour and a joy to serve up there alongside show stalwarts like the late, great Dick Lewers and John Bethune, and under the watchful, caring eye of our wonderful MC: former ABC weatherman, Mike Bailey, who has also now sadly passed. I miss them all, along with the chance to catch up with my regular fellow on-stage presenters like Ian “Barra” Miller, Phil Atkinson and Tim Simpson. They were good times.

Field of dreams… all the glitz and glamour of the Sydney International Boat Show, back in its halcyon heyday at Darling Harbour.

Of course, all of this show biz came to a screeching halt during the Covid years, when the idea of cramming into an enclosed indoor space with thousands of other souls not only lost its appeal but was also in breach of most state and territory health mandates. For better or worse, the major shows all suffered an enforced hiatus of at least a couple of seasons, thanks to the pandemic.

Nowadays, most of the outdoor, boat, car, camping, caravan and fishing shows are back up and running again, although it’s interesting to observe that they no longer seem to draw the same large and enthusiastic crowds they once did. I suspect that the exponential growth of the internet and artificial intelligence have eroded the mass appeal of real-world displays. We can now watch videos, listen to podcasts, or even take “virtual tours” of showrooms and stores to view the latest and greatest goodies. For oldies like me, none of that is quite the same as being there in the flesh to smell the new upholstery, run your palm over that shiny gel-coat, or spin the handle on a top-of-the-line reel, but I get the fact that my Baby Boomer generation represents a shrinking minority. I suspect that, in the longer term, these physical shows will all eventually lumber off toward that same tar pit full of fossils that books, magazines, DVDs and VHS cassettes vanished into across the past couple of decades. Sadly, the writing is on the wall.

The Sydney 4X4 Outdoors Show is on in a few days and the Starlings will be there, doing presentations on the Shimano tanks!

But for now, at least, there are still some real-world shows to attend if you’re into that sort of thing, and several of them take place in the next few weeks and months. Here’s my pick of four or five of the very best of them:

First up — and literally only days away when you receive this newsletter — we have the big National 4X4 Outdoor Show at the Sydney Showground, running from Friday 13 June through until Sunday 15 June. Jo and I will both be presenting on the Shimano Tanks in the Fishing & Tackle section of this expo on all three days, and we’d love to see you out there! Also, for those of you in Victoria, this same 4X4 Outdoor Show (although not with the Starlings in attendance this time) hits Melbourne’s Showground from 22 to 24 August.

Australian hand-crafted timber lures are amongst the finest in the world. The Lure, Fly & Outdoor Expo offers visitors the chance to see and even buy some gems, like these beauties from Kneller Lures.

For all my fellow lure fishing (and collecting) nuts, The Australian Lure, Fly & Outdoor Expo runs across the weekend of 5 and 6 July at the Fernvale Showground, west of Brisbane. Although I’ve never actually made it to one of these gatherings yet, I hear it’s always a fantastic event where you can not only see the latest and greatest in Aussie-made lures, flies and fishing accessories, but also buy some of them — often at specially discounted prices.

On the subject of fondling exciting new fishing gear, the annual AFTA Tackle Show on the Gold Coast (although primarily a trade event) is once again hosting a free public day this year, on Saturday, 26 July. This is a fantastic opportunity to see all the best new fishing gear for the 2025/26 season in one place — a lot of it before it even hits our stores. You can’t buy tackle there, but you can certainly fondle and drool! And you can also say hi to Jo and some of the other leading ladies from the Women’s Recreational Fishing League, who’ll have their own stand at the show.

Blasts from the past… images from the AFTA Tackle Trade Show almost 20 years ago! This show continues each year on the Gold Coast and once again in 2025 there’s a free public day.

Finally, rounding out this busy winter show season, The Sydney Boat Show runs from 14 to 17 August, nowadays on land at the Sydney Showground, with the on-water version at Cockle Bay three months later, in mid-November.

I’m pretty sure you should be able to find something in that lot to satisfy your innate desire to kick a tyre, rattle a lure, or ogle a shiny boat hull and dream! If so, have fun and enjoy. I might even see you at one!

Until next time, Tight Lines.