By Louie Stout

It was a year ago when the Michiana Walleye Association banded with a few boat dealers to revitalize the Michiana Boat and Sport Show for South Bend.

Like me, they remembered the good ol’ days when South Bend had a jam-packed, fun-filled outdoors show.

Their inaugural event at the Century Center in late January showed a lot of promise. No, it wasn’t comparable to the excellent shows we saw there and at Notre Dame a few decades ago, but it was a good attempt in the short time they had to put it together.

So good, in fact, that the Michiana Walleye Association plans to step up its game at next month’s show that runs Jan. 31-Feb 2.

Show Director Dale Brindley said this week that the 2014 version at the Century Center will include more show space, as the group has added an additional 16,000 square feet of the lower, Great Hall to this year’s show. The promotional budget has increased as well.

“Two more boat dealers (Lake Drive Marine from Coldwater, Mich. and Tri-Lakes Marina in Elkhart) have signed on and we’ve been adding more small vendors each week,” said Brindley. “We still have plenty of space and hope to fill the Century Center with more exhibitors that Michiana outdoors fans will want to see.”

As you’ll recall, the show only encompassed the upper rooms last year. And while it was a meager beginning, the group put together a pretty a solid program that was fun for the family.

No one pocketed any profit; it drew enough visitors to pay the bills and donate some $7,000 back to the walleye club for use on stocking programs and club activities. Any profits will go to the club again this year.

The concept is a good one, but one that has plenty of room to grow. While the boat dealers, small vendors and popular kids’ trout fishing pond will make it worthy attending on a cold winter day, the sky is the limit in what COULD be done to illicit more excitement.

In addition to new exhibitors, Brindley plans to add a solid seminar lineup to include bass, walleye and steelhead experts. Seminars are good draws, especially when you have notable speakers who can talk the Michiana language.

However, what has been lacking at these local outdoors shows is an outdoors retailer or tackle and hunting reps who bring in quality merchandise, including many of the new items introduced for 2014.

After all, outdoor shows come at the peak of the cabin fever epidemic. Fishermen are eager to wrap their hands around the latest rod and reel, lure or electronic gadget they’ve been hearing about since fall. Outdoor shows give them that opportunity.

That’s no slight to boat dealers, who price rigs to sell at these shows as well. It’s a great time to get a close look at new boats, whether your wish list includes a bass boat or a pontoon ride. Several boats were sold last year and I expect even more orders will be taken at this one with the additional dealers on hand.

Yet, so far, no tackle dealer has taken the bait although some have given it a serious look. If the 2014 crowd numbers climb above 5,000 as Brindley expects, it could be worth their time.

Despite increased efforts to draw a bigger crowd, the MWA is keeping booth space costs at last year’s pricing, which remains a pretty good deal.

If you’re interested, Call Brindley at 574-286-6311 or email him at daledbrindley@comcast.net.

Eternal gift

A longtime Michiana angler has passed, but his contribution to area fishing will live eternally, thanks to his family’s kind thoughts.

Louis “Dick” Szymanski, 88, died earlier this month and his family requested that, in lieu of flowers, friends make cash donations in his name to be used for fish stocking programs. They asked those donations be sent to Teachers Credit Union where an account was set up in the name of Louis Szymanski “to ensure other fishermen will enjoy the sport and nature as much as he did.”

How cool is that?