2012 D&R Sports Center Spring Show Zona Iaconelli Clunn Klein and Grigsby

[djkimmel]

D&R Sports Center Spring Show
Friday, April 6   9:00 am - 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 7  9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Come help us celebrate D&R Sports Center's 30th Anniversary!! Attend free seminars and speak with some of the biggest names in bass fishing, including Mike Iaconelli, Mark Zona, Gary Klein, Shaw Grigsby, Rick Clunn and Mark Romanack. Take advantage of the year's biggest sales. Stop by the Berkley Experience Truck to check out their innovative new products and interactive events, including a knot tying contest and Wii Fishing! Seminar schedule coming soon! Visit their website or sign up for their email newsletter to receive event updates as they become available.

Event Poster (new Adobe PDF Reader to open).

[djkimmel]

Who's planning on attending some of these great seminars and rubbing elbows with the pros? This is a pretty good lineup! I believe I will be there most of the day Friday. Saturday if that doesn't work out. cameraguy might be there one or both days. Not sure yet.

[motocross269]

I may head over....It is a long drive for me but an old Army buddy just emailed me and told me he was coming up from Tennessee.....He has some sort of connections to D and R....His brother sells boats there or something like that...

[djkimmel]

Who is his brother? I know several of the boats sales people.

[5poundhooker]

I should be there on Saturday if all goes well with the overtime we have had. I want to meet Shaw Grigsby he seems like a good guy on T.V. anyways. I found Zona to be kind of a snob last year. Gary Dobyns probably talked with me for a half an hour or more about rod building. Learned a lot from that small amount of one on one time. It is a fun ordeal I hope to see and meet many of you there.

[djkimmel]

Shaw Grigsby is super nice and friendly from everything I've seen and heard.

I've never found Zona to be a snob in the past 5 or 6 years I've gotten to know him a little better. He is sometimes very short on time and gets in a hurry. He may sometimes say he will try to go fishing with you later to many of the people who constantly approach him about coming to their lakes or putting them on his show. Of course, he could never take that many people fishing or visit that many lakes. He gets asked a lot!

This is a very interesting lineup this year. Should lots of opportunity to talk fishing!

[motocross269]

Who is his brother? I know several of the boats sales people.

My Buddy's name is Robbie Atkinson...You may remember him from fishing tournaments years ago...He did pretty well and he is from the Lansing area.....He's about our age Dan...(Old guy.....LOL)
I am not sure of his brother's first name......

[djkimmel]

I remember the name. Been a while. Not sure who the employee would be though. It is familiar but he isn't one of the people I know better.

[Dan]

I'm going to go down Friday for sure and possibly Saturday. I rode with Shaw on Day 4 on Pickwick, and I rode with Clunn Day 2 on Wheeler last year. I've heard both Gary and Ike sit around and talk to guys in our Marshal meetings and my traveling partner drew Ike on Guntersville two years ago. Ike has always been giving of his time and seems very genuine when I've talked to him. I'm a fan. Gary Klein has never had another job. Started competitive fishing right out of school and that's all he's ever done. What a icon in the sport! When I rode with Williamson on Okeechobee just a few days ago, Gary fished by him and J-Will talked with him, and caught 3 fish right in front of him. One was a nice fish and Klein only missed the Sunday cut by a couple of ounces.
Zona is Zona. He's been short with me before, but like Lt. Dan said, he's super busy. Down in Okeechobee he was quite talkative, and said he was going to give me a shout out at D&R. He and Tommy Sanders do a great job and they are both extremely busy.
Zona and Swindle were at D&R a couple of years ago, and they had me laughing for well over an hour. It was incredible. The duo could easily make it in Vegas as a comedy team!

[djkimmel]

When Z has time, he will talk a lot to just about anyone. I've seen it. He usually will talk to you even when he doesn't have time but he lets you know he's gotta go when he's gotta go.

I like this lineup. should be very interesting. I think we'll see you there Friday. Not real early. Have to wait for cameraguy to make the long drive from the Detroit area first. Wonder if he'll bring some cameras?!?

[blakstr1]

wish i could make it but wont be able too.  the couple times ive been around Zona he has been nothing but humble, appreciative, and just a fun guy....people seem to be naturally drawn to him that is probably why he has done so well as a professional television personality.  Iaconelli too, i spent some time with him back in 06 at the Classic and he was top notch, he talked to my wife on the telephone too...she still talks about that.  Enjoy everyone that can make it, yes i admit i am mildly jealous! 

[djkimmel]

Bummer. It is usually fun hanging out around most of these anglers, listening to the stories. Trying to get the 'juicy' stuff out!!

Z does attract people like flies! Sometimes you can follow his progress across a room from a distance that way when it's seminar time, or he finally realizes he hasn't been home for 3 weeks and his wife and boys might want to see him too!!

[Weedsnager]

I'd have a two hour drive to get there, would it be worth it?

[djkimmel]

If you would like to here any of these pros talk or maybe ask them a particular question it would. I always enjoy talking to them.

[Weedsnager]

besides the pro's that are gonna be there, are there good sales on tackle?

[djkimmel]

Usually a big sale with many company reps. Check out www.dandrsports.com for the sales flier.

[Weedsnager]

there's hardly anything in the flyer that's screams BIG sale, a dollar or two off strike king baits.....

[cameraguy]

Dan and I went to the show on Friday. This show was top-notch. Good discounts and great seminars. All of the pros seemed very personable and willing to mingle with customers. Randy always does a great job with this show.
Dan and I conducted several interviews for a future video story to be seen here on GreatLakesBass.com. The photos below shows Dan with a couple of knowledgeable guys that will be featured in the video.

[rangerfan]

I was at the show on Saturday and thought it was excellent.I got 50 bucks off a new shimano chronarch,was going to get a curado but they were out of them,rep told me they sold over a hundred of them since Friday,ended up buying the last chronarch 7.1 they had. As for the tackle selection I believe that for the bass fisherman that likes some of these smaller tackle company baits, you cannot find a better selection in the state!  Also if you ever wanted to see what a 9# 8oz Ohio state record smallie looks like,that Randy Van darn caught,it is on display.I also sat in on the Gary Klein seminar and thought he did a nice job.  I will be going back again next year.

[djkimmel]

I was able to listen to a few minute of Gary Klein's seminar Friday and found it very interesting and even enlightening. Did he talk about SLS on Saturday?

I thought all the anglers there did a very nice job in their interviews. We did miss out on Ike. He had to fly out shortly after we arrived and I wasn't awake enough yet to ask questions coherently. I probably wasn't that much better later, but the show does have to go on and cameraguy is stuck with me for now!!