‘Holder Show’ returns with a bang
Most of the Houston area’s half-million or so recreational anglers, antsy from inactivity over what has been an unusually cold winter, search with barely containable enthusiasm for signs of spring’s arrival, signaling the start of arguably the year’s best, or at least most anticipated, couple of months of fishing.
Some see the first blushes of redbuds and mayhaws as nature’s heads-up that it’s time to get serious about fishing. Others watch for flowering dogwoods or pear trees. Some listen for geese heading north or the arrival of the first purple martin.
But for many, the surest sign that spring’s cascade of good fishing — crappie in the shallows, white bass stacked in the rivers, egg-laden largemouth bass searching for protected nesting spots, ponderous black drum gathered near passes and arm-long speckled trout hunting mullet on warming bay flats — is at hand and is what Dave Holder modestly calls “just a bunch of fishing folks getting together.”
The Houston Fishing Show, the “bunch of fishing folks getting together” event Holder began 39 years ago, held in late February or early March, is seen by many anglers in the region as the official sign spring fishing season is here.
This year’s annual incarnation of the The Houston Fishing Show opens Wednesday and continues through March 9 at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Known simply as The Fishing Show or The Holder Show by most longtime attendees and participants, the event is a consumer show for recreational anglers, pulling together tackle makers, sporting goods stores, marine dealers, fishing guides and outfitters and other businesses and groups. The event’s overarching theme — its only theme — is recreational fishing.
“It’s all fishing-related stuff,” Holder said. “Nothing else.”
That singular focus is one of the things that has made The Fishing Show a regional touchstone for anglers, freshwater and saltwater — a place where they can see, handle and buy (often at discounted prices) the newest rods, reels, lures and other tackle; talk with any of the dozens of fishing guides; attend dozens of educational seminars on fishing tactics and techniques; check out the latest fishing boats (no runabouts or “play” boats allowed); and generally immerse themselves in all things fishing.
This year’s event will include more than 150 exhibitors, one of the largest groups in recent years, Holder said.
“We sold out of space,” said Holder, who put together the first Houston Fishing Show in the now-gone Albert Thomas Convention Center almost four decades ago.
Top draws at the show almost always are new products, especially lures. And this year, the show includes nearly a dozen local companies with lines of baits (mostly soft plastics aimed at the salt- water market) hoping to build customer bases.
The major players in the fishing tackle industry — Shimano, Abu Garcia, Daiwa and such — have booths displaying their latest models and staffed by employees and prostaff members.
“It gives fishermen a chance to look at the new stuff and ask questions, and if they have problems with a reel or some other piece of gear, the folks in the booths are there to answer questions and solve any problems,” Holder said.
That interaction with other anglers — professionals and amateurs — and the resulting exchange of information is a major part of The Fishing Show’s attraction. It’s impossible to spend a few hours walking the show’s aisles and attending a seminar or two and not be cranked up to hit the water as soon as possible.
And it doesn’t hurt that the redbuds are blooming.
shannon.tompkins@chron.com