Just to let everyone know. The Michigan Musky Shop is hosting a lure swap/musky show minus seminar speakers (at least for this year!).
A few of the manufacturers coming are:
Stealth
Swim Whizz
Muskie Train
St Clair Bait Co
Bondy Bait Co
Rubber Hairy Tackle
There maybe more a few manufacturers some haven't confirmed just yet
It's a 2 day event that goes from 11am – 5pm Sat Feb 23rd & Sun Feb 24th.
No door charge, table fee and parking is free!
Here is the location and contact info if you have any questions
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Ahhh! I wish I could have seen this earlier.. This is welcome news and I hope it takes off as an annual event.
Like many of you, I enjoy swap events when the opportunity and weather might allow for it. I've returned from the Operation Muskie Swap at the Midway Best Western (2/16) where most of the exhibitors of Milwaukee's Expo stay. During the drive home, I thought about how this was in comparison to other similar swap events and wanted to share it.
This swap has always been well organized and has grown to attract sponsorship support to include beverages including a wet bar, complementary beer and snack foods with an entry into a generous raffle for paid attendees. An entry fee has evolved too for the charity cause of which it's become associated (Operation Muskie) and everyone there is glad to contribute to it's success.
Not surprising is that many attendees are exhibitor guests. Yet, I'm uncertain how many Expo attendee's also came to the swap this year or what their main attraction was: a tackle swap or better supply of raffle prizes?
The tackle swap is certainly the central draw as it always was, but
increased services from sponsorship emphasize the charity/raffle aspects. That will effect quantity and variety of people which decide to bring and display their tackle there, (like me).
Just my observations of how swap events evolve I suppose?
Michelle and I will be there with about 50 baits. 20 Stubby Slashers and 20 Fat Shads in a bunch of colors. Also 6 of the 7.5 inch Mag Shads. We will also have a couple of new Rock-it Shad vertical jigging lures. I only had time to make two of those. We will have our new Mag Stubby (Grub tailed Slasher) and our first glide bait Prototype which is a 4.5 inch early season twitcher/glider that does some awesome tricks. Jason is going to try and have a test tank there for demos.
We are hoping for a good turn out as this could grow into a real nice event. Mike and Michelle
I just took some pics a minute ago however a lot of the stuff is still on the racks drying. I do have the new hybrid and the new glide but the best news is the new ROCK-IT Shad is now in production. This little bait is designed for jigging vertical and should be a good choice for the Detroit river in place of plastics. Its built like a rock. Im having some issues with my scale so an accurate weight is not available yet but they have a nice side profile and some real big hooks on them to aid in hooking percentage. It fishes a lot like a rattle trap without the shimmy. Lift it and it has a natural nose up glide drop it and it goes down nose first according to how fast you drop it. The tail blade is a number 8 Indiana and will helicopter in any current so it will have action just hanging there. They are triple coated and built from 3/4 inch thick Oak cabinet grade wood with 3 Large lead pockets. They sink like rocks hence the name Rock-it shad. They come with several hook options including the monster stainless steel Salt water double pictured. This lure should hook real well due to the tow eye location and the nose hook. The bait pivots and gets out of the way when a fish takes it nose first. This thing is simply a mouth full of big hooks. Mike
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"Smada962" said:
Sweet looking baits Mike! Just out of curiosity, will you have any of the Rock-It Shad's at the banquet?
No I wont. I don't have the wood right now. I need to get over to my Sawyer and get another load. Right now Im fighting with my scale on how much they weigh. Yesterday the scale said 5 ounces. Today it says 9.1 so Im going to have to weigh them tomorrow at the post office and get an accurate weight. They weigh about the same as a Bondy bait.
Those two Rock-it Shads are it until I get into them. Ill run them 24 at a time once I get the wood. I got surprised with this little show so I had to get what I could ready in two weeks While finishing two other orders so we were busy. .
Here are some goodies I got from the swap today. Monster squirko, 12" suick, and a small/wood pacemaker. Definitely was a cool event and hope to see it grow in the future.
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Jason has the place to make it all happen. His shop is the perfect size and he has the right Idea as to how to grow it. As a Vendor I think this is going to be THE Michigan Musky show for us . Had a blast and will be there next year with full display. Nice job Jason, Andy and his crew. WELL DONE!!! Mike and Michelle
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