Long Beach Convention Center is hosting the annual Fred Hall Show, which runs until Sunday, March 8. Paul Sweeney and I hit the main hall walking right after opening, on Wednesday afternoon, during a period of little rain squalls. I was mildly surprised to see the place bustling with people, possibly the best opening day crowd for some time.

The tackle sellers were busy, and there were more of them this year. The second year of a now world-wide recession didn't appear to be holding back fishermen, although it's probably too early to make definitive statements. Most of the vendors we talked to were doing well.

Boats and landings were well-represented, as always. Anglers are signing up for this coming summer's trips, and even for next fall and winter. The show makes a great opportunity for planning fishermen to meet the folks they're going to fish with, and to learn more about the boats they're going aboard. San Diego, LA and Oxnard-Ventura were prominent in chartered and open-party fishing trips of one to 18 days.

Frank LoPreste, Gary Teraoka, David Choate and Brandon Hayward were among the many lecturers scheduled to make their presentations in the main hall. Hayward, a former deckhand with a 100-ton operator's license, has a new book out, "The Southern California Angler." It's a 250-page paperback from Western Outdoors Publications (Brandon is salt water editor at Western Outdoor News, if you didn't know.)

The new book features knowledge and tips from some of the southland's best experts, including Pete Haynes, Danny Wade, David Choate, Ben Secrest and others. If you're a newbie to salt water fishing in southern California, TSCA would be an excellent investment to acquire wisdom otherwise obtained in the school of hard knocks.

Speaking of boats, there are always many truckloads of private skiffs, cruisers, kayaks and even fishing boards, or paddle boards on display, with representatives from the builders there to answer questions and to show off the fine points of their products.

The same goes for tackle makers. Would you like to meet the designer, the factory manager, the executives or even the owner of a company you buy your products from? This is the place to do it. No other show gets the attention or the attendance of the Long Beach show, and company owners like Steve Ichinokuchi or Izorline know it. Steve was there with his top reps, including The Long Ranger, Ralph Mikkelsen, to answer questions and provide the Knotty Ladies with raw material for the knot-tying contests. He also had some nice photos of the peacock bass he'd been fishing in South America.

Joe Pfister and the Seeker boys were on hand to show off the Super Seeker line and the other Seeker rods (they must make more types than anyone else) in the center of the building. Calstar had a nice display, and experts there to answer questions and hear comments from the users of the gear. Nearby, at the Fisherman's Landing tackle store, buyers were thick and products moving across the counter, as they were at Turner's.

Seaguar, the original maker of fluorocarbon was there, repped by Richard Hightower (along with Yo-Zuri, Hayabusa and Catchy Tackle, among others), and assisted by company exec John DeVries. Seaguar has a new, tougher fluoro called AbrazX that's getting a lot of buzz. Their original Red Label leader and line fluorocarbon is so limp it's hard to believe that it is what it is. So you can get almost any quality you want from the several Seaguar lines.

Right in the center of the action the Accurate booth was on fire, with T-shirt (designed by Paul Sweeney) sales burning the register, and with reps talking to anglers pressing to get close to the new rod and reel combos. The BX2 Boss Extreme reels in the 400, 500 and 600 series (for 40 to 60-pound line) match up to the Accurate Xnergy rods. You can combine those with their new AccuBraid Super Line for a state-of-the-art weapons system to take out to the water wars when the bite starts up again.

The affable Cal Sheets had a good corner position, assisted by wife Nancy and son Eric. Cal knows more about more brands of reels that anyone I've ever met, and he has permission from the factories to work on Penn, Shimano, Accurate, Avet and other reels. He can make ???em stronger, faster, smoother and maybe even lighter than the reels coming out of the box, and he knows why failures happen and how to prevent them.

Blackwater, the newest line entrant in this region, had a booth well-stocked with pro anglers. The company has had good success in the past year or two with fluorocarbon that's tough and abrasion-resistant. They also offer Spectra braid for reel backing or mainline. The company has found some good support from the San Diego fleet.

There's too much to see at the Hall Show to cover it all here. George Swarburg showed off his Knobie rod butt pads. He said he's sold about 5,000 over the past couple of years, so you know there are a lot of Knobies on the water. Corey Samden has a crowd parked around his MC Swimbaits booth, and interested anglers were also clustered at Fish Trap and Tony Paino's AA's booths. Those three may account for the majority of plastic baits seen here in SoCal.

On a side note, Barry Brightenburg of Fish Trap has started a new charter service, "Always An Adventure." He is a top angler and will make a super guide who focuses on targeting big fish in comfort and with maximum safety.

The AFTCO and Guy Harvey displays were adjacent, and while I missed Guy this year, I was able to chat with AFTCO manager Greg Stotesbury and owner Bill Shedd. I love the shirts made by AFTCO-Bluewater and Guy, and think their new fighting belts are both good-looking and efficient. Greg, a south coast legendary angler, showed a new shoulder-type harness that can also function as a kidney harness.

Nick Maurer, deckhand aboard the Red Rooster III, is taking a lot of gas from his friends and compatriots in the biz because he was featured in this year's Sportfishing Calendar. Nick joked with Bill Roecker, saying he was wearing out his pen-holding hand from signing all those autographs, and that he was getting rich by charging for the sigs.

Internet fishing communities like BloodyDecks.com, SportfishingReport.com and WestCoastFishing.com were well-represented at the show. Numerous resorts in Baja, Canada and Alaska vied for customers looking for king and silver salmon.

Kirk Agnitsch used to drive the Blackjack out of Redondo Beach many years ago. Now he's running his own lodge and fishing operation in Craig, AK. Check it out at Sure Strike Fishing Charters.

It's a big show, as always, the Long Beach Fred Hall Show. Everybody's there, including Shimano, Mustad, Daiwa, Global and World-Wide Fish Mounts, Owner Hooks, Baja Fish Gear, Fishworks, Pelagic, Braid Products and dozens of other fishing-related enterprises are offering the public an opportunity to meet and greet the biggest wheels in the business, all under one roof. Some of the deals being offered as "show specials" absolutely cannot be beat. Take a few hours to walk through The Greatest Show in Long Beach, and you'll see what I mean. The show is open until Sunday, March 8, and the next one is in San Diego, beginning March 25.