Bill Roecker is fighting a tenacious head cold since March 3. It made no sense to spread it around the Long Beach Fred Hall Show, but pal Dan Walsh spent a couple of days (Wednesday and Friday) there. He's been a show-goer for the past couple of decades, and offered to share his Friday afternoon and evening experience:

"The after work crowd showed up late yesterday afternoon to join in the fun with those already at the Fred Hall Show Friday. I stopped by the Western Outdoor news booth and talked white sea bass and secret local Halibut hot spots with ad sales rep Ben Babbit. Ben and I met a few years ago surfing in Carlsbad, Our discussions turned to fishing when he saw me on the beach one day wearing a Rancho Leonero hat. He's quite the White Sea Bass guy, so we exchanged some info on what we're seeing out there right now and what we think the next several weeks will bring with them.

"With plenty of seminars available, I spent time at a few myself, including a great one with commercial fishermen Jack Armstrong and his brother in law Barry Diehl. They showed slides and video of what it's like in the commercial fleet and the vast areas in which they operate in the entire Pacific Ocean basin.

"I went to the Typhoon Fresh Water Tank to watch and listen to radio show host and bass pro Kent Brown from northern California discuss every aspect of the Alabama rig. It has become one of the latest innovations for fresh water guys, and Kent sure knew his way around the 'A-rig.' What impressed me the most was as Kent spoke, he cast the rig at least 25 times into the tank, and landed the rig in the exact same place at the far end of the tank every time. Just watching him do that told me I was watching and hearing an expert. The funny thing is that I'm not or never have been a fresh water guy, but nonetheless, I was pretty impressed with this seminar.

"Had some time to speak with the crew from the Dominator about organizing a private charter for a group from Lucas Oil, hopefully we can lock in a date for them for a trip in May. There were so many boats and travel providers, I could have spent the entire day just in that part of the show.

"We stopped and talked with radio and TV host/pro fisherman Ronnie Kovach at the Typhoon booth about trout fishing. Ronnie explained some of the nuances of this fishery, and then walked us over to the Phenix Booth to meet with owner Robert who continued our private seminar on different baits, hooks, and rigs to try next time out for the trout.

"John 'Hop Along' Cassidy gave my fishing pal Mike some pointers on fresh water fishing and rigs at his Rod and Reel Radio booth, Jack Nielsen from Accurate Fishing was also there to listen in. Conveniently, and just across from the Rod and Reel booth was the Accurate Fishing booth. We met Captain Dave Marciano from the Wicked Tuna TV show, who was signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. I checked out the new FURY reels while there; looks like I'll add a couple of those to my current fleet of Accurates.

"We checked in to say hi at the Let's Talk Hookup booth and then went to the Rancho Leonero booth to review our reservations for our 12th or 13th annual trip to the Ranch with many of my ex SCUBA diving students and boat passenger friends. This year looks like about 15-plus will be in the group headed south. The folks at the Ranch booth are always busy, so we made our stop a quick one.

"For a change of pace, went to the Scott Leyseth Costa Sporting Chef Cafe and had a demonstration on what's probably the easiest way to make Sushi. Had a sample at the end of this seminar, and it tasted pretty good!

"Having spent years running diving charter boats, I wanted to go spend some time with the spearfishing and breath-holding guys, but ran out of time. This was a two-day expedition for us, it took us that long to see what we did, and we probably could have used a 3rd day, but we'll hit up the Del Mar show to see some of the people and seminars we didn't see in Long Beach. Dock Dogs, here we come!

"Overall, I learned a lot, got some exercise walking the show, bought some things, and had a great time. I'm looking forward to the Del Mar show in a couple weeks."