Fred Hall Show is March 2-6 at Long Beach Convention Center
By JIM MATTHEWS
www.OutdoorNewsService.com
The Fred Hall Show is a family-owned institution that has been part of Southern California’s sporting scene for 70 years. Fishermen from all over the region and beyond will attend the five-day event held at the Long Beach Convention Center March 2-6. It is the de facto kick-off to the fishing season.
It is a massive sales event on fishing gear and boats for both fresh and saltwater anglers. It’s a five-day endless seminar with beginning and advanced sessions ongoing constantly on where and how to fish around the world. It’s a walking tour of the best fishing destinations across the planet. It is everything fishing wrapped up in one place.
You would be hard pressed to find an angler in the southern third of the state who hasn’t been to the Fred Hall Show, with many planning a trip this year. It is simply the world’s largest sportfishing show.
“You don’t see many -- if any -- events survive 70 years,” said Bart Hall of the show begun by his father in 1946 at the old Gilmore Statium in Los Angeles. “I know my Dad would be proud of how we have grown the show.”
This year’s event will have over 1,000 exhibitors, and there will be 600-plus seminars and workshops. The number of family activities and exhibitions also continues to grow each year.
This is all old news to most fishermen who simply need a reminder of the dates for this year’s event. It would also be wise to go the show’s website (www.fredhall.com) and look at the massive list of events and seminars so you can plan your day or days at this event. You won’t have time to do and see it all, so it is wise to go with a plan.
Admission to the show is $16 for adults, $15 for seniors 62 and older, and free for kids 15 and under and active military (with valid ID).
Volunteers needed for annual
bighorn survey in San Gabriels
Volunteers are needed for a survey of bighorn sheep in the San Gabriel Mountains March 5-6 being jointly conducted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep (SCBS).
The survey will take place on Sunday, March 6, but all participants must attended a pre-survey orientation meeting 6 p.m. Saturday, march 5 at the Angeles National Forest supervisor’s office in Arcadia.
Volunteers will be assigned designated observation sites in the San Gabriel Mountains. All of these sites require hikes in rugged terrain of at least a mile, and a number of the hikes will be two to five miles in distance. Since most locations are not along maintained trails, there will be climbing of steep slopes, brush-whacking, and scrambling over rocky terrain. All volunteers must be in good condition and at least 16 years old.
Each volunteer group will be led to the sites by someone from the DFW, USFS, or SCBS, but volunteers are encouraged to bring binoculars and spotting scopes to help search for sheep once at the location.
Participants should be prepared to spend several hours hiking and making observations and conditions could be very cold and windy.
This survey has been conducted annual since 1979, and the wild sheep population has gone from a high of over 700 animals, the most desert sheep in any mountain range in California, to less than 100 animals during the years when the population was at its lowest level in the 1980s. Since then, the sheep herd has grown back to an estimated 400 sheep.
For more information, go to www.sangabrielbighorn.org. You can also call 909- 627-1613 or 909-584-9012 to receive a volunteer packet.
High Desert Shooting
Fun Fair will be April 30
The Fifth Annual High Desert Shooting Fun Fair will be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, April 30 at the Lucerne Valley Lion Club and Shooting Range on Highway 18 at Rabbit Spring Road in Lucerne Valley. There is free admission and parking, and those attended my shoot a wide variety of shooting events, with only a nominal charge for the ammunition shot.
There will also be a special charity raffle with all proceeds to benefit the Happy Trails Children’s Foundation-Cooper Home for Abused Children (www.happytrails.org). The raffle will feature an ATI American Tactical 223 and a Smith & Wesson seven-shot .22 magnum revolver. Raffle tickets are just $10 each with a maximum of 500 tickets to be sold.
There will be shooting booths for cowboy action shooting, NRA three-gun matches, action pistol, and clay targets, along with authentic historic guns from the Civil War, those used by buffalo hunters, and firearms from both world wars -- and all are available for the public to shoot. All firearms and ammunition will be provided. While available on site, it’s recommended you bring your own hearing and eye protection, and the range will be open if you want to shoot your own firearms. There will also be live music and food available.
For more information, visit www.lvlionsclub.com or call 760- 240-3330.
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[Jim Matthews is a syndicated Southern California-based outdoor reporter and columnist. He can be reached via e-mail at odwriter@verizon.net or by phone at 909-887-3444.]
