I had a busy week last week, but fishing wasn’t included. I had meetings over in Olympia that had me occupied from Wednesday through Saturday. I spent Sunday watching football with my wife. It’s one of our favorite things to do together. This week will also be a busy one, and fishing won’t be included in it either. It’s that sports show time of year, and I will be on the west side of the mountains for most of the week again.

On Thursday I will be traveling to Puyallup for the annual Washington State Sportsman’s Show. It opens that day and there will be a huge crowd at the gates when the doors open. I am not sure what the daily count is for attendance at this one, but it has to be in the thousands. It’s easily the biggest one in Washington, and anglers come from all over the state to take in the attractions.

There is everything from guided trips to destinations all over Washington, plus all over the world. Ever wanted to fish in Costa Rica or hunt in Africa? You can set up a trip while you are at the show. There are seminars hourly on how to fish for a variety of species presented by the top guides in the state.

There are boats of every shape and size on display and for sale. The variety of product manufacturers that set up booths to display their latest rods, reels or other items that we anglers just have to have is more than you can imagine. There are some great bargains on fishing tackle and other equipment offered by a number of retailers that set up shop during the show.

There is so much to see and do here at this show that it fills three of the big pavilions on the State Fair site. Plan to get here early and stay late in order to take it all in. The show starts on Wednesday and runs through the weekend. The photo in this week’s column is of me and Ed Iman, who organizes Fish Camp each year, at the Puyallup show.

Starting on Friday, Jan. 24th, I will be at the Seattle Boat Show. This is the biggest boat show on the West Coast, and you can actually see over 1,000 boats on display in the Century Link Center. It is astounding. Everything from dinghies to yachts can be climbed upon. There are even bigger boats moored on the water on Lake Union. There is a free shuttle that takes people to this site to see these luxury vessels.

I started doing seminars at the Boat Show a couple of years ago and they keep asking me to come back. I first offered a “tour” of some of the better fishing spots that would be attractive to boaters and highlighted about a dozen destinations. I would share some photographs of the kind of fish that anglers could expect to catch on the east side of the mountains, just to whet their appetites to get them to come over and give them a try.

This year I decided to change my approach. I selected just three fisheries that boating anglers would enjoy. I chose Lake Roosevelt, Rufus Woods and Lake Chelan. Who wouldn’t like to explore these premier fishing destinations in Eastern Washington? I am providing some real detail on how to fish these waters for the different species, too. I hope that those who attend the seminars will come over and have success. I will be giving one seminar on Friday at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. I will be doing two on Saturday. One at 1 o’clock and another one at 5 p.m.

I am really excited about Sunday. No shows or seminars, I am actually going to get out on the water. My friend Fred Lillian, who has been to nearly all of our fishing trips to Belize and Mexico, is going to take me crabbing. We will be dropping our pots somewhere north of Everett and my mouth is already watering with the prospect of a big feed on fresh Dungeness crab! Fred took me out in the summer a couple of years ago and it was an amazing day. Not only did we return to the dock with limits of crab, we observed the solar eclipse and even saw a breaching humpback whale. What a spectacular day!

The popularity of Curlew Lake ice fishing has spiked in recent years, as the perch population has blossomed. Reports of perch over 10 inches being caught by the bucketful has anglers traveling to this remote lake, which is 185 miles from my home in Leavenworth, for example. I do drive this distance already to fish for kokanee and trout out of Keller, so no big deal. Anglers often have to drill through over a foot of ice to reach the water, but big perch are worth the effort. I have been getting questions about the ice conditions at Curlew Lake for a while now, and I wanted to give everyone an update. According to the folks at Black Beach Resort, anglers have been fishing the south end, near the State Park since around Christmas. This is the shallow end and freezes earlier than the north end of the lake. The people I reached at Fisherman’s Cove Resort, which is at the deep end of the lake, say it may be a couple of weeks before the ice is safe for fishing. Another popular ice fishing lake, which is near me, is Fish Lake, and I know it hasn’t been cold enough to form safe ice there.

The sports show season isn’t over yet. One of the more popular ones that is held in Eastern Washington is coming up on Friday, February 14th through Sunday, February 16th. It’s the 31st Annual Central Washington Sportsman’s Show at the Sundome in Yakima.

This show has everything any outdoorsman would find interesting, and they pay particular attention to make sure that there are lots of things to see and do for the kids. New this year is “Nature Nick’s Animal Adventures”, and you’ll want to get to this one early to get a good seat. The doors open at 1 p.m. on Friday, and at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. I will be with the Bob Feil Boats and Motors folks at this Yakima show, so stop by and say hi!

As you can see I will be talking about fishing more than actually doing it for a while, but hey, it’s that time of year. Hope to see you at one of these shows!