Crowds pack annual sportsmen's expo today at Eastwood

NILES

If Saturday’s turnout for the annual Sportman’s Fishing and Hunting Super Show is any indication, outdoor enthusiasts can’t wait to get back to indulging their passions after suffering through a seemingly endless winter.

“I’m planning to book two fishing trips to Canada while I’m here,” said Joe Ballas of Ravenna who browsed through thousands of types of fishing gear displayed by a company that fittingly call itself Holy Mackerel. “I go every year with my fishing buddies.”

Ballas had plenty of choices at the Eastwood Expo Center as this year’s show features more than 150 vendors selling rifles, hunting apparel, fishing lures and tackles, boats and fishing charters.

“Fishing is always the biggest draw,” said Rick Henninger, Austintown, publisher of the Fish and Field Report, one of the event sponsors.

Henninger, who has produced the show for 20 years, declined to divulge specific attendance figures, but described himself as “overwhelmed and overjoyed” with the turnout, which he said usually numbers “in the thousands.”

One of those vendors, John Gribble, operates a fleet of nine fishing charters along Lake Erie. Gribble said the winter has not slowed down his company. “There’s about 20 inches of ice on Lake Erie, but we’re running airboat services that skip over the ice,” he said.

Cory Begeot, 30, of Newton Falls is a hunter, but spent his time Saturday as a volunteer at the exhibit for Birds in Flight Sanctuary, which rescues wounded or injured birds.

REad more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.