0:07

Back on the Rocketable Show at Bendor now on your afternoon drive. Happy Tuesday

0:10

too, it is playing Tuesday. Let's talk about what's coming up this weekend

0:14

though. It is the Connecticut Fishing Outdoors Show at the Mohegan Sun And joining

0:20

us in studio Christy Al and Matt and let's start with you Christy Egan's olves

0:26

give us a rundown of this year's Fishing an Outdoors Show at Mohegan Sun.

0:30

And it's Friday, Saturday and Sunday right three days. Yes, we open

0:35

March twenty second through the twenty fourth. We are bigger and better than ever

0:38

before. We have tons of great things for the families to do. You

0:43

guys have like a huge kid zone going on this year. We're talking about

0:46

this off the air like a lot of these things are fluid and this kid

0:49

zone is getting built as we speak. Yes, the trout pond was delivered

0:53

to me this morning. Awesome. Is this the truck trout pond? Is

0:57

this the big like semi truck one or is this just the big pond that

1:00

would like the wide open when all the kids get around. Yeah, so

1:03

all the kids will be able to catch and release their chout if they get

1:07

a tagged trout and they will receive a prize. The five thousand gallon hog

1:11

trout will be rolling in on Thursday. Oh man, we love seeing that

1:15

and that's where like a lot of demos get done. Our gag Matt Weddish

1:19

along with Christy here in the studio Al gag the legendary lure man himself.

1:25

As you're kind of a regular on the show these days, sir, what

1:29

are you going to be doing there? You're just going to be kissing babies and shaking hands. You're going to be teaching some fishing. I really don't

1:36

know yet. If the weather's warm, I'll be out fishing. No,

1:40

I'm only can't you actually maybe you know a couple of schevenars and stuff and

1:45

you know, showing our latest and greatest, you know, new things and

1:49

stuff and helping out in the kids zone. That kid zone, by the

1:53

way, is phenomenal. There is are going to be a unhappy child in

1:57

that convention center at all. It's going to be great. Weedy animals.

2:00

They have a little well, they have the trout pond, but they also

2:05

have a duck pod archery. I mean, it's crazy, it's they got

2:09

their own world right there. You know, it's a good way to introduce

2:13

them to the l exactly. So a lot of the kids around me and

2:15

I live around a small pond, and there's a lot of ponds and lakes

2:19

around in Connecticut and around New England. They're fishing every day. Yeah,

2:23

I mean literally and year round. I mean even their ice fishing now,

2:27

I mean, I know when I was a kid, it was very popular.

2:30

We love to go to the ponds and stuff in Southington, and the

2:34

bigger the better. But mostly you're catching smaller fish and stuff like that.

2:37

It seems to me that there's different fish now all around New England. Are

2:40

they stocking them? How are they getting all these fish in these small ponds?

2:44

Well, most of the small ponds are if they're own farm ponds.

2:47

They're brought in by ducks, you know, with eggs on the webster feet.

2:52

That's fascinating. Yes, And some people throw fish in there. You

2:55

know, you're really not supposed to do that, transport from another body of

2:59

water and put it in there, but it's done a lot. And you

3:02

know, your sunfish between your your bluegills, punkin seeds, large mouth pass

3:09

they're very hearty and they could stand a lot of different waters and stuff.

3:14

So, you know, and when you see the kids out there, that's

3:17

the best thing in the world. Oh, we tell them to come up

3:20

to our house because a lot of them are family friends and they actually they're

3:23

coming from either South Burry or Woodberry or other surrounding towns and stuff like that.

3:28

It seems like, you know, where I live in Middlebury seems to

3:30

have a better pond selection for these kids fen pond some of these other ones

3:34

that they just love to fish. My question is, you can't get these

3:38

kids out of the house. They've got video games, they've got options,

3:40

and fishing right now seems to be the one thing where these kids are just

3:46

fanatics about it. I had just started a class at Springfield at Massachusetts at

3:51

Springfield typ to Go charter school. I have from seventh grade to seniors in

3:55

high school. And the class these kids are staying after school an hour and

4:00

a half every Tuesday with me. Now I got them outside cast it and

4:03

everything, and it's just wonderful to see. What's nice as all the cell

4:08

phones are down exactly exactly, you know, you know my old adage,

4:12

buy your kid a tackle box, not an xbox, that's right, you

4:16

know, seriously, and you know you got to get him any outdoors.

4:20

I mean, you come into the show this weekend. These kids not only

4:26

will be introduced to things both, they'll be introduced to things in the right

4:29

way, even hunting. I mean you got people there like Matt Weddish,

4:31

right, you know, talking about how to harvest a bird, how to

4:34

take care of it, how to enjoy the woods in all you know,

4:39

and with everybody there. Just take advantage of it because you never know which

4:44

shows are going to be over exactly. Check out the whole schedule. Ceet

4:47

Phishingoutdoorsshow dot com is the website again, like Christy says, it's all weekend

4:51

long. It starts Friday at one o'clock. We're going to get the party

4:55

started at Friday as well, live from the mohegansun Conventions and the Rob Nibble

4:59

Show. So when you're walking there, you're going to see so much stuff. You're going to get the latest and the greatest introduced to stuff. And

5:04

you might even hear or smell or see some animals out there. But if

5:09

you're walking around, you hear like a bunch of turkeys and you're looking around,

5:13

you might be fooled by mister Matt Weddish turkey calling extraordinary and I'm reading

5:17

here, sir, you just got inducted to the New England Turkey Hunting Hall

5:21

of Fame. That's awesome, man. Now you know we're just talking about

5:26

the kids. When did you get started calling turkeys? Oh? When did

5:30

I actually get started? I would have to say that I took my first

5:33

bird in nineteen eighty eight, and at that time, growing up in Connecticut,

5:41

there were no birds right right. You know, they were actually reintroduced,

5:45

and they tried reintroducing birds into the in the sixties. That didn't take,

5:50

so they redid it back in the early seventies and they have what's called

5:56

the Trap and Transfer program. So the state deep along with the National Wild

6:00

Turkey Federation, grabbed birds relocated him throughout the state. That's why our population

6:04

is here. So they were truly extinct for a lack of a better word,

6:11

in the state of Connecticut. So growing up, you know, it

6:15

was peasant trout fishing, you know, that's that's what we were doing.

6:18

And uh so that was a new thing for me and it just I guess

6:25

I took it to the next level. Who brought you, Who was the

6:28

person that introduced you? Nobody? You just went out there. There was

6:31

nobody here, man. I mean, my father instilled the outdoors in me.

6:36

You know, he believed. Don't don't get me going on that because

6:41

I'm thank god there's no video, because he could probably see me start crying.

6:46

My father started me in the outdoors, and he believed in me,

6:51

you know, And it's, uh, it became, it became more than

6:59

just something I like to do. It's it's something I have to do.

7:03

It's a passion, it's it's it's truly a love and an enjoyment of being

7:09

out there. I don't care if I get anything. I really don't,

7:11

man, you know, I just I just want to be there. I

7:15

always say, you know, when I go fishing, it's I'm a jerk

7:18

at one end of the line waiting for a jerk at the other. You

7:21

know, wait a bit. And but it's the same thing. You know.

7:28

Some of my greatest experiences out in the outdoors are not from harvesting an

7:32

animal. It's the stuff that ninety nine point nine percent of the population doesn't

7:38

see. It's whether or not I've got a firearm in my hand, a

7:42

bow in my hand, or a fishing ride in my hand. You know,

7:46

there's there's a there's a beauty of being out there when you separate yourself

7:49

from the electronics, from the glitz and glamour and the noise. You know,

7:55

perfect, perfect example is fishing. You know, with fishing, everybody

8:00

he wonders why you're on a boat and you're so tired from doing nothing all

8:03

day. But your body moves, Your body is concentrating all those muscles that

8:07

you don't use standing up is keeping that balance, and then you're hearing all

8:11

the water, You're hearing nature around you. You're not hearing bells and whistles.

8:16

And then you're focused on where you're casting, so now your vision is

8:20

involved. And then all of a sudden, you're trying to wait for that tap, just that little tap, that feeling that's not normal for the rest

8:26

of everything that's going on, to set the hook. So your whole body

8:31

is wrapped up in this adventure of fishing. So same thing with hunting.

8:35

You know, when you're sitting there, it's it's an escape, you know,

8:39

and it's a beautiful place to be. And I think you know,

8:43

like you said, seeing the kids out on the pond, it's awesome,

8:46

you know. Seeing them on bikes, you know, it's every time my

8:48

girl when we're driving down the road, she's like, Ah, there's kids

8:52

on bikes. Kids, you know, and that's the thing. And you

8:56

know, and I love al for saying, you know, the fish and

9:00

you know tackle box, not an xbox, because that's that's the root of

9:03

it. You know, it's these kids, if they get out there,

9:07

they it's it's way more than any excitement. I've always said, if I

9:11

could make a turkey gobble into a drug, I would iv that thing and

9:18

squeeze that bag twenty four to seven. I would be the worst addict ever.

9:22

But you can't recreate what nature does to you. You can't. I

9:26

think that happened to you already. I'm just gonna say pretty much we might

9:31

have to turn it said to me out, all right, Christy Gonzalvez,

9:35

you've set this whole thing up. Tell me about the booths. You got over two hundred boots again, the one hundred and sixty companies that are coming

9:41

into Southern stuff. And then but it really teaches everybody about all the great

9:45

outdoors That's that's why I love to show the most. You know. I'm

9:48

like Matt, My dad introduced me to this when I was a kid.

9:50

He actually had me clean my first chicken and then we went and ate it

9:54

and he's like, listen, this is what do you think your food comes

9:56

from? Maw so. And then I was like, well, are they

10:00

in the woods? Are the heads? He's like, yeah, there's all kinds of stuff in the woods. That's how I got in, like about

10:03

eight years old, going into the woods. But talk about this show in

10:05

particular and how amazing this is going to be. I love the way it's

10:11

set up at Mohegan Sun. Yeah, it's fantastic. And again just to

10:15

touch upon what Al and Matt have said, it's really about bringing the families

10:18

together being outside. The deep will be there just hiking information, state park

10:26

information, so you don't have to be a hunter or a fisher person,

10:30

even if you're an expert or novice, there's something for everybody. You can

10:33

also view the all the exhibits that are there with hundreds of products and services,

10:41

hunting equipment, fishing equipment. They're all small family businesses, so we're

10:46

all local. We have exhibitors coming from across the country. But we're all

10:50

small companies now making this happen. And not only can you see the latest

10:54

and grats, it's the best place to get great deals. I mean,

10:56

so a lot of these local places them they're trying to not only gets you

11:01

a great deal on some of the new stuff, but really just to get

11:03

it out there into the public, into the hands of the people. Last

11:07

time I was there, how you helped me track down the year of my

11:09

grandfather's fishing pole, and I kind of learned the community that exists at the

11:15

CT Fishing and Outdoor Show because everybody was willing to help, everybody was interested

11:18

in this fishing pole. My grandfather is like, you know, your dad,

11:22

He's the one who got me introduced into the outdoors more than anything, and just those family connections never die. But I really have become like a

11:31

part of that community. Saw crazy Alberto is going to be there and like

11:35

our friend from a couple of years ago taught us all about fishing in the

11:37

rivers, in the cities and wherever else he's been fishing. But just the

11:41

community that exists at the CT Fishing and Outdoor Show, I think is understated.

11:45

They are very passionate about what they do and they are willing to help

11:48

and again get the families together. We also have dog training, so even

11:52

if you want to have a hunting dog, but you can also learn how

11:56

to just start a general puppy with the V three gun dogs fantastic. The

12:01

Animal Adventures will be there with their rescues. We have alligators, porcupines,

12:05

pythons, skunks, owls, bunnies, turtles. Turtles always the hit of

12:09

the show. The turtles are the hit of the show. It's a huge

12:13

turtles, like one hundred pounds and at the end of at the end of

12:18

his show, at the end of their presentation, he like squashes a water bottle and sprays all the kids. So it's a snapping turtle. Oh my

12:24

god, all right, never mind, keep your fingers await and snap there.

12:28

Everybody. Thank you so much for coming in. I wish we had

12:31

more time, but everybody can see all of you at the CT Outdoor Show

12:35

Connecticut Fishing an outdoor show this weekend at the Mohegan Sun