The first day at the Del Mar Fred Hall Show was sunny, and I enjoyed about 15 minutes of that on the patio near the vendor selling tri-tip sandwiches. I had one with WON editor Pat McDonnel, getting bites between a quick chat. Mine was very good. So were some of the displays I saw while making a quick tour of the three buildings on the south side. The first one was home to several boat sellers and the Sea Tow organization, at sandiego@seatow.com on the Internet. The owner there is Captain Chris Curcuru, who handles all kinds of boat-related tasks besides rescues and towing. He can also provide professional captains, vessel deliveries and boating lessons, among other things. Also in that building I found Morgan Promnitz. We first met while fishing at Rancho Leonero, when Morgan was working for Blue Water Fishing Tackle in Solana Beach. Now he's fishing product manager at Hobie, and showing off a slew of interesting products in the way of fishing kayaks. I looked longingly at a nice wide one with a bait tank and pedal power that Morgan said you could stand up in. I found that hard to believe, so he had one of the Hobie pro staffers show me how it was done. In the main building I bantered with the Izorline Knotty Ladies: Kathy Rounds, Shauna Barton and Wendy Tochihara. Shauna told me later she been able to draw 100 pounds of weight on a double-double San Diego Cinch knot. Terrafin Satellite Imaging has something new, owner Jeff Gammon told me before showing me some charts of daily surface currents. "We're not positive about how they'll be used here out west," he remarked, "but back east they find these very useful in locating fish." As always, Western Outdoor News was at the show in force, and saltwater editor Brandon Hayward was signing copies of his new book Getting Bit. I got a quick tour from show organizer Bart Hall, who posed with some vendor friends for photos. As usual, retailers like Fisherman's Landing Tackle, Ken's Custom Reels, Turner's Outdoorsman, Fisherman's Access and Angler's Choice seemed to be doing a brisk business. Every few minutes I'd see an angler walk past our booth with some flagged rods or a bag of goodies. Tackle makers like Accurate, AFTCO, Avet, Daiwa, Okuma, Seeker, Calstar, AA's Fish Trap, Mustad, MC Swimbaits and many others are there at the show, waiting to tell you about what's new for the upcoming season. It won't be long before the fish are biting again, so make your way to Del Mar before the show closes Sunday evening, and see what's new. Kids under 16 and military people get in free. We'd love to see you at the Oceanic productions booth, number 508, and show you our new book, At The Rail!