As winter transitions into spring, anglers in the Southeast are gearing up for the upcoming fishing season. Two highly anticipated events where anglers can learn new techniques and strategies for the 2024 season are the East Tennessee Fishing Show in Knoxville and the Alabama Fishing Show and Expo taking place on March 8th through March 10th in Gadsden. These shows provide opportunities to check out the latest fishing products, of course, but they also provide a chance to gain valuable knowledge from top professional anglers and guides. Dozens of fishing seminars are offered, covering a wide variety of topics relevant to freshwater anglers.
On a recent episode of the Alabama Freshwater Fishing Report podcast, we sat down with Mike DelVisco to talk about the seminars these shows offer. His seminars at the East Tennessee and Alabama shows are consistently popular with anglers looking to gain an edge from one of the most knowledgeable and respected figures in bass fishing today. With over 40 years of experience, he’s knowledgeable on many aspects of fishing, but his specialty is the use of modern sonar technology for locating fish and reading underwater structure.
Mike DekVisco Sonar Seminars
Sonar units have come a long way since the original Lowrance “Green Box” Fish Lo-K-Tor. I know, because I own a functioning unit and still take it out from time-to-time! When this unit was first introduced in 1959, it was revolutionary; showing anglers not just the water depth beneath their boat, but also signals from structure. It could even show you fish, if you knew how to translate the flickering red lights that popped up on the dial.
Today’s units are much more powerful and sensitive, and show you more information than anglers sixty years ago ever dreamed of. But there’s still a mix of science and art when it comes to translating what’s shown on a unit’s display into a vision of what’s happening below the surface.
This is where Mike comes in.
“I’ve done bass fishing seminars all over the country for years,” he says. “And in the last 10 years, I’ve really ramped up the sonar stuff. It’s kind of my little niche in the industry. It’s something that I like to teach, and something that is really popular with anglers because it’s not a not an easy thing to teach. There’s so much technology involved, you know? And to be good at teaching sonar, you have to be able to do it for two different types of people. You have to be able to cover the basics for folks who know nothing about it, but you also have to engage with folks who have a pretty good familiarity with it and are really looking for highly advanced lessons. So I try to cater a little bit to both of those individuals.”
Fishing Seminars For All Anglers
While Mike is primarily a bass guy, the East Tennessee and Alabama Fishing Shows cater to freshwater anglers targeting many fish species. These shows are local to the Tennessee River basin, which leads the country when it comes to biodiversity. Anglers nearby have the opportunity to catch dozens of species, and the seminars offered reflect this diversity.
“The nice thing about going into the shows is; it’s not just bass fishing,” Mike says. “There is so much to do here in East Tennessee, you know? We’ve got everything from catfishing, to crappie fishing, to bass fishing…there’s even walleye and sauger, and an occasional muskie! There’s lots of stuff to catch. And we’ve got seminars that cover every single species that you might want to catch here in East Tennessee.”
The quality of the instructors at these shows is top-notch as well.
“This year we’ve got several Elite Series pros,” Mike confides, “starting off with a guy that I’ve known for close to 40 years, Bernie Shultz. We’ve tried to get him to the east Tennessee a few times and the schedules have just not worked out. But everything worked out this year, and we’ve got him coming to the East Tennessee fishing show. And that is going to be a really good treat for a lot of people coming to see him. He’s one of the guys that I learned an awful lot from when I was coming up, and we’ve been friends for an awfully long time and it’s going to be great to see him.”
“We’ve also got Shaw Grigsby, who’s always a fan favorite. He’s another good friend of mine. We’ve got Elite Series pro Matty Wong, who’s a really popular younger angler that’s been doing really well his first couple of years on the Elite Series. Skyler Hamilton is going to be there. Skyler was an Elite Series Pro for years and years, and he has just started a guide business here in East Tennessee. He specializes in bass, but does a lot of crappie stuff as well. Nick Cousvis from Ontario Canada is coming down to talk about smallmouth bass. And we’ve got Captain Jim Durham, who’s going to be talking about stripers and walleye fish.”
Tips For Attending Seminars
When asked what he advises for getting the most out of seminars, Mike Delvisco emphasized the importance of taking notes.
“Bring a notebook and write a lot of stuff down,” he recommended. “We have a really big classroom with a big screen TV and, and all the AV equipment, so a lot of guys will do PowerPoint presentations, and some will just bring their gear up. You can get right up close with Shaw, Bernie and everybody else and be able to learn a bunch of this stuff that they’re going to be teaching up close and personal. The room is kind of set up in an oval so that no matter where you sit you can see things really well too. And I can’t tell you how many people show up just to go take the seminars. I’ll see a lot of the same people year in and year out, and the hardcore guys? The ones who are really serious about learning? They’re always taking notes.”
Attending the seminars also provides a valuable opportunity to ask questions. As Mike points out, “you can’t really beat being in person with somebody where you can ask, ‘Hey, hang on a second. What exactly do you mean by that?'” Taking advantage of the chance to directly clarify techniques can boost your learning.
Additional Show Activities
Beyond the informative seminars, the shows also provide chances to check out the latest fishing products.
“Something that’s really special about the Tennessee show in particular,” Mike says, “is that it’s got the biggest selection of custom fishing tackle that you’ll find anywhere, at any show. A lot of the legends in the custom crankbait carving business attend. It’s not your average fishing show.”
He continues, “We’re also going to have a kid’s fishing tournament at the Alabama show. There’ll be a 2 hour derby on March 9th. The nice thing about having Coosa landing and the riverwalk right there is that the fishing tournament will take place right there outside the expo. I think we’ve already got about 20 kids pre registered, so that’s going to be a lot of fun. They’ll get to come down and fish for a couple hours, and there’s going to be prizes for them in a couple of different age groups and a bunch of different categories. They should have a really good time.”
With seminars, vendors, and special events, these shows offer full weekends of education, gear, and experiences to help hit the water running once spring fishing swings into high gear.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re seeking new techniques or the latest tackle innovations, the East Tennessee Fishing Show and the Alabama Fishing Show have anglers covered as winter turns to spring. With experts like Mike DelVisco on hand sharing decades of knowledge, attendees are sure to leave with valuable strategies to boost their success on the water.
These shows provide everything from hands-on learning opportunities, to chances to browse the latest tackle, to weekend family fun. The season is fast approaching – get an edge at these informative shows before local waters start waking up and fish start biting.
