Chicago Outdoor Sportsmen Show ready to debut

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Updated: February 26, 2012 8:14AM

Dan Basore will have cash in hand at his Historical Fishing Display at the Chicago Outdoor Sportsmen Show. For willing sellers who catch Basore’s interest with their fishing memorabilia, he will peel off walking-around money for the show at the Stephens Convention
Center in Rosemont.

Basore’s exhibit, his willingness to assess visitors’ fishing stuff and his love of talking about fishing history make his one of my favorite show stops.

The new show in Rosemont opens Thursday and runs through Sunday. It’s part of the second-biggest weekend of outdoor shows this winter.

Strictly Sail Chicago runs Thursday through Sunday at Navy Pier. The Illinois Fish & Feather Expo runs Friday through Sunday in Bloomington, Ill. The Hammond (Ind.) Outdoor Sports Show is this weekend at the Jean Shepherd Community Center.

Cash has become the big hang-up in recent years with Chicago-area outdoors shows: cash for parking at the biggest shows and cash (or credit cards) for tickets.

The Chicago Outdoor Sportsmen Show hopes to solve that on a couple of levels. The $10 base ticket online comes with a year’s subscription to one of several magazines. As for parking, I have used the CTA lot ($5) about two blocks away for years. You also can carpool or take the CTA.

Beyond cash, the question will be the value of the new show. That’s tougher. Met Event Group, the new owner, had only two months to pull the show together.

‘‘I would say I am most excited for the families of the Chicagoland area to come and enjoy the event we have created for them,’’ said Jonathan Sauers, the manager of community relations and business development for Met
Event Group.

That’s fair. The family side looks to be the strength of the show. Family highlights include Brody, a 1,400-pound Kodiak brown bear; Frank Addington, the instinctive archer; and Chauncey Niziol, who is good with kids.

For adults, Sauers said the show had close to 200 exhibitors as of Tuesday. For seminars, Spence Petros is the big draw. He will speak about crappie to panfish to muskies. I love that his Sunday seminar about panfish is followed by ‘‘Green Acres Mike’’ talking about cooking panfish. Shabbona Lake smartly has a big presence on the seminar side.

I will be there for the opening hours Thursday, then again for a big chunk of Saturday, which looks to be the strongest day. Illinois Department of Natural Resources director Marc Miller will talk at 12:15 p.m. Saturday. Nick Tassoni, the 15-year-old who caught the Illinois-record walleye (14.75 pounds), will speak at 3 p.m.

I am going with an open mind, all a-Twitter @BowmanOutside.

Alabama Rig payoff

The Hammond show has the strongest local-interest lineup, and it sent me a fistful of tickets. The first few who come close to guessing how many booths I think will offer the Alabama Rig (or a variation) will receive two free tickets. E-mail me at straycasts@sbcglobal.net, tweet me @BowmanOutside or send me a message on Facebook by noon Wednesday.

Hunting notes

The melt-off Monday shuffled geese, but plenty are hanging around the cooling lakes. There were 36 geese shot Sunday at Braidwood Lake. Heidecke Lake was iced in Tuesday, but site staff suggested calling — (815) 942-6352 — Friday in case the lake opens up for the final weekend. Goose season in Illinois’ central zone ends Tuesday, but Sunday will be the last day for goose hunting at Heidecke and Braidwood.

Stray cast

SoxFest 2012 without Ozzie Guillen will be as quiet as walking the south side of Montrose Harbor when Ken ‘‘The Lakefront Lip’’ Schneider stays home.