ORLANDO, Fla. – Bert Kaplan has been going to fishing industry shows longer than most of the 2015 ICAST attendees have been alive. And he has one of the best stories as well.
The 84-year-old, meeting with old friends Tuesday more than viewing stuff in the New Product Showcase that kicks off the convention, was arrested at his first show.
“I’ve been to 57 shows … in a row,” said Kaplan, who serves on the ASA membership committee. “The first show I went to in Chicago, Ella Fitzgerald was the star in the hotel ballroom. It was 1959.”
During that first show, he also landed briefly in jail for “Leading a Dixieland Jazz Band on Rush Street at 4 o’clock in the morning with four other guys.”
Kaplan said he was the kid of the group that included two eccentrics, and he just went along for a fun ride after the wealthy one rented the band and instructed the members to follow him down the famous Chicago thoroughfare.
“They were two nut cases: Kenny McGoon, who always wore a green suit. He was born in a trunk. His parents were show biz,” Kaplan said. “The other guy was Mo Fischer, who had a distributorship in New Orleans. He jumped on D-Day in Cannes in France and hung on a streetlight for 20 hours before anybody came to rescue him.”
Kaplan recalls their madcap adventure fondly, even if he did get thrown in the hoosegow.
“It was great fun. We were arrested … It didn’t take long,” he said. “There were five big vans that appeared on Rush Street and we were politely ushered into them. We get down to the police station. They let the band go.
“McGoon was eccentric. He used to walk around with $10,000 of cash in his pocket, and this was 1959. So the Sergeant thought this was the funniest thing he had ever seen. His eyes got this big. What he did was take $500 out of McGoon’s money. We each got our own policemen. They called five cabs and we were put back in our hotel rooms.”
Times have changed, and Kaplan, who is from Simsbury, Conn., has witnessed most. He worked as a manufacturer’s rep back when the tackle industry was mom and pop dominated.
The evolution to big companies is a huge change, but another major one is adding the ‘I.’ In the early years, it was the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association, and therefore, he said, “no importer was allowed in the show.”
“It took awhile, but it’s completely changed with the American Sportfishing Association replacing the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association somewhere in the 1970s. Then everybody was invited to the show.”
The industry-only show is now officially called the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, and draws a crowd from around the world.
Last year, there were more than 11,000 industry representatives with 480 exhibitors. Also, more than 1,000 media members converged on 500,000 square feet of show room floor to report on products and trends.
Kaplan reports another difference is the early days mainly featured just manufacturers and distributors. Kaplan said dealers were not invited or allowed. Now, with a dealer on the ASA board, more and more are being invited and attending.
Back in the day, Kaplan sold fishing line to what would become Dick’s Sporting Goods.
“The original Dick was my account in Binghamton, N.Y.,” he said. “They had two stores. Fishing line was my expertise, started with subcasting line for freshwater, linen for trolling line and saltwater. And the company I worked for made silk casting lines.”
Bert, what do you think of today’s lines, from braid to Dynofil, a recent Best Overall of Show, to the new Gliss?
“I don’t know anything about the lines anymore,” he said. “I’ve been out of it for a lot of years.”
While not up on his lines, he still can deliver plenty of great ones from past events.