Toronto International Boat Show Report

On Saturday, January 12th I decided to head down to the Direct Energy Center and walk the floors of the Toronto International Boat Show. I love my LUND WC-16 DLX but realize it's not going to be stable enough or fast enough (30HP Merc) to compete in some of the waters this upcoming season, including Lake Erie. From the moment I walked into the show with my son Keenan, I was awe struck. I didn't know where to start. After walking through some of the enormous yachts, we headed to the far end of the show where most of the bass boats were being showcased. The first boat I fell in love with was the NITRO Z-7. I was impressed with the storage, layout and sleekness of the boat and was tempted to jump behind the steering wheel and see how it felt. After looking at some Ranger boats, I met up with buddy and fellow angler Patrick Zajdel and he took me to see some Triton boats. Triton had a 17 Pro on display and again, I fell in love. I must have walked around the boat for 45 minutes, checking out every detail (to the disdain of my son) and am seriously considering making Triton my next bass boat. It was a nice surprise to learn that Triton is a sub brand of Ranger, since everyone knows Ranger make some of the best quality boats on the water. I took tons of pics (one below) and plan on visiting Bay City Marine in Hamilton, one of the few Triton dealerships in Ontario, in the coming weeks. I can't wait to get a Triton brochure and read up on them a bit more. I was happy to see a fishing tank and fishing seminars going on during the show and I watched Italo give some pointers on ice fishing (although with this heat I'm not too confident Simcoe will be frozen anytime soon). It was also great to see some passionate and well-respected ambassadors of angling promoting their sponsors including Dave Mercer, JP DeRose and Ashely Rae. I'd say I only walked maybe 1/2 of the show floor but what I saw was impressive. It was an amazing way to spend a Saturday afternoon and I'll no doubt make visiting The Toronto International Boat Show an annual event. Ken