AFTA wrap up

Gan Craft Display and Gosen

Before heading up to AFTA I had all these grand plans to go and visit every one and browse upon all the new toys on hand, that almost happened but we got so busy on the stand at times it got hard to get away.

I arrived on Saturday night at Coolangatta airport and had a small wait for the rest of the team to arrive, so I moved outside to enjoy the nice contrast in weather, when I left Melbourne we had high winds and sideways rain  with a top temp of bout 12 degree's, the Gold Coast was experiencing a wonderful 19 degrees no wind and sunshine. Once we had all got on the ground a cab to the accommodation was organized.  In previous years I had always stayed in resorts that were limited to a one bedroom kind of set up and very quiet and boring, this year Stephen from Gladiator had arranged a 6 bedroom house on the water, I was not too sure what to expect but upon arrival I was amazed at the size and age of the place, it was a very modern and very flash place with a massive kitchen, pool and pontoon to fish from. I was wrapped with the set up.

New Australian Colors

I had not yet met every one so this gave us all a chance to catch up, I already knew Steve, Marg and Niel but I had also met Lee (Vic Sales), Chris (North NSW Sales) and Anthony Thorpe who was a central coast Bream guru and pro staffer for Bait Breath and Tackle House. All very different people but we all seemed to gel and get along just fine.

The Stand

The next morning we all made our way to the Gold Coast convention center to set up the stand, this was the first year in 4 years that Gladiator had made an appearance at the show so it would be interesting to see how things panned out. All working together we got everything sorted out and set up with plenty of smoko's in between. This meant that we could now head back to the house and get a bit of fishing in.

Ocean Master

Show day had arrived and every one was pumped to get going. things started off a little slow but soon took off and we maintained a very busy stand all through out the show, I was able to catch up with a few friends from Japan and from the many parts of Australia I had visited talking squid, I had a few quick trips around the show for a quick browse but did not have the time to have a real good look at some shiny new toys.

The next few days flew past, Tuesday I managed to get out and catch up with a few folks at the casino which is a normal event at the show.

Anthony and Chris

I did not work out how successful the show was for Gan Craft as I was not taking orders, I left that part to the sale folks, but I am sure that more retailers are aware of the product and brand than ever before, was a great show for me and was great to catch up with everyone.

Was a quick flight home, I slept all the way from the moment I sat down to the moment we landed.













Random pics:

Gosen Aorika Fire Braid

Violence Jerk

Aussie colors

Gladiator Mutants

Kozami surface lues

Kozami

Gladiator lures

JF Labs

Mutant

Mutant

IMA

ima

Bait Breath

various Gladiator

various Gladiator

Smash Baits

Smash Baits

Mepps

Little Jacks

Tackle House

Tackle House

Good Gosen

Gan Craft

Gan Craft

Keeping busy

More busyness

Anthony and Kosta hooked interview

Kosta and me interview for hooked magazine

Young Mok and me

Hayato Yamauchi

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