ROGERS -- A future champion may have made his or her first catch Saturday at the Walmart FLW Tour Expo.
Professional anglers mingled with enthusiastic amateurs and budding young fishermen at the event, held at the John Q. Hammons Center.
Rob Graziani of Bentonville and wife Cheryl brought their 6-year-old twins -- Nicholas and Zachary -- out to the expo.
"I'm a fisherman and they're getting interested," Rob said of the boys. "She has a pole but she never uses it."
Cheryl said the boys like the constant activity and range of elements of the expo.
"They like all the hands-on activities," she said. "They like the kids fishing pond, they like the coloring, they like talking to the professional fishermen. They look at it as a family event."
Nicholas and Zachary both said they liked the coloring activities, but their interests diverged from that point.
"I like the basketball," Nicholas said. "I like the coloring and that is all."
Zachary was more expansive in his interests.
"I like the coloring and the jump house and all of the stuff," Zachary said.
Pro angler Greg Bohannan of Rogers is in his seventh year on the Walmart FLW Tour. Bohannan said he lives on Beaver Lake and he fishes in nine to 12 tournaments a year. He said his luck this past week wasn't the best it's ever been but he's no longer surprised at faring poorly in his home waters.
"I probably know too many places on the lake," he said. "I spend most of my time running from place to place. I finished third overall one year. That's about the best I've done. I guess the 'home-lake curse' gets me."
Greg Watts, with JL Marine Systems, was one of the vendors displaying their wares for the crowd at the expo. The Tampa, Fla.-based company makes shallow-water anchors. Watts said there's little different between events for the vendors.
"We do all the FLWs," Watts said. "Our staff does in excess of 100 shows a year. I've not been in Rogers before myself, but most of the regular tour events are pretty much the same."
One event at the expo offered visitors the chance to give something back to the community through the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. Pro angler Rich Dalbey and wife Frances helped Robert Gearhart man the booth accepting donations. Frances said this is the second year for the Food Bank to be part of the event.
"We've been very pleased with the people bringing in cans," she said.
Rich said he was glad to help bring attention to the needs of people in the community. Gearhart said nationally one in six Americans are hungry but the problem is worse locally.
"Here in Northwest Arkansas it's one in four," he said.
Gearhart said the Food Bank works with 180 agencies in Benton, Washington, Madison and Carroll counties. Last year, he said, the agencies distributed 6.7 million pounds of food.
"That would fill Razorback Stadium 9.7 times," he said.
NW News on 04/13/2014