Quoting some of its German members, the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association (EFTTA) said that they are holding their own in the country’s difficult economy. Dieter Willenbruch, the marketing director of Fisherman’s Partner and a shareholder in Daiwa Cormoran, said the recreational and sport fishing market seems to be six months to a year behind businesses that are currently struggling and is still doing well. He said that after a slow start to the year, Fisherman’s Partner had a good April and May. He was echoed by Frank Beissel, general manager of Shimano in German and the Benelux countries, who said that an increase in prices and the dollar/euro exchange rate gave the company negative results in December, January and February, but March was Shimano’s best ever and April and May both did very well.

A total of 1,505 visitors attended Efttex, the annual trade show of EFTTA, which was held in Budapest this year. That is down slightly from the 1,582 who attended the same show in Rome last year, but given the lower number of companies native to Hungary compared with Italy as well as the financial downturn, organizers were pleased with the results.

The show makes a point of moving from city to city throughout Europe each year to give members a chance to reach new markets. Budapest was chosen to expose members to emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe. More than a quarter of first-time visitors were from Hungary, with another fifth coming from nearby countries including Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia and the Ukraine. The total means that nearly half the first-time visitors were from emerging markets.

EFTTA’s new product awards were given out at Efttex, with Pure Fishing and Hardy & Greys coming out on top with seven between them. There were 13 categories in the awards, sponsored by Angling International, as well as a Visitors’ Award. The other companies taking home trophies were Wychwood, Shimano, Western Filament, Rapala VMC, Devon and DAM. The fly tying handmade box by Picado Wood Milano took home the Visitors’ Award.

In addition, 17 companies donated fishing tackle to help Bacs-HOSZ, the official charity of EFTTA this year. It is a Hungarian group that helps get children involved in fishing by providing support and financing for them at angling camps and competitions.

At its annual general meeting that it held while everyone was in Budapest, the EFTTA appointed new members to its board. They are Ole Bjerke, the vice president for portfolio management and marketing at O. Mustad; Jari Kokkonen, the director of lure sales for the Rapala VMC Group; and Robin Morley, the director of Daiwa Sports in the U.K. In addition, Richard Sanderson of Hardy & Greys, Per Westerlund of Bios and Lars Svendsen of Svendsen Sports were all re-elected.

The members voting at the annual general assembly chose Amsterdam as the site for the 2011 show, beating out Nuremberg and Nice. Next year’s show is in Valencia, Spain, and exhibitors can start booking their booths in September. Amsterdam was the site of a competing angling show that was held for the first time last August and was not repeated.