The first time I saw him, Pat Renwick was pitching jigs down an aisle — while people walked — at the old outdoors show in Hammond, Indiana.
I wondered, ‘‘Who is this?’’
I found out what a renowned character Renwick is. We would start Stray Casts Cartoon Outdoor Television with Bobby Bergren, Ryan Whitacre and Larry Keilman.
Renwick will be a distinctive presenter among fishing icons such as Jim Saric and Brandon Palaniuk at the Chicagoland Fishing, Travel & Outdoor Expo, which runs Thursday through Sunday at the Schaumburg Convention Center.
Expect sharp-witted chaos layered with information from Renwick.
When I asked what he’s doing, he said, ‘‘Tell them I’m going to have Shriners on motorcycles handing out candy at my seminars and Jimmy O’Neil wrestling a shark. I haven’t cleared it with Tod yet.’’
The only truth in that is he certainly didn’t clear it with show manager Tod Alberto. And, well, Jim O’Neil will make his first presentations at the Schaumburg show.
Seriously, though, Renwick will speak Friday, Saturday and Sunday on shallow-water power fishing, a topic he knows well and practices around the country, including on his favorite local waters of the Lake Michigan tributaries.
Renwick is moving up in the bass world. He has a gig traveling with Bassmaster this year, and Stray Casts became a national bass-fishing show (Whitacre is back, too). Stray Casts moved from a back room at Bruce Bergren’s machine shop to a studio in Renwick’s home and can be found on straycasts.net, the usual streaming services, Facebook or YouTube.
Wild things
Diane Tatkus in Monee spoke for many Sunday when she emailed, ‘‘My neighbor and I have noticed many robins in our trees that still have berries or crabapples on them.’’
I haven’t seen any winter robins yet at our neighbor’s crabapple.
Stray cast
Judging reactions to Taylor Swift and the NFL is like using dowsing rods to find water.
