The Northwest Sportshow kicks off a four-day run at the Minneapolis Convention Center on Thursday with various exhibitors offering steep discounts on the show's opening evening.

From 5-9 p.m. Thursday only — a period show organizers are calling Super Thursday — many exhibitors will offer product and trip markdowns, including:

• Select Loomis and other name-brand fishing rods at 40 percent off and select reels at 30 percent off, from Capra's Sporting Goods.

• Alaska's Nushagak River Lodge is giving 25 percent off booking prices to military veterans and law enforcement personnel, and their guests get 10 percent off.

• Pike Bay Lodge on Lake Vermilion is giving 10 percent off weekly cabin and boat rentals.

• Separation Lake Camp in Ontario is offering 10 percent off open housekeeping cabins and 20 percent off American plan cabins.

• And Vermilion Dam Lodge is offering two spots for one to its fall walleye and electronics school, a $1,300 value for $650.

Show features this year include a shark tank, with daily education sessions, a basic how-to-fish course offered daily, fishing and casting demonstrations at the 5,000-gallon Hawg Trough and free boat and outboard motor maintenance and repair seminars.

Show hours are 1-9 Thursday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

Adult admission (age 13 and older) is $14. Seniors 62 and older get in for $11 Thursday, and kids 12 and under are admitted free. Admission after 5 p.m. Thursday only is $5.

More information and some advance ticket discounts are offered online at northwestsportshow.com.

Did you know?

• Four members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee last week introduced SB 2557, which caps Conservation Reserve Program acres at 24 million — a huge disappointment, if the bill becomes law, to upland conservationists who argue that farmers and wildlife alike need CRP to top out at 40 million acres.

Pheasants Forever and other conservation groups are urging their members and others to contact their U.S. senators and oppose SB 2557.

DENNIS ANDERSON