BRITISH FLY FAIR INTERNATIONAL - 2009
The British Fly Fair International has just concluded its seventh year and WOW!!! For those of you, who never travel outside your own local haunts, believe me when I tell you that there is a whole wide wonderful world of Fly Tying and Fly Fishing out there.
The BFFI is just not another Sport Show! Here is the United States we have countless sport shows and outdoor expositions where fly fishing and fly tying share the venue with hunting, camping, RV vehicles and the like. What makes the BFFI Show special is that is a show to promote Fly Tying & Fly Fishing. Each year Steve and Bridgette Cooper and their crew invite a select number of some of the best Fly Tiers in the World to travel to Stoke-on-the-Trent and participate in the show as demonstrative tiers.
All of the tiers invited are committed avid fly dressers and teachers, who love to share their creative ideas with the general public and each other. Steve and the gang have created a show; where the best of the best in the world of fly tying want to be!!!
There are no prima-donnas tiers in this group, just tiers who love to tie, teach and share! Over years the names change a little bit as not everyone can afford to travel to the United Kingdom to be involved and sometimes other business and family matters cause someone to miss a year or two. They average representation from over twenty countries each year, with some coming from Australia, USA, South Africa, Italy, and many countries in Europe and Scandinavia. Many of the fly tiers see each other a multiple shows throughout the year and the gathering for the BFFI is chance to see old friends and meet new ones.
Now the show also has around eighty specialist trade stands, and you have never been to a show where there is so much fly tying material on display. Oh, do not worry, they have casting ponds and good selection of fly fishing tackle to choose from. It really has to be seen to be believed.
The general public that comes through the doors is fantastic, polite, and knowledgeable, with good questions and a willingness to learn and be open-minded and with an excitement over new patterns, materials and techniques.
Though it is only a weekend show, Saturday & Sunday, the show really begins on Friday as the Fly Tiers begin to gather, greeting old friend, making new ones, talking of patterns, materials, and methods. Relating fishing adventures since we were last together, inquiring about those who could not make the trip this year, and pausing for a moment of silence over passing of a friend.
I have been tying flies for forty-nine years, and tied in countless shows and have taught thousands of classes and clinics. Yet, on my first visit to the BFFI in 2006 after I had walk the line of tiers, I thought to myself “What the heck am I doing here I don’t belong in the company of such Talent”. It has been my honor and privilege to demonstrate my craft for the past four years, and each year I am overwhelmed by the talent and love of fly-fishing and fly tying that these men and women display.
Tom Travis
By focusing on Fly Tying as the main attraction for the show, we gather lots of interest and get many new people into fly tying each year. Furthermore, we attract many children and young people, and this is what is needed if the Art of Fly Tying and Fly Fishing are going to survive and flourish.
I wish we had a show of this type in the United States, which brings together such a talent pool as the BFFI now has.
You can check out their website at: www.bffi.co.uk