I had not had an opportunity to actually handle the now
famous Korkers Konvertible Wading Boot, and they are just
as terrific as the billing. Solves so many problems for the
fly fisher at one time! But wait! There's more. Watch for
a whole line of new footwear - from sandles to wading booties.
One of - if not the busiest tying materials booths - was
Rainy's. We've known Rainy Riding for a number of years - she
has always been an innovator and it turns out she's also
a fighter. She bought her business back from the Scientific
Anglers group and expanded. She set up a factory in Thailand
and moved there full time!
The idea was absentee ownership doesn't work. There have been
plenty of examples of that one. US companies trying to run
a company without being there. Several of the 'off-shore'
fly tying companies have changed hands in the recent past.
Do check with your local dealer, or if you don't have one,
you can order directly from Rainy's (yes, they are a Sponsor
here). If you've been looking for something special - or
different, Rainy has a huge selection of brand new items!
She also has a whole new line of saltwater flies -
that's the lady herself on the left! Congratulations Rainy!
By the way, she does fish and she knows what's she's doing.
The man behind the neat tinsels, flosses and threads is
the gentleman above, Jean-Guy Côté. You've heard the
UNI name - now you can connect a face to it as well.
Jean-Guy Côté is a fine tyer, and has been instrumental
in many of the Atlantic Tying groups. He has promised
to add to our Atlantic Tying series as well.
We had the opportunity to spend a little time with Marv
Nolte at the Partridge booth. Watch for some goodies from
Marv here too. Jeff Pierce, Mustad, was sporting a brace and wasn't
tying, but it was sure great to see him!
My favorite goodie from the show was one created by Marc Petitjean.
Actually it isn't 'one' it's a group. They are called
"Magic Tools" and allow the tyer to create all sorts of
combinations of dubbing and hackle at one time. They are
clips, clear acrylic so you can see through them, and we saw
Marc demonstrate several flies which just blew us away. Al
Campbell, Hans Weilenmann, and Jim Schollmeyer all have them.
I'm sure we'll all get to see the results soon. Then again,
Marc offered to do something for FAOL with them too! Should
be an interesting tying season!
I haven't heard if next year's show is scheduled for Denver or
not. Frankly, I preferred the layout at Salt Lake, and it's a
much shorter flight for us. But Denver does have it's good
points (the very long ride from the airport isn't one of them,)
however, they may have the best steakhouse ever.
We had dinner Thursday night at Gallagher's on Arapahoe Street,
just the other side of the block from the Executive Tower Hotel
where we stayed. There isn't anywhere in our region where we
can find 21 day dry aged beef. It was absolutely perfect.
(They even have a cooler where you can see the meat, with a
Quiet Please, Meat Aging sign!) The evening was pricy - but
worth every penny. Nice going folks! If you are in the area,
downtown Denver, don't miss it.
Our sincere thanks for the folks at Frank Amato Publications
too - we had a nice dinner with the group on Friday night.
Amato has been one of our Sponsors since almost the very
beginning of FAOL, and we value their friendship as well as
support. I find it interesting that they as book and magazine
publishers saw the value of having a web presence early. There
are still many, not just in the fly fishing industry, who
don't have a clue. The world is passing those folks by.
I'll probably think of a slew of things I haven't mentioned,
so we'll get those in future columns. We had a great time, but
we are still exhausted...each year it gets a little harder to
recover. Could be the older than dirt is catching up with us.
~ The LadyFisher
If you would like to comment on this or any other article please feel free to
post your views on the FAOL Bulletin Board!
Frank Bryan at Chota has some really unique new
gloves. I've had various fingerless gloves for cold
weather fishing - but nothing designed like these.
There is nothing to snag your fly line - and the
padded palm has sections removed so the palm of the
glove closes smoothly - without the lumps which make
it hard to hold a rod (or anything else). The finger-tips
"pop" into place using a method different from anything
I've seen before. Very nice!