In former years, most of the big 'names' were there - usually as Pro Staff for one of
the major companies. The big names were indeed there, most however were not
there as Pro Staff. I don't know what the change is, but there does seem to be one.
Joan Wulff split her time between Winston were she indeed is Pro, and Royal Wulff
( founded by her late husband Lee Wulff). Wulff has made some changes this year,
going to new line designations. No more the 4/5 and so forth. If it's for a 5 wt it
says 5 wt. They hope it will simplify buying a Wulff line for the consumers.
Joanie is well, looks great and quite often was giving out pointers on casting on one
of the four big casting ponds. (That's Joan on the left) One of the ponds was reserved
for spey casting, and another (that makes five) was for demonstrating various float
devices. Lefty Kreh and Flip Pallot were also there. If there were a King and Queen
of the show, the honors would go to Joan and Lefty. They have contributed endlessly
to our sport.
There were more 'personal float devices' at this show than in other years. Competition
is great and gives us new products and lower prices. Be sure to check out Al Campbell's
Pick of the Show in our Product Review.
I'm always interested in fly rods - and really enjoy casting whatever! There were a
couple of new rod companies, mid-range mostly, nothing remarkable frankly.
All of the name companies, minus Orvis, were there. I can't imagine why Orvis
would not want to be where the majority of buyers are - but they were conspicuous
by their absence. G. Loomis was there, (they were not last year) with a colorful new
line of rods.
(Loop started that trend a year or so ago with a different color rod for a different purpose.)
Gary Loomis was in attendance, and he looks great! The new G.Loomis reel mentioned last
week was made by Shimano, the new owners of Loomis. That's not surprising.
Umpqua was also absent last year, and made up for it this year with a very large booth
which included tiers and close-up tv. The photo is Bear Andrews (left) and Mike Martinek,
Jr and who were tying in the Ewing Feather Birds booth. (Both did a Fly of the Week for us.
Check for those!)
I don't think it was my imagination, there did seem to be more offerings in all fields at
the lower and mid-price ranges. I'm glad to see that, frankly the high prices on some
fly fishing necessities have keep people who might make the switch from spinning to fly
fishing out of our sport. It really helps fly fishing and the fish to have more people
dedicated to preserving and improving conditions.
The big buzz of last year's show was StreamWorks. I wrote a column after the 1999
show in which I wasn't at all kind to Streamworks. Part of my feelings in part were that
none of the principals of Streamworks were part of the fly fishing industry. They had
advisors and some names on the payroll, but were not folks who knew the business
inside and out. I have no way of knowing what really happened, but Scientific Anglers
bought StreamWorks. Scientific Anglers is part of 3M. The SA booth(s) at this show
were the largest display at the show. I did note a couple of companies which were part
of StreamWorks seem to have disappeared.
I really am delighted to see SA acquire the former StreamWorks companies. 3M has
the money, and the business experience to make those companies very successful. As
JC said at the show, "It's great to see adult leadership." I can't help but believe SA's
dedication to our sport will do anything but improve it for all of us.
Some of you may know Cortland bought up a few companies over the past couple of years,
and I'm sure the intent was to have one-stop buying for the fly shops owners and buyers.
Not being on the inside, I do assume it has worked for Cortland. They were at the show
in force. Their focus this year seems to be getting kids involved in fly fishing, and I
congratulate them on that.
One of the really big deals at this show was Mustad who unveiled a whole new line of hooks for
fly tiers called the Signature! All these hooks are chemically sharpened, and are scaled to
be more accurate in representing the proper size of the insect. For the fly-shop owner, the
new packaging makes it possible to find the various sizes through the new 'Hook Select'
numbering system. Really cool stuff! If you're a tier, check this out at your supplier! Really
should make hook selection much easier. We also had the honor of meeting the current
Chairman of O.Mustad, the fourth generation to have run the company, Hans H. Mustad who
traveled from Oslo Norway for the show. (That's me with US Manager Bob Funk in the
yellow shirt.)
This is truely an international show, we met a number of people from around the world,
including the U.K., France, Italy, Brazil, Cuba, Sweden, South Africa, and Korea. All were
invited to visit FAOL and our Chat Room of course.
The number of publishers in attendance was encouraging. We have always encouraged
folks to buy books and build a library. There are fine books about fly fishing,
(including how-to as well as why to) available. From the reception we saw at
the show, your local fly shop should have a fine selection for you. I did have
the pleasure of meeting Tony Lyons of the Lyons Press, (his dad is Nick Lyons)
- Lefty Kreh did a book signing at their booth, and Amato also had some of
their authors signing books during the show. (For the tiers among you, the
awaited FFF Fly Pattern Encyclopedia is out through Amato. Nicely done!)
We made a point of trying to visit all the booths of the FAOL Sponsors at the show. Even
though we didn't stay long at most, our sincere thanks for being a part of FAOL. (It isn't
that we don't love you, we didn't want to take your time from customers waiting to talk
with you!)
The photos throughout this column are mostly of our Sponsors! We thought it might be fun
for you to see how they represented themselves at the show - and to get a bit of a feel on
how a show like this looks. Unfortunately, someone walked off with one of our disks and
we lost about thirty photos. Some of the booths in photos are new sponsors here
on FAOL, and you will see their Sponsor Pages quite soon!
All in all my only complaint is three days was not enough to see all the show. I suspect it
will continue to grow, which will make it even more difficult. I would suggest another day
be added, set up on Tuesday, show opening on Wednesday. Miller-Freeman which
produces the show did a fine job, I heard no complaints from either the exhibitors or
attendees.
Oh, about the hat. That is not my normal 'thing' - but it is my official hat for the
Fish-In in Roscoe NY next spring. I wore it on Saturday, everyone was tired and
a little humor fit! Got a smile or two.
It was great meeting Sponsors in person, seeing old friends, and meeting some new ones.
The first couple of days were a bit like a family reunion. Lots of handshakes and hugs.
(I got the hugs, Castwell did the handshakes.) And really, in many ways isn't that how
it should be. After all, fly fishing is a fraternity.
Keep on keeping on - from my view, fly fishing is very alive and well!
~ LadyFisher
