Today I went to the Fly Fishing Show (Pleasanton, CA) after a two year absence. I was sadden by the dramatic change. What used to be a full day of talking to friends, manufacturers, fly tiers and attending seminars was reduced to a couple of hours. I can’t help but wonder if fly fishing is on the decline. What are you folks finding out there? Are your shows in decline?
Beats me, I quit going to them about ten years back. Might do it if there was a big one right here, but…
After five years of a down economy, everything is a bit less than it used to be. Only natural.
Went to the Toronto sportmans show and it was not that terribly exciting. Could be because I don’t need anything.:rolleyes: The crowds are not there like they used to be. I think that the big shows will eventually fade away.
I stopped attending the Denver one a few years ago. Not because I had lost interest in the sport, but because the show had become very repetitive and a waste of time and money, IMHO. I don’t think you can judge interest in the sport by attendance at the shows.
Similarly, posting counts are way down at all of the fly fishing bulletin boards I visit. Maybe that is because the novelty of having this form of interaction has declined.
I have not noticed any decline in the number of fly fishers I encounter on local waters, which may be the best measurement.
Brad
The spring show here in Atlanta was cancelled this year. It doesn’t get much smaller than that. The local internet organization, North Georgia Trout Online (NGTO) is still planning their Spring Fling next month, it’s pretty small however but it will be a good d ay to meet some of the guys we swap message with online and pickup a few tips. They have some accomplished anglers do some demos. At good day, if you are in the Atlanta area March 23, drop in at the Buford Trout Hatchery.
We too, JUST got home from the Pleasanton show. The vendors we care about and talked to said they were doing fine there. We did yesterday and today both and would have done tomorrow also, if not for previous committments. We MOSTLY BS around there. We DO do some seminars. Saw 3 of Gary B’s and was pleasantly surprised with the amusement inserted into his very informative presentations. We saw Phil Rowley’s stillwater presentation and picked up some great stuff there too. Saw Rob A.'s Peacock Bass present and sure want to try that even MORE now. 'course ya can’t go by Ken and Jay’s corner without a shout howdy for an hour or so. Dang! We were PLENTY busy for two days and thoroughly enjoyed “the show”! …lee s.
PS-Can’t forget Steve Potter and of course those we have forgotten. 
lee s,
I’m glad you had a good time. I didn’t have a bad time, but found the show was significantly smaller and the crowds substantially reduced since my last visit in Feb '10. I did notice the number of seminars have increased. I guess that’s a good thing. Still, I miss the days when it was a bigger and more lively show.
Somerset, NJ was packed last year and this year.
That’s reason enough to stay home IMO.
John
Go to the Somerset show every year and this was the slowest that I had ever seen it.
There was a bad storm right before the show so some lower particpation could surely be attributed to the weather.
Did seem that most of the vendors had more “sale items” than usual. I have always been curious as to why they
would go through all of the trouble to set up everything there and have 99% of the items marked to full retail.
This year I can remember that there were at least 6-8 vendors that had very good pricing on a lot of stuff…I know
because I came home with a lot of it…LOL
I’m looking forward to the Lancaster PA show March 2nd & 3rd. I found some nice bargains last year and learned a few things, too. This will only be the second time for the show in Lancaster. It moved here after Valley Forge became another casino.
Yeah Tyrone,
Guess we did get a bit off-track. The show did seem smaller…from the vendors present to the attendees wandering. I do believe gas and “blustering” economy effect the attendance. Of course diminishing attendance results in corresponding vendor participation. Too bad. It still seems the best place to compare a fistfull of rods, reels, and lines and see what is most comfortable for THAT day. They did seem to have a greater and more varied seminar presentation…good. Deals…? I don’t know. Got enough STUFF already. As long as the vendors are satisfied, we DO like the seemingly lower attendance. When they do get the crowds, we do not enjoy bumping butts with all the old buffaloes. There always seems to be some attractive bait and bobbers present, but at our age and with the GF present, that is merely a quick visual adventure anyway. We certainly hope the fly show does not go the way of the SF boat show or the ISE show in the bay area.
…lee s.
The economy has something to do with it plus I think the supply side got out ahead of itself. By way of example, pricing on “premium” rods has risen to a very high level (my opinion) at a time when the number of individuals willing to buy them has shrunk. The lull the industry is in is a normal phase of the cycle all industries go through. The demand side will come back when the economy improves. It will improve, won’t it?
lee,
SF Sports & Boat Show - now that brings back great memories of my childhood. My dad would take us kids to the show each year when he worked the booth for Raytheon marine division. I spent the better part of the 60s and 70s attending the shows. Those were great times hanging out with my dad and grandfather.
I do hope our Fly Fishing show survives. We are fast loosing our outdoor heritage in the Bay Area.
They would be on the upswing if I went to one. I have been flyfishing for 40 years and thank goodness have never felt the urge to go to a fly fishing show. Many of my friends enjoy the shows, but it just not my cup of tea.
TIG:
I second that!
Same old thing,nothing new.
Complete waste of money.
The venue should have stayed at the Hamilton Convention Centre.
We in the Southeast are planning a different and fun sort of fly fishing show for our FFF council Conclave… err… Festival in May. Manufacturers can only spend so much money seeing the same customer faces year after year and those faces aren’t getting any younger. The guest speakers or stars of these shows, Bless their hearts, have usually been seen several times by people who go to shows so doing that again and again and expecting different results is sort of silly.
A show recipe that worked when we had 3-4% unemployment and a lot of disposable income to spend has to change with the times or you won’t get added attendance.
Went to Sacramento ISE for the first time in years. Would not have gone without the free tickets I won. Too expensive to go see too many outfitters selling trips that are too expensive. Saw a few new interesting products, but the usual same-o stuf, mostly. The youth building was great for the kids, though. They caught trout, casted a fly rod with the Fishing in the Schools folks…
Hey Jackster, it great to see you post again! I remember flogging the AuSable with you one night, several years ago, with Mato a little ways downstream. No fish, lotsa mosquitoes. It was great to be there. 
At least the raccoons livened up things for us.
Ed