Bear and I made the pilgrimage this year to take part in the various and assorted festivities found at The Fly Fishing Show.
To our great dismay the VIP parking area was full and despite much flashing of our Minion Flyfishing credentials we were forced to park with the unwashed masses in the "additional parking" area. Additional parking is code for about three quarters of a mile away from the exhibit center entrance. The walk was nice, but the 2 degree actual temp. + the arctic windchill made for an unfortunate choice; carry a heavy parka all day or freeze during transit to the entrance. Bear chose the latter and I the former. I don't believe either of us were particularly pleased with our decisions.
The show seemed to have more club/fundraising booths in the entrance area than I recall from past attendance. We ran this gauntlet without suffering from undue wallet shrinkage and made our way through the admissions process and thence into the exhibit hall.
There were ~6 aisles of fly fishing related booths including; featured tyers, lodges, travel companies, chamber of commerce type organizations, manufacturer displays and retail vendors. As in the past amenities included the flycasting pond, decidedly ho-hum food service area and beer/wine service.
Enjoy some photos of the more interesting items we discovered:
Simms has released the very special camouflage edition of its products. Bear and I determined that this new product line must be targeting the very fashion conscious Berwick, Pennsylvania angler. We all know how they love their camo.
The waders,
the lumbar pack,
and the very stealthy softshell jacket.
We chatted briefly with this fine gentleman representing Fish Pimp. In addition to their line up of tongue in cheek clothing and accessories we discovered a previously unknown attribute of the dimpled Fish Pimp indicators. There is a small hole through the side of the indicator opposite the slot that allows semipermanent rigging with a perfect 90 degree drift setup for all day nymphing. We thought this would be very nice for some of our friends who are prone to indicator loss.
Our hero Bear attempts to chat with his hero Cathy Beck.
It was a long and trying day but on your behalf, we persevered. Following the return home the flask has been refilled and the schwag stashed. Here's a video review from PAFLYFISHING.COM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGbFHH9I1ug
