The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Glad to have made the suggestion, however my plans have changed.
I will be attending the show on Friday aft./eve., but not Saturday.

Hopefully I will run into some of you...


Buzz

I'll be bartending at the NCFFF HOF dinner--Stop by and say hi.--Allen Cary aka Speyman Al

I will be there too!

Dawn

You are going to be a popular guy tommorrow!

Great seeing & BS'ing with folks,

Hits of the show:
A combination fly holder, eye cleaner, & tippet threader (The Fly Connection) for $10 from the Eagle Creek Fly Shop booth, Troutnut's chocolate chip cookies in the Wilderness Unlimited booth, and the First Fly booth to stimulate kid's interest in the sport (I never saw the tying chairs in that booth empty).

Bomb of the show:
Orvis Helios Rod (from the Orvis booth)...I cast the 9' 5 wt...it's a great parking lot rod to compete with the Sage telephone poles or, for use in the "blindly casting for distance" (without any application to fishing situations) Best in the West contests...AKA: mine's longer than yours.

More exhibitor booths than before allowing folks to talk to manufacturers & distributers about the products, no evidence of any real non-FF stuff (except for the Sierra Club booth), & better presentation accomodations than last year...the show producers still have the keep-the-rifraf-out high pricing ($8 per vehicle to park-$15 a person to get inside).

Paul

When the parking attendant asked me for $8 for parking, I asked her how much it would cost without the car wash. (guess I got that any way with the rain)

I got there a bit late so sorry I missed you Paul. I enjoyed seeing some fellow boarders and sitting in on some seminars and tying clinics, as well as visiting some outfitter booths and picking up some tying materials.

Wild Bill

When I was a kid hanging around the Future Farmers of America gang you learned quickly how to get free access to the fairgrounds.

Next time, if you had come in from the Main St entrance side of the fairgrounds, you would have noticed the free parking at the Altamont commuter train parking lot adjacent to the railroad tracks and just across the street from the race track. A short walk across the fairgrounds could have saved you the $8, but you folks spend that kind of money on beer as it is. You could afford it.

On Sunday I made Kahlua brownies with candied pecans and honey oatmeal pecan cookies. I had 2 thermos' of French Roast coffee too. They went quick! I was trying to woo Nicole from the Patagonia/Chile/Argentina outfitters into a date and long fishing trip with my good cooking but her homely boyfriend showed up Sunday afternoon ( I could take him easily). I guess she likes the ones that their mom had to tie a pork chop around their necks. He probably drives a Prius and fishes Helios rods too!

For a combo rod/reel system, those Gary Borger rods sure were smooth.

I really like the new Sage ZXL series, the 490-4 is SWEET!

The best part of weekend... the Northern California/Northern Nevada Council Federation of Flyfishers had a Hall of Fame induction dinner/fundraiser on Saturday night. About 180+/- people were there, many friends who I rarely get to see anymore except at events like this.

Great wine at dinner ( La Crema, K.J.)AWESOME PRIME RIB (best I've ever had, SORRY MOM)and chicken, killer raspberry/walnut/greens salad, ceasar salad, garlic Mashed potatoes, broccolli, prawns and some little cheese/meat sandwich for hor de vors, cake for dessert...I couldn't eat it all... and then we got to watch Ed Rice get inducted into the Hall of Fame. What a great man. He sure has done a lot for flyfishing.

I won another spey reel in the bucket auction, nothing on the silent auction, the live auction was fast and furious and most things went out of my price range, but I really wanted several things. A trip for 2 to Alaska to fish for silvers and dollies for 6 days went for $2500 to $3k ( I lost count after a while) a Sage 4100-4 Z-axis, 10 foot, #4 weight, 4 piece rod,Model 2540 reel and Performance Taper fly line went for $900, and a Whiting Grizzly full mount rooster went for $500.