The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I went to the fly show in Plesanton yesterday.

It was a good show. Unfortunately I missed the seminar on Pyramid Lake. Duh, read the program next time first thing. Perhaps Betty and Ed will fill me in.

I helped support the local vendors and spent several hundred dollars on a rod, new reel, lines, and some tying materials. I believe in spending my money to get this economy going......

Nice show. I saw Loretta there with her trailer.

On another note....It looks like about 5 or 6 of us will be at the spring bash....sure hope a few more show up. If not, me, Paul and Ed will finish the Captain's Rum....

Arrrh....

Ann and I were there Saturday. Don't know how we missed so many of you people. Saw only Bjorn at his desk and Loretta at her trailer. Ann had a nice reunion with the folks from Casting for Recovery.

Ann attended Pudge's presentation on women fishing in Alaska. We both attended the one about fishing Central Oregon. We want to go back.

Nice show this year. Seems to get better each year.

Cheers,
El Rey

I was there all day on Saturday as well.

Spent a fair amount of time with Jet, cruising around checking things out.

Finally met Loretta and visited next to her teardrop.

Ran into Phil and Dustin Rocksvold and had a nice chat while Dustin talked me into more commitments to the NCCFFF Conclave!

Had a good chat with Bjorn, too. I suppose I missed some of you simply because I was on the move most of the time.

Anyway, I thought it was a better show this year also, and I think the crowd was better too!

Buzz

Buzz & Phil,

It was good to talk to you guys at the show on Saturday. I saw Loretta, but did not get to say hi. Hope everything is going well for you guys. I will start a new thread regarding the Festival so that it does not get missed.

Take Care,

Dustin

Sorry I missed it. I was fishing the Merced outside of El Portal with two of the Hounds. One fish reported caught on a Golden Stone Nymph. 11 in Bow. of course the guy who reported it is a fiddler, and you know how those guys are...

Just wanted to share with you our experience at the Pleasanton show. Joey and I had a great time at the Sac ISE show tying flies and wandering around for 3 days so were looking forward to a fly-fishing only show since there were not many tying materials at the Sac show. We left a little after 10 and arrived just before noon. I opted for 2 days to have a chance to see some of the presentations. We hit the ground running. I was looking for deals and Joey ran off to try some fly rods. He had a chance to cast a switch rod and took to it very easily so now he can't get those things out of his mind. I talked with George Revel at Leland's who I met at the Sac show. He helped me find some deals on base layering for Joey. George is a super nice young man and Joey likes goofing with him as they were having a Spey war trying to hit each other with the line.

I ran into many of our new friends from the Granite Bay Flycasters. I thought all was going well until Joey tells me this shows sucks and he wanted to leave. I was caught a little off guard since he eats up anything to do with fishing. I guess it turns that every time he tried to cast a rod he was pushed off the pond by an old fart with a bamboo rod or a demonstration. I guess they pissed him off and turned him off to the show. I think I counted maybe 3 kids under 18 on Friday. We met Jack at the Jim Fair booth who is 10 and fine fly tier.

I was not ready to leave so we went and checked out the Jurassic Lake presentation. There is a remote lake in Argentina that holds huge rainbows that average 8-15 lbs. It is a similar lake to Pyramid since it has no outlet and the fish grow very large. Not sure if we will ever get there but it was a nice presentation. We toughed it out and checked out all of the things there to see. We watched Vincent Su tie a size 32 extended body parachute. There were plenty of 50%off bins to keep Joey busy. We made the best of the day and stayed till closing.

cont

I could not convince Joey to come back for a second day and I myself was not to sure if I wanted to return even though I had paid for 2 days. I ended up going by myself just to see if I could run into some friends and check things out. I did run into Buzz, Phil, Loretta and Bjorn and had some time to talk with them. I was amazed at how many people were there and did not bump into them.

There were a few more kids there on Sat but not that many. I guess there is concern that the sport is not attracting many young people and I have been asked by TU and GBF how to get young people involved. I have worked kids in the neighborhood to get them exposed to fishing. You would be surprised to by the number of kids that have never caught a fish. Of the dozens of kids I’ve taken to Peter’s pond only one has become very interested in fishing. He and Joey are quite accomplished bass fisherman. I took a lot of hard work on both our parts to get Joey to the level he has currently achieved. I think kids rather learn from kids and adults prefer adults.

I wanted to throw out a few suggestions/comments about the show. Why don’t they have a dedicated casting area just for casting vendor’s products and no demonstrations? The vendors pay good money to be there as do the customers so they should have an environment to test all the products they have without rushing. The pricing for the show for kids was confusing. If we have to pay full price for kids it will limit the number of days we attend. Have vendors considered offering coupons/discounts on their products that could be obtained at the show and used there or your local shop? Kids are consumers too and I know Joey had some birthday/x-mas money to spend if he had gone on Sat. He conveniently forgot his wallet on Friday. So to sum things up I spent ~$200 on stuff mostly for Joey, spent $100 for tickets, parking, tolls and gas. Food was extra. I had a good time and I know Joey had a good time minus the casting issues.

Joey impressed a California Reel manufacturer at Sac ISE and was asked to join their Pro Staff which he gladly accepted.

Not sure what I was trying to accomplish here but just wanted to share our experience with you.

Tight Lines,
Jet

The Pleasanton, California Fly Fishing Show and NCCFFF Fly Fishing Hall of Fame
www.nccfff.org www.flyfishingshow.com www/fedflyfisher.org
by Marty Seldon

Why do you go to fly fishing shows? I was at this show both Friday and Saturday, the weekend of February 27, 2009 and had a great time. Friday I went up with Bill Finke and Bob Meacham, and on Saturday with Mike Brinkley. Most of our fly club was there including past members like Matt Pendo. I met up with Lloyd Hayes, Bob Shoberg, Jim Cramer, Walt and Lois Robinson, Mike Matika, Dave Turner, Benson Kanemoto, Bob von Raesfeld, Dennis Buranek, Bob Price, Don Chesarek, Jim Counsel and Wayne McIntyre and Ray Hutcherson and Keith Nelson had their new Sea Level rods and reels on display I’m sure I missed more of us.

As one might expect Key Hanley and Jay Murakoshi were in fine fettle, There were reaspnably good programs and greats like Tim Rajeff, Nick Curcione, Lani Waller, and an artist at the fly vice, Marc Petitjean. Seeing old friends like Ed Schroeder, Frank Bertania, Jim Murphy, Jim Adams, Wayne Synn, Doug Kulick, Frank Pisciotta, Dolph and Nona Senasac, Al Smatsky, and Carl Jaeger made it a worthwhile trip even in the rain. This show brings eastern exhibitors and headliners that we don’t normally see out west such as Barry Beck, A.K. Best, and Ed Engle. We even had the wild trout people from Fish and Game the entire weekend. Not only that, but no constant duck calls in your ears.

As it did at ISE show, the FFF had set up a great fly fishing learning center and Gene Kaczmarek and Dave Kruss, on behalf of the FFF Fly Tying Committee demonstrated the "Evergreeen Hand," they are working to put into production, that makes it a lot easier for Vets with one hand to tie flies. One time member and friend Chuck Echer tied during the day and was honored by his induction into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame Saturday night. He is a world-class angler, tyer, teacher, as well as a great guy who has devoted his life to our sport.

There was a good contingent of club members at Hall of Fame at the Pleasanton Vets Memorial Center on Saturday night. NCCFFF Treasurer Mike Brinkley was at the door most of the night while we all had a great time enjoying the free flowing wine. The sold-out dinner served a great rare prime rib, something special for these kinds of events. Over and above the veggy’s, it was accompanied by a great private label Cabernet honoring Chuck that became a collectors item. We also learned a few new things about Chuck weh his friends did a roast during the ceremonies. Hall of Fame Chairman John Ryzanych and his committee Bobbi Amour and Derrell Bridgeman did a great job and NCCFFF President Roger Miller the induction.

Many came away with some great gear and fly plates in the silent and verbal auctions that raise the NCCFFF’s conservation budget for next year. Plan on joining us next year. I came away with a warm feelings after seeing so many old friends; but pictures, even fuzzy ones, tell it best - see them at:

http://pic...FFHallOfFame?feat=email#

Skitt fiske!