Made the drive out to Somerset New Jersey for the 2011 International Fly Tying Symposium last weekend. I shipped out of work about lunch time and, after a stop in Cleveland to pick up Kevin Compton of Performance Flies, we rolled in to The Doubletree to unload our gear about 9ish. After catching up with old friends we got a few hours of sleep then came back bright and early on Saturday morning to get our tables set up.
Once I had my table set up I took the opportunity to head over to visit with Pat Cohen of Super Fly. While he is a highly talented tier across the board he is especially known for his world class deer hair bugs, so I was excited to see what he was able to come up for me in Michigan colors. When I saw the Punk he tied up I was blown away...it is AWESOME!
As the show opened up the front hall started to fill
and inside it got very busy! Saturday morning was as busy as I have ever seen the Symposium. It was great to see so many people come out for the show.
By the afternoon the table was not quite as neat and to ensure our throats were kept hydrated we accepted the occasional Yueng that made it's way over to us.
While the show is fun, the evenings with our fellow tiers are more fun! I had a great time meeting Swedish tier and friend Ulf Hagstrom. We have been in touch through emails and FB for quite some time now, but this evening I finally got to meet my friend in person to share some stories and put a dent in the beer reserves at TKs Pub.
Part of the crew; John Kavanaugh, Allen Landheer, Pat Cohen, John Collins, and myself. The rest of the crew was just outside on the lobby patio. Lot of laughs, lies, and fish pictures!
Also got to hang out with another Swede, Nik Dahlin, a bit later in the night. Really enjoyed sharing stories with the guys from the other side of the world.
The end of the night found everything to have the same focus as a nine year old with ADHD...Ahh the life of a show tier...rough stuff.
ACF customer Rob has been at it again and sent over a few shots from his adventures on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes. Great to see he was able to swing up a chromed out hen and a gorgeous Coho. Well done Rob!
Also got shots throughout the day, while I was stuck inside, from my buddy Mariano who was in town through this morning. After a rough day out last weekend it was good to see that he was able to stick a bunch of fish. Here are the best couple shots of a hen and buck he brought to hand. Now to figure out how to get down to Costa Rica to fish with him on his home waters...
-mike schmidt
http://www.anglerschoiceflies.com/
Good Stuff Mike, wish i coulda been there.
ReplyDeleteWhat were those streamers you had tied up by the dozen with the fish skulls..i noticed them in the box on your previous post and Flymen posted a pic on FB yesterday of them...They look sweet.
It really is a great show packed with talented tiers Eunan. Every fly fisher needs to make it there sometime.
ReplyDeleteThe flies all lined up are not on the site, I have just been calling them Fish Candy. If you want some shoot me an email and I will give you show pricing on them.
Pat's flies are amazing! I should message him and get one to put in a shadow box!
ReplyDeleteI'll be at the FFS in Jan, so i'll def swing by your table.
ReplyDeleteGreat seeing you, the other usual suspects, and being able to swill in the local. The Symposium is becoming a really great show. I tend to like it more than the January circus, but we'll show them then how it's done.
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