Received my
flyer (flier?) in the mail at the tail-end of last week for the
2019 International Fly Tying Symposium in New Jersey.
When I lived in Pennsylvania, I used to make the drive and go to these annually as I always found them really interesting, especially when taking in all of the different tyers and patterns. For a guy who likes to tie relatively simple trout flies... seeing masters of their craft not only crank out flies for salmon, bass, musky, carp, and other species, but talk you through the creative process, was always a treat.
This year's line up looks very impressive, and I'd really love to attend (although I doubt I will). I think I'd really enjoy John Shaner's presentation on "
the forgotten wet fly" on Sunday afternoon, since I just love the aesthetic of classic wet flies, and fish derivations of such with my tenkara rod quite frequently.
I also think I'm going to be doing a bit more rod & reel fly fishing in upcoming months, not so much because I'm abandoning tenkara (far from it), just because it's more practical for the waters around me... and the stack of rods sitting in the corner are screaming to be fished. As such, it would be cool to see what folks are tying for the salt, as well as if there are any interesting materials to play around with. I remember the first time I went to the show UV epoxies (like Clear Cure Goo) were just becoming all the rage. I always enjoyed leaving the show with a goody bag of new toys for the fly bench.
In any event, if you're in the Northeast at the end of November, it's definitely worth checking out heading into the winter months. There's no better inspiration for filling all those empty spaces in your fly box... and I know I certainly have a few!
