The Denver Fly Fishing Show was everything that I could have asked for as a first time attendee. Everyone who stopped by my table was extremely friendly, and all the tiers made me feel like I was family. I was fortunate enough to sit next to Juan Ramirez, Carl Pennington, Shea Gunkel and Erik Thue, who are all very talented tiers, but even nicer people.
I will most definitely be putting this show on my list of places to attend again in the future, but I will most definitely make sure I have more flies, and a wider variety of them on hand as I came home with less than 2 dozen of the 15 dozen I brought with me. So far the feedback on the book has been very good, and many of you decided to swing by and either grab a copy, or pop in just to say how much you’ve enjoyed reading it thus far. You can now write reviews on it on the Amazon page, if you feel so compelled, a review for those of you who have read it would be much appreciated and you can do so HERE.
Although I met many people whom I was looking forward to meeting in person, many I have met before and was excited to catch up with, there was one very memorable visitor who caught me by surprise. John Gierach has been one of my favorite authors for the past ten years, I can honestly say that every book of his that I have read was one of those that I just couldn’t put down. John’s work is that kind of work that when you read it, you instantly can relate to, or you feel like you’re that person living the words he transcribes to paper as the funny stories that he tells are those that many fisherman can relate to. When I looked up on Friday Morning while tying at my booth and John was watching me spin a streamer, it was a rather humbling experience.
Over the course of the next fifteen minutes we were engaged in a conversation on Pike fishing and flies for these wonderful creatures. This by far was the highlight of my trip, and it was very cool to share stories with a person whom I have admired for the work that he has done. John is one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of meeting, and if you haven’t checked out any of his books yet, I strongly recommend that you do.
Since my return home from Denver I have been very busy building stock for next weekends Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough Massachusetts. If you plan on stopping by to grab a book or some flies, I am just warning you, my supply of larger articulated streamers is very light, but I will by virtue of demand, will have quite a pile of single hook streamers in tow. I will update the post with a final count come Thursday night prior to my departure so stay tuned on that one.
In the meantime, I will be heading out to the Bears Den today to spin some bugs and sign books. The event kicks off at 1 PM and ends by 4 so you can be back home in time for the Patriots playoff game. I hope to see some of you there today, if not, next weekend a short shot up 495. Have a good weekend and go Patriots!
-RS-