Made a snap decision Friday to head down to the Fly Tackle Dealer Show in Denver. Knee felt good enough that I thought it might take the hike required to do the show. Almost right. Cheryl went with me and that helped a lot. This is a Manufacturer's/Distributor's/Retailer's show, closed to the public, and one must be pre-registered to enter, or have been there in the past and on the list.
The show seemed smaller than previous years, but the attendees list was still impressive. Jerry, Dr. Tom had just a 10' x 10' space this year- no girls, no tiers. And busy as all get-out- had just a chance to wave 'hi'. Some of you old-timer VFB'ers will remember Marvin Nolte. He's repping Mustad now, and says 'hi', too. He may drop in for a visit soon. For those of you who don't know 'Marv', he's a World Champion Salmonfly tier, and a flyfishing history af-fish-anado. He also resides in Casper, and is the tier of the Granger Collection- the largest private classic salmonfly collection in the world (350 framed flies). http://globalflyfisher.com/staff/nolte/ Met up with Jack Dennis, and he has some new plans for a new TV show, based in and on Wyoming Flyfishing. I'll let y'all know as I find out more. Actually, the celebs were pretty scarce this year. Didn't see Lefty, Dave Whitlock, Chris Helms, or a few others that are normally there. Did see AK, checking out the new Regal rotaries. At the end of the show, I was able to buy ten bulk skeins of saltwater flash materials and horse-trade (actually, mouse-trade and shrimp-trade) for a bag full of Mustad/Partridge saltwater hooks from their booth. Partridge has a new pike hook that really unique. If anyone wants a photo, let me know. Saw a real nice back-pack fishing vest combo for 'fly-hiking', actually, a couple of them. Met with almost all of my Pro-staff sponsors- Abel, Winston, Ross, Dr. Slick, Anvil. Got a couple of vise manufacturers trying to build me a set of 14/0 jaws. DynaKing wasn't there, though. Matt Castle of Cliff Products has a great new X-LARGE flybox for saltwater monster-flies. As always, it's a unique show to be at, as all of the prototype pre-production stuff is out there. If anyone is interested, Hardy had a $9500 titanium saltwater reel out for sale. Had dinner Friday night at Pappadeaux's (excellent Cajun), and I'm still feeling guilty about that splurge. Great jazz band playing there- I'm going to check into booking them in Casper. Later, DonO
