Projects & Eventscalendar of events Chapter MeetingsChapter meetings are schedueld for the third Wednesday of each month. They are held inside the Brighton Town Hall located at 2300 Elmwood Ave. Look for us downstairs or in the Community Meeting Room. As always, meetings are open to the public. A fly tying demo is held at 7:30 p.m., and at 8:00 p.m. meetings will begin. |
Activities - Past & PresentFirst annual road trip to The New Jersey Fly Fishing ShowWelcome to the seventh annual, Fly Fishing Show  The trip was planned for Friday, but the weather turned bad and I chickened out. I was surprised by Fred's call on Saturday night. " Hi Andy, want to go to the show tomorrow?" "Fred, are you sure we can make it to New Jersey in 4 1/2 hours?" ...and so it began! Sunday morning at 5:30 I arrived at Fred's house; after a quick cup of coffee, we piled into the front seat of Fred's truck. He backed out of the driveway and said, " Here we go!" My butt sank into the seat, my head pressed back against the headrest, and my cheeks drew back toward my ears. Ya know, it's real hard to keep a conversation going when you're pulling 3 G's! Then came the loud bang: either my neck had snapped or we just broke the sound barrier. The muscles in my neck strained as I turned my head to look at Fred. He looked back with a smile and said " Warp factor six - a law we can live with." The blood rushed from my head and dark spots appeared before my eyes; I was passing out. Then everything went calm. I felt light-headed, the stars seemed closer, and I suddenly realized that the dark spots were just drops of coffee floating around the truck cab - we were in orbit! I knew Fred was an alien, but I thought he was just from Jersey, not another planet. Four hours later, we reentered earth's atmosphere somewhere over Pennsylvania. We landed in the parking lot of the Garden State Exhibit Center at 10:15 a.m. Mister Toad's wild ride was over. I've never been to a fly fishing show, so I have nothing to compare it to, but this show was BIG! Check your ego at the door, Who's Who of fly-fishing was there: Dave Whitlock, Dick Talleur, Ed Koch, Charlie Meck, Doug Swisher, Darrel Martin, Cathy Beck, and Gary Borger, just to name a few. There were 198 exhibitors, 42 professional fly tyers, 11 authors, 3 bamboo rodmakers and 2 artists. Check out the exhibitors' list. I was like a kid in a candy store. Fred told me to bring money. Luckily I only had a hundred bucks on me. I spent it!  The show was set up very well. A seven dollar fee at the door covered all the seminars and demonstrations. The fly tying demos, alone, were well worth it. There were some real bargains to be had, and, besides the chili dog that I had for lunch that cost as much as a Grade A hackle cape, I had no complaints. There was a 40-foot casting pool set up next to all the rod manufacturers (Orvis Sage, ...etc.) so you got to try before you buy. My personal favorite was Fly Tyer Alley. I got to meet a favorite of mine, Oliver Edwards - a real nice Englishman with a great deal of talent and a good wit. Couldn't get close to Dave Whitlock. His fly bench looked like opening day on the Salmon River, lots of asses and elbows. The center aisles were filled with Fly shops; you wanna talk about stuff! There haven't been that many dead chickens in one place since Hong Kong had the chicken flu. Lots of lodges, guides and far away places were represented. Exotic trips to Australia, Russia and New Zealand and some more closer to home. All in all, it was a great show, and well worth the trip.  
 
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