I had a great weekend attending the Winston-Salem fly fishing show as part of the Tenkara USA team. I was really happy to see the interest in tenkara here in the east. The booth was bustling for most of the weekend. I'm not going to bore you with a type up of the weekends events. However, I will share one experience and an observation.
I was walking in on Sunday before the show sipping my coffee and day dreaming when I hear "good morning" from my right. I look over to see Bob Clouser looking at me. Containing myself, I returned the greeting with the added standard coffee cup lift and continued down the hall. I was thinking about how cool that was when I entered the hall and see Lefty Kreh standing there. We also exchange pleasantries. If that wasn't cool enough I was later walking the booths, as all of us do, when I hear "how are you?" I look to my left and sitting there is Dave and Emily Whitlock. I couldn't believe there wasn't a line or crowd (as there usually is). We talked a bit about his art as we flipped through some prints. I know for some that might not seem like a big deal but as a kid from a small town in western NY, I spent many days in front of the wood burning stove reading articles about these guys, never imagining I would ever meet them. I was really impressed with how kind and approachable everyone was. I guess that is just one more reason that I love fly fishing. Its not only the time on the river, and cool gear, but every person you meet is as friendly as the last no matter how well known they may be.
Here are a few photos I managed to snap. I didn't get many because we were fairly busy.
The crew at work.
Jay "Fishy" Fullun showing us his Kabari box
Loften Deprez at 15 hes already an accomplished tier. Tying up some Sakasa Kabari
Daniel Galhardo explaining the method behind the madness
Tom Sadler (Mossy Creek Fly Fishing) showing off a Tenkara rod
As I said I had a great time. I can't wait to hang out with everyone again.
See you on the trail,
Lance
Nice seeing you there Lance. One thing I forgot to comment when I made my blog post was the ammount of women there. A lot more than last year at the Raleigh show. The age range was pretty varied too. There were mainly older women but quite a few younger ones too. I think that's great for fly fishing in general.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have had a better time. It was great to be kicking the hornets nest first hand. I mean- we were really firing up the machine to promote our beloved tenkara. It is so cool to see the glaze turn to clarity, the confusion shift to understanding and the limits turn into possibilities. We are going to see Tenkara USA and this fly fishing thing really take off here in the Southern Appalachians like it has out West.
ReplyDeleteLance
ReplyDeleteI really like these type shows, especially meeting the experts. I also like to see the younger fishermen at the shows. Thanks for sharing
I deffinatley love to see such kind of works.Nice job you have done..
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