Symposium Report

Attended the International Fly Tyers symposium in Somerset,NJ yesterday and
came out of it with mixed feelings. As always, it was good to see a lot of
familiar faces which I tend to only connect with once or twice a year. It was
good to see, albeit briefly, Lou Teletski from this little group. On the other
hand, I came away with a terrible deja-vu feeling. One sees the same "big name"
tyers, giving essentially the same presentations which they have presented for
years. I don't want to pick on any one individual, but geez, can't we see
something novel anymore? As always, there were many,many talented tyers, but
after one got past beautiful salmon flies, huge sal****er streamers and
elaborate nymphs, I thought the variety was a little slim. I came out of the
show thinking how nice it would be to see Peter Charles tie Spey Flies, Big
Dale tie bluegill bugs, Mike Connor tie Yorkshire patterns, etc, etc. Perhaps
the present company gets me spoiled, perhaps I am jaded, or merely getting old
and cranky. Are we at a plateau period in both fly angling and tying??
Tom

On 23 Nov 2003 15:51:47 GMT, (Tom Littleton) wrote:

Attended the International Fly Tyers symposium in Somerset,NJ yesterday and
came out of it with mixed feelings. As always, it was good to see a lot of
familiar faces which I tend to only connect with once or twice a year. It was
good to see, albeit briefly, Lou Teletski from this little group. On the other
hand, I came away with a terrible deja-vu feeling. One sees the same "big name"
tyers, giving essentially the same presentations which they have presented for
years. I don't want to pick on any one individual, but geez, can't we see
something novel anymore? As always, there were many,many talented tyers, but
after one got past beautiful salmon flies, huge sal****er streamers and
elaborate nymphs, I thought the variety was a little slim. I came out of the
show thinking how nice it would be to see Peter Charles tie Spey Flies, Big
Dale tie bluegill bugs, Mike Connor tie Yorkshire patterns, etc, etc. Perhaps
the present company gets me spoiled, perhaps I am jaded, or merely getting old
and cranky. Are we at a plateau period in both fly angling and tying??
Tom

Judging from my fairly extensive f'f'ing and f't'ing book collection, it has
been thus for a few decades...

/daytripper (really, what's so "new" in the last 30 years of flyfishing?)

"Tom Littleton" wrote in message
...
I came out of the
show thinking how nice it would be to see Peter Charles tie Spey Flies,
Big
Dale tie bluegill bugs, Mike Connor tie Yorkshire patterns, etc, etc.
Perhaps
the present company gets me spoiled(1), perhaps I am jaded(2), or merely
getting old
and cranky(3). Are we at a plateau period in both fly angling and tying??
Tom

(1) not hardlyg

(2) jaded isn't the right word - pragmatic might be. I mean, once you can
tie the dozen critical flies you always use, and the hundred or so variants
you use sometimes, what else is there. All that's left is fussy frills that
have no real utility. Like putting a chipotle glaze on a meatloaf - yeah,
you can get $20 a plate for that in New York, but it's still freakin'
meatloaf.

(3) well, yeah, there's that. Application of mass quantities of ethanol can
help, not with the old, but certainly with the crank.

(1) not hardlyg

hee hee hee

(2) jaded isn't the right word - pragmatic might be. I mean, once you can
tie the dozen critical flies you always use, and the hundred or so variants
you use sometimes, what else is there. All that's left is fussy frills that
have no real utility. Like putting a chipotle glaze on a meatloaf - yeah,
you can get $20 a plate for that in New York, but it's still freakin'
meatloaf.

Yeah, but you CALL it something else, so no one KNOWS that!!


(3) well, yeah, there's that. Application of mass quantities of ethanol can
help, not with the old, but certainly with the crank.

Last thing I'M GONNA DO is apply ethanol to MY crank!!

daytripper asks:
really, what's so "new" in the last 30 years of flyfishing?

if you take it back that far, quite a bit. On the angling side, there is much
more variety in rod actions, wide arbor reels are more readily available,
fluorocarbon leaders and new line tapers abound. From the tying standpoint,
hardly anything had been done by 1970 with either CDC, antron or snowshoe
rabbit(Betters aside in the latter). Sal****er patterns were in their infancy,
warmwater patterns likewise. I could ramble on here, but suffice it to say, I
can't agree with you on this premise.
Tom

Stan notes:
I mean, once you can
tie the dozen critical flies you always use, and the hundred or so variants
you use sometimes, what else is there?

I guess it may have to do with the first 15 years of my tying
experience(1978-93, to pigeonhole the period). As you say, one tends to perfect
the necessary stuff, but at seemingly frequent intervals, something new(at
least to me) would literally change things substantially. Obvious things at
times, like meteoric rise in hackle quality, ready availability of snowshoe
rabbit feet,
proliferation of various sparkle yarns. Other things less obvious would come
along as well. Sure, as Dave T indicated, things don't really change in many
respects, we are still tying,lashing and gluing stuff to hooks in a feeble
attempt to entice fish, but I still sense a pause, or maybe a retrenchment in
the field. My main beef with the show was more that we have a range of creative
souls out there, and that it is a shame that showgoers have to shell out 10 or
12 bucks to see the exact same presentations, with the same slides and demos
for godsakes, year after year. One "star" yesterday presented, literally word
for word, the same freaking hour-long lecture which he had for the prior two
years. That, to my mind, is a disgrace, both for that individual(whose tying
skills I respect highly), and the sponsors of the show(respect for whom is
starting to diminish).
Tom

daytripper wrote:



Judging from my fairly extensive f'f'ing and f't'ing book collection, it has
been thus for a few decades...

/daytripper (really, what's so "new" in the last 30 years of flyfishing?)


My list of things that I think have improved in a meaningful way (some
are "new" things - some just better):

Waders

Tippet

Trout populations

The water quality

Wider range of materials used in fly tying



New things that pretty much irrelevant to me:

Bigger selection of tackle and other assorted doodads



Things that I think have gotten worse:

The crowds

Too much reliance on dead drift nymphing


Willi

"Tom Littleton" wrote in message
...
Stan notes:
I mean, once you can
tie the dozen critical flies you always use, and the hundred or so
variants
you use sometimes, what else is there?

I guess it may have to do with the first 15 years of my tying
experience(1978-93, to pigeonhole the period). As you say, one tends to
perfect
the necessary stuff, but at seemingly frequent intervals, something new(at
least to me) would literally change things substantially. Obvious things
at
times, like meteoric rise in hackle quality, ready availability of
snowshoe
rabbit feet,
proliferation of various sparkle yarns. Other things less obvious would
come
along as well. Sure, as Dave T indicated, things don't really change in
many
respects, we are still tying,lashing and gluing stuff to hooks in a feeble
attempt to entice fish, but I still sense a pause, or maybe a retrenchment
in
the field. My main beef with the show was more that we have a range of
creative
souls out there, and that it is a shame that showgoers have to shell out
10 or
12 bucks to see the exact same presentations, with the same slides and
demos
for godsakes, year after year. One "star" yesterday presented, literally
word
for word, the same freaking hour-long lecture which he had for the prior
two
years. That, to my mind, is a disgrace, both for that individual(whose
tying
skills I respect highly), and the sponsors of the show(respect for whom is
starting to diminish).
Tom

OK, my mistake, you're jaded. g. I guess these guys depend on turnover
in the audience. I watch AK tie every chance I get, and even though I'm in
awe of the seeming ease with which he ties on those hen neck wings, I still
don't tie that style. But I'll stand in the crowd, listening to the oohs
and aahs, and thinking to myself, why not just use a clump of CDC or
snowshoe which won't look so pretty but will hold up and float and work just
fine. (Now if somebody would give me a half dozen awesome quality hen necks
like AK has, maybe I'd change my mind...)

The only tyer I really enjoy watching at the shows is Gartside, because
there's a lot more to the show than the flies. How can a guy who ties
gurglers and CPF flies ever be boring.

"Stan Gula" wrote...
"Tom Littleton" wrote...
I came out of the
show thinking how nice it would be to see Peter Charles tie Spey Flies,
Big
Dale tie bluegill bugs, Mike Connor tie Yorkshire patterns, etc, etc.
Perhaps
the present company gets me spoiled(1), perhaps I am jaded(2), or merely
getting old
and cranky(3). Are we at a plateau period in both fly angling and tying??
Tom

(1) not hardlyg

Spoiled like rotten eggs, perhaps.

(2) jaded isn't the right word - pragmatic might be. I mean, once you can
tie the dozen critical flies you always use, and the hundred or so variants
you use sometimes, what else is there. All that's left is fussy frills that
have no real utility. Like putting a chipotle glaze on a meatloaf - yeah,
you can get $20 a plate for that in New York, but it's still freakin'
meatloaf.

El pan de carne con la salsa de chipolte?

(3) well, yeah, there's that. Application of mass quantities of ethanol can
help, not with the old, but certainly with the crank.

Hear tell that OPS works for that as well.

I must say that one of the most fun experiences I've had recently (shows how
dull like can be) was hosting a ROFF fly swap and seeing all of the innovative
flies that came in. There are a lot of really good tyers [sic] in this group,
and I have a hard time thinking that some of these "pros" have an edge over
them.
--
TL,
Tim
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

Stan writes:
The only tyer I really enjoy watching at the shows is Gartside, because
there's a lot more to the show than the flies. How can a guy who ties
gurglers and CPF flies ever be boring.

......hmm, maybe that is why I spent a half hour hanging out with him yesterday.
Finally got the guy's signature on my copies of his little books. Hell, forget
the CPF flies, anyone who sells erotic angling prints is cool with me!
Tom