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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 |
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Symposium Report
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#3
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Symposium Report
"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. |
#4
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Symposium Report
(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!! |
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Symposium Report
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 |
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Symposium Report
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 |
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Symposium Report
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 |
#8
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Symposium Report
"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. |
#9
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Symposium Report
"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 |
#10
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Symposium Report
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 |
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