anyone going to the pleasanton fly fishing show this weekend?

[TaylerW]

i am.
itd be great to put some faces to names

[Scott V]

I'll be there, but I think you know what I look like, so stop me and say hi.

[Jet]

Joey and I will be going Fri and Sat. Please intoduce yourselves as we don't know too many folks from this board.

Jet

[Jay Murakoshi]

Hey, I'll be there Fri, Sat and Sunday
Stop by and chat a while

Jay

[Darian]

Woke up this AM; sunny and clear.... :) Decided I outta go to da show. :nod: Got down there around 10:30 AM. Good show. :cool: Saw Jason H. (from Kiene's) at the Beulah booth and talked over the latest rod by Beulah; a 10/11 weight, 8', 4 pc., very light saltwater rod. Good looking blank, too. This is going to be good seller. :nod:

Went to the Bass presentation by Jay/Ken. Enjoyable/informative as usual. :cool: Spent some time with Jay at the tyers area. Got a good look at a couple of hanks of wig hair and in a really good Mullet pattern that Jay's working on. This pattern should be DYNOMIIIIIIIIITE in Baja. :D :D

Found a couple of good buys on hackle (saddles/necks/strung), a reel case that stores up to 10 reels and some other stuff.... :-D

All in all, a very good show. Lots of opportunity to interact with exhibitors and outfitters.... Beautiful day to drive over there, too. :D :D

[TaylerW]

i hope all the good deals arent already gone!!!!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We went yesterday and had a wonderful time as usual.

I did see some new products but I mostly go to BS with old friends. Lots of cool people there to rub elbows with.

Today my feet and jaw are both sore.

Terry Thomas, Jason Hartwick and I got to go to dinner with Spey experts John & Amy Hazel (Deschutes Angler Fly Shop & Guide Service) and old friends Al Perryman and Gary Anderson (Anderson Custom Rods). We went to a rib joint in Walnut Creek that Gary has been going to sense 1959? It was unreal. Good beer and ribs with wonderful company.

We are going to have some staff hosted group camping trips to the Deschutes River this fall for two hand "Greased Line" fishing for Steelhead with John & Amy Hazel so keep you eyes open for this. They are getting lots people into two handed fly fishing.

http://www.deschutesangler.com/Fly+Fishing

[Hairstacker]

Today my feet and jaw are both sore.

Man, that must have been some Olympic-level BSing! :lol: Sorry Bill, I couldn't resist. :p

[lee s.]

There does seem to be visible effects of the present economy. We were absolutely satiated and content visiting, snooping, and trying some new gear. We had been waiting for Tim R.'s 8pc 8wt Echo Tripper. This will suit our travel need to a "T". Makes possible our desire of a shave kit and rod kit in the same bag. Now we can travel content. (What little travel we do.)
Due to committments, we were unable to attend the seminars of our choice, but Ken and Jay were strongly rumored to have performed at the superior level they have attained for their presentation.
Picked up SICK G-kids last night, so attendance for us has ended. Personally, we could have done at least one more day and maybe both remaining days, however, we must be content looking foward to next year.
....lee s.
PS-There does seem to be a ray of shining light following Bill around at one of these shows.

[TaylerW]

went to the show today and had a great time. got to bs with scott v for a good while and got to watch ken and jay work their magic for a while..
also i got some amazing deals!!!!!!!

all in all it was alot of fun.

tight lines,
tayler

[Jet]

Just wanted to share with you our experience at the Pleasanton show. Joey and I had a great time at the Sac ISE show tying flies and wandering around for 3 days so were looking forward to a fly-fishing only show since there were not many tying materials at the Sac show. We left a little after 10 and arrived just before noon. I opted for 2 days to have a chance to see some of the presentations. We hit the ground running. I was looking for deals and Joey ran off to try some fly rods. He had a chance to cast a switch rod and took to it very easily so now he can’t get those things out of his mind. I talked with George Revel at Leland’s who I met at the Sac show. He helped me find some deals on base layering for Joey. George is a super nice young man and Joey likes goofing with him as they were having a Spey war trying to hit each other with the line.

I ran into many of our new friends from the Granite Bay Flycasters. I thought all was going well until Joey tells me this shows sucks and he wanted to leave. I was caught a little off guard since he eats up anything to do with fishing. I guess it turns that every time he tried to cast a rod he was pushed off the pond by an old fart with a bamboo rod or a demonstration. I guess they pissed him off and turned him off to the show. I think I counted maybe 3 kids under 18 on Friday. We met Jack at the Jim Fair booth who is 10 and fine fly tier.

I was not ready to leave so we went and checked out the Jurassic Lake presentation. There is a remote lake in Argentina that holds huge rainbows that average 8 – 15 lbs. It is a similar lake to Pyramid since it has no outlet and the fish grow very large. Not sure if we will ever get there but it was a nice presentation. We toughed it out and checked out all of the things there to see. We watched Vincent Su tie a size 32 extended body parachute. There were plenty of 50% bins on the floors and Joey was not alone when he was going through them. We made the best of the day and stayed till closing.

I could not convince Joey to come back for a second day and I myself was not to sure if I wanted to return even though I had paid for 2 days. I ended up going by myself just to see if I could run into some friends and check things out. I did run into Buzz, Phil, Loretta and Bjorn and had some time to talk with them. I was amazed at how many people were there and did not bump into them.

There were a few more kids there on Sat but not that many. I guess there is concern that the sport is not attracting many young people and I have been asked by TU and GBF how to get young people involved. I have worked kids in the neighborhood to get them exposed to fishing. You would be surprised to by the number of kids that have never caught a fish. Of the dozens of kids I’ve taken to local ponds only one has become very interested in fishing. He and Joey are quite accomplished bass fisherman. I took a lot of hard work on both our parts to get Joey to the level he has currently achieved. I think kids rather learn from kids and adults prefer adults.

I wanted to throw out a few suggestions/comments about the show. Why don’t they have a dedicated casting area just for casting vendor’s products and no demonstrations? The vendors pay good money to be there as do the customers so they should have an environment to test all the products they have without rushing. The pricing for the show for kids was confusing. If we have to pay full price for kids it will limit the number of days we attend. Have vendors considered offering coupons/discounts on their products that could be obtained at the show and used there or your local shop? Kids are consumers too and I know Joey had some birthday/x-mas money to spend if he had gone on Sat. He conveniently forgot his wallet on Friday. So to sum things up I spent ~$200 on stuff mostly for Joey, spent $100 for tickets, parking, tolls and gas. Food was extra. I had a good time and I know Joey had a good time minus the casting issues.

Joey impressed a California Reel manufacturer at Sac ISE and was asked to join their Pro Staff which he gladly accepted.

Not sure what I was trying to accomplish here but just wanted to share our experience with you.

Sorry we missed Little Striper & Scott

Tight Lines,
Jet