Fly Tackle Dealer Show in Reno this week.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Aaron Stiny and I went up to the show yesterday to see all the new products for 2013.

We learned a lot about these new wonderful products and met up with some old friends and made some new ones too.


While watching some of the attendees cast on the ponds I notice a senior fly fisher casting very well and said to somebody, "Who is that guy?"

It was Nick Carsione who is a retired college professor and a fly fishing professional with a long history in salt water fishing. I have heard about Nick for many years but had not met him in person so I went over and talked with him a bit.

He, like many other famous people in this sport, was very personable and exciting to chat with. He told me he too enjoys reading our forum and that today living in San Francisco, he spends quit a bit of time at the wonderful Golden Gate Casting & Angling Club in Golden Gate Park.

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Bio on TFO web site:

Through his writing and teaching, Nick Curcione has earned a position as a true ambassador for the sport of fly fishing. He is gifted with a limitless passion and skill for both sharing techniques and for casting.


As a recent addition to the Temple Fork Advisory Staff, Nick will be involved in the design of our rods and related products, assist in developing casting schools and educational programs, and participate in general business planning for TFO.

In addition to his former 35-year career as a university professor, Nick is an internationally recognized outdoor writer, instructor, lecturer and tackle consultant with more than 40 years of angling experience. Though extremely well versed in all phases of the sport, Nick is especially noted for his casting expertise and instructional clinics. He is one of the country’s leading authorities on sinking lines and shooting heads and his knowledge of knots and rigging are held in high regard.

Nick has been on the sport fishing show circuit for over 30-years where he has been a featured attraction for productions like the International Sportsmen Expositions, The Great Western Fishing and Hunting Shows, Marriott’s Fly Fishing Fairs, and the Shallow Water Expositions.

His fishing travels have taken him to a variety of locales and include all the coastal waters of the continental US, Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, New Guinea and the South Pacific.

His writing credits have been extensive with numerous articles in local, national and international publications. Since its inception, he has been on the editorial staff of Fly Fishing Saltwaters magazine and has authored three fly fishing books, The Orvis Guide to Saltwater Fly Fishing, Baja On The Fly, and Tug-O-War, A Fly Fishers Game. Over the years Nick has served as a consultant for a number of major tackle manufacturers and has recently joined Temple Fork Outfitters advisory staff.

Lefty summed it up nicely by saying: “He’s ethical and a real pro- every one who knows him loves him – he is especially revered on the West Coast. We just got a terrific member for our team.”
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I go to the shows to see some new products but actually more so to see old industry friends who are working in the manufacturing side or as guides or in fly shops.

It was really a fun day for me.....but my feet hurt some now.

.

[Dan LeCount]

It was great seeing you out here in Reno Mr Bill.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I always have a good time BSing all day long Dan.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Just got home from the Tackle Dealer show in Reno. A long three days, tired feet and sore arm. Tired feet from walking around and the sore arm from chucking dice :-)

Talked with a lot of people in the industry, new and old. Saw one new item I liked, a copic ink air brush. I've seen it before but never held it in my hands. A little easier than my Paasche air brush, especially cleaning. I talked with the owner of the company a long time, got to spray and did a small design. The only draw back I don't like, when spraying the ink, it splatters instead of laying down a nice even layer. Plus I'm use to using Automotive lacqer paints in candy colors.

Throw a variety of different rods. TFO had a proto type rod designed by Flip Pallot. Almost the same design as the TiCr series except the blank is a brown color. Looked at a couple new tropical shirts from Simms. Thursday and Friday evening some of the manufactures had a open beer bar with some snacks. The Simms booth even had margarita's. There was a party by the river that was put on by Patagonia. I didn't go but I heard they had a lot of beer and some good eats. Maybe I should of attended the party

On Thursday morning, I met Bill and Arron in the lobby of the show building. We stood around talking about the good ole days and other things. I think the doors had opened and we were still talking, almost missed the first day of the show :-) It's always good talking to Bill. He was mentioning about the trips that he has been taking and a few trips that I want to do with him and Andy, especially a small mouth trip, maybe in October. He also talked about the trip he took with me to La Paz and the first rooster that he had caught, not a big one but it was a teener. Hey Bill ya gotta come earlier in May and I'll get you on a bigger one.

On Friday, I saw Hal and Jane Jannsen. Jane was telling me that he's about ready to publish a book on still water flies and fishing. I got to glance at the working copy. All the illustrations in the book are drawn by Hal. I already have my copy reserved and signed. I've known Hal since the late 70's early 80's. I buying a lot of fly lines and my amnesia from him. He has since shut the business down and when Sunset lines closed, he obtained all their fly lines. I'm talking Sunset Lines, not SA. Most are shooting heads and if you're still into shooting heads, Jane said she is selling them at a real good price. How many of you out there still use shooting heads. Or how many of you out there have heard of Hal Jannsen. Like i mentioned to jane, I bet most of the younger generation fly fishermen have never heard of Hal Jannsen. He is one of the originator of still water fishing.

Damn, my fingers are hurting from pounding the key board

later

jay

[Tony Buzolich]

Jim May and I came up early Friday with our wives for the show. They dropped us off and went shopping while we enjoyed playing with every new fly gadget there was to try out.

As Jay and Bill both said, it was really fun to run into old friends and meet some new ones. We too (Jim May and I) were wondering who that old guy was at the casting pond throwing the most beautiful tight loop and putting the line outside the pond. Later we got to meet him as well,,, Nick Curcione. A really neat guy to talk with that has none of the celebrity ego traits you'd often expect.

All of the booths were first cabin as to presentation and every rep there took all the time in the world to explain their product. The most enjoyable for me was talking with Tim Rajeff at the Airflow booth. He was showing how to "weld" lines and make custom loops using Airflow's fusing material. He asked me to try one while he watched and I have to admit it really nice. Fused or welded lines or heads or loops the DON'T come apart. We had a short tug of war after I made my first loop and NO AMOUNT of pressure from pulling could tear that line apart.

Thanks to Jay too for taking over to the L.L. Bean room for a great lunch of BBQ'd pork, fried chicken and all the suds you wanted. Everything at this show was top notch.
Tony

[Jay Murakoshi]

Hey Tony,

That was only one party. There was beer bars set up at the Simms booth, Scott booth, Korkers, free beer and snacks. I have a few bottles, of water that is. Oh yeah, I think Costa had some liquid refreshments along with some nuts. I heard Friday night was the big party down by the river... did you and jim go to that one

Jay

[Tony Buzolich]

That sounded like fun too but our wives had already made plans for the seafood buffet at the Peppermill. I have to admit I ate cracked crab and lobster claws till I was ready to burst.
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

[QUOTE= The most enjoyable for me was talking with Tim Rajeff at the Airflow booth. He was showing how to "weld" lines and make custom loops using Airflow's fusing material. He asked me to try one while he watched and I have to admit it really nice. Fused or welded lines or heads or loops the DON'T come apart. We had a short tug of war after I made my first loop and NO AMOUNT of pressure from pulling could tear that line apart.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

[QUOTE=Tony Buzolich; All of the booths were first cabin as to presentation and every rep there took all the time in the world to explain their product. The most enjoyable for me was talking with Tim Rajeff at the Airflow booth. He was showing how to "weld" lines and make custom loops using Airflow's fusing material. He asked me to try one while he watched and I have to admit it really nice. Fused or welded lines or heads or loops the DON'T come apart. We had a short tug of war after I made my first loop and NO AMOUNT of pressure from pulling could tear that line apart. [QUOTE]

Tony, We have one of those new Airflo welded loop machines at our shop now.

You can make welded loops on lines and also splice lines to gether too.

[Tony P]

Hey Tony,

That was only one party. There was beer bars set up at the Simms booth, Scott booth, Korkers, free beer and snacks. I have a few bottles, of water that is. Oh yeah, I think Costa had some liquid refreshments along with some nuts. I heard Friday night was the big party down by the river... did you and jim go to that one

Jay

All those trips to Mexico must be getting to you, I can't ever remember you drinking beer? :-k

[Jay Murakoshi]

Alcohol never touch my lips but it sure looked good. It's definitely been a llllllong time since I've had a drink. My wife told me I sure drink a glass of wine to mellow me out. Mellow out, hell it would knock me out :-)

Jay

[Tony P]

Alcohol never touch my lips but it sure looked good. It's definitely been a llllllong time since I've had a drink. My wife told me I sure drink a glass of wine to mellow me out. Mellow out, hell it would knock me out :-)

Jay

If you're not mellow enough for her then she needs to be sleeping with a corpse, now Handley that's a different story. :D

Tony

[Dan LeCount]

On Friday, I saw Hal and Jane Jannsen. Jane was telling me that he's about ready to publish a book on still water flies and fishing. I got to glance at the working copy. All the illustrations in the book are drawn by Hal. I already have my copy reserved and signed. I've known Hal since the late 70's early 80's. I buying a lot of fly lines and my amnesia from him. He has since shut the business down and when Sunset lines closed, he obtained all their fly lines. I'm talking Sunset Lines, not SA. Most are shooting heads and if you're still into shooting heads, Jane said she is selling them at a real good price. How many of you out there still use shooting heads. Or how many of you out there have heard of Hal Jannsen. Like i mentioned to jane, I bet most of the younger generation fly fishermen have never heard of Hal Jannsen. He is one of the originator of still water fishing.

Damn, my fingers are hurting from pounding the key board

later

jay

Yea, Hal was fun to talk to. The book should be awesome, I'm glad hes putting it together. I really hope he finishes. Some of the greatest fly fishing minds Ive met seem to have a tough time with that part when it comes to books. I guess I'm the exception as far as young guys, Ive heard about him for years from Andy B, Dave Stanley and Doug O in Reno but never got to meet him in person. Even before that I always liked his stillwater patterns in the old Umpqua pattern directory, esp his callibaetis nymph, the poxyback before the poxyback. They were sparse, clean and the right color. Hal blows a lot of the more famous stillwater personalities out of the water. Also he fishes glass which makes him a even cooler guy in my book. I'm guessing if Sunset is done amnesia isn't going to be made. Ill try to get in contact with him for some material for high sticking sighters. I used to use a sunset head with amnesia but have since converted to integrated heads when I do that kind of fishing, although I still have the old setups on plastic spools for emergency backups. (btw you spelled Janssen wrong)

anyways Jay, I was meaning to talk to you at the show about Baja. I might be going there next fall with some buddies and wanted to get info from an expert as far as typical baitfish to tie(sizes, colors and such for that time of year mostly) I'm hearing golden brown, olive, pale turquoise, mostly with a white or a pale belly. Ill take a few pics of what Ive tied so far and PM them to you, any form of critique would be greatly appreciated. Ive mostly been doing clouser and deceiver esque kind of patterns but with synthetics. (EP fibers and such, but I have some of that kinky fiber stuff coming soon) Anyways, I was meaning to talk during the show but missed ya( I was the youngish fellow to your left tying the march brown nymph during the Ironfly) I was walking forward to talk to you afterwards and ran into some people and never saw you again after that.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Hey Dan,

I saw your fly you tied, pretty good looking fly. BTW who won the contest. I was going to enter the contest but as I was walking up to the chair, some gal wanted to tie so I let her go.
Once I saw the "secret" material, I thought about a balloon parachute pattern.
Hal's book is in the final stages, Jane needs to make a few changes and Hal's going to redraw a few bugs. Hal is such a perfectionist. I remember when he came over for the Cherries Jubilee car show that was held at Laguna Seca he stayed with me for the weekend and I had him park his Jag in the garage. I moved "everything" out of the garage so nothing would scratch it. But he showed me a small scratch and said that after the show was finished, he was going to strip the car down and repaint it. One thing with the older cars and the type of paint, it hard to match touch up jobs.
Anyway, send me a PM or email and lets talk about bait fish patterns for baja. I'm leaving for baja in september. For my bait fish patterns, I'm using wig hair. Same type of material as slinky fiber, EP fiber, etc. I just sent some out to Maury Hatch so he can tie up some patterns for his upcoming trip to Baja. I have one color that you can't find on any shelves, it's olive. I dye it myself. I'm also dying my own tan colors.

Send me some photo's of your flies

Jay

[Dan LeCount]

Parachute was a nice idea, but there wasnt any hackle. Yea, I was thinking of doing a super buoyant hopper or something, but decided to just use it like latex for an abdomen since most of the colors were all florescent and I didnt really see much for hopper colors. The fly that won was from the Argentinean. It was a steelhead spey fly but had two big pink balloon bubbles like a pair of testicles. I held the fly up to look at it and it popped so it turned into a 1 nut spey fly. One Hung Low was what one of the guys behind me jokingly called it. They seemed to like the more goofy offerings, especially ones that were inflated. Granted they would probably pop on the first cast, but they wanted funky and creative primarily. If I knew how heavily they weighed that side of things I wouldve turned one balloon into thin small strips for some rear legs with another balloon for a head and made a bass slider out of it. Meh, it was fun times though.