Big thanks to Dennis Lee and Kiene's

[Moose]

First off, a big thank you to the staff at Kiene's for todays fly tying expo. It was great and was a fine thing for them to do for us.

I talked with several of the tiers today and am grateful for the time and information they offered up so freely. Bud Heinz, thanks so much for the Coq Deleon feathers you gave me, very generous and very much appreciated. Enjoyed talking with you!

I have to give a very special thank you to Dennis Lee. I came in with my granddaughter Natalie, age 9, who is very interested in fly tying and fly fishing. I was eager to meet Dennis and see his halfpounder flies and buy his book, which I did. But Dennis was amazingly gracious to Natalie. He encouraged her and taught her. In a room full of grown men with money in their pockets he chose to spend well over a half hour just talking with her, showing her flies, telling her about them and about fly tying and about steelhead. He allowed her to pour over his fly boxes and repeatedly gave her flies she liked. He was the consummate educator and friend to her, and it did not go unnoticed. She was thrilled about it, and I am very grateful to you sir.

[Darian]

I too want to thank Kiene's shop for putting this event together. The place was very busy early but in spite of that, I was able to see/chat with some friends (Steve/Joan Rheem) and some very good tyers. Didn't have the opportunity to talk to all tyers but did say hello to Ken Hanley who always seems to be enthusiastic, have a smile and be in a great mood.

Two very good tyers I spoke to are Angel Lugar (spelling??), cutwrk2fish, and Mike Henle. Our conversation covered a lot of territory (including some fly tying) and was a lot of fun.

Mike specializes in rubber legged, topwater frog patterns. Good looking flies. As usual, Mike packs hair tighter than almost any other I've seen. His frogs look great and won't soak up much water while fishing.

Angel produces some really good looking top water bugs and Clouser variations. His flies are light weight for their sizes, making them easier to cast on 8 weight rods all day. It's evident that he puts a lot of thought/effort into the development of his flies.

Thanks again to Kiene's staff for putting this event on.... :cool:

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

For me, as usual, I just talked all day to old friends.

This was the first of an annual shop event that should run for decades now.

This was a great fly tying event and a great social event as well.

Thanks to our Kiene's American fly shop's fly tying aficionado, Tim Au-young for ramrodding this great event.

Thanks to Henry Hoffman and thanks to all 20 master fly tiers who did a great job promoting the artistic part of our fine sport.

And thanks to all of our wonderful customers who showed up.....

.

[Terry Thomas]

A fun day. Thanks Timmy Au for all of your hard work.

[Baja Fly Fisher]

I need to know... was Ken able to tie one fly. Sure wish I could of made it

[Darian]

Jay,.... We missed you being there. Ken was tying what appeared to be a mayfly pattern but I didn't get a chance to talk to him about it. Looked to be a half dozen tied.... They looked good. :cool: