WNC Expo And SCOF After Party

This past weekend I ran up to Asheville to attend the third annual Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Expo on Saturday. Attendance looked to be steady and the vendors were a mix of industry reps, fly shops, outfitters, craftsmen, rod builders, organizations, and presenters.  Add to this with barbecue provided by 12 Bones and a beer tasting offered by Highland Brewery.  It made the day quite complete.

I had a good time walking booth to booth, meeting a few new people and catching up with friends as well.  It was especially neat to talk glass with a few devotees.  There is seemingly more and more interest in fiberglass which I hope that T.F.M. has had something to do with.


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There were a few highlights for me during the show which included meeting Jeremy Barnes from Mooseknuckle Lanyards.  Jeremy had just gotten a few samples of his thought forward Tippet Caddy and they looked great.  I can't wait to add one to my lanyard.  On a side note...look for some more "Limited Edition" fiberglass lanyards soon too.

I had a good time speaking with and then having a barbecue plate with Mark Brown from Chota.  They have a couple really interesting wader and paddling items that caught my eye at their booth and I guess they can't keep the new Hippies in stock.   Neat product.

I spoke with Ben Austin from Hardy, and a list of other excellent brands, and without a doubt Ben has to be one of the hardest working reps in the industry.  Great to see him have success.

I checked out Larry Duncan's interesting landing nets which a couple models have a flexible rod across the top of the net instead of a rigid wood hoop which reduces your chance of breaking the net.  No website but he can be reached by email.

As far as fly tiers I really enjoyed watching Martin Bawden of Flymen Fishing Company tie on his new Fish-Skull Sculpin Helmets.  A neat product and so cool to see Martin's company grow with new and innovative products.  I met Spainish tiers Jorge Rodriguez Maderal and Andres Touceda Vazquez who had impressive offerings and do quality work.  I watched Dave Hise of Casters Fly Shop tie for a few minutes and he mentioned he's tied over 500 dozen of his "slightly unorthodox" Squirmy Wormy this year.  500 DOZEN.  Oh yeah...and I even caught Thomas Harvey of Carolina Fly in a rare moment of actual fly tying at the SCOF booth.  So stellar to watch talented tiers at work. 

Speaking of Southern Culture On the Fly, it was neat to talk with both David Grossman and Steven Seinberg and hear how excited they are about the reception of their first full issue and then also discussed plans of future stories and ideas. SCOF certainly won't be a one trick pony and there is a definite blueprint of where it's going from here.  If you haven't read Issue 1 yet then check it out.  Well worth your time.

The show wound down at five o'clock and after getting turned around a couple times I ended up at David's house for an informal SCOF after party which was a mix of chilling on the Grossman's back porch, which is literally on the side of a mountain, drinking cold cups of PBR from the keg (would you expect anything else?), and then enjoying a dinner off the grill.  David's wife even scored a cake with the SCOF first issue cover on it.  How cool is that?

All in all an excellent day up in Asheville and with the time change adjustment I arrived home before midnight.  Good times.