Expo

The 2017 Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo ended yesterday, and I think it is safe to say it was the best one yet. I was there doing tying demonstrations all three days, and I had loads of fun. I met all sorts of interesting characters, tied lots of flies, and gave away most of them. It was great!

My work area for the Expo this year.

Friday was a little slow, but not as slow as the Fridays of some past years' Expos. When I arrived at the arena on Saturday afternoon for my scheduled tying time,though, I couldn't believe how many people were there. There was a sea of people. Way more people than I would have ever expected to have been interested in fly fishing! It was fun to see so many people there, but I momentarily imagined them all figuring out my secret trout fishing spots...That was scary!

Sundays at Expos like this can be fun, and this year's sure was. There wasn't the multitude of people that there was on Saturday, but there seemed to be a lot more kids, whom I had fun teasing, and a fair number of the aforementioned interesting characters, whom I had fun listening to. Sometimes I feel like my life doesn't have enough interesting characters in it, and then I go and spend three days at a fly fishing expo and I realize I have plenty...

So, I spent a total of about 13.5 hours tying dozens of flies, but when it was all said and done I only came home with 3 of them. I gave all the rest away, mostly to kids, and also to some of the characters. I started out tying Hippie Stompers, and then spent a majority of the time tying dozens of Stimulators. I tied so many that I used all the bleached elk hair on the patch that I brought with, and had to switch to tying them with black wings and tails. People still liked them!

Stimulator

Empty patch of elk hair

If you're in the Twin Cities next March, make sure you head over to the Great Waters Expo. I'm sure I'll be there, so stop by and say Hi!