Fly Fishing Expo

Today I went to The Fly Fishing Show at the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlboro, MA. The cost is a steep $ 15 per person ( 2 day pass for $25). The main expo center has booths ranging from buying flies, fly making equipment, rods and reels. Also there are booths for travel destinations from close locations like the Housatonic River, to places in Montana, Labrador, and the tropics. It is not nearly as large as the Eastern Fishing and Outdoor Expo at the DCU Center. Everything is related specifically to fly fishing except for a couple booths like On the Water Magazine and some fish photos. There were many dealers selling flies. Some were as much as $10/ dozen flies. One guy towards the back of the room was selling flies $5/ dozen. This is about the best deal I've seen for flies. I bought $25 worth. He had a huge selection of at least a couple hundred flies. Most flies had a selection of at least 4 sizes. It was hard not to be the kid in a candy shop, especially since there was an ATM in the building.

The reason I went to the show and shelled out $15 was to go to the seminars. Seminars are run by experts. Whether its fishing guides on a specific lake river, resort or a guy teaching you how to make fly patterns these guys knew there stuff. During each hour there was usually 4 seminars going on in different rooms. The rooms were in the main hotel. It was about 100 yard walk through the parking lot between buildings but there was also a shuttle constantly going back and forth. You had to show your hand stamp to get into the seminars. I went to 5 seminars today.
There was an owner of a fly shop on the Housatonic River in Connecticut doing a presentation. Another about the Upper Delaware. Two on flies most used in New England and lastly one about planning a trip to trout fish Montana. Like I said, there were usually 4 or 5 going on at a time. These were the ones I chose to go to. I learned a ton Mostly about what flies I should have in my fly box. Usually the fly shop owners or guide would give a quick advertisement for there place of work I was happy however, that they did not try to push there place.

Take for instance my second seminar " Fishing the Delaware". This seminar was done by a resort owner right on the river. He could have told us all about his resort. Instead he covered the two branches of the river and the main river after they connect. He told us about public access and what flies would work. Of course, if some of the guys in the crowd want to fish the Delaware maybe they will stay at his resort in the future. I am to cheap to pay $160 a night to fish and will gladly sleep in a campground for $20/ night. My point is the seminars were about fishing as opposed to seminars by bass pros. If you've ever been to one, the whole time they are talking its like a big commercial for there sponsors.

I had fun today, took three pages of notes ( I was happy to say I wasn't the only one) and bought some cheap flies. The show runs the rest of the weekend. Just search fly fishing expo in Marlboro on google and you should get any info pretty quickly. If you want to go to a couple of seminars, it is definately worth your time and money.