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| Chris Stewart the "Tenkara Bum" |
Well the long wait is over....I was able to secure a free day on the social calendar and head to Somerset, NJ for the annual Fly Fishing Show. Being primarily a tenkara angler my primary interest was meeting up with some fellow tenkara anglers and talk shop. In addition, I am ever on the lookout for new fly tying materials and was hoping to get some standard materials as well as some unique items. I have been looking forward to doing something fishing related for some time now and this trip was just what the doctor ordered. My first stop was at Chris Stewart's ("
Tenkara Bum") booth to drop off some flies and pick up a new rod for backpacking purposes. I have had my eye on the Shimano Kozuka 27NT that Chris offers for a while now so I purchased one. My only problem with it is I have to wait a couple of months to give it a good try out on the water. After conversing with him and his friend Allan for a while I decided to wander around.
One of my favorite sets of booths to visit are the booths with all of the very talented fly tiers such as
Don Bastian and
Sharon E. Wright. I find it hard to take my eyes off their flies. Though there were many other great tiers at the fly fishing show I enjoy their flies the most.....maybe because their heritage flies serve as connection to the past of this great sport we all share in.
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| Daniel Galhardo giving a tenkara casting demonstration |
I also stopped by Tenkara USA's booth to say hello to Daniel and thank him again for facilitating a fly swap for me with several notable anglers from Japan. I was introduced to a few new faces and had some great conversations. Daniel also gave a really cool rod bag that will come in very useful on the water this coming year.
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| Tenkara USA rod bag |
I also ran into a few familiar faces such as fellow blogger and tenkara angler
Morgan Lyle. There were a few others I was hoping to see but the day was over before I knew it and I had two little girls waiting for me back on Long Island and a Mommy who could probably use a break.
One of these years I'm going to get to that show.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely should. Even though I'm primarily a tenkara angler and the show is geared towards traditional western fly fishing it's a blast to go to. There is so much to see and do...not to mention all the great tiers and their streamers. Yours would fit right in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Kiwi, nice pic of TBum - wish i was there...I'm going to plan next year to make a trip out of it. At least my flies made the trip.
ReplyDeleteAnthony...you should definitely make it out there next year. There is so much to see and are so many people to meet with that even if there was no tenkara-related stuff you wouldn't be disappointed.
DeleteOn the way home, I realized that you were probably the other person from Long Island whom I kept bumping into around Tenkara gear.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we will run into one another on the Nissy or some other stream or L.I. pond this coming season.
DeleteThanks for sharing, Kiwi. Looks like it was a blast! Wish I could have been there!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a fun thing to do, especially when the winter fishing around here is not so great. What I'd really like to go to is one of the tenkara summits...That would be a blast
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