IFTD 2017 - the preamble

Hey, Guru Fans!  I'm using this blog to report on what's going on this week at the International Fly Tackle Dealer (IFTD) in Orlando.  For the fourth year, it's being held in conjunction with the International Convention of Sportfishing Trades (ICAST).  The co-joined show is the world's largest fishing trade show and is open only to buyers and media.

What makes this show so exciting for many of us who live the fishing life - or write about it - is the opportunity to view the new products for the coming year.  They are usually unveiled at ICAST / IFTD each summer.  For me, it's also about seeing and testing a lot of products that the public usually doesn't see.  It's sort of a crusade of mine - to enlighten the fly fishing world.

You see, this all started with a column I write for Louisiana Sportsman (my Fly Lines column).   Many years back, I had looked at several magazines at new products and basically what I read was verbatim from the companies' press releases.  I felt this was "fake news" and that consumers deserved better.

I attended the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) Southern Conclave each year, which is held in the first full weekend of October.  It's the first major public fly fishing show following IFTD.  At that time, most of the major rod companies, and several of the reel and line companies exhibited at Southern.   So I used Southern as my opportunity to examine and test the new products and write up on them.

These columns were wildly popular - and still are.  Trouble is, some years back there was a rift between the FFF Southern Council and their show's exhibitors.  Don't know what it was.  All I knew is that suddenly I found myself without ample material.  Despite the added cost - and valuable vacation time - I started attending IFTD.

IFTD proved to be a gold mine of resources.  As good as it was, when AFFTA - the organization that puts on Fly Tackle Dealer - decided to merge it's show with ICAST, the good got awesome!  You see, fly fishing or conventional fishing tackle is only a fraction of the overall fishing universe.  Accessories, clothing, travel gear, maps, coolers, etc, etc, are a larger subset of both.  I saw very, very little of those at the original IFTD.

Which is why I'm a little saddened right now. Back in March, AFFTA announced that in 2019 and 2020, they would split from ICAST and hold their show in Denver in October.  There were many solid business reasons to join with ICAST.  And one big reason to depart - "Orlando in July".  Apparently, not only is ICAST returning to Orlando in July for 2019 and 2020, but on Tuesday they'll be voting to extend it in Orlando to 2024.  Yes, 2024!

The majority of AFFTA members are located in the West, Midwest and Northeast.  I realize that traveling to Orlando during the middle of "SweatFest" is no fun.  Much less having to put up with the worst traffic east of Houston (only a million families here for all the theme parks).
 
Tomorrow is the first day. Although the exposition doesn't start until Wednesday (and runs thru Friday)  IFTD will have a Demo Day in the morning, while ICAST has an "On The Water" event thru midday.  I hope to test several new rods and compare them to existing models. And get it done before the midday heat  (it was 97 today!).

Cokie masters the Smallmouth!

A few weeks back, Lisa, my daughter Cokie and I joined 24 other members of the Louisiana Hiking Club on a group trip to Shenandoah National Park.

Prior to the trip, our daughter Corinne received her Masters degree from Southeastern, earning several honors including Magna Cum Laude and  Outstanding Graduate Student honors in her department. I told her that my gift for her accomplishments would be a fly fishing trip. She thought it would be with me to the lake so she wasn't too excited.

However, I had something else in mind. Back in February at the Atlanta Fly Fishing Show, I attended a presentation on fly fishing in Virginia. I knew there was smallmouth fishing in the western part of the state, but didn't realize how truly good it was. Being that I love fishing for smallies, I decided to book a trip as soon as plans on the LHC hike were finalized.

My first call went to the guy who gave the presentation, but he was booked the first half of the week and that was conflicting with our best hikes. He recommended Galen Westman of Shenandoah Valley Fly Fishing. Turns out Galen had an open day on Sunday prior to all our major hikes, so that was perfect.

We met him in Luray about 9:00am and loaded up our gear. Although I'd brought my Redington Predator and Ross FlyStik bass rods, we decided to use his TFO setups which worked out great. We were planning to do a full day float in Galen's inflatable raft on the South Fork of the Shenandoah, one of five prime smallmouth rivers in the area. The only caveat was the weather - an 80-percent chance of rain that afternoon.

No sooner had we launched than we started catching fish. I pulled up a couple nice bronzies on one of Galen's crawfish patterns. I forgot what Cokie was using, but she was catching quite a few in the 8-10 inch range.

Then things slowed down and we began experimenting with different flies. I had brought my bass box and pulled out an olive Y2K Bugger which I killed the smallies with in Maine, Arkansas and North Carolina last year. As well as largemouths all the time here at home.  It did it's magic, and started hooking up smallies left and right.  Mostly small, but even a 12-inch smallie can double up a 7-weight rod!  As Jeff Guerin says, "they fight like wet cats!".

Things were still going slow for Cokie, so Galen suggested a popper. Especially since we now had heavy cloud cover. The popper worked okay, but it seemed they wanted something with a little more "show". Again I pulled something out of my box - Stephen Robert blue/white popper.

I don't know what it is about Stephen's poppers, but damn! They sure catch fish! Even moreso than my beloved Boogle Bugs. As it turned out, that was the only fly Cokie would fish the rest of the day. Twice the body fell off the hook from vicious strikes and Galen was able to secure it back on using UV epoxy. At one point she caught 13 in 19 casts! Including the biggest smallmouth of the day - 17 inches!

After losing my 3rd and last Y2K Bugger, I began trying different flies from the box. Two worked pretty good - my own Coma Crawfish and Daniel Moss' Kray Phish pattern. Not nearly as many smallies as Cokie was catching, but more decent fish on average, 12 to 15 inches.

We ended up with almost 100 smallmouth. We also caught about a dozen redeye rock bass and several hugamongously-thick longears. They must've been bedding because their bellies were 4-inches thick!

Not a drop of rain fell on us this day, and we even had a few periods of sunlight. Although shore lunches are pretty standard fare on trips, I must say this was one of the better ones we've had. I've been blessed to have fished with several wonderful smallmouth guides across the country, as well as some great guides for trout and saltwater, and Galen definitely fits that distinction. The young man was very patient, and knowledgable. And knowing that I was a certified casting instructor, he allowed me to give Cokie advise on her casting. Yes, she struggled a bit early and often, but by the afternoon she was laying out line like a pro! Let's just say after 4 years in graduate school her skills had gotten a little rusty.

In hindsight, booking that Sunday was a very wise decision. The rain did come - and stayed. The original forecast had called for highs in 70s and lows in the upper 50s. Instead we had highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s until Thursday. And heavy fog. Fortunately all the rain - and boy was it heavy - came at night so the club was able to enjoy our hikes. And even a day trip to Montpelier and Monticello. Wednesday night we had  heavy rain, 48-degrees and 40-mph winds!  Sleeping in a tent in those conditions takes a lot of faith that God will keep you safe!

On Galen's recommendation, I did make one more fishing trip for brook trout. We'd hiked along several of the park's many dozens of small streams and on each occasion, I spotted trout in the waters. Even a couple of 10-11 inch brooks which are considered big fish for these waters.

So I packed up my TFO Finesse 3-weight and hiked back one of those trails. All the rain made stream fishing difficult, not so much clarity but just difficult to get fish to rise in swiftly moving water. But I did manage a couple dozen, all 5-8 inches before finding a pool where I hooked up with two of those "big" fish. Got a few pics of them in the water and did a quick rod-tip release.

The bonus of this fishing day was that I sighted a black bear - my 4th of the trip. But before I could snap a picture, a little girl on the trail spotted it too and began yelling. You can't imagine how fast a scared black bear can disappear!

So long, Pete, until we meet again

Yesterday I received some heartbreaking news that Pete Cooper had passed away. It was somewhat expected. After a long battle with cancer, Pete had recently been placed in hospice care. Within hours of the news, Facebook was flooded with sympathies and rememberances from his many friends. And many others who had been influenced by the "Louisiana Fly Guy".

I'd known Pete since 1988. Back then, only a very few of us in this state had ever caught a redfish on fly rod, but Pete had been doing it for 17 years! Not just doing it, but writing about it. In fact, shortly after meeting him for the first time, he left his oilfield job and began writing full-time. The rest is history: he went on to pioneer offshore fly fishing in the state, write for several state and national magazines, establish the state fly rod record listings, give seminar talks across the country, author four books, and much more. For his written contributions to fishing, fly fishing, and hunting, he was inducted into the Louisiana Outdoors Hall of Fame.

Pete was the original Fly Lines columnist for Louisiana Sportsman magazine. I took over for him 17 years ago when the national magazines came calling. Since I organized countless events over the years, I was in frequent contact with him as a presenter. So we talked a lot on the phone, but never fished together. That was until a few years ago.

Most will remember Pete for all his saltwater contributions. But he loved fishing ponds and creeks. In fact, his last book was "The Fine Art of Creek Fishing". One of my favorites. He, myself and fellow warmwater fanatic and good friend Larry Offner would meet down at small pond in Jennings. It's a neat pond that offers good year-round fly fishing for bass, crappie, bluegills and redears.  One day, Pete calls me and tells me he visited the pond and caught some hefty redears. The next day I was down and sure enough, there were some big-uns! That's what made Pete so special... always willing to share a secret or two!

Another of his favorite spots was Kisatchie Bayou, just up the road from where I now live. Soon I hope to go there and revisit some of Pete's spots. Spotted bass, that is. Being the good conservationist he was, I know he left a few for us to enjoy.