SALMONATOR 0 Report post Posted March 14, 2004 Sawcat and I had the privledge of watching my man A.K. Best spin up some bugs this afternoon at the Michigan fly-fishing expo. Quite an eye-opener. I've never really sat and watched and listened to any of these "big name" guys at the tying bench, but I'm a big A.K. fan (as I'm pretty much a dry-fly guy myself and he ties some of the best), so we sat for an hour or so and watched him tye a couple patterns. To say it was educational would be an understatement. Not so much for the patterns themselves (although they were beautifull), but just listening to the guy talk about WHY he does some of the thing the way he does, such as certain ways of wrapping hackle to avoid leader-twist, etc., well, it was very interesting to say the least. What a great guy. I'll be taking some time to sit in on other tying seminars in the future as many of you guy's already do, but if you ever get the chance to see A.K......TAKE IT!! Take the day off, call in sick, whatever you have to do. Was a great show. Al Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mitch 0 Report post Posted March 14, 2004 Shows in general are just a good idea to go to. New equipment that maybe your local shops don't carry or don't have yet. The fly tying booths are what a lot of folks don't spend a lot of time at. Looking at and listening to the hows and whys from folks such as Bob Popovics, Enrico Puglisi, and watching Normal Norlander on his vise is just plain awesome. Some of my more prized possessions are the books that I've taken to the shows and had the authors autograph them. I have yet to have one say "Not now, I'm kind of busy." Most all of my senior and junior personnel know that I am a fly fishing nut and do their best to support this obsession. The conversations usually begin "If you were the manager at Taco Bell and I worked for you, I would call you this Thursday and tell you that I was sick...but since we're not, I was hoping for that afternoon off..." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brinx 0 Report post Posted March 15, 2004 I too got to see A.K. this weekend at the Midwest show. You're right salmonator, he is incredible. We watched him Sunday afternoon tie parachute posts with Turkey Flats (T-Wings I thin he called them.) It was pretty cool. Great new location for the show too. Lots of room to breathe and sat in on an incredible seminar by Bob Clouser. I consider myself to be a really good smallie fisherman. WOW!!! He clued me in on some things I just didn't realize. It was an excellent show. I'd have to say, my favorite booth was the T&T, Outcast, William Joseph booth. Great young guys with lots of enthusiasm. Brinx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steelie 0 Report post Posted March 15, 2004 Good Day, I too was at this show. All the presentaions I saw were very well done. Had a great time and got to shake hands with some pretty cool people... Steelie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptEd221 0 Report post Posted March 15, 2004 I envy you guys up north sometimes, with the location of all the fly tying expos and such. Saltwater tying has not taken off that good yet, give it time. I have A.K. book Advanced Fly tying and love it. I have used it to come up with some flies of my own and techniques for saltwater tying. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philly 0 Report post Posted March 15, 2004 Capt Ed: You need to come north and see some of the shows up here where there's more of an emphasis on salt water tying. If you're looking for a good salt water pattern book see if you can find a copy of Popovic's and Jaworski's "Pop Fleyes" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptEd221 0 Report post Posted March 18, 2004 Philly, got that one and love it. I have used some of his epoxy techniques on my saltwater flies, and have found real useful in keeping epoxy from yellowing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
