Somerset Fly Fishing Show day 2
Day Two—Saturday—at the Somerset Fly Fishing Show was crowd deluxe. Yesterday’s snow storm held the crowd to a respectable size, but today’s crowd was simply smashing.
I managed to visit a couple of long-time friends in the industry, and get caught up on their activities. Simon Gawesworth,, Spey caster extraordinaire, was at the Rio booth, and we managed to chat for a few minutes at the opening of the Show before the roaring crowd pushed through the gates and filled the hall.
I squeezed through the crowd around the casting pond and got a snap of my old pal Lefty putting on a casting demo for an overflow crowd. Although his 86th birthday is only a few days away, Lefty kept up his running banter and frequent one-liners and stories without missing a beat. Old showmen never die, they just go on with the show.
After a book signing session at the Author’s Booth, I gave a casting demo. The crowd was most cooperative and gave me a very good imitation of a bunch of casting demons—great work y’all. They were most enthusiastic and we had a great time fussing about with the Bow and Arrow cast, the Overhead Cast, The Hook Curve Cast, Loop Control, On-the-Water Mending, In-the-Air Mending, Reach Mending, Curve Mending, Puddle Mending, the Reached Puddle, A Puddled Curve Mend, and more. My old college friend and fishing buddy, Ray Oswald, showed up to say Hi, and we got caught up as best one can in 15 minutes between programs. The it off to do a Power Point Presentation on Fishing the Film. All in all, it was a great day at the show!
There’s still one day left. If you in the area, you’ve got to come on out and see all the things that are going on.
The roar of the crowd was easily heard today!
My friend Simon posing as Mr. Rio.
Lefty's still showing how it's done at a couple of weeks from his 86th birthday--give it to 'em Lefty.
All my little casting demons--you all look so cute (and you can cast, too!)