2012 Eastern PA Flyfishing Instructional Jamboree

[Stagger_Lee]

Thanks Pcray .. Lotz of kudos for putting this together totally stoked

Considering this will be the first time I have ever been fishing I do not have waders ... any worries?

 

[pcray1231]

The kudos go to Heritage Ed. I've played little more than an advisory role, he's done the legwork.

Nah, no worries. No impact at all on the morning instructional sessions, we won't be in water. It's a little setback for the afternoon fishing, but you could still tag along and watch/learn and do what you can from shore.

For your future fishing, I consider waders to be a necessity for our sport. Lots of people don't and prefer to wet wade. It is cooler, and in the summer, more comfortable. But there's too much danger in it for my tastes, as evidenced by some of the infections suffered by several members of this board. You can get servicable rubber waders for under $50, or breathables (much cooler in summer) for $100ish. Certainly beats a blood infection.

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

Yup got lymes we wading you sure as don't want it.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

pcray .. correct me if I'm wrong but I think you were the 1st guy I met yesterday. Trying to put the faces & names together with the screen names. Were you wearing the black united t-shirt?

Anyhow ... LMAO @ me as the one thing I forgot to ask about was a fishing license. Will be getting one this week.

Thanks again to all who put their time, energy & patience into this for a day of instruction and knowledge.

 

[pcray1231]

Stagger, yep, that was me in the black shirt. Nice to meet ya!

 

[auriemma]

Tthanks to the PAFF instructors and presenters and to the Conservancy for granting the PAFF the space. I had a great time and nice meeting everyone.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

To all who attended:

I'd like to thank everyone for coming to this event. People came from several surrounding states, and some drove long distances to attend. Hopefully, you found it to be time well spent.

While there's so many people I owe thanks to, I'd especially like to thank the instructors who gave so freely of their time, skills, and gear donations.

It was also really cool to see guys that weren't instructors stepping up to the plate to help newbies. The spirit of sharing and helping others that PAFF is known for was present in force on this day.

So many times during the day, people asked me how I came up with the idea for a "Newbie Jam". Well, it's all about you guys. Some things are best explained face to face, and this event just supports what happens here on the forum every day.

Of special interest is that the Beginner's Forum Moderators were both instructing at this event. Their committment in time spent here every day is remarkable, yet they drove a long way to add to their efforts. Fishidiot and Afishinado are really special individuals.

Gathering our members together to meet in person adds immensely to the way we interact here. Your forum experience will never be the same - it'll be better. Having met in person provides an insight to what other posters are really like, and my experience is that I've never met a PAFF member I didn't like, and would gladly fish with. One can never have too many fishing buddies!

The new format for this event seemed to work out well, and allows for future growth. I can only guess at the total attendance, but I'd say it exceeded last year's total of about 50 by a good amount. I got some good suggestions for improving next year's event, and I'll be running ideas by pcray to help improve it. As for pcray - his assistance in running this event cannot be overstated, despite his modesty in taking credit for it.

My only regret is my lack of pictures - I wuz kinda busy to take many. If anyone has pictures that they'd like to share, please send them to me - PM me, and I'll give you my email address. This will keep pictures in one place, and I'll make up a Photobucket slideshow that can be accessed to all. I can also add any pics that are posted here on the forum.

Regards, and thanks to everyone!

H.A.

 

[surveyor06]

H.A.

Thank you for putting together such a great event. You and Pcray out did yourselves. I consider myself a newbie yet, but I really enjoyed being able to give back to this sport. Before I stumbled upon this website, my fly fishing was slow going, and I almost gave it up. I feel fortunate to be able to give back. I feel I owe something for all the generosity that was given to me. Thanks again. Hopefully someone learned something from my fly tying. I know I enjoyed demonstrating.

Andy

 

[delta_dog]

Here are some pics from the Jam

 

[delta_dog]

More Jam pics

 

[Heritage-Angler]

IMG 0086 - pcray
IMG 0085 - Frequent Tyer
IMG 0084 - Fishidiot
IMG 0083 - RickinPA, surveyor06
IMG 0088 - RickinPA
IMG 0110 - BMarx
IMG 0081 - mcfinn
IMG 0080 - Bob Dobalina
IMG 0105 - Heritage Angler
IMG 0091 - Afishinado
IMG 0093 - Afishinado
IMG 0096 - Afishinado
IMG 0104 - surveyor06 - sans gloves and icy beard

 

[pcray1231]

Seriously, I didn't do much more than most of the instructors, I talked on the phone with Ed a few times and threw out some suggestions.

I thought the event went great, thanks to all of the instructors and especially the organizer, Ed.

I feel bad for skipping out on lunch and the afternoon activities to go fishing. My time has been short and I've been dying to get some real fishing in. But, as K-Bob pointed out during our trip, it's that passion for fishing that makes us who we are.

We did fish a stream about a half hour away from the event, only about 2 hours on stream. And as fate would have it, we did pretty poorly. Very low and clear, I think that did us in. Only 1 truly landed and photographed fish between us! We each had a long line release or two in addition to that.

Regret that I didn't take pics during the event. Here's a few from the fishing afterwards.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Pat - Our prediction came true for the Little Lehigh. Some nice fish were caught. At least two newbies caught their first fish on the fly.

One of those was martin0206's girlfriend. She'd never cast a fly rod before yesterday morning, but was throwing nice loops in about 5 minutes. Her fish was a big 'bow. I think martin0206 has the catch of a lifetime. ;-)

 

[forksfishing]

I would also like to thank the instructors for taking the time to bring some newbies into the sport.

Mcfinn, I hope you use the flies you gave me and that thermometer soon thank you!

Thanks to frequent tyer and BMarx for the surgeons knot and blood knot lessons.

HA (Ed), thanks for the casting instruction, you managed to get this lefty started enough that I was able to fish for a few hours on the little Lehigh.

Thanks to Pcray (Pat), I hope to check out a few of those remote brookie streams I run into in the fall.

Thanks to fishidiot (Dave) for the entomology lesson. It was intersting to see how much food was really available to the fish.

Looking forward to a season of learning and with a little luck, maybe I'll catch one of those little buggers.


Thanks to all!
Dennis

 

[gfen]

Heritage-Angler wrote:
My only regret is my lack of pictures - I wuz kinda busy to take many. If anyone has pictures that they'd like to share, please send them to me

i've got a couple action shots of dave sciencing the stream, and about half of the specimin shots are blurry, but the other half is good.

i'll email you chunky sized versions tonight. this is because i am a team player.

 

[pete41]

How do I get to those images? Thanks.

 

[martin0206]

Thanks for all the help on Saturday guys. Thanks Heritage Angler- I did have to admit she was casting pretty well after a few minutes and did catch the nice bow compared to my total catch of zero. I had a lot of fun and now I think it will be a little easier to get out fishing since she is already looking forward to fishing valley this afternoon.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Pete - I'm still collecting them, but I'll post a link to a Photobucket album in the next day or two....