2014 PAFF Instructional Jamboree (Newbie Jam) Saturday 3/15/14

[Heritage-Angler]

2014 Paflyfish.com Fly Fishing Instructional Jamboree

Location: The Wildlands Conservancy, Emmaus PA

Date & Time: Saturday, March 15th. 8AM to 4PM

Open to the public, free admission.

The purpose of this event is to share the extensive knowledge of some of our members with beginners, newcomers to the sport of fly fishing, and those just seeking to expand their fly fishing skills.

Itinerary:

8AM – 8:30AM: Meet & Greet. Coffee, donuts, and spring water will be provided.
8:30 – Noon: Instructional Presentations #1 through #7
Noon – 2PM: Lunch Break
2PM – 4PM: On-Stream Fly Fishing Instruction (near the fly shop, on Fish Hatchery Road)

Presentations:

#1 Gear/Setup - “Head to Toe”
#2 Fly Fishing Knot Instruction (hands on) and Leader Setups
#3 Entomology (What trout eat, and their imitations)
#4 Fly Tying Demonstration.
#5 Fly Casting Instruction.
#6 “Where to Fish”.
#7 “Wild Brook Trout Fishing” - an interactive presentation.

We're looking forward to a fun and educational day, meeting new friends, and attracting newcomers to the sport of fly fishing. Come join us!

Directions to the Wildlands Conservancy can be found here.

Directions to the on-stream instruction location can be found here.

 

[JackM]

Ed, you are the man. Thanks for doing this again to make our community an example of "giving back" or "paying forward" or whatever is the correct phrase.

If it weren't so far, I would offer seminar #8:

"An Unorthodox Approach to Fly Fishing (How to cast poorly, read the water wrong, choose the wrong flies, flub the presentation and blow the lucky take and still have fun doing it.)"

 

[OldLefty]

Jack, I'd pay at least $.75 to hear/see your presentation ;-)

 

[Heritage-Angler]

I'd pay a good bottle of scotch to see that presentation!

Unfortunately, we all have our moments. Hopefully the newbie jam will help the newbies avoid some of the less pleasant ones. ;-)

"...entomology is not my strong suit. But I will accept that challange. It will force me to brush up."

GenCon - If this were a job interview, you just aced it.

Having to instruct on a topic forces one to really bring their "A" game.

As I've often discussed with Old Lefty, one of the things I really wanted to see happen at the newbie jams was for some of the "old timers" to open up and share some of the knowledge they learned through decades of experience.

Back in the day, flyfishermen often kept their hard earned knowlege to themselves, and took it to their graves without sharing it. What a waste!

I'm really glad you're getting involved in this event, and I'm betting you'll do a great job.

I'd suggest covering the major bug types - ie mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, midges, terrestrials, etc. Scuds/cressbugs and minnows/small fish, and anything else a trout would typically eat. Maybe show flies you use to immitate the various stages in the life cycle of the bugs.

It's up to you - do whatever you think will best help the newbies.

 

[GenCon]

Heritage, how much time do I get to do this presentation? As I can at times be a little long winded.

Thanks,

Michael AKA GenCon

 

[djs12354]

Ed

Calendar's now showing the date reserved for the Newbie Jam.

I still have the electronic copy of the handout we used last year. If anyone has any suggestions for changes, let me know.

Looking forward to this.

Dave

 

[pcray1231]

GenCon,

About 3.5 hours.

It's not exactly a "presentation", as in like your a lecturer teaching to a class of students. Each topic gets a station (i.e. a folding table to sit behind). You can have whatever materials you choose out on the tables. You want newbies to be able to tell what your topic is, and have any teaching aids you need at your disposal. But the newbies come to you and you have a 2 way conversation.

At least that's how it's been and I'm not aware of any changes.

A few years back, we started off with each instructor doing a "lecture" in a different time slot. But there were "newbies" at a variety of skill and experience, from experienced anglers making the switch to fly gear, to fly fishermen with 5+ years of experience looking for a few tips to go higher on the learning curve, to people who have never fished in their lives that didn't know which ends of the "pole" to hold. And while the social aspect is always worthwhile, and the topics contained good nuggets for everyone, each individual was looking for something a little different. When you try to teach to everyone, you wind up with only 10% of it being useful to any individual. Not only that, but attendance was pretty good, and you just had too many people trying to listen to one person at a time. It could be difficult to hear and see. Meanwhile, all the other instructors were eager to help but were sitting idle for most of the time. Seemed pretty inefficient.

In this format it can be more one on one, or small groups on one. You can teach to their skill level. They can ask questions. They can skip topics they don't care about and spend more time at the ones they do. etc. We tried this 2 years ago, I think it was, and I think it worked out well, so we stuck with it. We're simply making ourselves available for whatever they want from us in a semi-organized fashion. The conversations do take tangents and go a little off topic but that's ok, encouraged even.

For the newbies, with this format, don't be shy!!!! Very often social connections are made and leads to lots of later opportunities, either with other newbies or with the instructors themselves.

 

[pcray1231]

And I'd love Jack to have that topic. I'm not joking. After making them dream of expertise, it's a good lesson of keeping things in perspective and how the journey to get there is actually the fun part.

 

[JVenezia]

Looks like a great event will make this for sure....

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Jamie you definitely want to get to this. These guys are great fisherpeople! You'd learn a lot. Heck, I'd learn a lot.

I may try to pop in, if there are brook trout.

 

[mgh-pa]

I really should try to make this. It's a 2hr 15min drive for me...hmm.

 

[OldLefty]

mgh-pa, it's that far for me to just come to instruct...

 

[mgh-pa]

OldLefty wrote:
mgh-pa, it's that far for me to just come to instruct...

Oh, I know. I was actually saying that in the sense that it's not really that bad of a drive.

 

[GenCon]

pcray, that sounds like a great idea. I am really looking forward to this. Oh one other thing for now. About how many visitors could we expect? I was thinking I would bring some Pa hatch charts to hand out. If that is ok.

GenCon

 

[pcray1231]

I think we've generally pushed 50. Ed may have a better idea of exact numbers...

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Someone actually tried to count the number of attendees two years ago.

Best estimate was closer to 100.

It's tough to get a head count, as people are walking in and out all morning, and some pop in to see what's going on without staying too long.

I'd estimate anywhere between 50 and 100. This event will be listed on the Wildland's event calendar(s), and also the outdoor section of the Morning Call (Lehigh Valley newspaper).

One of the reasons I picked this date was to avoid conflict with the local TU's big Spring event, and also the regional trout opening day.

Who knows - we might get a pretty big crowd...... :-o

 

[Heritage-Angler]

One of the most common questions we see here from beginners is "Where can I fish?"

We'll be covering this question pretty well at pcray's station.

One of our site sponsors (see "GPS Fishing Guide to PA" in the right hand column) will be in attendance, and have his products on display, and available to purchase. UFMGuy himself will have a table set up, and will be showing one of the best resources for answering the question of where to fish.

I personally use his products, and they're amazing! Very inexpensive, and they pay for themselves virtually on the first trip.

These products are a perfect fit for this event, and knowing how much they can do for you makes it easy for me to plug them.

Check 'em out, and bring any questions along for UFMGuy to answer. His maps and software are powerful tools to have in your arsenal. Pcray will be referring to these products as part of his program as well.

 

[gaeronf]

Will check the dates. Perhaps I could bring the club down.

 

[mic]

hello heritage I am new to the site and really look forward to the newbie jam.I have been fly fishing for years,so I thought.I am lucky to have a friend that is a avid fly fisherman,and has been teaching me the art,tying,casting,mending,ect.I do feel I am learning from best of the best.I can't wait to meet ,and learn from everyone at the newbie jam.

 

[djs12354]

Mic. Welcome to the jungle.....