 FLY-TYING NIRVANA – British Fly Fair International 2009 — by Arno Laubscher
WHAT do you call 3 000 fanatics, a host of ace fly-tyers and enough materials to fill a warehouse? The BFFI of course!
That is an apt description of the annual British Fly Fair International and one of many comments posted on the internet after last year’s event which I was privileged to attend for the second successive year as one of the 70 invited fly-tyers.
I arrived at Manchester airport on the morning of Friday, 6th November, after 13 hours of flying. The trip had included running from one terminal to another in Zurich Airport, desperately trying not to miss my connecting flight to Manchester. It was freezing and I couldn’t wait to get to my hotel room to have a warm shower and a decent meal, but there was still a 90 minute road trip ahead.
Jens Pilgard, his wife and a couple of other fly-tyers from around the world joined us on the bus to the Innkeepers Hotel in Stoke-on-Trent where we would spend the next three nights discussing fishing, flies, the world’s best flyfishing destinations, fly-tying, tying material and even politics while sipping single malt whiskys and downing pints of Guiness. Ahead lay a weekend of demonstrating tying techniques to thousands of members of the public during the day, and sharing experiences and stories of the past year with one another in the warm atmosphere of the Innkeepers Pub at night.
The BFFI enables retailers, manufacturers and agents to represent their shops and display their products in stalls that provide visitors with an opportunity to examine — and hopefully purchase — a huge variety of tackle, outdoor clothing, custom flies and fly-tying materials.
For me, the show was a welcome respite after a frenetic year which had provided little time for fishing and even less time for sleep as I battled to keep up with the orders for Scientific Fly’s range of SciFlies and Grip Hooks.
It was also an opportunity to renew the friendships established at the 2008 show and make new ones. My range of Grip Hooks is finding increasing acceptance abroad, and I was looking forward to saying hello to Phil Holding who carries a select range of stock and markets Grip Hooks along with the specialised and hand-manufactured products of tiny Eastern European hook factories, like Dohiku in Slovakia.
As in 2008, I was a courier for Ed Herbst who sends Hans Weilenmann the latest South African flyfishing books. On this occasion I was carrying the latest publications by Peter Brigg and Tom Sutcliffe.
Read the full story in the February 2010 issue of FLYFISHING. |
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