Duranglers 2016 Fly Fishing Festival in Review
So this past April 1st and 2nd marked our 7th annual Fly Fishing Festival. This was by far our best Fly Fishing Fest yet. With lots going on, it was hard to keep track of all the events. We had lots of fun, food, deals, and demos with lots of good information to digest. Most importantly, we met lots of great people over the 2 event packed days. Here are a few photos from our fest that won’t do it justice for just how fun this event was.
Taylor Edrington kicked off Friday night with his presentation: “The Arkansas: North America’s Longest Gold Medal River”. This was one of the best presentations we have had yet. Taylor is the owner of Royal Gorge Anglers and has been a figure in the fly fishing industry for some time. We learned so much about the Arkansas that we explaining Taylor’s talk here wouldn’t do it justice…so expect a full write up of this event soon!
Saturday, we saw a great turnout at our shop for all our promos, talks, demos, and giveaways from our sales reps of Sage, Scott, Simms, Umpqua, Patagonia, Hatch, Howler Brothers, Redington, Fishpond, Ross Reels, Smith, and Lamson. Presentations included “Sage Rods: Perfecting Performance For 35 Years” with Van Rollo, “Getting The Simms Perfect Fit” with Scott Harkins, and “Precision Rigging For SW Colorado” with Frank Smethurst. Our reps dropped some serious knowledge on us and we learned a ton.
Van Rollo discusses Sage’s commitment to perfecting performance.
One of our sweet giveaway items from Fishpond, a Drifty Boat Caddie.
Scott Harkins discussing just how to get the perfect wader and boot fit with Simms.
Frank Smethurst’s flies for his presentation “Precision Rigging For SW Colorado”
Frank, our sales rep for Scott and MFC among others, drops some serious fly knowledge on us. Guiding in CO for 20 years has taught Frank a thing or two about sneaky fly set ups.
Buy a dozen flies, enter to win this sweet box of bugs from Umpqua Feather Merchants. I can safely say most of us in the shop were drooling over this box.
The shop was jamming first thing in the morning.
Throughout the morning, Duranglers guide and expert fly Tier Mike Sulkosky demo’d his skills at the vise for a captive audience. When you can tie beautiful Stimulators in under 5 minutes, it’s worth taking note.
After our morning in-store presentations, we headed over to Santa Rita Park where we were treated to lunch and a full run of Sage and Redington rods from Van and Scott rods from Frank for customers, guides, and employees give a test run. Scott Harkins also set up a good selection of Simms Boots and Waders for anyone to try on and even get into the river to test out. Josh Graffam from Umpqua; Sam Spillane with Howler, SA, and Hatch Reels; and Bart from Ross and Abel reels all set up tables and tents to display their respective companies. It was really nice to get some hands on with the new goods from Hatch, Ross, Abel, and Umpqua.
A sweet lineup of Sage and Redington rods.
The new simple elegance from Ross Reels, the Colorado LT.
Finding the perfect Simms fit with Scott Harkins.
The ZeroSweep line of packs from Umpqua
Box of flavors from Ross Reels
Another box of flavors from Smith
The Sage ONE Trout Spey 3 weight rigged with a Redington Behemoth and Rio In Touch Switch 325gr line was a blast to cast.
After all was said and done, we were able to relax with a beer and some great fly videos shown at the Fly Fishing Film Tour. Duranglers Fly Fishing Fest was a smashing success; we learned a lot and met a ton of great people. Thanks to everyone who came out and made this such a great day. We look forward to seeing everyone next year.
Make sure you also check out this quick video from 4 Corners TV from our Fly Fishing Fest.
Who’s NRS inflatable is that? I would love to ask them a few questions…. I have been looking into these but haven’t found a ton of reviews.
Great pics! It’s bad since I was not here.
Hey Brad, that is Frank’s, our Scott fly rods rep. It’s a sweet setup
The post you have on your blog seems that you have got a good knowledge about fly fishing and you even motivate the women fly fishers to actively come ahead for this sport. Well done.