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Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 #12137677 03/12/17 08:20 PM
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texasflycaster Offline OP
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So, I am trying to get the windage and elevation for the three Texas fly fishing events - a snapshot from attendees only - from ground level, on the three events yesterday. There was the Texas Freshwater Fisheries event, the Tarrant Regional Water District event and the first ever (as opposed to "First Annual" - Texas Fly Fishing Festival.
I only attended the Athens, Texas, event, so I want to know what the other events were like in every way! Warning - I may just quote you.

I do have my own view of the Athens event. And my early interactions with the Texas Fly Fishing Festival were ... basically ... they didn't give the locals the time of day. Perhaps I was wrong, but at $75-usd a person, a session? Who all hit those sessions? I could certainly have delivered more than the paltry 4 micro breweries. Denton & Pilot Point alone have at least twice that many up and running.
I realize they have another day of beer to drink today, but yesterday was the only day where 3 ran concurrently.

Interesting times in which we fish, aren't they?

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12137807 03/12/17 11:20 PM
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Hi Texas Fly Caster,
Enjoy your YouTube channel and the great info you provide!

I have only been to TRWD Flyfest of the three events. Went to the first one last year by chance and had a great time. Learned about it a few days before the event, and my work schedule was free!

This year made sure work did not conflict, and was able make it again! It's a laid back event with lots of fly fishing related things to be had!

My top reasons as an attendee to TRWD Flyfest:
1. I get to fish!
2. They stock Bruisers in the river, so I get to fish for trout that can snap 4lbs test easily.
3. It's FREE, and I get to fish!
4. It's about an hour away, and I get to fish!
5. There are others but would say its informal atmosphere wins me over, and I get to fish!

Hope this helps!


Last edited by fshng84; 03/12/17 11:21 PM.
Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12138525 03/13/17 02:14 PM
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Golfer Jeff Offline
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Fly Fish and Brew Festival was good. I don't think they got quite the turnout they had hoped. I don't drink so I cannot attest to the brews, but I gave my free drink tickets away to friends who happily drank free beer. $75USD?? Entry fee was $35 for both days or $25 per day. Casting demonstrations from names like Wanda Taylor, Ed Jaworowski (sp?), and a surprise show were well attended. Quite a few rods to try out from TFO, Sage, Cortland, and others. Also on display were Kayaks, pontoons, rafts, sunglasses, and wearables. Lots of destination travel type stuff from Yellow Dog, Kamchatka, Patagonia, and New Zealand. All the 50 minute presentations were free with paid entry. I especially enjoyed Pike in Mantioba, cutthroats in CO, Devils River TX, and Buffalo River in Arkansas. There were 3 every hour, so about 60 presentations. The TFO and Tailwater reps did have some personalized classes for beginners, spey casters, and advanced level casting. My wife took Wanda's beginners and women only classes and loved them both. She is now 'hooked' on doing some tailwater trout fishing with me.

The TFFBF seemed catered to traveling fly fishers, but locals were not looked down upon I don't think. There were parts of it that were trout-centric, but bass and exotic location fishing were keyed upon also. My wife and I had a great time and I stopped by several of the (more than 50) booths to get free stuff and chat with the reps. I bought a pair of sunglasses and picked up some great travel info. I am especially looking forward to looking at Pike in Northern Manitoba.

Not free, there was nowhere to fish, but it was chock full of information and helpful presentations. It would have been nice to get these three events separate on the calendar, but since I live well north of DFW, I went to the closest (Plano).

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12138867 03/13/17 05:06 PM
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I attended the Athens (Fly Fish Texas) event last year, while it was nice; it certainly lacked the show of vendor support and any names worth the drive to east Texas. This year I attended both the Trinity River Water District Fly Fest (Fort Worth) and the Texas Fly Fish & Brew Festival (Plano). I was at the Fort Worth event to assist with the Reel Recovery booth and partake in the fishing contest that afternoon; great showing of folks and nice day outside with some vendors, music, food trucks and of course fishing. I then high tailed it to Plano for the VIP after party simply to meet some ROCK STARS of the fly fishing community and catch up with folks; didn't attend the day but from what I can tell, they had everybody and everybody there from vendors....wish I had made it back on Sunday. If the powers that be decided to hold all three events on the same weekend again next year; I will certainly go back to Fort Worth and Plano. The Plano event will definitely be the event for vendors, speakers / presentations, etc.... as it continues to grow.

I suppose it just depends on what you are looking for in an event.

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12138930 03/13/17 05:33 PM
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I was at the Fly Fishing and Brew Festival both days and thought it was great. The only tangible improvement I can think of would be to unalign the weekend it gets held on.

There were more vendors and guides than you could shake a stick...or rod...at. Fell in love with the new Hardy cassette reel and the soon to be released (and improved) Cortland euro nymph stick, got some free swag and enough free stickers to completely cover every Yeti in Texas, and added about another $20,000 worth of fly trips to the ol' bucket list.

Sat through some killer seminars, too. I really enjoyed listening to and talking with Mike Tayloe, who besides heading up a bunch of remote search and rescue stuff in the Rockies, also directs the Everest Base Camp medical facilities as well as those in whatever that big Antarctic research station is called. He was a *super* interesting dude to chat with. Talk about a guy who has seen some stuff.

Took a couple of those $75 classes - the advanced casting class with Ed Jaworowski and Frank Smethurst's spey class. Ed's was pretty darn good (how could it not be??), but Frank's class straight up blew me away. It was limited to 5 people, and he worked his * off for 3 and a half solid hours with us. Easily one of the best $75 I've ever spent as an angler. And...Frank believes in Bigfoot. So there's that.

One slight hitch in the weekend was that the kayak demo pool fell apart and darn near flooded the exhibit hall, but fortunately the pumps worked fast enough to drain the thing and disaster was averted. But it was a near miss, and the boat vendors kinda got screwed because they couldn't really show their products like they had intended. Bit of a bummer, there.

Like Jeff mentioned, the turnout was pretty fair on Saturday, slower on Sunday, but all in all, probably less than they had intended. There's a fix for that, though...don't have these things on the same weekend. Every one of these events gave up some turnout because of that.

It was an awesome event, though. Anyone that missed it passed up on some good info and some of the strongest free sticker game I've seen in a long time! Craft beer, trucker hats, carbon fiber, fish porn...freakin' Bigfoot...yeah, it was a good weekend, guys. I hope it comes back next year.

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12138958 03/13/17 05:43 PM
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Great review Floon Swenson! I don't know how anybody could complain about the prices of the seminars; these guys are the best and they travel, it's not a charity case event for these guys and will only get better! TFO did a lot to help with this event in Plano too, they deserve credit. Rick and his team really do a lot to support the fly fishing community around the world but, really cool when we can see a little of what they do right here in our backyard. Keep buying TFO guys, if we don't support them, these great events can't continue.....$$$ come from us to help.

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12139102 03/13/17 06:58 PM
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Thanks for the reviews and the compliment up top. I'll post a link to this discussion topic so readers can get a bigger pic than just my own!

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12143528 03/16/17 01:55 PM
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Well, the TPWD event in Athens has moved their date for 2018, should we all live that long, to February 24. Not exactly what I am thinking is a good move - colder, more unpredictable weather. If I were king of the world, I would move to April and stock those ponds to the brim with bream. Well, somebody had to blink first in this showdown at the fly fishing corral ...

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12144942 03/17/17 03:55 AM
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I heard yesterday that the decision making process of having to choose which festival to attend has been eliminated for next year; this is great news for north Texas. Pretty cool stuff! smile

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12146385 03/18/17 03:23 AM
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That's great news right there. We have a strong and growing base of fly guys & gals around here, and if we could stagger these weekends, I think the support will be there.

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12150266 03/21/17 02:29 AM
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Shannon, I was involved in all 3 events, and thought we supported the events well.
FlyFest was a great event. so well attended. many, many new folks to fly fishing. lots of scouts and kids. saw a lot of families as well. the trout derby was awesome, and went into overtime, an actual fish off!!! tiers were great, awesome presentations, and a fun day. lots of people casting. this was the BIG winner of the weekend event. best attended, and well done. celebrity fish off on Friday was a blast, too. bigger plans for next year. so glad to be a part of this event, and calling attention to the premiere urban fly fishing river!!!

Athens was down in attendance, but is still a good event. moving the date will be better, for the event. it needs a new look, as we have done the same thing for a long time. I hope I can be a better support for next year, and bring some fresh, new activities, and look.

was at plano sunday. only 200 through the gate. packed up early. BIG names do not necessarily bring in BIG crowds, as eveident by this event. texas anglers want local material. that's why Destination Texas events we have had, help anglers in texas. my goal, and our council's goal, will be to enhance fly fishing in texas, and help anglers find out the how's, why's and when's. stay tuned for future events, going on throughout the state. also check out the TPWD kayak lease access site.
exciting new places to launch your yak, and do some fishing on private waters!!! TPWD partnering with the Texas Council.
http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/rivers/lease_access/


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Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: FishyB] #12152745 03/22/17 03:05 PM
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Originally Posted By: FishyB
I heard yesterday that the decision making process of having to choose which festival to attend has been eliminated for next year; this is great news for north Texas. Pretty cool stuff! smile


Not exactly. I guess the fisheries center in Athens moved their date, but Plano and Fort Worth will still be on the same weekend.

At least it would be an option now to support all three of them if one were so inclined. I think it'd still be better to have Athens on Feb 24th, Fort Worth on March 3rd, and Plano on March 10-11.

I wonder what would need to happen to move that Fort Worth date a week earlier, if it's even possible. I feel like a date change a year out in advance isn't really beyond imagination, though.

Re: Texas Fly Fishing Events Full-Day + 1 [Re: texasflycaster] #12152781 03/22/17 03:19 PM
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For what it is worth, the last weekend in Feb and the first two in March is a sustainable schedule, and one that everybody can build on. And it's good for the local angling community.

Butting heads on a weekend, for whatever the reason, doesn't feel sustainable.

Fort Worth has live fish in the river, so a week earlier in the year can't be a bad thing...so there's my vote: TRWD, bump that badboy back a week and we have a schedule we can all work with year after year smile

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