Indiana On The Fly - A Great Show

I went to the Indiana On The Fly Show on January 5, 2013 in Indianapolis, IN. It was the first time I've been to this show and it was a great time. I will definitely come back again next year to see what else they have in store.

Besides some interesting booths and sessions, they had a good lineup of speakers including Brian O'Keefe of Catch Magazine and Tim Holschlag of smallmouth fishing fame. It was a pretty good time.

I met some cool people, learned a couple neat tricks, and enjoyed my Saturday off. Besides someone literally taking a shit on the floor of the bathroom (not me I swear), I can't complain.

NOTE: most pictures in this post have captions explaining the scene. If you use an RSS reader, I'm not sure if these pop up or not, so just a note. If they don't then I won't use the caption feature anymore.

A collection of tiers, including Greg Senyo. It was neat to see how they go about doing things. Most patterns I saw were Great Lake steelhead flies. I guess that's what you get in these long midwestern winters.

A collection of steelhead streamers tied by Kevin Feenstra of Feenstra Guide Service. A really cool guy, I think I'm going to have him come down to the club and speak.

Here's a stuffed golden pheasant. They had an entire display of the many types of fowl used in creating tying material on hand. It was neat to see all of the different species out there although I'm not a huge fan of taxidermy.

Some cool steelhead flies used in Michigan. Much more colorful than what I've used in the past. I was told they aren't used in stained water, just every day conditions. Go figure!

Brian O'Keefe talking about Montana on the cheap and how to put together a solid road trip. I think I'll use some of his tips when we finally venture out to the Big Sky state.

Brian O'Keefe on chukkar hunting or something  with dogs on public lands out west. Pretty cool.

A casting instructor and a casting pond which was good for trying out rods to purchase. I didn't buy anything new, I've moved into rod building for the moment.

Another fly casting instructor. This guy definitely fishes from a boat. I'm not sure if the suggestion to rock your feet that he talked about would work in moving water. Unfortunately, it was at this point that I became reminded of what I dislike about these shows. I had remarked to someone standing next to me that I didn't think the technique would work wading, that it would kick up too much dirt and make too much chatter in the water. Some old fat troll overheard me and announced that yes it would work and did so in one of those tones that makes his point sound certain beyond a doubt despite being full of shit. You run into these guys all the time, know-it-alls who fish maybe twice a year but are somehow experts. What a dickhead.

My good friend Tom Gribble. If you haven't checked out his blog you should. It's: http://switch-rods-single-handed-rods.blogspot.com/

One of Tom Gribble's swinging flies

A pretty sweet double jointed bass fly I think I'll tie.

A flying squirrel. Why not?

Tim Holschlag, smallmouth genius. I was able to really pick his brain back at his booth. I learned a lot from him that day. I'm going to send him notes on fishing in Kentucky, hopefully we'll get to fish together when he comes down later this year.

An old timer talking about bamboo rods. A good primer. I got some good tips when I go to refinish mine later this winter.

So, overall good time coming to you from the blustery Midwest.

Here's a few websites for you to check out if you're interested:

Tom Gribble: http://switch-rods-single-handed-rods.blogspot.com/

Tim Holschlag: http://www.smallmouthflyangler.com/

Brian O'Keefe: http://www.catchmagazine.net

Indiana on the Fly: http://www.freewebs.com/reelwomen/indianaflyfishingshow.htm

Thanks for reading!

Josh Rust