[Rob Brownfield]

Jay,
You could not miss Orvis..they where the main sponsors of the casting events and had the marquee at the head of Fishermans Row, right on the river ..also, you could not miss Hamish and his amazing coloured shirt!!!!

Lakeland and Flytek were on the left hand side row at the river end, and Bloke had a tiny stand and sign in the Nomad tent. Only had about 10 rods, all heavily discounted.

[Sandy Nelson]

he gave me a shot of the Helios 9 foot 8 weight and the 9 foot 10 weight..and spent a bit of time talking to me, introduced me to a chap called Ben who uses the 10 weight himself etc etc..well..looks like I will be buying once I get the money for the rods I am building just now! :

)

Having spent so much time getting the blank right, why don't you use the ones you make for everyone else?

Anyway was my first time at the game fair and i thought it was great
Cookshill and Chevron were both there so i got to meet the guys and gals i have had many conversations with as regards specific feathers, i also had a good rake and got some beautiful feathers :z16cool
Got to meet Paul Morgan at Cochybondhuu books as well. Nice chap as always.

I noticed the bloke rods too Rob, seems heavily discounted is now and always has been the way he sells his stuff, Pity as its nice gear and he should have more confidence in it.

Anyway we had a great day out, and i would heartily recommend it to everyone

Sandy

[Hamish Young]

Nice to see many forum 'faces' at the Fair, sorry couldn't spend more time with a few of you but we were busy

3 very hectic days and something I'd hope to be doing again next year - 'twas great fun
Didn't get a chance to see all the fair but some very useful visits to the guys from the Irish fishery tent, FRS plus many more Anglers row was down a smidgen on exhibitors this year but it was mobbed none the less - even the weather didn't put too much of a dampner on things on the last day.

I did even get a few lessons in myself (spey casting is much improved) the value of lessons to iron out 'self taught' faults is worth every penny. Had some really good, often animated, discussions with some of the great casting masters of our time 

In summary - brilliant. Even better now I have a nice new toy courtesy of the talented Mr Nelson which went down very well with some of the more talented casters at the fair Just wish I could do it all over again 

[Rob Brownfield]

Having spent so much time getting the blank right, why don't you use the ones you make for everyone else?

Because we designed the blank for anglers new to Pike flyfishing, so its taper is designed for moderate distances, with large flies, with little effort in the cast...thats not what I want a rod to do for me. 

[Jay Scott]

That explains it then!  i must have been standing right next to the Orvis stand when i was watching Ally Gowans then.. oops sorry Hamish would have said hi if i had a better sense of direction. Cookshill, Cheveron and Flytek are brilliant, had a look at the Cheveron catalog i got with a cape looks very impressive and reasonabily priced! 

Jay

[Sandy Nelson]

Because we designed the blank for anglers new to Pike flyfishing, so its taper is designed for moderate distances, with large flies, with little effort in the cast...thats not what I want a rod to do for me. 

I see, sounds reasonable to me, i'd watch the Helios for breaking though, if they go under ordinary conditions (if you could call Hamish ordinary ) then i wouldn't hold much hope for using larger flies, and long range, just a thought

Sandy

[Rob Brownfield]

Not heard of any Helios' breaking??????? I know one guide that is using a 6, 8 and 10 weight saltwater models for Bonefish to Tarpon without issue. He uses the 8 weight for Pike here in the UK as well as Bass, Pollock and the 6 weight for Mullet and school Bass..so I would say the rods have had a fair bash.

I am intrugued though, only heard good reports from Stateside so far...

[Sandy Nelson]

You must still be listening to the wrong people

I know there has been no word from the garioch, but in other parts quite a few Helios have been broken, mostly in the same place (on the rod ,that is), its something Orvis are working on I believe.

Still i thought Saltwater rods are a bit too fast for casting large pike flies, or have i been missinformed.
Having cast a few saltwater rods now, i can see how adjusting your timing can open the loop quite easily and allow the use of larger flies, so i guess i can see how this would work. I look forward to hearing how you get on

Sandy

[Rob Brownfield]

Not heard of a single break! That puts a whole different perspective on chosing one as my weapon of choice

As for the fast nature of the rod and not suitable for casting large flies..normally I would totally agree with you, hence the PFFA rod being a slightly more forgiving blank..but..I use a Tip Flex 9.5 Power Matrix (9 weight) and a Tip Flex 9.5 T3 (10 weight) which are the same flex rating as the 8 and 9 weight Helios' and I find them ideal for flies upto 10 inches long (EP fibred flies) Compared to say a Sage xi2 I would say the Orvis tip flex is not as fast and is a bit deeper in the blank.

As you are already aware, different actions suit diferent casting styles, and I find the Orvis tip flex suits me

[goosander]

Have been going to the fair since it first started and would have to agree with Rob regarding the fishermans row. There was two rows of stands at one time with a lot of well known names. Bruce and Walker had a stand and i rember asking Aurther Olgesbly if he would be giving a casting demostration sommetime. His answer was that the scotts do not like an englishman casting.
I thanked him and wandered arround the stand when he reappeared a few minutes later he had a 15ft. rod and we went down to the casting platform and he gave me a great demo.
Was looking for an old friend Peter Anderson who also had a stand there with his "paraflex" rods and he to was missing along with a few others.
As fishing is possibly the most popular sport of them all you would expect it to have a very large pressence there. Speaking to other stall holders there they were all complaining about the cost of hireing a pitch.

[Peter McCallum]

Peter Anderson was there - saw him in the beer tent. Must agree not a lot of fishing on fishermans row. Though FF&FT mag might have been there.

[goosander]

Was wondering why T.and S. and F.F, and F.T. seldom write anything about the S.G.F. in there mags. Plenty about the english fairs, month after month

[Hamish Young]

I was surprised not to see FF&FT there (although I thought I saw the editor), T&S less so as they have their Kelso bash earlier in the year.
Certainly a stall is an expensive proposition at the Scottish Game Fair and undoubtedly that puts off a lot of retailers etc

I also saw Peter Anderson but didn't get a chance to speak to him, have never heard of "paraflex" rods so must look them up 

[Rob Brownfield]

No Total Flyfishing either... ???

The PFFA enquired about a stall but where told there was a waiting list. I think next year they are going to see if they can share a stand and costs with Flytek as Flytek supply the majority of the Pike fly tiers materials.

We have had a stand at several of the "English" game fairs with very good response so a Scottish one should be worthwhile.