[Iain Goolager]

I'm toying with the idea but a lack of funds 'aint helping.

Iain

[Barry Robertson]

I will be driving down if you fancy it Iain 

[Matt Henderson]

I had it pencilled into the calendar but apparantly I have to have a stag doo?

[Hamish Young]

I'm there for three days 

H 

[Iain Goolager]

I will be driving down if you fancy it Iain

Are you going on Saturday Shona?

If so, I'm game.

Switch yer phone on Doris

Iain

[Irvine Ross]

Wish I was, but I'm in the throes of decorating after having the builders in.

Saturday looks like the best bet for weather. Have a good time Y'all.

Irvine

[Mike Barrio]

So ...... what was the best of the game fair then? Apart from the Orvis stand and the beer tent of course

Cheers
Mike

[Matt Henderson]

If it's anything like last year it will be the ladies advertising the wellies!

[Barry Robertson]

Well zee Game fare was a great day out today 
Headed down with Iain ( goolager ) and another friend and had a fine time, weather was spot on, food was good, beer was good, advice at the Orvis tent from Ben and Hamish was good, and plenty good fly tying materials was to be had at all the various tents!
Iain bought half the fare as would be expected and i am now away to settle on the vice to try out some new materials!
All in all worth the visit and plenty of lovely females were around to keep us smilling 

Tightlines
Baz
 

[Iain Goolager]

plenty of lovely females were around to keep us smilling

Oh yes!

Spent more money than I have, with the prize purchase being a Guideline Haze reel ........... I didn't dare take the guy up on the offer of a trial of the Fario.

Good day out - thanks for the company Baz and mystery guest.

Iain

[Mike Barrio]

Bet they're having fun with the tents in the wind ..... been there, done that, bit like sailing really

Cheers
Mike

[Rob Brownfield]

£32 to get in, £2 for a coke, £2 for a cup of tea in the GLA members tent, £5 for a pork roll...yip..someone was making money..lol.

I ended up spending £450!!! Mostly on food I think..lol.

Got another Paramo jacket which I have to say is the greatest waterproof jacket known to man, perfect for fly fishing...lots of Pikey fly tying stuff and a few non fishing related bits and bobs.

Someone thrust a 10 weight Helios into my hands, but it did not work!

Interesting to see a few Switch rods on the go.

And I have to say I did not really rate the Totty Factor this year...one or two nice ones, but plenty of "country" Chavs...tracksuits, trainers and baseball cap...but in real tree cammo

[Ben Dixon]

Overall a good weekend.  Quite busy on Friday for a while, Saturday was very busy for most of the day and Sunday was pretty much a washout, wind was awful for most of the day.

Was good to see a few forum faces there, Goolager, Baz, Salar35, Jim "salmon rod" Doyle, and Crapologist Brownfield.

Not very much there in the way of angling retailers this year, Rugby Plus had a stand on Fishermans Row  ???  Seems to be less there every year which is a bit of a concern as it could be a really good show.  Fun all the same.

 

Cheers

Ben

[Jim Doyle]

Aye things livened up a bit in the evenings !! lol

[Hamish Young]

Went well, although fishermans row was down on interesting stuff/angling related this year 
Nice to bump into folk off this and other forums - Jim is right, the evenings (especially Saturday  ) were great fun and the talk of Sunday was all about the mad sods out casting down fishermans row at 2am
Real shame the weather was so crap yesterday, but I guess that was the penalty to be paid for the great Fri/Sat.
Have a few pics on my mobile phone, will try and get them posted today.
H 

[Rob Brownfield]

Ben/Hamish,
I take it you were camping then? Around a camp fire singing Ging Gang Gooley by any chance?

You are taking this "Guiding" too seriously..lol

[Rob Brownfield]

So ...... what was the best of the game fair then? Apart from the Orvis stand and the beer tent of course

Cheers
Mike

Dissapointed not to see a Barrio stand!

Years ago you used to get the British manufacturers there, Hardy, Greys, Bruce and Walker etc..now nothing. They are really missing a trick if you ask me.

Never really found anything interesting as such. All pretty run of the mill products and prices along with a few shops selling off tat that they could not sell in the shop.

However I did bump into an old fishing Pal from Norfolk who now runs Angling Direct Holidays So I am off to France for some big catfish soon.

[Iain Goolager]

I did not really rate the Totty Factor

What!
Do you want your 'Right Said Fred' tape back anytime soon?!!

 

[Rob Brownfield]

Iain,
I am used to the totty at the Lonach Gathering...on a whole different level

[Hamish Young]

OK, so having gone through my mobile 'phone the following are the only clean/safe pics to post of the Game Fair

This was base camp (a proper man-sized tent ) which was surprisingly comfortable and one of my better purchases..... despite protestations from some fronts suggesting I had simply brought a 2 bedroom house with me it wasn't the biggest tent on site by far. We had a bit of an 'anglers corner' with Jim and Tony from Guide Fly Fishing next door, not sure what the neighbours thought of us casting after hours but the fried spam, egg and cheese rolls on the Friday night were epic

Having found my favourite beer in the food tent (pretty much anything from the Black Isle brewery http://www.blackislebrewery.com/ ) Ben decided that in order to better demonstrate how I could improve my balance whilst single handed spey casting a prop of some kind was necessary...... it worked  
 

And finally on Sunday a very deserted fishermans row as every sane mortal took cover from thunder/lightening/pissing down rain. If it had got any heavier we could have done demos on the road......

Great fun, roll on 2011

As a wee aside I visited a small tent on fishermans row, within was a good selection of second-hand fishing books from a new shop shortly about to open at Bridge of Cally. Nice guy (Andrew I think) runs it, they have recently relocated to the area. Have a look at his website www.riverthoughtfulfishingbooks.co.uk once the shop is opened properly it's handily on the way to Perth and will doubtless have plenty of goodies

H  

[Mike Barrio]

This was base camp (a proper man-sized tent ) which was surprisingly comfortable and one of my better purchases..... despite protestations from some fronts suggesting I had simply brought a 2 bedroom house with me

Cool, I haven't bought one for years ....... What's new in the tent world then Hamish? What makes a good one?

Cheers
Mike

[Rob Brownfield]

As a wee aside I visited a small tent on fishermans row, within was a good selection of second-hand fishing books from a new shop shortly about to open at Bridge of Cally. Nice guy (Andrew I think) runs it, they have recently relocated to the area. Have a look at his website www.riverthoughtfulfishingbooks.co.uk once the shop is opened properly it's handily on the way to Perth and will doubtless have plenty of goodies

He had some excellent books and what was surprising for me was that some of my Carp and Pike books are worth a fortune!!! I have a first edition signed copy of Carp Fever, a book from the early 80's, and he had one for £450!!

Boost!

I wonder how much some of my rarer books are worth from the likes of BB and Richard Walker

[Hamish Young]

Cool, I haven't bought one for years ....... What's new in the tent world then Hamish? What makes a good one?

I don't really know to be honest Mike, the Scone Game Fair represented only the 3rd, 4th and 5th nights I've ever spent under 'canvas'..... the previous two night being on my stag night(s) at the Loch Kinord Hotel nine years ago

That said, I looked for a simple easy to put up design (almost succeeded), good hydrostatic 'head' and most importantly for me a tent you can be comfortable in - ie. stand up in with bedrooms. Finally, price. I had the advantage that the one I bought was reduced from £300+ to under a £100 on special offer, then had a 20% discount on it and on top of that I haggled a bit more off as it was an ex-display model
The air bed I bought later was a much needed addition, glad I didn't have to sleep the weekend on a roll mat

H