miamimikepa
Well-known member
Hey Guys,
I attended the Somerset show this year for the first time and all I can say is wow! The experience far surpassed all expectations I had for it. First off a little background info...
I've been fly fishing for about 2 years now so am still very new to the sport and consider myself a novice/beginner. The original plan was to head down early Sat morning, spend all day Sat & Sun at the show and then come back home (NEPA, about 2 hr drive) Sun once the show closed. Unfortunately, once we (my gf Heather and I) made the definitive decision to stay over Sat night, the DoubleTree was all sold out. Not wanting to spend $, only wanting to use Hilton points at the DoubleTree we decided to just do a down and back Sat. Sitting at a bar at home at 8pm on Fri night we decided to check room availability and because of the impending snow storm some rooms had opened up for Friday night so we booked the room for that night, left the bar, and got to Somerset around 11pm Fri night.
After a free upgrade to the presidential suite for the night we made our way to TK's a bar within the DoubleTree. The hotel was very nice, very clean, and it was obvious TK's was the place to be. Sat morning we woke up to about 8in of snow and were very happy we decided to travel down the night before. We also made the call to book a room for Sat night as it did not look like we were going to want to drive home Sat night after the show. Staying at the DoubleTree would have cost us $160, so we booked the Courtyard Marriot about 2 min down the road for $70. The reason I got into all the hotel details is so people who have not been to this show know the advantages of where to stay. DoubleTree is nice, but pricey compared to the surrounding hotels. The advantage is you get the bar you'll want to be at without the drive.
Even though we stayed over Fri & Sat night the plan was to only do Sat of the show. We had to get back home semi early Sun, which is why we didn't go to the show for a 2nd day. Because of this we limited the amount of seminars we attended. In fact the show was so large we decided to only attend 1 seminar. What I'll do different next year...1. No doubt stay Fri & Sat night. 2. Attend both Sat & Sun of the show. 3. Book a cheap room, no need to pay the premium to stay at the DoubleTree. 4. Do more seminars.
Now onto my highlights of the show itself...
Since I've just started to dabble into fly tying and I'm a big fan of buying really inexpensive flies since I lose a lot and am basically starting out with none I didn't have much interest in the tyers. While walking down the aisles we would glace at and admire their work, but not spend tons of time there. Until Heather, who is 26 yrs old and had no interest in fly fishing until this Sat, sees her 7th grade math teacher. Here he is one of the featured tyers for the show and a founding member of the TU chapter back home. So we stopped, said hello and spent a bit of time chatting it up with Mike Romanowski. Not only was he kind enough to give each of us one of his specialty flies that he ties, but he invited us to the shop he ties at locally to help with my skills and also give Heather and introduction to tying, which really started to grab her interest.
One gentleman who I was especially interested to meet was Jeff Currier. I saw he was going to be at the show and had recognized him from watching the Confluence Films "Connect" & "Waypoints." After stopping by his booth and taking a look at his art, which both he and his wife were there selling we were able to steal a bit of his time to have a nice conversation. On top of that this was the one seminar we attended, which was based around a few of his trout adventures throughout the globe. The older gentleman in the Dos XX commercials should immediately be fired and replaced by Jeff as I truly believe he very well may be the most interesting man in the world. He is one of the easiest most approachable people to talk to that I have ever met. A true jack of all trades that we thoroughly enjoyed our time with both him and his wife. I highly recommend you check out his artwork as well as introduce yourself to him if you ever get the chance.
Of course a stop by the Abel booth was a must as I love my Super 4N. After spending some time admiring the amazing finishes the younger gentleman working the booth made his way over and showed us the new sealed drag model. Great looking reel! Very excited to see some of the bigger models once they are released. After parting ways and getting a few steps out of the booth he yelled back over to me to get my attention holding an Abel cap. He walked over to me, thanked me for being a customer, and proceeded to give me a cap. It's the little things...locked me in as an Abel guy for life! lol
After looking through numerous manufactures I knew it was time to do some shopping to keep Heather's interest. We stopped by the Hunter Banks booth, which started to peak her interest after seeing some nice Patagonia & Simms clothing, but it was the TCO booth that won her over. TCO is a fly shop that has a location about 2 hrs south of me back home, which I frequent quite often. Jake, who runs the Reading location who I buy pretty much everything I own from immediately came over to say hello and help us out. On top of it the woman who works at the State College location came over to help out Heather and really introduce her to the women's lines as well as to talk about fly fishing. I apologize as I do not remember her name, but she was wonderful! She really peaked Heather's interest and was very helpful. By the time we had moved on from the TCO booth Heather had a Patagonia pull over as well as a Simms Fall Run Jacket and very excited about the possibility of trying to fly fish.
Next it was off to the Scott booth!!! I was so excited and was really hoping to get a chance to meet Jimmy Bartschi. To my excitement Jimmy was at the booth, but was deep in conversation with another patron so I proceeded to look at the rods. Ken, the NJ sales rep for Scott came over to help me, which ended up turning into a 30-45 min conversation. Meanwhile Teresa, who use to do all the Scott hand painted signatures, who now designs their rods for females had caught Heather's attention. By the time we left I was reminded exactly why Scott initially caught my eye and was very happy to see they were the company/people I had hoped for. On top of it Heather had a wonderful time picking Teresa's ear and has since decided she would like to give this great sport a shot and would like to do so with a Scott A4W! lol Unfortunately, Jimmy was now deep in another conversation so we left the booth without getting to talk to him. When walking by later in the day he was free so we stopped again to say hello. That simple hello turned into another 30 min conversation, which was filled with some of Jimmy's fly fishing adventures as well as rod selection help, which I was seeking. I don't know if I have ever spoken to anybody in my life who had the passion for what they did that Jimmy Bartschi does for fly fishing and rod design.
We made our way to the Patagonia booth and met another interesting character, Rachel Finn. Rachel is on Patagonia's pro staff as well as Scott & Nautilus. She is also the head guide at Hungry Trout Resort in the Adirondacks. If you have never heard of this women look her up, what a treat! If you see some of the pictures or videos of her I would like to confirm that yes that is a cigar she is smoking! lol After speaking for her for a while we made our way to the Hungry Trout booth. Field & Stream has named this place a top 25 destination and let me tell you it looks great! Hung out there a while and are already planning a trip up this summer.
To end the trip we made our way back to TK's that evening for a bite to eat (small menu, bar food, but really good) and a few adult beverages. Mark & Mark, 2 guides from Hungry Trout made there way there and I believe the 4 of us put quite a shift in at the bar!
One other thing I would like to add is that about a year and a half ago I purchased a net from the classified adds on this site. Since then I remained in touch with Fredy, the gentleman who I purchased it from. He has been a great source of info and has helped me a great amount to get into this sport. After talking over the phone, text, and facebook I finally got to meet my friend Fredy, which was also a great experience. It just goes to speak of this great sport and all the great people it allows you to meet.
The show was amazing and we will definitely be back next year. My suggestion to those going for the first time...get a room for Fri & Sat night. Enjoy at least 2 days of the show and spend time going to the seminars. My only regret is not going to more seminars. Any questions feel free to post in the thread and I will try to answer them the best I can.
I attended the Somerset show this year for the first time and all I can say is wow! The experience far surpassed all expectations I had for it. First off a little background info...
I've been fly fishing for about 2 years now so am still very new to the sport and consider myself a novice/beginner. The original plan was to head down early Sat morning, spend all day Sat & Sun at the show and then come back home (NEPA, about 2 hr drive) Sun once the show closed. Unfortunately, once we (my gf Heather and I) made the definitive decision to stay over Sat night, the DoubleTree was all sold out. Not wanting to spend $, only wanting to use Hilton points at the DoubleTree we decided to just do a down and back Sat. Sitting at a bar at home at 8pm on Fri night we decided to check room availability and because of the impending snow storm some rooms had opened up for Friday night so we booked the room for that night, left the bar, and got to Somerset around 11pm Fri night.
After a free upgrade to the presidential suite for the night we made our way to TK's a bar within the DoubleTree. The hotel was very nice, very clean, and it was obvious TK's was the place to be. Sat morning we woke up to about 8in of snow and were very happy we decided to travel down the night before. We also made the call to book a room for Sat night as it did not look like we were going to want to drive home Sat night after the show. Staying at the DoubleTree would have cost us $160, so we booked the Courtyard Marriot about 2 min down the road for $70. The reason I got into all the hotel details is so people who have not been to this show know the advantages of where to stay. DoubleTree is nice, but pricey compared to the surrounding hotels. The advantage is you get the bar you'll want to be at without the drive.
Even though we stayed over Fri & Sat night the plan was to only do Sat of the show. We had to get back home semi early Sun, which is why we didn't go to the show for a 2nd day. Because of this we limited the amount of seminars we attended. In fact the show was so large we decided to only attend 1 seminar. What I'll do different next year...1. No doubt stay Fri & Sat night. 2. Attend both Sat & Sun of the show. 3. Book a cheap room, no need to pay the premium to stay at the DoubleTree. 4. Do more seminars.
Now onto my highlights of the show itself...
Since I've just started to dabble into fly tying and I'm a big fan of buying really inexpensive flies since I lose a lot and am basically starting out with none I didn't have much interest in the tyers. While walking down the aisles we would glace at and admire their work, but not spend tons of time there. Until Heather, who is 26 yrs old and had no interest in fly fishing until this Sat, sees her 7th grade math teacher. Here he is one of the featured tyers for the show and a founding member of the TU chapter back home. So we stopped, said hello and spent a bit of time chatting it up with Mike Romanowski. Not only was he kind enough to give each of us one of his specialty flies that he ties, but he invited us to the shop he ties at locally to help with my skills and also give Heather and introduction to tying, which really started to grab her interest.
One gentleman who I was especially interested to meet was Jeff Currier. I saw he was going to be at the show and had recognized him from watching the Confluence Films "Connect" & "Waypoints." After stopping by his booth and taking a look at his art, which both he and his wife were there selling we were able to steal a bit of his time to have a nice conversation. On top of that this was the one seminar we attended, which was based around a few of his trout adventures throughout the globe. The older gentleman in the Dos XX commercials should immediately be fired and replaced by Jeff as I truly believe he very well may be the most interesting man in the world. He is one of the easiest most approachable people to talk to that I have ever met. A true jack of all trades that we thoroughly enjoyed our time with both him and his wife. I highly recommend you check out his artwork as well as introduce yourself to him if you ever get the chance.
Of course a stop by the Abel booth was a must as I love my Super 4N. After spending some time admiring the amazing finishes the younger gentleman working the booth made his way over and showed us the new sealed drag model. Great looking reel! Very excited to see some of the bigger models once they are released. After parting ways and getting a few steps out of the booth he yelled back over to me to get my attention holding an Abel cap. He walked over to me, thanked me for being a customer, and proceeded to give me a cap. It's the little things...locked me in as an Abel guy for life! lol
After looking through numerous manufactures I knew it was time to do some shopping to keep Heather's interest. We stopped by the Hunter Banks booth, which started to peak her interest after seeing some nice Patagonia & Simms clothing, but it was the TCO booth that won her over. TCO is a fly shop that has a location about 2 hrs south of me back home, which I frequent quite often. Jake, who runs the Reading location who I buy pretty much everything I own from immediately came over to say hello and help us out. On top of it the woman who works at the State College location came over to help out Heather and really introduce her to the women's lines as well as to talk about fly fishing. I apologize as I do not remember her name, but she was wonderful! She really peaked Heather's interest and was very helpful. By the time we had moved on from the TCO booth Heather had a Patagonia pull over as well as a Simms Fall Run Jacket and very excited about the possibility of trying to fly fish.
Next it was off to the Scott booth!!! I was so excited and was really hoping to get a chance to meet Jimmy Bartschi. To my excitement Jimmy was at the booth, but was deep in conversation with another patron so I proceeded to look at the rods. Ken, the NJ sales rep for Scott came over to help me, which ended up turning into a 30-45 min conversation. Meanwhile Teresa, who use to do all the Scott hand painted signatures, who now designs their rods for females had caught Heather's attention. By the time we left I was reminded exactly why Scott initially caught my eye and was very happy to see they were the company/people I had hoped for. On top of it Heather had a wonderful time picking Teresa's ear and has since decided she would like to give this great sport a shot and would like to do so with a Scott A4W! lol Unfortunately, Jimmy was now deep in another conversation so we left the booth without getting to talk to him. When walking by later in the day he was free so we stopped again to say hello. That simple hello turned into another 30 min conversation, which was filled with some of Jimmy's fly fishing adventures as well as rod selection help, which I was seeking. I don't know if I have ever spoken to anybody in my life who had the passion for what they did that Jimmy Bartschi does for fly fishing and rod design.
We made our way to the Patagonia booth and met another interesting character, Rachel Finn. Rachel is on Patagonia's pro staff as well as Scott & Nautilus. She is also the head guide at Hungry Trout Resort in the Adirondacks. If you have never heard of this women look her up, what a treat! If you see some of the pictures or videos of her I would like to confirm that yes that is a cigar she is smoking! lol After speaking for her for a while we made our way to the Hungry Trout booth. Field & Stream has named this place a top 25 destination and let me tell you it looks great! Hung out there a while and are already planning a trip up this summer.
To end the trip we made our way back to TK's that evening for a bite to eat (small menu, bar food, but really good) and a few adult beverages. Mark & Mark, 2 guides from Hungry Trout made there way there and I believe the 4 of us put quite a shift in at the bar!
One other thing I would like to add is that about a year and a half ago I purchased a net from the classified adds on this site. Since then I remained in touch with Fredy, the gentleman who I purchased it from. He has been a great source of info and has helped me a great amount to get into this sport. After talking over the phone, text, and facebook I finally got to meet my friend Fredy, which was also a great experience. It just goes to speak of this great sport and all the great people it allows you to meet.
The show was amazing and we will definitely be back next year. My suggestion to those going for the first time...get a room for Fri & Sat night. Enjoy at least 2 days of the show and spend time going to the seminars. My only regret is not going to more seminars. Any questions feel free to post in the thread and I will try to answer them the best I can.