The Underground Headed Above Ground: Flies to FFR in Denver

Flying’s a lot more palatable when there’s a fly fishing trip waiting at the end, and since there isn’t one waiting this trip, I’ll let you know if a fly fishing trade show softens the blow of air travel.

Still, it will be nice to meet the bloggers I’ve been trading links with the last couple years, and free beer is a reality that’s hard to ignore.

In truth, I’m not much for the latest gear — most of the stuff I use is at least five years old (some of my Phillipsons are more like 60).

That means I’m not likely to get worked up into a lather over the latest titanium nano-tubed fly rod that allows me to cast five feet farther than my old rod — which already allows me to cast farther than I need to — but in five years, all this new gear will have been thoroughly tested, so the stuff that doesn’t work will presumably be sitting on the junk pile.

Of course, a lot of the stuff that does work will be languishing in closets, and the “make room for what’s new now” crowd will be selling it for pennies on the dollar, which fits far better into the budget of a writer than the same gear bought today.

And while the bigger companies fire up the PR machines, I plan to focus a little more on the smaller companies — those without a PR firm on retainer.

I’m talking about the companies where when you walk up to booth and make eye contact with someone behind the counter, you’re probably talking to the owner or the guy who actually made the thing.

These companies typically don’t field PR events or do much more than send out press releases, but sometimes their products are the stuff of genius, and it deserves far more attention than it typically gets.

I also plan to announce the Underground’s first “Smash & Grab” award on a daily basis — a prize given to the company whose product I’d most like to steal from the show floor by distracting the booth people with a Sully-inspired ”Hey — look over there at the wardrobe malfunction on that booth babe!”

For now, it’s Power to the People. I guess that’s the Underground’s motto this week (normally it’s “Catch lots of Fish” but I won’t be fishing).

See you in Denver, Tom Chandler.

[tags]fly fishing, fishing, ffr, fly fishing retailer[/tags]