Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop 9th Annual Fly Fishing Expo
SATURDAY, MARCH 31st 2012 ~ 9:00am TO 4:00pm
Our Annual Fly Fishing Expo is a celebration of the sport of fly fishing. This event attracts fly fishermen from all over New England who come to share in the camaraderie and festive atmosphere. Every year this event gets bigger and everyone comes away from it ready for the beginning of a new fishing season.
Bamboo rod builder Fred Kretchman of F. D. Kretchman Rod Co. will be here demonstrating some of the intricacy's involved in crafting bamboo fly rods. This includes splitting cane, preparing nodes and strips, tapering strips, gluing strips together, straightening sections, and mounting guides and other hardware. He will bring both raw materials and rod sections in various stages of completion as well as some equipment including the Morgan Hand Mill. In addition to demonstrating the bamboo rod building process he will have completed rods on display and some vintage rods, some of which will be for sale. I am excited to announce that we now have a cane cabinet in our store which is dedicated to display new bamboo fly rods built by Fred. As of this moment we have 5 of Fred's exquisitely crafted cane rods in stock.
Maine Guide Kevin McKay and member of Scott Fly Rods and Hatch Fly Reels Pro Team and founder of maineflyfish will be here.
We'll have a large casting area along side a huge tent under which will be a diverse display of fly rods manned by reps or pro's from Hardy, Sage, Scott, Winston, Echo and Greys set up and ready to compare and test cast at your leisure. Look below for more details on casting your way into a raffle.
Spey Casting Demo
Expert two-handed caster Topher Browne will be here to show interested attendees some of the techniques for overhead casting with a two hander that will be helpful for those who want to chase stripers or anything else with the extra long rod.
Tophers spey casting demonstration will be held at the main casting area.
Start time: 12:00 noon.
Test Cast 100'S of Fly Rods!!
Manufacturers Reps From:
Sage ~ Winston ~ Scott ~ Hardy ~ Hatch ~ Fishpond ~ Simms ~ Rio ~ Tibor ~ Greys ~ Echo ~ And More!
Hardy Reels*
Bring your Hardy Reels to the Expo and John Shaner of Hardy North America will clean and lube your reels for free. John has a wealth of knowledge about Hardy reels and will be able to tell you much about the history and maker of your new or old Hardy reel.
*NOTE: We are sorry to announce that John Shaner will not be able to make it to this years Expo due to personal reasons. Eldredge Bros Fly Shop and Hardy North America apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
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Register to win prizes from Sage, Winston, Scott, Hardy/Greys, Echo
If you test cast any fly rod, the representative from that rod company will give you a ticket to put in that company's bucket. At the end of the day we will be drawing a winner from each company's bucket for the following items.
HARDY: Hardy Proaxis Fly Rod (your choice of length and line weight) - $749.00 value
SCOTT: Scott A4 Fly Rod (your choice of length and line weight) - $375.00 value
SAGE: Sage Flight Fly Rod (your choice of length and line weight) - $360.00 value
WINSTON: Winston VSL Fly Rod (your choice of length and line weight) - $328.00 value
ECHO: Echo Edge Fly Rod (your choice of length and line weight) - $250.00 value
Door Prizes
Dyna King Kingfisher Vise (your choice of pedestal or c-clamp) - $149.00 value
1 of 2 $50.00 gift certificates for Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop
All of the flies tied by Joe Calcavecchia during the Expo in an Eldredge Bros Fly Box - Priceless
All of flies tied by Peter Smith during the Expo in an Eldredge Bros Fly Box - Priceless
Raffle
A four Hour Guided Fishing Trip w/ Capt. Mark Drummond - $300.00 value
Tickets: $5.00 each or $20.00 for 5 tickets
Professional Fly Tying Demo
Joe Calcavecchia ~ Saltwater Custom Flies & Peter Smith ~ SSFlies
Both Joe and Peter have tied flies for our shop for years. They are extraordinary production fly tiers who tie thousands of flies a year. Their attention to detail is evident in their flies and a testament to their skills. Joe and Peter will be tying in our shop during the entire day and will be willing to help you with any fly tying questions that you may have. Every fly that Joe and Peter tie during the Expo will be put into two Eldredge Bros. fly boxes and given away as a door prize.
Free Aquatic Entomology Seminars by Dick Babine
Dick is a registered Maine guide who has spent a life time studying our aquatic insects and imitating them with a no nonsense and practical approach to fly design. Dick will be doing 4 - one hour long power point seminars on three types of insects commonly found in Maine waters. They will cover Mayflies, Caddis flies, Stoneflies, and Midges. At the end of each seminar you will be asked to write your email address down and Dick will e-mail you a free comprehensive E-booklet that expands on what he covers in the seminar. You will be amazed by the amount of information included in each of Dick's E-booklets.
1st Seminar: Stoneflies / 9:30am till 10:30am
2nd Seminar: Mayflies / 11:00am till 12:00pm
3rd Seminar: Caddis flies / 12:30pm till 1:30pm
4th Seminar: Midges / 2:00pm till 3:00pm
Free Antique Tackle Appraisals
Sante Giuliani and Danny LeRoux will be here doing Free appraisals on old fishing gear. Sante is one of the country's leading authorities on antique bamboo fly rods and Danny is an authority on old plugs, lures, reels, tackle boxes and anything that ever went into them. If you've got an old cane rod or just anything fishing related that's old, bring it by. You might be sitting on a gold mine or you may have something with a very interesting background.
Free Fly Line
Any purchase totaling over $300.00 receives a free fly line of your choice.
This deal is also available to any email orders placed between March 30th and April 1st.
(Spey lines & Versi tips not included)
Free Food
Great Bay Trout Unlimited members Jeff Barnum, Mitch Kalter and Wendy Nixon will be the chefs on hand. They will have the grills fired up and be serving free hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, veggie burgers, soda, and coffee all day long to anyone with an appetite. We will have The Big Green Egg chefs here handing out all types of free culinary delights cooked in the Green Egg. There will also be free breakfast sandwiches & doughnuts for those who get here early.
This is a "RAIN OR SHINE OR SNOW OR HAIL OR WICKED NASTY NOREASTER" event. As we've seen from previous events there is no weather that can stop a hardy New Englander from following their passion and we will not let it stop us from holding this event. Don't forget to bring your foul weather gear so you can still cast rods comfortably if it's sleeting sideways. March 31st, 2012 from 9:00am till 4:00pm here at the Fly Shop.