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FEBRUARY 2011 ANGLING E-NEWS
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Hackle: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?
Fashion or Fad, the New Style Twist Has Fly Shops (and Salons) Counting Their Chickens...
By Tim Romano
and Kirk Deeter
If you wake up one morning and notice all your fly tying hackles are gone, check with the Mrs., or perhaps your daughter. Seems that one of the newest and hottest style trends involves using premium hackle as women's hair extensions.
The idea took off in and around Boulder, Colorado, but has since spread to California and elsewhere. They are called Feather extensions... extensions bonded with carotene wax. Cost is $5 for one feather, and up to $25 for 5-7 feathers. (You do the math to value a typical cape of feathers in a busy salon.) The more expensive versions are called "couture" feathers and feature the best hackle available... hence the sudden massive demand for fine feathers. The extensions last in hair for about 2 weeks (cold fusion), or up to 2 months for the hot fusion variety... Continue reading on AnglingTrade.com
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Chicago-Colorado Fly Shop Theft Suspects Still on the Loose
Check out the surveillance video at Anglingtrade.com
In early February, we reported at anglingtrade.com on a string of thefts affecting Colorado Fly Shops. The perps were apparently two couples, looking quite upscale... one couple distracted the shop workers as the other lifted high end gear like Spey Rods, and so forth. Since the report and posting a photo of the suspects on our website (which spiked anglingtrade.com traffic through the roof, and prompted comments from many shops around the country that had been similarly hit), we have not heard of additional thefts, nor have we heard that the suspects have been apprehended. Stay alert!
Read the comment thread from shops with insights on the thefts...
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The Power of Social Media
The Egyptian revolution is being coined, "The Facebook Revolution". Although there is truth in this statement, it is important to distinguish social media as a powerful tool for communication and organizing, but not as the main reason for this revolution. After 30 years under a corrupt government, social media provided a forum to spur important debate along and to empower people who had little to no hope. This empowerment of people coming together is older than the knights templar. Collaboration is an extremely valuable tool and, as a business leader, one that you should be seeking.
Two months ago, Angling Trade Magazine set up a fly fishing business group on LinkedIn, a popular business related social media provider. It is similar to Facebook but with a strong professional business framework.
Here are just a few topics that you can find in the Angling Trade group...
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A Wrap on "The Fly Fishing Show"
By Joe Cermele
When the wind is gusting 20 miles-per-hour, there is ten inches of snow and ice on the ground, and the temperature is hovering around 17, who is willing to stand outside and test a fly rod?
More people than I thought.
I had to pause at the entrance to the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, New Jersey, and grin this January, watching dedicated enthusiasts shivering for the sake of a Spey rod test. It told me that anglers were here to buy, and gauging the number of folks on the floor chatting with outfitters in far-flung locales, I'm willing to say it looks like they're at least thinking about traveling again, too.
However, travel- and destination-related seminars weren't quite as bustling as the show floor, though Saturday's seminar attendance spiked, according to a few presenters. Regardless, rods, reels, lines, and flies were moving and spirits were up, even more so than last year when despite a tougher economic climate, vendors seemed content with their show business... Continue reading on AnglingTrade.com
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Product Review: G.Loomis NRX... Yeah, It's All That
One of the things we will never do at Angling Trade is write an opinion or review of a product until we've actually fished with it, in it, or on it. We'll run press releases on our website, we'll tell you when certain things are available, and we might convey what someone else—including the promo-speak from the manufacturer—thinks... but you'll never see a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" comment with an AT label until we've fished it. House rules. (Granted, you might disagree, and tell us where to stick that thumb, based on your own experience... but in terms of subjective reviews, ours only happen after we've taken something on the water.)
As such, I have been waiting for several months to give the new G.Loomis NRX a good test drive on the river. I did the casting pond shebang, and thought it felt right... but casting in a three-inch deep plastic pool is not fly fishing, no matter how you slice it.
Casting at wild browns, rainbows, and brook trout in a remote and relatively untamed region of Argentina (in and around the northern Patagonia village of Alumine)... all sight fishing... all clear water... well, that is a real test.
And there, the NRX... Continue reading on AnglingTrade.com
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Quotable
 "We are completely spoiled by the quantity and quality of choices in gear,
up and down the price range."
- Marshall Cutchin, Midcurrent.com.
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Data Trends
A recent AnglersSurvey.com report indicated "access" (or lack thereof) was a problem that affects one in five anglers. When asked if, in the past year, they had to cancel a trip of stop fishing a particular area because they no longer could access it, 19.5 percent of those anglers interviewed said they had.
As indicated in the "Access" Issue of Angling Trade (December 2008), "If you build it, they will come... if you build a fence around it, they won't." Is pay-to-play access the wave of the future, or will it be the death of fly fishing for trout in America?
Continue here for a more in-depth look. |
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