It's been a great show, and my butt is dragging. Lots of "stuff" at great prices and huge numbers of friendly builders to strike up conversations with. Seminars I've attended have been top notch, highly useful and very well attended.

The reception was "wall to wall" rodbuilders, all in a state of excitement to be here. Forgot to mention that the various vendors are as dedicated as the builders and answer every possible question with great knowledge of product line. It's a wonderful place to blow a budget.

Time to get rested up for tomorrow - I'm so tired I skipped dinner and just snacked on SwampLand's cajun jerky and peanut butter crackers..

Wish all builders could have been here,

Stan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2006 09:23PM by Stan Gregory.

Wish I could have made it this year Stan. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

Big John
Rio Hondo, Texas
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting

Man, it was a good day, wasn't it? Everyone was friendly and helpful, and I won a $50 gift certificate! That more than pays for two day's admission and parking.
Steve Broadwell

I expected a good crowd, this this has already exceeded my own expectatios by quite a wide margin. The overall attendance, vendors sales figures, seminar attendance, etc., are all well above last year. Two vendors told me this evening that their one day sales so far have exceeded their two day sales total from last year. The seminars are drawing roughly twice as many people as last year. The RodMaker Reception was nearly too large to fit into the same room we had last year. Next year, we'll have to have more room, more food, more everthing. This type of increase was just above and beyond what I was expecting.

Two minor annoyances which I'll outline later and which we''ll correct for next year. But overall, the smiles on the faces of the participants pretty much say it all. I think the photos that I'll have to post on Monday are going to turn more than a few heads. This thing has been nothing short of absolutely fabulous thus far, and we're only halfway done. I can't imagine how we'll top it nextr year, but somehow, we'll try.

...........

I had a couple of local friends who were manning a booth for an outfitter from Montana. They were promoting trips to Montana and Chile. They were of the firm opinion that they had much more traffic at the booth this year because of the National Rod Builders Show. Given that they have been to each and every Fly Fishing Show in Charlotte since the beginning as either an exhibitor or visitor, I think their opinion carries some weight.

They thought the combination of the FF Show with the Nat. Rod Builders show was a great thing and that the two groups were not mutually exclusive.

Tom, I think you can use this as an argument with the promoters of the Fly Fishing Show for next year if you need to push for more room for the Rod Builders Show.

John Richardson

I was told on Friday, that the National Rod Builders Show had "saved" the Fly Fishing Show. Our event is the headliner now (proably was last year as well) and the decision that has to be made is whether or not to continue to hold the two in conjunction or just do the rod building portion by itself. We have a lot of pull at this point and depending on what concessions the Convention Center will grant in the way of lower admission fees, better equipment, ect., we'll have to make a decision on which way to go.

But I'm going to finish up the remainder of the show today and then come back and finish the next magazine. Later next month I can start worrying over those decisions. Hopefully by mid April I'll be able to determine where to go from here. We certainly have a large group of very happy manufacturers and dealers, along with a really huge group of rod builders who seem pretty happy as well. But as always, there is room for improvement and I'll work towards that end.

.........

Thanks Tom for a great show. Your cast of characters was superb. "Characters" is the right word. Great bunch.

My first of hopefully many shows. The show was great because of the people involved. I have already begun to save for next years show.

Took Bill Stevens five minutes and I could tie a nail knot for the first time. Thanks Bill. Very interesting flocking seminar.

Andy Dear gave a very informal and enjoyable seminar on fit and finish that made me rethink a number of issues. Thanks Andy.

Rich Forhan's seminar on innovative rod building went too quickly. Rich showed a spinning rod grip that was really neat. I'll start glueing up a similar girp tomorrow. Thanks Rich.

If you want to see some really fine work, you need to go to Joe Emig's polyester casting seminar. The detail is fantastic, thanks Joe.

I missed Jim Upton's seminar because of a time lapse. I heard it was great.

rhr

Tom

Attended yesterday. A great show all around. Hope you will keep the two together as one big show.

Thanks

As a rod builder who has little interest in fly-fishing and even less in salmonids, I for one would not miss the fly-fishing portion of the show at all. I know that there are a number of good reasons for doing the joint show, not the least of which is that fly fishermen tend to be willing to spend big $$$ on gear and that includes custom rods and/or components.

Still, I have to wonder how much of my $24 admission fee went to the fly-fishing show promoter, as opposed to you Tom. IMHO you deserved every penny of it!

I've got to sit down and do some thinking about where to go from here. The Rod Builders Show is easily large enough to stand on its own. I did not find it the least bit humerous that the Convention Center decided to jack the admission price up by $2 the morning the show opened. I realize that $2 is not a big deal, but advertising something at one price and then charging another is certainly a big deal in my book. We shouid be letting you guys in for $5 per day. And next year, that might just happen.

............

Tom,

I'd have paid $15 per day for the priveledge of being there just for the wealth of information available. This coming from a guy who lives on a fixed income from month to month!!

Bill in WV