I had a terrific time at the Heartland Fly Fishing Festival in Lebanon, Indiana over the weekend. The show had a really good turnout and we were able to talk fly fishing all weekend of course.
The highlight for me was getting a chance to talk to Chuck Kraft once again. Chuck is a legend of our sport and has designed many extremely effective flies. To name a few, the Kreelex, Clawdad, CK Baitfish, and many creative top water bugs.
Paul Beel and Chuck Kraft
Chuck also has his own signature rod produced by Reilly Rod Crafters. Check them out for some quality fly rods!
I had an enjoyable time talking to the many people that attended and was pleased to see many younger people interested in fly tying and fly fishing.
I spoke with many of the exhibitors as well. Such as the people from the Orvis store in Carmel, Indiana, Moving Waters Outfitters out of Zionsville, Indiana, and Kevin Feenstra from Feenstra Guide Service up in Michigan.
I had interesting conversations with Mangled Fly a new guiding service from Northern Michigan. Jon Ray and Ed McCoy were great to talk with and we may have some plans to work together a bit. Jon had some Eli Berant streamer patterns tied up using my Werewolf Hair, which was really cool!
I also spoke with Tony who owns Semper Fly Rods
and specializes in his own line of rods, plus custom fly rod builds.
I spent some time at the casting pond with certified instructor and friend of mine, Don Pendleton. Don is the person who taught me how to cast. We were practicing some 60 foot roll casts trying to hit a hoop at the end of the pond. We had some interesting conversations regarding Joan Wulff and Mel Krieger. Two fly casters you should look into if you want to improve your fly casting.
Three good fly tying friends were at the show and I spent a lot of time chatting and having fun with them. John and Katie Demuth of Demuth Fly Fishing and Joe Jackson Sgt. Bassfisher.
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- Yukon Cornelius tied by Joe Jackson
Speaking of friends, my buddy Eric Corya, who you might know as @CarpStalker1 on Instagram stopped by and we chatted for awhile. We are both ready to hunt some carp this year. Hopefully I will have plenty of photos to post of Eric and I catching some carp on the fly!
There were many demos and speakers during the show and I highly recommend this fly fishing show to anyone who is interested in our sport. Next up, a show in Cincinnati!
