I'm back home in Florida after a good Show in Philadelphia. First I want to thank my friend and Event Promoter Dave DeGenarro for having me and the team there to head up the fly fishing/casting component of this excellent fishing event. Likewise my grateful thanks to the "Crew" that volunteered to assist me at the A.F.F.S. exhibit and fly casting "pond", Members and A.F.F.S. friends. Some included Fly Guide, Chip Jablonski of WALK ON THE WILD SIDE GUIDES Allentown, PA. for his time and skill at the tying vise and the casting pond,  Nick Pullano, N.J., my old fishing buddy, photographer, and media guru. Christian DelCollo, N.J., BATTLEWAGON BOATS President, for providing and transporting my 13' Fly Fishing/LT 13 from the Factory to the Show and then answering all the Show attendees questions about Battlewagon Boats. Also very glàd to have my old friend Steve Monahan, N.J., Fly Fishing Product Rep for Temple Fork Outfitters rods & reels at our display on Friday and Saturday.  Steve provided the latest 5 wt. travel combo for attendees to test cast at the Pond. Providing tips and casting pointers to all that requested them.  A new face at our display this year was Fred Wilson from Candlewood Lake, CT.  He was very helpful with students helping with teaching them at the Pond. I am looking forward to working with Fred again in the future. I always enjoy spending time talking with so many old industry friends and making some new ones as well.  On the business end of things for A.F.F.S. I finalized the deal and worked on many details with Christian about moving his sponsorship forward.   Now I have another official new job. I'm ñow the first-ever National Sales Rep at Battlewagon for the Fishing and Hunting models. The racing boat models will all continue to be the exclusive domain of Christian the owner, designer, and builder of Battlewagon Boats.  Christian is a completely addicted boat racer and I am not.  In fact, most Battlewagon hulls are designed first for that purpose and are later refined and rigged to suit fishermen and hunters in various models to meet those requirements. My little red 13' beauty is an adaptation of the highly successful 12' "Muddy Duck" for waterfowl hunters. The Muddy Duck was designed and built to transport hunters, dogs, guns and decoys safely across choppy bays and estuary waters often in colder climates while doing it both safely and dry.  I first saw a 13' BW at the Atlantic City Boat Show in 2018.  I knew that it would make a great fly fishing micro skiff for crossing rough waters to reach protected backwaters where productive shallow water fly fishing is often found. Would you like a test ride here in Florida? Oh Yes,  we do have some open and sometimes choppy Bays that have to be crossed to reach the best Mangrove creeks. Give me a call and we will schedule it. Other product lines were added at this Event including eyeware, hook sharpeners and a great new underwater camera system. More details on this in upcoming posts.

INSIDE SHOW BUSINESS

I'm getting ready to fly up North again this Wednesday in the middle of winter to participate at another Sportsmen Show.  I love to do Shows but I sure hope the weather will not be too bad while I am there.  Our South West Florida weather has me spoiled. This one is the PHILADELPHIA FISHING SHOW 2/21-23 at the GREATER PHILADELPHIA AREA EXPO CENTER in the suburb of Oaks, PA. This is the second year for this show and for A.F.F.S. being there.  It promises to be even bigger and better than last year, which hit a home run from its opening day. This is exactly what I forecast would happen when the N.M.M.A. in its "wisdom" decided to walk away from its successful (by attendance numbers) Sportsmen Show in this exact same venue.  I advised my long time friend, Dave DeGenarro (Fisherman Flea Markets promoter of 1 day events in New Jersey and New York) to take a shot with this opportunity. Dave is quite glad he listened and I suppose the other Show promoter I also urged to take it but did not, now wishes he had listened to me.  Instead, the other promoters' main event in New Jersey sadly continues to deteriorate in its quality of exhibitors yet it survives simply because of the population density in that market and the general publics' boredom during wintertime in the Metropolitan N.Y.C. area.  There is always a new "crop" of vendors, guides, charter captains, products and services that have a dream and can be persuaded to take an exhibitor booth or space.  Sadly we did not participate at this Event in January as we have for the past 30 years and may not ever again. Generally speaking, the more successful exhibitors become, the more they realize they will do far better by participating at targeted specialty shows such as the FLY FISHING SHOW, SALTWATER FISHING SHOW, KAYAK, CAMPER or BOAT SHOWS. You can put on just about anything in North Jersey called a Sportsmen Show and get away with it as long as no one else comes along and puts on a better one.  Unfortunately, this is now practically impossible, as there is only 1 Exhibition Hall left that has the facilities to host such an event since the closing of the Hall in Somerset, N.J. None of the 5 Boros of N.Y. have one except the Javitts Center which priced way out of Promoters, Vendors and most attendees price ranges.  The only viable venue left is the N.J. Convention Center in Edison, N.J.  The same thing happened in the Philly Market with the closure of the Fort Washington and Valley Forge facilities leaving only the Oaks Expo Center available. It is true that there is the downtown Convention center in Philly but the costs involved there for promoters, vendors and attendees also make it not a viable option. So that's the inside story on the business of Shows.  Looking forward to seeing a number of my old friends and new acquaintances next weekend. 
  

8/20/18.. Things have started to get moving a bit more this past week and after this Thursday it should hopefully bring me to the point where I can book a flight to Jersey to go and get the Motor Home and pull the Show trailer back down here to Florida to do some needed repairs on it and to unload a ton of equipment and the last load of household goods for here that I have packed in it from the house sale in Jersey.
Locally I have been busy speaking with some Show promoters about the 2019 season. Looks like we will be adding at least one more major Show to our Event Calendar in New England and possibly two. Plus we confirmed with Rick Rosalina, President of OSG. for having the AFFS Trailer at the Garden State Outdoors Show again this January 10 - 13th.  We will be exhibiting at a lot more Events such as Boat Shows, Art Festivals and Fishing Tournaments in Florida during 2019 now that Bill and Barb Haldaman are located here. Our "New" old  Motorhome will be the AFFS mobile office for many of our future events once we have completed rigging it up inside with all the fly fishing and video tech equipment,  We also plan on giving it a new graphics facelift to compliment the A.F.F.S. Show trailer it will be towing. This is how it looks at present waiting for the new graphics to be applied.

           

Bill Haldaman is selling his 5th wheel camper that is a really nice unit for someone to enjoy. I have it listed on Craig's list and Let Go here in Florida and posted on all the major online sites for selling RV's nationwide, Through our association with a marketing network for RV's, Boats, Campers and Trucks. As part of our operations here in Florida A.F.F.S. has now launched its full service brokerage/ sales operations. We have located this new component of our operations at a private 24 hour gated storage facility in N. Fort Myers where my good friend Mike the "Mechanic" CiCi has his service shop onsite. This allows us to offer complete mechanical service including welding, painting, electrical, cabinetry, A/C, custom canvas and carpeting installations in addition to professional general mechanical repair work for our clients. We now have full access to realistic financing for prospective buyers and transport shipping to all 48 States and most of North America if required. 

Bill Haldaman's 5th wheel Camper   $29,000 or make an offer 

https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/rvs/d/open-range-2014-light-5th/6666386686.html

Beautiful condition OPEN RANGE 2014 5th wheel camper with many options including 2 motorized bump outs, A.C. - Heat, furniture, upgraded beds and much more. Call or text me for an appointment to see it. You will not be disappointed with this EZ tow "lightweight model" with lots of heavy-duty features. Price has some room for negotiation so come take a look and talk about it. You will need a pickup, 150 series or higher, with a 5th wheel hitch. Short beds are O.K. for hauling this unit. 150 / 2500 series or greater are recommended for towing this unit. Installation of a new 5th wheel system on your truck is available with our onsite mechanic for a very reasonable charge if you need that service to get set up to haul it. Full financing is available with Extended Warranty availability. Nationwide Shipping from Florida is available. Call Capt. Mike for full information on these services. 

If you have an RV, Pick-Up, SUV, Boats, Camper, Utility Trailer, Motorcycle, Snow Mobile, ATV, Custom Golf Cart, Kayaks, Fly Fishing Equipment or whatever and wherever and you want some help to sell it. We are available at the lowest possible costs to get it done. Phone or Text us any time at 732-267-0058

8/7/18.. After a week into this month, I finally have gotten around to posting again. The fly fishing scene is not all we hoped it would be this midsummer.  Here in S.W. Florida we have been hit with a double "whammy" of Green Algae and Red Tide "blooms".  The word from the Executive Industry Committee to the Florida incumbent Governor in office last year at ICAST was "You fix this Okeechobbe / Everglades water problem or start looking for a different line of occupation than a politician, as you will not be elected even as dog catcher any place in this State. Well, a year has come and gone and the situation is worse than last year.  I understand that no Governor can make federal authorities do anything by ordering them to do so. ie: Army Corp of Engineers running water releases from the dam at Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River but he can publically use his office to protest federal actions concerning these activities through the Media which he has ready access to and he can also refuse political contributions made to his fundraising. neither of which he has done except for recent press statements since the problem has been headlining on the News outlets. Quite frankly I normally prefer Republican politicians and their policies to those of tax and spend socialist programs that most Democrats prefer. In this case, however, it is so basic a need for correction that I would support a Democrat, Liberal, Socialist, Monarchist or any other political party affiliate that will actually fix this mess, because if it is not fixed "fairly" soon then everything here in the American tropics will eventually collapse.  The State Governors do have the power to remove residents from areas that are directly negatively impacting the welfare and economy of their States and the overall health of the economy of their States. People living in "shabby" trailer parks or farms close by Lake O's southern perimeter will have to be removed and resettled into other areas (like it or not) so that water releases from Lake O can be fed more directly into the Everglades after water treatment has been performed on this Lake water, which is too high in chemical composition from farming and ranching in areas north of Lake O which are feeding the excessive harmful "nutrients", pesticides, etc. into the watercourse that leads naturally south through Lake O then on to the Glades and eventually out into the Gulf.  Miners, Farmers, Citrus Growers, Ranchers, Communities and their residents located north of Lake O will have to comply with all regulations imposed for clean water release in this area. As for the Red Tide blooms and the massive fish and wildlife kills they bring along the coastline, there is less that can be done about this, other than the speedy removal of its casualties until science perfects an antidote to this bacteria that removes oxygen from seawater. Some years due to tides, currents, wind and inner ocean forces we receive less or more Red Tide along our beaches.  This year has been worse than other years and coupled with the unrelated Algae problem it has simply compounded and worsened the entire sad situation.  A fellow resident of the "Village" that I live in posted his comments about this problem on the O.B.Village F.B. Page yesterday and put it very well into historic context that is worth reading to better understand the situation at hand and how it got this way.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

6/6/18.. Well "Cowboy" Bill Haldaman arrived safe but not so "sound" from Montana with Barbara. They are now happily ensconced in their 5th wheel trailer with their 2 Labrador retrievers Brook and Brown at one of our nice local RV Parks, to wait for the closing on their new house at the end of the month. My "Not So Sound" comment is because Bill, who wears a pair of mini hearing aids and he thought he lost one of them in Montana before they left there. Turns out that was not quite the case.  Bill decided to put his earlier older larger aid in his ear to replace the missing newer device. All the way driving down the 3,000 miles from Montana he could not hear correctly with the older device in that ear. Then he started getting a pain in his head and his neck swelled up a bit. At one point he blacked out while towing the 5th wheel down the highway but somehow managed to coast harmlessly to the shoulder and woke back up again. Thinking he was just getting drowsy from driving, they soon found a parking spot at a truck stop and went to sleep. The first full day they were down here I had to go to the VA. for a cardiogram on my ticker (which turned out O.K.) and Bill needed to transfer his records here from the Montana VA., so we both went over there together. Bill told the on-duty Doc about his hearing problem and they gave him an exam right away. They discovered the mini aid was lodged in his eardrum and that by inserting the older aid in on top of it he had gotten it stuck deep inside. So when he turned it on the 2 aids in 1 ear were sending crazy signals to his brain. With quite a painful emergency extraction performed, they finally dug the little one out and he is O.K. except for a slightly bleeding eardrum for a couple of days. They are going to fit him with a new "improved" one next week. So 3 cheers and a salute for the good Docs on duty at the Cape Coral Pines VA. Clinic.  They say Bill will be fine and Good to Go on our Road trip up to S.C. later next week to pick up my flats boat and drop off my BATTLEWAGON trailer and do some bream fly fishing and maybe some redfish as well. We will be out looking at a few boats today that I have lined up for Bill and Barb to take a look at, as they want to get out on the water after our local fish population as soon as they can.

6/19/18 A.F.F.S. NEWS in the NET... 6/19/18  Good Morning with the latest fly report NEWS (unfortunate one this time) PA. Guide Paul Healy text me to report that he has to shut down his Pine Creek Camp operation until Fall hopefully brings some cooler weather and water to that area. In Paul's words here's the story in case you were thinking about heading to the Pine, Genesse or other nearby streams in North Central PA.

Sunday 6/17 P.M. ”Waters too warm now for fishing It's 69.8 It will go to 80 degrees air temp again tomorrow.  It may be too hot now for most of the trout to make it through to September except for those that can find a lie near a cold spring. It’s a damn shame because we have tons of trout left in the Creek from the earlier Upper Pine Club stockings". 
Monday 6/18 P.M... "Water now is 77.8 degrees It's officially over! Likely to see a die-off of trout now.  Going back to my house in the Poconos tomorrow”.  

Paul’s next reports will be from the Lehigh River area streams to let us know what he finds there on his return to his Home waters. Check back here later this week for the latest Pocono stream conditions.

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Good Morning and a HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all our Member Friends, Students, Clients, Readers and even you Fly Spies, as the late great, Butch Colvin referred to you.  It has been a pretty busy week here for me in S.W. Florida. The Gheenoe demo boat sold to a new customer Jon, that I suspect will also become a student and hopefully a long time client of A.F.F.S.  Jon is an Operations Mgr. at the big regional Wal-Mart distribution center in Punta Gorda. Jon is an avid flats fisherman that has already ordered a brand new Custom Gheenoe Lo-Tide 17' from the factory in Titusville. He just does not want to wait for the 5 to 6 months, until his new skiff is completed to go fishing, so he came and bought my demo boat to get him out on the water until his Lo-Tide 25 is ready to go. I have always been a bit perplexed by the size of my 15' Gheenoe NMZ, but it was titled that way by the factory and though I came up with a stem to stern tape measurement of 13'6" I figured Pughar was simply selling them as a 15' model for some reason? When Jon showed up to look at it for the first time, he noticed that shorter length right off and asked me if I had a tape measure to check it out length and beam plus the lower leg engine height with my 15 H.P. on the fixed factory jack plate.  As he was going to use a similar older Merc tiller engine he already owns. Low and behold, it confirmed both our suspicions that the skiff is a 13' NMZ not a 15' NMZ no matter what the paperwork says. The serial hull #  matches the documents but to get it registered as a 13' NMZ would require the manufacturer to do that paperwork correction for the DMV to be able to register it as a 13', not a 15' model. As it turns out this 13' NMZ will be a lot rarer than a 15' model and since the factory is now concentrating on their Lo-Tide 10 and 25 models. I'm sure the molds are at the factory for a 13 NMZ and one could be built on special order but what the lead time on that would be, I don't know? With the regular custom production boats currently at 6 months lead time. Anyway, Jon is very happy with his purchase and deal price and happily towed it home where he thinks he will now be a 2 model Custom Gheenoe boat owner.
I have a serious possible buyer for my Merc outboard from Florida that has been working in Alabama and is coming home this Tuesday and wants the motor, but who knows what will happen with that deal. There are other guys also interested as well, One just text me to say he will be here later today to look it over, so first here with the cash will take it home.
I have decided to keep the trailer and the kayak / SUP rack for my new little BATTLEWAGON skiff.
With the motor sales cash, I will hook up my empty trailer and head north to S.C. before the end of this month. I will drop off the trailer at Guide Steve English's storage yard. Pick up my 18' Pro Skiff flats boat on its trailer and bring it back here to Florida to rig it up and sell it here. I will then fly up to N.J. one way and pick up my motorhome, hook up the big A.F.F.S. Show Trailer and either take it to the BATTLEWAGON factory yard to complete its cabinet work and run some casting/fishing classes there for awhile (I hope that part of the plan works out with Christian) or I will bring it back to Florida to finish its remodel work down here. Then it is only a matter of retrieving the boat trailer from S.C. up to Jersey to load the Battlewagon skiff on it. Of course there are biz stops planned on the first road trip up and back detouring a little bit to see some potential suppliers, sponsors and of course to do some fly fishing and filming.

In related NEWS..  A.F.F.S. other founding member, Bill Haldaman is en route driving from his former ranch in Montana to his new home here in Cape Coral. I just called him on the phone and he and wife Barbara who is driving her vehicle behind their 5th wheel camper are currently in Tennessee almost down to Nashville.  They have already traveled about 2,000 miles with under another 1,000 more to go. If we can get Bill unloaded down here in a day or so, then Bill plans on taking the road trip up and back to S.C. with me to catch some big bream on the fly with me at Black's Camp on Lake Moultrie. Local Guide on Moultrie Steve English reports this week that the Bluegills are on their beds in the shallows breeding and are aggressive on small poppers. Don't worry parent fish, we will put you all back in the water after a photo or two.

In other NEWS this week I located a couple of "project" boats in the area that need various stages of completion to finish them and hopefully make some money from selling them. They range from a classic 1977 17' HEWES flats boat "basket case", A 17' MITCHELL Skiff that looks good but will need a new all glass no wood transom "transplant" and an older  27' Custom center console that just needs some TLC. All 3 boats have trailers under them in various states of repair that are included with them, which makes it a little easier on redoing them and selling them.

Do you have some fly fish reports to pass on in the NEWS ?.. Guide Paul Healy checked in by phone yesterday but the reception was not good while I was driving so here is Paul's last post from Pine Creek in PA. that he text me on Saturday. "Last few days have been better fishing. The mornings from 9 - 11:30 are good with many trout rising to my March Browns and Sulphurs. Nights it's action after 8 pm using the same flies. Last night I caught 7 fish, this morning it was 6 fish.  Way too hot at midday to fish or catch anything. Too hot for a good nap between fishing shifts, so its off to the local pub and some air conditioning for a couple of hours.". If you want to go up to the Mountains and get in on some good early or late day dry fly fishing? With a nice camper and great food included to spend the night in or you can stay at the local motel if you prefer that. Then give us a call here at the office @ 732-267-0058 and we will set it up for you right away.

If you have a report to contribute to pass on some info to your fellow fly fishers or are a Guide or Lodge and want to help boost your operation, please send it over today, so that we can also include it with any pics or video that you want to add to it.