WFS 292 – Largest Fly Fishing Show in the World with Chuck Furimsky
Show Notes: wetflyswing.com/292
Presented By: Fly Fishing Film Tour, Dette Flies, Stonefly Nets, Anglers Coffee
Sponsors: wetflyswing.com/sponsors
Chuck Furimsky, founder of The Fly Fishing Show shares the story of how he got started organizing the shows and became the largest fly fishing show in the world. He shares some stories of his experiences with a few of the biggest names in fly fishing and the problems he encountered while preparing the shows and what they did to solve them.
Chuck gives his thoughts on his son Ben taking over his role. He mentions some of the best fly shops in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Find out the fly fishing shows we can attend this year!
Fly Fishing Show Show Notes with Chuck Furimsky
03:16 – Chuck’s son, Ben was on the podcast at WFS 061
05:00 – Chuck took a fly fishing course at Pennsylvania State College taught by George Harvey
08:06 – The Michigan Fly Fishing Club was the first to do fly fishing shows in Michigan – they’re used to be called FFF (Federation of Fly Fishing)
11:30 – Ed Rice was the founder of International Sportsmen’s Exposition – the show was established at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds in the late 1970s – Click here to read more
15:08 – Tom Brady of the Patriots used to empty Chuck’s fishing show in the afternoon – people on the show would go to their hotel rooms in the afternoon to watch Brady play
17:42 – The pandemic started the weekend after the last show they did in 2020
24:13 – The Denver convention center where the fly fishing show was held for 15 years was foreclosed by the bank since they couldn’t pay the mortgage because of the pandemic – this led the fly fishing show to change venue
30:16 – Chuck met Gary Border and Gary LaFontaine and became friends with them
30:37 – Chuck tells the story of Gary LaFontaine’s smart dog, Chester who serves as an indicator when Gary fishes
32:10 – The first show Chuck did was at 7th Springs – George Harvey was there, and also Lefty Kreh
34:22 – Chuck talks about Joan Wulff
35:20 – Wendy Gun, Sara Gardener
39:02 – Chuck and Tim Cammisa are good friends – Tim Cammisa was recently on the podcast at WFS 285
40:46 – Chuck is very impressed with Son Tao, a celebrity fly tyer on Instagram – Son is coming to their show in Atlanta
43:14 – Right when Chuck started doing the shows, the movie, A River Runs Through It came out
46:11 – Chuck couldn’t remember the name but he was talking about a supreme court judge who was a fly fisherman but he’s probably referring to John Voelker a.k.a Robert Traver
Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center
46:43 – Chuck tells the story of how he met his partner Barry Serviente
49:03 – Chuck tells the story of when Ed Rice found out about his show
57:59 – People at the fly fishing show rush to Bill Keough’s booth, Hareline Dubbin
1:07:06 – Tight Lines is the biggest fly shop in New Jersey
1:08:07 – The best fly shop in Pennsylvania is TCO – they have 4 locations in PA
1:10:04 – The Bugskin Wiggler is an original pattern by Chuck – he uses leather a lot with his patterns – scroll down to watch a video of Tim Cammisa tying that pattern
Fly Fishing Show Conclusion with Chuck Furimsky
Chuck Furimsky, shared the story of how he got started organizing the shows and became the largest fly fishing show in the world. He shared some stories of his experiences with a few of the biggest names in fly fishing and the problems he encountered while preparing the shows and what they did to solve them.
He mentioned some of the best fly shops in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We found out what shows we can attend this year!
Show Notes: wetflyswing.com/292
