I went and saw the Angling Exploration Group's Film Tour last night in San Francisco and really enjoyed it. For those of you who don't know much about these guys you should go check out their site:
Lot's of great fly fishing footage and gorgeous fish from all across the globe. My fav had to be the wild alaskan rainbows. Those fish were hot! And if that wasn't enough there was also some swag (loving my free issue of The Drake and my new Patagonia tarpon/permit stickers) and a raffle. The best prize was a loop 9ft 5 weight rod but there was plenty of other cool stuff too. The guy that got the rod was stoked! And on a serious note there was a lot of great info on the Bristol Bay Pebble Pit Mine too. We can't let that happen, I urge everyone to research that if they don't already know about it.
The film tour will be in Sacramento and Healdsberg this weekend, if you have the time I recommend that you check it out.
I was at the show in SF as well. The ticket was worth the $15. Great footage and informative about the Pebble Mine being proposed in Bristol Bay. It is something anglers near and far should stand up to protect against, even if they never plan to fish it.
My wife even enjoyed it, and her eyes typically glaze over after the first few minutes of fish related videos.
I scored the $100 dollar 5wt. Sharkskin line from SA in the raffle. It has an interesting texture to it. I hope to wet it in the next week or so and give it the true test.
I also attended the tour. The guys had some great films, the swag was pretty good, and I was surprised that so many folks (including the ladies) showed up. I am working on getting the guys a wine sponsor so patrons can get their wine for free and the AEG doesn't have to pay for product. I also think they need to beef-up their fundraising efforts and education a bit. A Bristol Bay stand-alone booth with some cool photos and local maps and tour info would have been great. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised and I hope this tour grows and reaches more people.
They could tackle future topics like getting kids involved, local stream restoration, halting mountain top removal in West Virginia, and general hydrology education with some success efforts like Mono Lake.
Jealous that I didn't win anything!!!
By the way, Healdsburg is having a steelhead festival this weekend. I think that may have been mentioned on here already. If so, sorry.
I played with that line on a 5wt Echo2 at the San Mateo ISE and it is definitely a cut above the rest. I ended up buying the Echo2 but to be honest I didn't want to pay $100 for a fly line. It is a great line, but the price tag is a stretch. chuck
__________________
"when you put your hand into a flowing stream you touch the last that has come before and the first of what is still to come" -DaVinci