Show Season - ROUND THREE - Atlanta, GA
Well Atlanta was a new one for the Mauser Fly Fishing crew, pretty darn fun show! It had a different feel than some of the other shows, we noticed more of a saltwater crowd down south. Different vendors such as Skinny Water Culture and Hells Bay Boatworks were on site showing off the goodies. More and more vendors advertising saltwater destination trips and nonprofits such as the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust were also on hand. As the common story has gone, we made even more new friends and continued to catch up with old ones!
The drive to Atlanta was short and sweet for me. After the New Jersey show, I headed down south to Nashville, TN to fish with a good buddy of mine for the fish of ten thousand casts…. MUSKY! Let me just go ahead and say this…. that y’all….. is something I want to do again. We fished the two coldest days in the past decade and it didn’t stop fish from eating. No, I didn’t catch any, but I watched Jimmy and Nick land healthy fish and I had my fair share of follows but no commitment. Throwing 12” flies on sinking line with frozen hands isn’t something I do much, so it took some getting used to for sure. But, watching that big toothy critter follow your fly off the bank and sit under the boat just waiting…. ooooh buddy that got my blood pumping! Stay tuned for a post on how that all went down. Anyways, so yes the drive down was short and sweet. After a quick oil change and tire rotation and some interesting conversation with a stranger at the auto shop, I headed south to the magical place they call ATLANTA.
With the booth set up and all five of us, yes five, all snuggly squared away in the hotel room, dinner called and we feasted on sushi and a few drinks and settled in for the night, ready for the busy weekend ahead. Day one of the show was great, a slow start to a Friday morning but the traffic kept rolling in. We alternated turns taking folks to the casting pond and made our rounds about the show to check out all the gear. Some of us may have come back with a couple bags of goodies but I’m not one to tattle tale!
Day two was by far busier than Friday. It could have been folks waiting to be off work or some of the Super Bowl crowd could have found their way over to the center to pay a visit. Once again, the casting pond was full of anglers testing product between the instructors. This show, I paid a visit over to the pond while Landon Mayer was putting on a clinic about casting to fish in tight quarters. It’s not something I get to do all the time anymore, but still nice to stay up to date, like continuing education classes for anglers!
The dinner bell was ringing at the end of the day and what did we have???? Asian cuisine of course! This time we joined several of our friends for an amazing dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant. We had heard amazing things but were a little timid due to our experience the previous year in New Jersey. But the food was absolutely amazing and the company was even better.
I don’t have enough good things to say about how the show season has been going to far. I’ve had the chance to meet some incredible people and continue to grow a network of working with professionals in the industry. As always, if any of you are interested in a killer fly rod company, make sure and check out Mauser Fly Fishing and give them a follow on the social media outlets to check out all of the latest and greatest! We’ve got one more stop next month in Lancaster, PA to finish the show season out. If you’re in the area, make sure and swing by the booth and say hello!