Thank you for the huge outpouring of responses regarding the last issue of AT. I heard a lot about the “Tech Bubble” column… mostly good, though inevitably, every time I suggest that we encourage anglers to actually learn to cast and use dry flies and get off the nymph and bobber crutches, someone inevitably writes to tell me I’m an elitist snob. To be clear, I don’t want to ban the bobber, and I don’t think nymphing is evil. On the other hand, I don’t think that suggesting anglers should strive to use more than their medulla oblongata when on the water qualifies as snobbery.
Many nice comments on Steve Schweitzer’s series on learning about your customers, and Marshall Bissett’s piece on social media also.
So here’s the deal. We’re going into production on the big issue of the year—the “Show Issue” and we simply want to hear from you, what interests you, and what you want to read. Feel free to fire away with story ideas in the comment thread, or contact [email protected]/[email protected].
Thanks.
2 Comments
The IFTD (ICAST) show in Florida is dead for Rockies and western dealers. Over the years, due to lobbying mostly from wader and off-shore clothing manufacturers, it was moved up into early and mid July. But those dates are ironically still too late for those manufacturers that pushed the most, and they’ve admitted that their preseason orders are basically done by show-time.
I’d like to hear ideas on regional shows (similar to the WWSRA rep shows) or moving the show back to Denver, later in the summer. I use to have appointments booked hour-by-hour every day when the show was in late August/early September–there wasn’t enough show hours in the day to present all my dealers back then. Now I’ll be lucky to have five dealers in Florida. That makes for an expensive “rep gathering”. I did my best to feed the dealers guilt burgers about not going. They’re not going.
Brooks, I wanted to respond to your comment on behalf of AFFTA. I will agree that the current date and location of the IFTD/ICAST show is not ideal for all dealers, particularly Western ones. That said, I have spoke with numerous dealers from across the country, and the consensus seems to be that there is not ideal time for everyone. So while Western/Rockies dealers would love a late summer/early fall show, this timing would be less than ideal for others.
That said, AFFTA is alway interested in learning how we can be more relevant, effective and valuable to our members and the industry as a whole. We by no means have all the answers, as every BOD member is working on a volunteer basis. What ever ideas or thoughts that others have would be greatly welcome, as this discussion needs to extend beyond a 15 person board. So let us have it, throw some ideas our way and let’s start a positive dialogue!