Hooked Live and Sporting Gun show, Citywest 10th-11th March

bitemybanger

Held off on the angling expo in Swords to hit this as its best of both for me.
Will defo be leaving the credit card at home for this one:D
Anyone else heading?
Full details here.

carlspackler

Yes I think I will be going. I'm on the look out for some waders.

I was at the Swords show also, if this is better it should be very enjoyable.

Any tips when it comes to waders? Should I get felt boots or rubber soles?

fiacha

I'll be there on the Saturday for sure. Can get the LUAS out, so I'll be able to have a few pints afterwards Hope the weather is good for the outdoor activities.

280special

carlspackler wrote: »

Any tips when it comes to waders? Should I get felt boots or rubber soles?

Think there is some talk that the felt soles are being withdrawn over concerns about contamination being carried on same from one river to another ?

I bought my first proper pair last year, there should be a tread somewhere in the archives approx last summer.Went for the type used with a seperate boot or shoe, and bought some cheap runners to go with it as an interim measure.Cant fault either solution, the Orvis waders I bought are fantastic ,and the runners work a treat for grip.

One thing I would recommend though, is getting waders with a fly zip....not for attachment to a line, more for releif purposes !

carlspackler

280special wrote: »

Think there is some talk that the felt soles are being withdrawn over concerns about contamination being carried on same from one river to another ?

I bought my first proper pair last year, there should be a tread somewhere in the archives approx last summer.Went for the type used with a seperate boot or shoe, and bought some cheap runners to go with it as an interim measure.Cant fault either solution, the Orvis waders I bought are fantastic ,and the runners work a treat for grip.

One thing I would recommend though, is getting waders with a fly zip....not for attachment to a line, more for releif purposes !

Thanks for the advice. In the end I went for Kinetic waders and accompanying boot. I got them at the hooked show. Hopefully they last.

The boots are rubber as like you I had heard that felt might be withdrawn.

bitemybanger

carlspackler wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. In the end I went for Kinetic waders and accompanying boot. I got them at the hooked show. Hopefully they last.

The boots are rubber as like you I had heard that felt might be withdrawn.

Any reports on the show?
Headin there myself tomorrow.
By the way, you won't be dissapointed with the Kinetic waders, have mine a couple of years now, can't fault them. Got a pair of Vision boots to accompany them.

carlspackler

bitemybanger wrote: »

Any reports on the show?
Headin there myself tomorrow.
By the way, you won't be dissapointed with the Kinetic waders, have mine a couple of years now, can't fault them. Got a pair of Vision boots to accompany them.

Thanks for the feedback on the waders. Fingers crossed.

I had been to the show in swords so that is my reference point. I don't think Hooked has the same variety and volume of tackle. Still pretty good though. Irish Fly Fishing shop has loads of stuff.

Some good demo's down at the lake. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to take in all the great advice on offer from the various experts. If you have I'm sure you'll be well satisfied.

One aside, does anyone know much about Paddy Clarke the fly rod builder? He has some lovely looking rods there he built himself. Apparently word of mouth is the only advertising he does.

bitemybanger

carlspackler wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback on the waders. Fingers crossed.

I had been to the show in swords so that is my reference point. I don't think Hooked has the same variety and volume of tackle. Still pretty good though. Irish Fly Fishing shop has loads of stuff.

Some good demo's down at the lake. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to take in all the great advice on offer from the various experts. If you have I'm sure you'll be well satisfied.

One aside, does anyone know much about Paddy Clarke the fly rod builder? He has some lovely looking rods there he built himself. Apparently word of mouth is the only advertising he does.

No worries.
The Swords show is big and I know the Citywest venue isn't as big, I hope there is some good quality fishing and hunting stuff.
Started back at the fly fishing last season after a 6 or 7 year absence to coarse and pike so I'm gonna stock up on flies and fly fishing related stuff.

As for Paddy Clarke rods, if word of mouth is good and he sticks his own name on them it would usually mean high quality. Remember word of mouth is the best form of advertisement.

Park Royal

Back from City West, but for Henry Gilbey and Ian Gordon, it would have

been a poor show for me.......

the exhibitors did their best fair play to them......

venue was good.........

lucky it did not rain......

Sheelin boats had a great display of boats......

suspect I have too much tackle already....?

danbrosnan

Heard there was a lot of fly fishing gear and not much sea fishing tackle... also not many stands and that some people went up for the weekend and had the show done in a couple of hours....

ironbluedun

All of these shows are poor enough. Even the Galway Fly Fair one that was supposed to be 'great' was far from great, i went last year and there was only a few good stands and lots of rubbish. a load of old marketing hype.
As far as i see if you put them all together we might get a good show then.

Octopus

I haven't gone to one of these shows in years and didn't intend going but I happened to be out that way and with time to spare I dropped in.

I'm glad I hadn't planned to be there, very poor selection of stands, virtually nothing for the shooter's.

I did wander outside to watch the casting demo's. Everyone was crowded around Peter O'Reilly over the far side of the lake so I wandered over to another instructor standing on his own casting away. When I walked over he handed me the rod and said right lets see what you got. I spent the next 30 minutes getting a free casting lesson. I'm a self taught fly caster and as it turns out I'm a crap teacher
i got some great advice and have lots of tips to work into my casting style.

The guy was Pat Hughes from Newry, a very easy going and witty man with great patience and a loads of good advice.

Worth my entrance fee x10

danbrosnan

Octopus wrote: »

I haven't gone to one of these shows in years and didn't intend going but I happened to be out that way and with time to spare I dropped in.

I'm glad I hadn't planned to be there, very poor selection of stands, virtually nothing for the shooter's.

I did wander outside to watch the casting demo's. Everyone was crowded around Peter O'Reilly over the far side of the lake so I wandered over to another instructor standing on his own casting away. When I walked over he handed me the rod and said right lets see what you got. I spent the next 30 minutes getting a free casting lesson. I'm a self taught fly caster and as it turns out I'm a crap teacher
i got some great advice and have lots of tips to work into my casting style.

The guy was Pat Hughes from Newry, a very easy going and witty man with great patience and a loads of good advice.

Worth my entrance fee x10

I'm not one for hyping these people up especially the like of peter reilly, check out his prices on the delphi its a right joke, and all his books got the rivers and lakes of kerry wrong, fishing in my opinion is not about spending vast amounts of money and buying every kind of lure or reel, i remember a story an old man told me, " the were out fly fishing one night in a river in kerry but none of the flies where working, the man was an experienced angler with a big heavy cane rod on him, they went back to the fishing hut where he took five strands of a brush and tied them onto a hook there and then, went back down to the river and caught himself a bag of sea trout" :P

Octopus

danbrosnan wrote: »

I'm not one for hyping these people up

Neither am I