Well folks, the Third Annual South Dakota Cane Conclave was one for the books. Held again on Sunday past in beautiful Spearfish City Park, camping spot #127 to
be exact, the event tied a record for attendance with three pre-registered participants and three "drop ins" (who were angling not for trout but, we
assume, for a free beer and perhaps some cashews. But as for me, the trout came first, followed closely by the free beer and nuts.)
A vast variety of aluminum tubes containing a plethora of impressive bamboo fly rods were displayed, discussed and admired as well as an equal number of reel cases containing single action winches of all sorts. This year's "featured marque", as the car collectors say, was Edwards, with three representative rods, albeit from the latter pages of the Edwards (circa 1935) catalog. Other interesting cane creations included new (to us) examples by E. C. Powell, Orvis, Heddon, Granger by Lacey, Zietak and Cunningham, to name a few. As for reels, there were two especially attractive examples from a Mr. Dingley and several more from Young, Hardy, Caps and yes, Johnson (!)
There was, alas, no fund raising auction (again) this year as it was (again) generally agreed by the attendees that all extra funds had (again) been spent on the questionable need for more fly tackle during the previous year--not to mention the beer and cashews.
It was also generally agreed by BlackHillsBill, his friend Ron Robinson and yours truly, that indeed the best part of the 2009 SDCC was the fishing, which occurred prior to the event and, presumably, thereafter too. Moisture has been adequate, or above, in the beautiful Black Hills this year. Things are looking up for area streams and ponds...as are the fish. The wild browns are beginning to spawn and the tourists and Harley riders are (almost) gone.
If you missed this year's outstanding event--and we presume many of you did since no one else was there--you need to mark your calendars for 2010. We'll be happy to once again give you all the details...afterwards, of course.
After all, we don't need no stinkin' crowds!
A vast variety of aluminum tubes containing a plethora of impressive bamboo fly rods were displayed, discussed and admired as well as an equal number of reel cases containing single action winches of all sorts. This year's "featured marque", as the car collectors say, was Edwards, with three representative rods, albeit from the latter pages of the Edwards (circa 1935) catalog. Other interesting cane creations included new (to us) examples by E. C. Powell, Orvis, Heddon, Granger by Lacey, Zietak and Cunningham, to name a few. As for reels, there were two especially attractive examples from a Mr. Dingley and several more from Young, Hardy, Caps and yes, Johnson (!)
There was, alas, no fund raising auction (again) this year as it was (again) generally agreed by the attendees that all extra funds had (again) been spent on the questionable need for more fly tackle during the previous year--not to mention the beer and cashews.
It was also generally agreed by BlackHillsBill, his friend Ron Robinson and yours truly, that indeed the best part of the 2009 SDCC was the fishing, which occurred prior to the event and, presumably, thereafter too. Moisture has been adequate, or above, in the beautiful Black Hills this year. Things are looking up for area streams and ponds...as are the fish. The wild browns are beginning to spawn and the tourists and Harley riders are (almost) gone.
If you missed this year's outstanding event--and we presume many of you did since no one else was there--you need to mark your calendars for 2010. We'll be happy to once again give you all the details...afterwards, of course.
After all, we don't need no stinkin' crowds!
