New Orleans Fly Fishing Expo
Saturday, April 6, 2019
8:00am to 4:00pm
The Deutsches Haus, 1700 Moss St, New Orleans, LA
FREE admission!
The New Orleans Fly Fishers Club, a charter FFI club, is hosting the biggest fly fishing event of the year on the Gulf Coast. The inaugural New Orleans Fly Fishing Expo will be held at the new Deutsches Haus, on the banks of Bayou St. John near New Orleans City Park. It’ll have fly casting seminars, demonstrations, and instruction, fly fishing seminars, fly tying demonstrations and instruction, an Iron Fly Tyer competition, an Outdoors Writers Roundtable, outdoor equipment displays, vendors, exhibitors, and raffles.
Headling this event will be Jon Cave. Cave is a nationally-renown fly fishing writer, author, instructor and guide, who operates the Performance Fly Fishing School. Jon will be holding his semi-private casting class the day before the Expo. Everyone is invited to sign up for this rare opportunity, slots are limited.
Addressing the group briefly that morning will be Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser. After him, Tom Logan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fly Fishers International (FFI) will give a brief presentation. After those two keynote speakers, there will be an entire day of seminars and demonstrations.
Some of the best tiers in the South will be there as well. The list includes: Kevin Andry, Ron “Stippled Popper” Braud, Kenneth Breaux, Tom Bullock, Glen “Catch” Cormier, Leon Cuccia, Steve Flanagan, Ron Forman, Fred Hannie, Scott Irwin, Don Lauler, Kent Reagan, Lance Renoux, Lee Robinson, Dustin Schouest, Captain Chip Smith, Gene Smith, Tom Tripi, Rex White and Buster Wolfe.
While the Expo is predominantly fly fishing, there will be exhibitors from Louisiana State Parks, Scenic Rivers Alliance, FFI Gulf Coast Council, and Casting For Recovery. Also, Masseys Outdoors will be on hand giving free kayak demos on Bayou St. John.
One of the highlights of the Expo will be a unique “Outdoor Writers Roundtable” featuring several of the top outdoor writers across the region. Participants include Capt. J.P. Morel, Capt. C.T. Williams, Capt. Peter Scafaru, Chris Holmes, Eric Muhoberac, and Catch Cormier. The audience is welcome to ask questions related to all types of fishing, and fishing-related issues.
For those fly tiers wanting to test their skill and innovation, there’s the always-fun “Iron Fly Tying” competition. Each contestant gets a set of materials and ties any fly they can conjure up from the materials. Past winners in similiar contests have been very creative!
The NOFFC supports Casting For Recovery and will make a donation to them with proceeds from the Expo. There will be several gamblers draws as well as a raffle containing flies, rods, reels, books, fishing accessories, as well as rare or unique items. The FFI Gulf Coast Council will have a Gamblers Draw to raise money for a special cause related to youth fly fishing education (more details to come).
A complete schedule of activities for the Expo is available by clicking here.
You can keep up with all the updates on the Expo by going to the NOFFC Facebook page. For more about New Orleans Fly Fishers Club, go to their website at www.neworleansflyfishers.com.
