DENTRY: There's gold in them waters as shows battle

By Ed Dentry, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, December 7, 2007

Ed Dentry / The Rocky/2003

Exhibitors and visitors talk fishing at The Fly Fishing Show in 2003. The familiar show, held at the Denver Merchandise Mart since 2001, will duel with a new production, the Fly Fishing Expo.

Colorado fly fishers might be excused if they feel like rag dolls torn between pit bulls come the first weekend of the New Year.

Their presence, and their wallets, are invited to be two places at once. To The Fly Fishing Show, which has become something of an early January institution at the Denver Merchandise Mart, add now a second consumer fly-fishing show.

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association, which until now has staged shows strictly for merchants at the Colorado Convention Center each September, has thrown down the gauntlet.

Denver will have two consumer fly-fishing shows. The punch line is not funny: Both shows will run on the same days, Nov. 4-6.

The TFFS will be at the Merchandise Mart, where it has been carrying on since 2001. AFFTA's new Fly Fishing Expo will be at the Convention Center.

And you thought fly-fishing was supposed to be fun, a gentle pastime practiced in serenity, in the spirit of conservation. It's also a business.

A cutthroat business, as it now appears. And I'm not talking about a pretty western trout.

The duel is reminiscent of the long showdown between the Sportsmen's Expo and its challenger, Denver Sportsmen's Show, 1990 to 2001. In that battle, both shows went hurting until the Expo bought out the competition.

Chuck Furimsky, owner of the established fly show, said AFFTA blindsided him with its news in May.

"I talked to (AFFTA president) Robert Ramsay. He never said a word then," Furimsky said. "When he called a few days later, I said, 'Hold on a second, Robert. I just leaned back in my chair, and I think that knife wound is festering.'

"I heard they chose the dates on purpose to show they're better than the one who's having the success. I was the one known for creating the shows and having the success. So if they can knock me off, then they're home free."

Furimsky said he's not going to let that happen, even if it means both shows lose money in 2008, which is pretty much guaranteed.

"I've pulled out all the stops," he said.

Meanwhile, AFFTA's challenge has spawned a rift that could scar the fly-fishing industry for years. Some exhibitors and speakers have been forced to align with the new show because they are sponsored by AFFTA members.

Some celebrities are staying with the old show; others willingly have gone over to the far side. Among the notables, for example, anglers will find Lefty Kreh at the convention center, but Dave Whitlock at the Merchandise Mart.

A few Colorado shop owners have switched to the new venue, but many have stayed with the established show. Some say they will sit this year out rather than get bloodied in the trade war.

Beneath the crossed swords, guides, authors, fly and rod dealers and regular fisher folk have been trading e-mails, often with vitriol directed at the trade organization.

In one typical e-mail sent to AFFTA and copied to me recently, angler Dennis Moran accuses the trade group of "shameful behavior." He says he will boycott businesses that "bail from the established show."

Ramsay, the AFFTA president, did not return phone calls for this column.

Both shows promise the usual lineups of speakers, demonstrations and seminars, with fly-tying theaters and casting pools available for trying new rods.

TFFS also has planned an evening banquet to help the Federation of Fly Fishers and Colorado Trout Unlimited raise money for the Healing Waters program, which benefits injured military veterans.

One local fly shop owner, who said he plans to stay out of the fray and wants to remain anonymous, suggested, in all optimism, that "maybe we'll have two fly shows, and they'll both do well."

Maybe it won't snow in January, either.

Dueling shows

The two fly-fishing shows in Denver from Jan. 4-6:

The Fly Fishing Show * Where: Denver Merchandise Mart.

* Tickets: $15, one day; $24, two days; $32, three days. Children younger than 12, $2 per day.

* Information: FlyFishingShow West.com.

AFFTA's Fly Fishing Expo * Where: Colorado Convention Center.

* Tickets: $15; three days, $36. Children, ages 10-15, $5 per day. Children younger than 10, free.

* Information: TheFlyFishingExpo.com.