News from the 25th Finnish Fly Fishing Fair

Veli Autti, Glyn Davies and Trevor Jones tying flies - Tampere Fly Fishing Fair 2011

Our thanks go to Fly Fishing Forums member Harry Salmgren for submitting to us this report about the Finnish Fly Fishing Fair held in Tampere, Finland and helping to spread news of Fly Fishing on continental Europe to our members.

Generosity and skills – the hallmark of Fly Fishing Fairs.

First of all - this year’s Finnish Fly Fair in Tampere, did really bring back some happy memories especially from an earlier fly fair I was invited to in Belgium by Paul Vekemans some years ago. People there were so positive and welcoming, spreading the interest for fly fishing with both enthusiasm and great knowledge.  In Tampere also the skills were in focus more than the gear and that if anything will add interested newcomers to the sport. Fly casting, fly tying, fishing techniques together with instructive performances on show, revealed formerly hidden and valuable secrets for fly angling success to the interested attendants in Tampere.

Naturally there were “old” faces, fly tiers like the Finnish Mr. “Pompero” Heikki Anttonen (watch out for a follow-up article on Mr Pompero and his salmon fly - Ed) and Trevor Jones from Wales to mention just a few that previously participated in the Finnish Fly Fair. But I think I have to be excused again for my glances in the past pools of waters gone by: In Finland they have a program arranged by SKES -a collaboration promoting Finnish fishing tourism - that every year chooses The Angler of the Year.  One of the fly tiers in the Finnish Fly Fair 2011 was an old acquaintance to me, Mr. Veli Autti who in 2004 was chosen by SKES to be that year's angler. He is also one of the founders of Pirkanmaan Perhokalastajat who manage the annual Finnish Fly Fair with the help of many volunteers from the local fly fishing club.

The first time I met Veli (which means “brother” in Finnish) was in 1989 when we competed against each other in the World Fly Fishing Championships in Kuusamo, Finland. He was a member of the Finnish team as I was in the Swedish. I think he later stopped after the competition in Italy. Anyway for sure, he is one of the most known fly fishing anglers in Finland and has always been very generous with valuable hints, fly tying tricks and patterns to catch fish – also in the competition. This has provided many newcomers to fly fishing in Finland and is probably one of the reasons why Finnish fly fishing and fly tying internationally is so competitive compared to other Scandinavian countries. So it is not surprising perhaps that he nowadays also is the chairman of the Finnish Sport fishing Federation.

Another old acquaintance, but in the gear business, was the EFFTA member “HS-Import” and Henry Bergqvist with his wife. From a very modest start in Sweden with rod building gear in 1985, the company has grown to be one of the most important suppliers in Scandinavia for rod building gear, fly tying equipment and fly fishing gear generally. Their own developed fly blanks have been very delicate and pleasant for building very competitive and sensitive fly rods. One of my own tests published in the former Swedish magazine “Wilderness News” many years ago incorporating 13 different brands of rods made anonymous, for at least as many fly anglers to test, showed that regardless of cost, the HS-rod that I built became favorite for most of the anglers. Its true tracking and balance was almost as good as in the Loomis rods and finish as nice as in Hardy rods, with durability as good as in Diamondbacks or Drennan rods and also loading in whiskers like Sage rods… and all this for less than a third of the cost of the other brands.

This year the Finnish Fly fishing Fair also incorporated a large casting pool indoors. Previous years casting demos were a bit crippled by the crowds of surrounding people nearby and walls, but now this was history. Apart from casting demos and instruction, anybody interested could try any equipment they chose, trout or salmon outfits, either on their own or with instruction. Naturally the majority of brands were represented, Sage, Scott, Vision, Loomis, GuideLine– just to mention a few. The same applied to other gear like fly reels and lines and eventually I was happy to find a WF #3 floating Teeny line to freshen up the TLT-skills for my trout fishing at home.

Former participants representing fly fishing magazines were missing this year, but the regularly excellent runner ups like Pohjolan Perhokalastaja were naturally there. A new interesting acquaintance in English language, was the magazine Chasing Silver, a very competent fly fishing magazine that just confirmed the first impressions: skill is the master of the game!
Also fly fishing destinations on display were fewer but as noted earlier educational hints, aid and help to being a better fly angler was the name of the game for the Finnish fair this year.  There were also supportive hints on environmental care and help supporting fish habitats. Inspiring and leaving an urge for more! Hopefully next year…

For more information on the 2012 Finnish Fly Fishing Fair which will be on the 14-15 April 2012 keep watching their website which is http://www.perhomessut.fi/