Bonanza for Fly Fishers The Fly Fair at The Game Fair

Stevie Munn

The first FLY FAIR at the Great Game Fair was a wonderful success and I first of all would like to thank Albert and his team for making this great addition to the already marvellous yearly event. It was certainly fantastic to see many likeminded people back at shows after the recent miserable times, of bans and restrictions on events and get togethers due to Covid.

Fly Fishers certainly had a fantastic time, the new angling attractions were included at the wonderful, picturesque setting of Shanes Castle on Lord O’Neill’s Estate on the banks of mighty Lough Neagh. The Fly Fair featured a good range of stands selling everything for the fishing enthusiast, there was also a lavish fly dressers hall with a fabulous line up of Fly Tyers, covering all styles of fly dressing from river and lough Trout flies, Salmon flies, Pike flies and Saltwater patterns.

I would like to thank personally all the fly dressers who came from far and wide to demonstrate their art, I would like to mention them all. Thanks to Dean Armstrong, Michael Currie, Trevor Greene, Ryan Houston, Peter Kealey, John Maduro, Anthony McCann, Joe McDonald, Andrew Laverty, Mark McLoone, Steven Moates, Darryl Mooney, Pat Mulholland, Desmond Paul, Mark Robinson, Joe Stitt, Owen Trill, and all the way from England, the marvellous Melvyn Wood and the great Keith Passant.

We must also give a huge thanks to Ray McKeeman and team, who along with his great casting instructors, taught and demonstrated all day. Ray was also a key help with the set up before the event, something which most people don’t see. The overall feedback was tremendous from the anglers that came to see us and something that the game fair will build on, if possible, in future years.

It was fantastic to see so many young people interested in fishing, always a big part of this event was the Put and Take Fishery and the NSN team, headed by Bobby Bryans. I would also like to thank APGAI Irelands Arthur Greenwood for tirelessly teaching fly tying to many young people allweekend. Susan Brown and team provided a wonderful entomology display, where we could see the many types of water bugs that our trout and other fish feed on, I personally loved this as it was very interesting for everyone, not just the kids. I would also like to thank my sister Elaine for her amazing work, building our websites and advertising on our social media pages, not my thing, but I know it’s very important for the promotion of any event. Last but not least, I would like to thank Partridge, Semperfli and Cadence fly Rods for their continuing and valued support.