Well that's a wrap for the rebirth of "Stock the Box" up in Newport, Rhode Island. Peter Jenkins shared with me the history of his fly tying/fishing and plug shows that he's hosted over the years. He wanted to test the waters this year and invited some of the best in the business up for the weekend and they did not disappoint. There seems to
be a current shift in what the fly tying/fly fishing community wants these days. They like it local, they like it smaller, and they like the intimate feeling a show like STB brings. I had seen online there was some early confusion about the pre-sale and general admission tickets and the class registration but that all got sorted though before the shows Saturday 10 am opening.
I decided to be the better-than-all-you-guys and asked my wife to join me. We traded off some Disney Vacation Club points for the chance to stay at the Hotel Viking in town. We're no strangers to Newport and held off on stopping by David Nelson's restaurant in Connecticut on the way up so we
hit our favorite Newport stops. Well, let's just say the town is shut-down, for the most part. Our favorites in Scales and Shells and the Brick Alley Pub were closed until later in the month. But that didn't mean we didn't find good company, eats, and drinks. On Thursday we hit Broadway and found some life and good food at the Tavern on Broadway. On Friday Theresa woke up not feeling well and that put a damper on her weekend.
While she rested I took a ride to check out The Saltwater Edge store. My first visit to TSE was in 1993 when it was on Thames Street in Newport. There have been several stops before the current location in Middletown. I stopped by
but the store was abuzz getting ready for the big event on Saturday so I just exited stage left. Before I started the quest for chicken soup for Theresa I took a ride out to Brenton Point to visit one of my favorite spots to fish, if and when I am able to fish, when I visit. Sometimes it's just better to not make it a fishing trip because if you
you have your stuff with you then you're thinking about the tides, times of day, and the fish, which doesn't go over well with the wife. So most times I'm better off leaving my stuff at home. Most of the weekend we had
our caloric needs met, and surpassed, by a cute little place across from the Viking called Picnic. I talked to the owner and reminisced a bit and came to learn that he once owned my favorite in-town restaurant called La Petite Auberge. On Friday night the guys rolled in from all parts south, west and
north with some having an extended travel day due to the snow down in the NY/NJ/Philly area. Guys came from Virginia, Philly, Scranton, and points north up through Maine. We met up at a place on Broadway called Pour Judgement and after a quick bite and a beer it was an early night.
The show event opened at 10 am and the attendees were able to browse stock staff brought from TSE store and meet and and greet with the tyers who lined the room. I looked through the racks and found
that bucktail is, well good bucktail, one, really hard to find, and if you do find it, it can be a little bit more then you might be used to paying. It's not like there's a ton of people processing and dyeing bucktail so it's like when you find it you have to grab it, sometimes at any cost.
Luckily, I've got a good tail hook with Brad Buzzi so I spent my money on other things including a SWE t-shirt, some long peacock herl, RU Harvey tab eyes, and some fake jungle cock.
Shortly after the doors opened the attendees who paid for classes hit the rooms where the one-hour classes were being held. I may miss a name or two but the classes I popped in on were Taylor, Cordiero, Whalley, Chocklet, Calcevechia, and Perechinsky. There was a mix of local tiers presenting as well.
I got to talk with Joe Cordiero about his latest book which was recently released. He was very proud of how it came out. If you're a Flatwing angler, or might be, this could be a good addition to keep next to
the vice. Most of the flies in his book are true-to-size, which gives the tyer the ability to tie and check alongside the pattern in the book. It was nice to meet birthday-boy Peter Douma but I almost killed him
when I offered him a Joe C. chocolate, something the Peter is allergic to. If you ever feel like you need a little sugar boost at a show you can always count on Calcevechia to hook you up. Calcevechia has some
exciting news coming up as he will soon be hosting trips to the Galapagos Islands. In the meantime, he'll continue filling orders with flies like below, for his Saltwater Custom Flies.
And back to Douma, he ties some really nice squid flies. He's a Montauk guide if you ever need a ride around the lighthouse. Montauk should be on your bucket list if you never been.
Ben Whalley was busy at his booth as well as with a one hour class on Saturday and two three-hour classes on Sunday. While some purists may balk at his below fly as it not being a true fly, if you've
ever been staring at your boats electronics and find the fish hugging the bait or the bottom in 45 feet of water, this, I'm sure, will help get the job done.
Blane brought with him from Virginia his Game Changer and newly released Jerk Changer. The attendees got a chance to watch him tie one up or more importantly pick his brain and learn about the
materials he uses and why. One thing I have to point out is we gotta give the tyers some room at their tables. There's other people trying to get a look as well. At some point
the idea came up to swim some of his flies and the hotel manager helped make that happen. Those who lined the pool got to see how the flies move in the water depending on the various retrieves. I popped in
and found crab and shrimp guy Mike Perechinsky of Pflies getting his group ready for sight fishing either here or in some tropical setting. As I did the loop I checked in on my partner who tried to hang tough but succumbed to the comfort of the chair and the warmth from the fire.
Back inside I found Steve Cook, a Saltwater Edge guy through and through, set up in his Cheif's bunker. I purchased flies from Steve like 30 years ago and over the years he shared with me some great
spots to go when I got the chance to fish. As you can see he's a die-hard Chief's fan and as I write this the score is Chiefs 13, Bills 10, I hope for his sake his team wins. I remember the day I met Steve and when I saw him again I thought about how much he reminds me of Fran Betters, both in looks and humor.
And to Steve's left was my man. A quiet and unassuming sub-30 year old who just stayed in his lane and continued to tie through the day. His name is Andre Corvi, a local tyer and fly fisherman who just loves the entire game.
He had a great spread of flies and was kind of caught off guard when a guy wanted to purchase one. I did as well. I'll introduce that fly in a future post. I think we'll, or at least the Newport
scene, will be seeing more of Andre's work in the future. I didn't stop in but Casey Allen's flies got a lot
of looks from people walking the floor. I'm not sure what he names them but they look like they'd be killer for the albies. Around the show there were flies to hold, and buy, and I got a few that I'll try and emulate when I get to tying within the next month. The two Joe's had classes that I popped into as well.
Both had a nice room of eager students. Below is the bench of Jason Taylor who came up from the City of Brotherly Love to share some fly tying gifts. He also had classes both days. I got to walk in to see his
Surf Candy class which was full of great acrylic using tips and how to "fix" things so you don't keep adding the goo and creating a 4 ounce fly. Jason put on a table top demo of his ostrich plume stripping
technique. He's been doing that at a high level for a long time and it really gives his flies that signature look. It creates a signature JT-fly-look that is easy recognizable and known around
around the world. Above is an example of how he uses that material to tie larger Hollow style bunker flies. Before I split I made sure I bought some raffle tickets which supports the Atlantic Saltwater Guides Association (ASGA). They are a group of people doing the hard work in keeping striped bass conservation on peoples minds.
Theresa and I headed back to the Viking while the show's staff and attendees enjoyed an after party in the restaurant at the hotel. A few hours later a really good hang happened over at the Midtown Oyster
Bar. That started at 8 and by 1230 I was making the kinda-buzzed-walk back up Memorial Blvd. to the hotel. During some conversation at the bar I said I wanted to get a Stock the Box shirt but they didn't have any 2XL's, you see I've been working out a lot. They told me to come back before I left for New
Jersey in the morning. I pulled up and when I got inside the layout was different then the day before and everyone was in the different tying classes. But, on top of a table was a STB shirt, a 2XL. Was that mine? I opened one door and it was Whalley holding court. What to do? I decided to just leave it be
and headed for the door. I'll just place an order online. There was also a fly contest that was part of the event and it looks like Jersey boy Matt Rooney won the honors in the bunker category for his Ostrich and Bucktail Freestyle Fly. There were other catagories with winners as well.
And with that Stock the Box 2024 was over for me. I am glad I went. Theresa, well, not so much. I think next year it'll be a solo trip for me. And from the vibe I got from everyone at the event they would most definitely be in for STB 2025.
