Hello
As some of you know I have been busy putting together a Northeast F.F.R. Glass Clave for this spring.
I have been working with Sabrina and Jamie McAllister of McAllister's Fly Shop in Riverton C.T. in planning this event.
Sabrina and Jamie are members of the Riverton Merchants Association and have approached several of the local Restaurants, the Deli ,the town of Barkhamstead and the People at the Riverton Inn to welcome the Fiberglass Fly Rodders to Connecticut and the beautiful West Branch of The Farmington River for a Saturday May 30th 2009 Fiberglass Gathering starting at 11am mustering at McAllister's Fly Shop #2 Main Street Riverton Connecticut.
We will get together and meet and greet and share our rods hopefully everyone will bring their quiver of rods and we can enjoy casting some never seen before by some or rare classic and contemporary fiberglass.
McAllister's Fly Shop our hosts will be providing 3 boxes of Flies for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes of a casting for accuracy contest that will be held at 1 PM everyone is welcome to join the contest only one prerequisite "Fiberglass Fly Rods Only", If you don't have one I am sure someone will gladly loan you one for the contest. McAllister's are going to put together some fly boxes for that weekend that will be a selection of flies that will work well for the Farmington during that time and have them for a discount for the F.F.R. group only.

As you read on I will be posting more information as to local room rates and more of the details.
Lou contacted me the other day and he has known of the event planning for some time so I figured since I had let him in on some of the details I had better fill everyone in.
We have a good number of Fiberglass Fly Rodders here in Connecticut and most of us are in constant contact with one another, some I have yet to meet, but look forward to meeting them at this event.
The best time to be on the Farmington River is the early season not only because it offers some of the best fishing of the season, it is also before the summer season and the there are fewer people enjoying the river in water craft (TUBES).

For those of you whom would like to camp out the State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection maintain a very nice campground right on the banks of the Farmington River.
American Legion State Forest, Austin F. Hawes Memorial Campground Pleasant Valley, Connecticut.reserveamerica.com/camping/map_of_American_Legion_Sf_Hawes/r/ ... - Cached
http://www.rivertoninn.com
http://www.rivertonct.com/restaurants.html
http://www.petergreenwood.com
http://www.mcallistersflyshop.comhttp://www.mcallistersflyshop.com
http://www.stillriverantiques.com

I am not sure if you will have wives, or others coming with you that may not fish, but there are a few things around for them too. Still River Antiques is like a walk through Riverton history and Peter Greenwood's glass studio is terrific. For $45 you can blow your own glass ornament or paperweight. It is great to watch him work and see the gallery. He has some of his pieces in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

The Riverton Inn has offered to give a 10% discount to members, they just have to say that they are from the Fiberglass Fly Rodders group with McAllister's fly shop and they will apply the discount. The inn does dinner on Saturday night, along with Sweet Pea's across the street. The Riverton General Store is the closest place for lunch.

We will be gathering at McAllister's parking is limited, however we will be having the actual gathering and casting portion of the event across the street at the fair grounds,additional parking will be available as well in the fair grounds lot.

Trust me when I say this is the time of the year to be fishing on the Beautiful Farmington River, the river is one of the best trout fisheries in the northeast some arguably say it's "the best" ,I will leave that for you to decide.

I hope to see many of you there I will add more as this events begins to take on a life of it's own.
Please try to let me know if you plan to attend so I can get an idea of how many folks to expect.

Tight Lines and Northeast Clave 09 Loops
Andy M


Above the First Northeast Glass Clave/ Below The Farmington River

Count me in . .. Thanks for putting this together.
Ken

I'm 95% sure of being there ... after all, you'll need my Bimmer for a rod rack.

Andy, my wife and I hope to relocate to CT. in the near future. The ranch in New Mexico is being sold and we have our eye on a place in Watertown. Nothing is on paper yet so when this happens is unknown, but I am really looking forward to moving to someplace where I can go fishing at the drop of a hat. Perhaps it can come together in time for the CT. clave. Our upcoming clave in Texas is 600 miles away so that gives you an idea of the fishing opportunities here in the desert. I am really looking forward to meeting you and other FGFR members in the near future. Glenn (AKA Frustrated Fenwick Owner)

Hello Glenn
The fishing opportunities within a 60 mile range of Watertown CT are tremendous.
Check out my profile page on the left I have some shots of the different fisheries and some information on fishing here in Connecticut.
The Northeast has some great fishing! , I will be more than happy to help you get your feet wet and put you on to some great fishing.
I look forward to meeting you and welcoming you and your wife to the Nutmeg State.
Tight Lines and Connecticut Loops
Andy M

Andy, thanks for the generous offer. My spending the wad isn't jusy money but time also. The clave follows Memorial Day and that is when I take my annual 4 day LL Salmon trip, to the stream whose name must never be mentioned, that last year and this year I've stretched to 5 days. Sweet Lucy is very understanding with my fishing and even encourages it but there is a limit and I ain't going to push it. I'll make you an offer in return. October in Maine the fishing is as good as it gets.come on up and we'll fish the East Outlet of Moosehead. Free cabin within ten miles of the stream. LL Salmon and huge Brookies.
RFMcD

Hello
Sorry for not getting more information up sooner.
So far we have about 12 people that plan on camping at the American Legion State Forest, Austin F. Hawes Memorial Campground.
Others have booked rooms at the Inn.
I spoke to Carl Barney today and he plans to come and bring along his offerings of fiberglass rods and blanks for sale as well as rod building materials.
Carl has always got some great items to offer.
I have contacted some Rod company's to see if we can get some sales reps to bring some contemporary offerings to the clave to sample.
Hopefully I will hear back soon.
For those of you that need a alternative campground with more services here is a link to a privately owned campground that is close the the clave site. www.whitepinescamp.com
White Pines is 4.9 miles from the clave site.
For those of you who will need Connecticut fishing licenses and wish to get them on line.
Here is the link.www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2696&q=322716&depNav_GID=1630&depNav=|
That's all for now I will add more information as it becomes available.

Tight Lines and Northeast Glass Clave 09 Loops
Andy M

I'll be there ... I haven't fished the Farmington as much as I would like. It sounds like a good outing. I'll bring a "quiver" with me ... I'm working on my custom Fenwick 5 weight collection now, it should be done by then. Let me know if I could bring anything or help out ...

Hello
HI HOOO HI HOOO IT'S OF TO THE CLAVE WE GO!
I am Making last moment preparations for the weekends glass clave.
I plan to head up in the morning, we have have a great number of people that plan to attend let's just hope the weather holds out.
The river is fishing really well the fish are a little more selective.
The current hatches are as follows.
Tail end a few sporadic Hendricksons 14 -16
March Browns 12 -14
Vitreus 14 -18
Green Caddis 16 -18
Tan Caddis 16 - 18
Blue Wing Olives 18 - 20
See you on the River
Tight Lines and Farmington River Glass Clave 2009 Loops
Andy M

Hello
Tom you will be there in spirit!
One of my fondest memories is the day we spent fishing on the Farmington.
I will give you a call if I come across any offerings.
Tight Lines and Spirited Loops
Andy M

Thanks for sharing some photos. I really would like to have attended and appreciate Andy's efforts for putting together even though I wasn't there. Thats a sweet looking brown.

Is that blue finger wrap abrasion protection from that Sci Angler Sharkskin?

Hello
First I want to thank Jammie and Sabrina McAllister owners Mcallisters fly shop for sponsoring this event.
They arranged the discounts at the local Inn and shops ,they secured the fair grounds for the clave,they took out the insurance needed to use the fair grounds,they hand tied the prizes for the casting competition,they supplied discounted fly assortments to the clave attendees and much more!
Without the McAllisters this event would not have been possible!
Next time you are on the Farmington in Riverton PLEASE stop in and say hello and support them if possible!

Special thanks to Carl Barney for bringing his fine fiberglass offerings and rod building equipment for sale.

Also Grady Allen whom is the owner of Upcountry Sportfishing in New Hartford CT Grady is a true fiberglass fly rodder in every sence of the word and has been fishing glass and collecting it for many years for a young guy.
Grady is a Hardy and Cortland Dealer he also sells Scott.
Thanks for bringing the contemporary glass to the clave Grady.
Also your quiver of classics!
Be sure to stop in and Say Hello to Grady next time you are on the Farmington River as well.

Thanks to Fiberglass Fly Rodder Rod Builder Fred Paddock for bringing along his Fenwick rod offerings and his Claudio!

The clave was a great time for all that attended thanks to everyone that came it was great to see everyone and meet some new people.
I could go on for hours about the clave but I am behind schedule and need to get to the bench.
So I am going to post my pictures and maybe add some captions the other attendees can elaborate hopefully.
More later
Tight Lines and Glass On the Farmington 2009 Loops
Andy M

My Arrival at the Camp Ground

Me and My Life Long Friend Russ

Jamie McAllister Showing Off! This Guy Can Cast a LOOONG Distance!

Gradys Rod Quiver!

Carl Barneys Rods Above

My Stuff Above and My Tournament Rods Below


Are Only Lady Caster Karen in the Casting Competition Karen never cast a fiberglass rod before in her life and let me tell you she was on the mark she missed the hoops by a fraction on her casts. If she had been casting her go to rod she would have kicked everyone's butt

Russ the 1st Place winner of the casting contest casting a Old Yankee Rod Smiths REED RETRO

Left to Right the Winners of the Casting Contest 3rd Place Otto. L "The Lurker" He lurks here all the time about time you log in Otto!
Center Russ. M. First time Russ ever cast a fiberglass rod he wins 2nd Place nice going Russ!
Right Russ.G. 1st place no surprise here Russ has been casting for over 50 years and started with glass trust me I know we started fly fishing together as kids.Way to go Russ!
The Fiberglass Fly Rodders.

My little Lilly Time to go home yet dad?
Russ G on the river

My youngest Son Brendan and Lilly pointing the way home!
Tight Lines And Time To Start Planning Next Years Northeast Clave Loops.
Tag It's Someone Else's Turn!
Andy M

I'm a new member, although I've been communicating with Andy for a while. I was wondering if Clave participants could share their impressions of Andy's new Reed series. I'd especially appreciate comparisons with rods with which I might be familiar (McFarland, Steffen, etc.). Many thanks.