Chuck Furimsky is known worldwide as the grandfather of fly fishing shows. He is also an accomplished angler and fly tier. Chuck, the initiator of the International Fly Tying Symposium held each year in Somerset, N.J. Recently, [March 2024] Chuck was an inductee in the Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum, above with a nice Albie.
The Fly Fishing Shows Begin Soon. Make Your Day. You Deserve it
Henry Clement
By Henry Clement
The Fly Fishing Show doors open the 2025 doors in Marlborough, Massachusetts, on January 17-19, 2025, at the Royal Plaza.
Background
The Furimsky’s, senior Chuck and father of The Fly Fishing Show, relinquished to Ben, his son, the show, five years ago.
Chuck Furimsky began The Fly Fishing Show in 1989. The venue was a small room in the Seven Springs Mountain Resort, a ski resort in Champion, Pennsylvania.
Mike Fitzgerald (1938 – 2013), founder of Frontiers International Travel, contacted Bill Snyder and me and asked us to attend the ‘show’ and meet Mike Junior, who was heading Frontiers’ vendor team. The Frontiers’ so-called ‘booth’ was more of a card table—similar to other vendor-size tables.
The enthusiasm for information was palpable
After three years of holding the show in the Pennsylvania mountains, Chuck gambled and booked a large venue in Somerset, New Jersey – 1500 visitors went to 6,500 attendees. It was a tremendous success. Vendors clambered for more. You know the rest.
Ben has done a spectacular job elevating the show to a new level while maintaining the Furimsky touch—thoughtfulness and knowledge.
The Furimskys will be responsible for bringing you the 2025 fly fishing shows, which no participant will ever forget
Note: The Fly Fishing Show staff is impressive. If you attend the show, make it a point to engage with them.
The shows are scattered from Massachusetts to the West Coast and Lancaster, PA to Atlanta. Thousands of anglers are near enough to make it a day’s drive or nonstop flight to meet old friends, make new ones, rub elbows with the giants of fly fishing, and touch and play with all that is new in the fly fishing industry.
False albacore by award-winning watercolorist Thom Glace.
The new fly rods are always the focus, along with the casting pool
With the fly fishing industry being so small—+/—a billion dollars—here in the US and used to be in Canada, the top rod makers from abroad are in a tough spot competing with foreign wages. Some foreign rod makers produce consistently good sticks—so good that most high-end US rod makers have at least one series of their, usually graphite series, made in Asia.
Top shelf
It takes a lot of capital and know-how to produce a high-end fly rod, fiberglass or carbon, and clockmaker skill to make a quality bamboo rod.
A spey rod, switch rod, and graphite rod have different molecular characteristics. The balance makes the difference from most Asian fly rods—a consistent feel from one weight to the next.
SIDEBAR: Chuck Furimsky has also served as Director of the International Fly Tying Symposium held annually for the past 30-plus years in Somerset, New Jersey. Furimsky has developed several fly patterns.
Marlborough, MA
January 17-19, 2025
Royal Plaza
Edison, NJ
January 24-26, 2025
New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center
Atlanta, GA
January 31-February 2, 2025
Gas South Convention Center
Seattle/Bellevue, WA
February 15-16, 2025
Meydenbauer Center
Denver, CO
February 21-23, 2025
Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center
Pleasanton, CA
February 28-March 2, 2025
Almeda County Fairgrounds
Lancaster, PA
March 15-16, 2025
Lancaster County Convention Center
