Was it Worth the Drive?

Do you have a passion?  Something that makes you tick?  Something that is always on the back of your mind every minute of the day?  Something you daydream about constantly?  The one thing that in the middle of a conversation with someone you realize you haven’t heard a thing they have said because your passion took over all thought processes?  For some it may be the art of culinary perfection.  For others it could be yoga, painting, cars, photography or any of the 1000’s of things out there.  As most of you know I have a passion for the outdoors.  Hunting, hiking, kayaking and camping are constantly on my mind.  But there is one thing that always rises to the top, overriding everything else.  One thing that is permanently imprinted into my synapses.  The thing that my brain races on when I try to fall asleep and is always first to fire in my gray matter when I wake up each morning.  For me, my one thing is fly fishing. 

Not a moment in a day goes by that I’m not thinking about flies, fly rods, fly tying materials, rivers, ponds, the perfect cast, or even the quality of the water in some of my favorite fishing spots.  So when I was asked to head down to the Central New York Fly Tying Symposium and represent the New York Chapter of the Native Fish Coalition, my instant response was “YES I’ll be there”.  So I loaded up the truck and headed south to the Central NY Fly Tying Symposium sponsored by JP Ross Fly Rods held at the 16 Stone BrewPub in Holland Patent, NY.

If you have ever wondered just how big St. Lawrence County is, take the drive from Massena to Utica.  There is no easy way to get there. You start at one of the most northern points in the county and drive an hour and twenty minutes though small towns, corn fields and backwoods roads just to get out of the county.  Once you get out of St. Lawrence County it’s another hour and forty minutes to get to Utica.  The three hour trip to my hotel in Utica was rather uneventful. 

The time flew by as I pondered the event I was attending.  Just the day before I had been asked if I would be a guest speaker.  They wanted me to do a small presentation on the Native Fish Coalition(NFC) so my mind danced on what I was going to say as the miles passed by.  As soon as I was at my hotel I got to work reviewing my presentation, making sure it had everything I wanted to say.  I had no idea how big this event was going to be but I wanted to be prepared.  I have never had a fear of public speaking but that's because most of the stuff I have spoken about is career related.  Stuff I’ve spent the last 25 years of my life learning and perfecting.  This, however, was a bit different.  This was my passion and I would be sharing this information with people that have way more experience than I do.  Once I was as confident as I was going to be I called it a night.  The next morning I was up early.  The nervousness I had gone to sleep with had turned into excitement.  I couldn’t wait to spend the day with like minded people and see what this event had to offer.  I made the short 15 minute trip up to Holland Patent and found the Brewpub. 

I was the first person there so I took a short walk up the main street.  This cozy little town was just starting to wake up.  Through the mist and light freezing drizzle I strolled through their park and window shopped a few of their places. 

As I made it back to my truck, people for the event were starting to pull into the parking lot.  I walked over to introduce myself and immediately I met JP Ross, the organizer of the event.  He welcomed me and treated me like we had been old friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while.  Next I finally got to meet Chris.  Chris has been with the NFC for a while and he would be manning our booth with me for the day.  We have had a lot of zoom meetings together and it was great to finally meet him in person.   As we set up our table vendors and fly tyers came and settled in. 

Across the room I noticed another familiar face.  An author whose books I have read and wood burning artist Mark Usyk was getting set up. We had been Facebook friends for a while and I was excited to finally meet him in person.  I went over and introduced myself to him and again I was treated like an old friend. 

As the show started and fly fishing enthusiasts began to roll in I started to notice a pattern.  Every single person that stopped by our booth was like seeing an old friend.  People I had never seen before shared stories and adventures of their times on the water.  As I shared information about the NFC, people listened and shared their thoughts on our wild native fish.  It was wonderful.  The room was a continuous flow of people. 

I took a break from the booth to see who and what else was there.  I got to meet the folks from Trout Power

and the Mohawk Valley Trout Unlimited.  I got to speak with Jerrod Vila and Megan Postol from the New York Outdoor News.  

I met fly tyers like Jillian Beattie,

Eric Washofer

, and Dominick Greico. 

I met fly tyer and author of “ The Greats of Adirondack Fly Fishing” Robert Streeter.  I stopped by the booths of businesses like JP Ross Fly Rods,

Mark Usyk,

Nash Fly Works,

and Steve Firlit.  

As I worked my way around the room you could feel the energy.  Everyone was genuinely excited to be there and couldn’t wait to talk to the next person.  As the beers flowed everyone in the room became one big family.  At 2pm it was my turn to give my presentation.   After meeting with all of these industry professionals I was a bit nervous.  I stepped up on the small stage in the bar and took a quick glance around.  There had to be at least 80 sets of eyeballs looking up at me.  With a bit of a knot in my throat I began my presentation.  I discussed where the NFC started, how it has expanded, how our NY chapter came to be and the projects we are currently working on.  The 15 minutes flew by.  As I stepped off the stage I was again greeted by all my new old friends.  I was given a lot of thank yous and good jobs.  Once I was settled in back at the booth Chris and I found ourselves again surrounded by people.  Those who came to hear my presentation had decided to take one more trip over to our booth.  As we sold hats and t-shirts we answered questions about our chapter, what we had for upcoming projects, and people asking how they could help us out.  It was FANTASTIC.  As the place started to quiet down around 5:30 I began to make my rounds saying goodby to the folks that remained.  At one point I was asked “Was it worth the drive?”  My simple answer was YES, yes it was well worth the drive.  It’s not very often you get to spend the entire day with like minded passionate people that are obsessed with the same thing you are.  After Chris and I boxed up the last of our stuff I took a moment to thank JP Ross again for inviting us to the event.  He shook my hand, gave me a hug and thanked my for making the trip.  I asked him if I could get a quick picture with him for my blog and he very kindly said yes.  As I held up my phone he said to me “ I like to take a special photo with my friends”.  As I counted 1,2,3 this is what I ended up with. 

I have to say, if I could sum up my entire experience in one photo this would be it.  

Follow Your Passion:

If you are one of the lucky ones to have a passion I suggest you follow it to the end of the earth.  As adults with children we get wrapped up in helping our kids nurture what they love.  We take them to practices, concerts and shows they want to attend.  We make sure they have everything they need so they can be the best they can be at what they enjoy doing.  We set aside our own goals and interests for them.  Lord knows my wife and I have been all over the east coast for tournaments and day camps.  Now that my kids are young men I’m finding that they need less from me and I have more time to work on myself.  Part of that has been following my passion.  Fly fishing and fly tying is a small niche group of men and women who all seem to be all in when it comes to this sport. I’m far from a professional but everyday I work on getting a little better at it.  

We look at the world a bit differently.  Heck, when was the last time you pet a dog and looked at the hair that comes off of it and wondered how you could use that hair to tie a fly?  Well, I can tell you that I do it daily.  For me I’ve even taken this passion one step further and have become a bit of an advocate for our wild native fish. 

Those of us that are into this know that we humans have done a lot of damage to the habitats these fish call home.  If your passion brings you into the great outdoors you truly understand what I’m talking about.  However if yours doesn’t that's ok too.  I encourage you to follow what  you love. Immerse yourself in every aspect of it.  Find the local or regional shows.  Make it a point to one day go to that national level event you've always wanted to attend.  Allow your passion to take you away from the day to day 9-5 life you have to live.  Embrace your passion and allow it to be who you identify as. 

I’m currently working on expanding my love for fly fishing.  If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about it please let me know or send them my way.  I’m looking for six volunteers who have an interest in fly fishing but have never done it before.  I would like to take 2 women, 2 young (middle teenage years) kids and 2 adult men out to try it for the first time.  I want to introduce them to a world of Northern NY Adventures they have never seen before.

Aaron Hardy

Northern NY Adventures

“Make Life an Adventure”