Sunday, April 19, 2020

More cancellations announced

Within the span of a week, two of the country's largest annual fishing trade shows have been cancelled.

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association announced that the 2020 International Fly Tackle Dealer Show (IFTD), scheduled for October 7-9 in Denver, is now cancelled.

Then last week, the American Sportfishing Association announced that the world's largest conventional fishing show, ICAST, once again scheduled for July in Orlando, is cancelled.

Previously, Fly Fishers International announced the cancellation of their annual Fly Fishing Expo set for July 21-25 in Bozeman, MT. Other major outdoors organizations such as NRA, Ducks Unlimited, and Pope and Young have cancelled their annual conventions.

With regards to regional fly fishing events, the latest cancellation is the FFI Southern Council Fly Fishing Fair. It was set to return in October as a mixed event, with a festival and tournament format. Also, last week, the annual Leeville Fly Fishing Weekend was also nixed. Hosted by the Red Stick Fly Fishers with participation of clubs in Louisiana and Mississippi, it was scheduled for early July.  A week ago, Ted Warren announced that the annual Bass On The Fly, set for Lake Fork in early May, was cancelled.

Between now and October only two events remain open for now.  The North Louisiana Fly Fishers Masters Series - set for the last Saturday in July.  And the LDWF's National Hunting and Fishing Day events on the last Saturday in September.

All club meetings are still off for the foreseeable future. A few have gone to video conferencing to hold meetings and tying sessions.