It's also close to Longview, which is rapidly becoming a thriving community with a high quality of life, with business and tech opportunities emerging the past few years.
Overall, the Expo was quite a success, with attendance about 100 folks. Everyone I spoke to at the event enjoyed it, and can't wait for the next one in 2027 (the Expo will be a biennial event, much like the Cenla Fly Fishing Festival and the New Orleans Fly Fishing Expo).
The first presenter at the Expo was Rush Clay, who demonstrated the Common Cents System for rating fly rod weights. The CCS was created by Dr. William Hanneman, a world renown gemmologist who first published his unique system in 2002, that used pennies (post 1985) to make a relatively accurate determination of the "weight" action of a fly rod or rod blank.
As part of his presentation, Rush did evaluations of different rods that attendees had brought. The setup calls for setting the butt end of the rod at horizontal level and measuring the deflection as pennies are added to a plastic bag clipped to the tip of the rod. According to charts developed by Dr. Hanneman, each length rod has a specific deflection. When the deflection for that rod reaches that number, the number of pennies in the bag are counted. That number is correlated to another chart developed by Dr. Hanneman - one that gives the "true weight" of the rod.
For example, Rush tested out my 6'6" 1-weight which I purchased from Old English Fly Shop, and which I use for creek fishing and indoor casting demonstrations. Through trial and error, I determined that the rod performed best using a Wulff Triangle Taper 2/3 weight line. Rush's measurements using CCS rated the rod as a 2.7. So I was right... it wasn't a 1-weight rod. Still fun to fish - and useful as an instruction rod.
When I learned of this presentation at the Caddo Expo, it brought back memories. I actually used CCS to evaluate blanks back towards the last years when my little side business - Woods Creek Outfitters - was operational. I formed WCO when Dave Diaz moved from Louisiana. Dave used to do rod building clinics to fly clubs and had a related business called Technical Research Company which sold blanks, components and rod building supplies and tools. I purchased most of Dave's inventory and started carrying blanks from Sage, Loomis, St. Croix, Cedar and other sources.
Most of those "other sources" were non-label and Asian. Usually IM6 or IM7 graphite. Among rod builders, these were notorious for being mis-labeled for weight. But for first time builders on a budget, they were cheap. And in some cases, made decent casting rods.
Prior to the CCS, weight of these blanks was determined by trial and error. You'd build the blank, then determined whether you had the weight you really wanted, lol. However some of us kept logs on what these blanks performed. I was able to tell my customers that might order the labeled 4-weight that they were really getting a 5-weight.
Once CCS became widespread, there were numerous rod building websites that maintained databases on nearly all blanks. Several forums as well. Folks could be fairly confident that the blank they were purchasing would be the weight they wanted. Or perhaps more important, what weight line to purchase for the rod they would build.
Sadly, the advent of inexpensive but good Asian rods - like TFO, Echo, Redington - resulted in collapse of interest in rod building. In recent years, interest has re-emerged and the CCS is garnering interest again. Also, many of the finished rods - especially those on Amazon or house brands - are still mislabeled. Knowing the correct weight of your rod can save quite a bit of money... good fly lines aren't cheap!
It was a great presentation by Rush, and one that I think many fly clubs would be interested in. For more info on the Common Cents System, click here.