Surf Day and Stock the Box Fly Tying Contest
Two major angler events are on the new year calendar. Peter Jenkins has gathered some of the best fly tiers in New England for big show and the Narragansett Surfcasters are hosting their annual and very successful Surf Day.
Surf Day will be held from 8am to 2pm on January 13, 2024, at the Narragansett Community Center on Mumford Road. Of all the events we cover here, Surf Day stands three guides higher than others because it combines fun, food, rods, reels and most importantly, charity. Surf Day is a big room full of important needs and wants matched with a winter’s day, which is just when many need an excuse to mingle with friends and gear. There will be vendors and food, shufflers and buyers and at the end, when the chowder’s gone cold and tables cleared, there will be Keeping Kids Fishing’s John Graichen, holding his hand out for many children who want to go fishing.
Aisles will be packed with good gear, new and used, low priced and highly collectible. Big names including Vinny’s Customs, 401 Plugs, Klondike Customs, Larson Lures, Zinger Baits, Rosies Bait and Tackle, Mr. Poseidon, ZBelts, High Hook Lures and Personal Best Lures will share space with The
Montauk Surfcasters Association and Marty Wenchyk’s amazing collection of antique lures. Marty’s display alone is worth the price of admission.
For years, I have been impressed by the Surfcasters collective as they turn any hour into a time to fish and any dollar into a donation. They meet regularly, laugh like old friends and reach deep when the hat comes around. They are regular folk who meet in the night and hit a beach before the sun shows up to lighten a parking lot where they’ll share coffee before day jobs and other distractions. Surf Day helps support their mission of charity and conservation so go to Surf Day with an expectation of a packed room, with a wallet to fill tackle box voids, and a bag to fill with lures to use, share and hang in a glass case. Leave behind your watch so you can enjoy time with old friends and not fret minutes meeting new ones and drive home with full blast heat and a ten-foot rod wrapped and vaulting out your passenger window, like a winter Lancelot, ready to storm a beach before a storm in the spring when alewives are back in town and bass are there to greet them. Surf Day celebrates all we love about fishing while reminding us how charity binds us in a parking lot, on the rocks or in a steamy community center in Narragansett.
On January 20, 2024, Peter Jenkins of Middletown’s The Saltwater Edge, will host a two-day celebration of fly-tying. Much as Surf Day offers anglers a respite from winter’s grip, The Stock The Box Fly Tying Expo at the Newport Hotel & Marina will open up space to see some of the area’s best tyers, like Blane Chocklett, Ben Whalley, Joe Calcavecchia, Joe Cordeiro, Jay Foss and others. “Saltwater Edge has a long tradition of passion and expertise in saltwater fly tying. We want to celebrate that and bring our community together as we kick off a new year,” said Peter Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins also noted, in keeping with the Surf Day mission, that the event will, “gather the area’s top tiers to enable local anglers to master fly-tying and build community ties.” The first day has one-hour workshops centering on different fly patterns. Clousers are much loved, reliable standards but advanced tools and materials have vaulted tiers into creating all sorts of imitations, from small bait fish to long, articulated striper siren streamers that also might just fool a giant Northern pike. You’ll be introduced to Game Changers, the Beast Fly and the classic Albie Whore and learn all about other patterns and how to build them. Sunday brings three-hour sessions with hands-on training
from experts who create and cast with success.
What’s more, anyone can enter the Stock the Box Fly Tying Contest. For this, you will focus on the forage our favorite game fish, like stripers, albies and bluefish, love to hunt, including crabs, sand eels and menhaden. You should attend the Expo but even if you pass, you can enter up to two flies per bait category by January 16, 2024, for free. Visit The Saltwater Edge homepage by January 16 to sign up for the Stock The Box Fly Tying Contest.
Peter Jenkins has crafted a
complete two-day event for tiers of all levels, with early access packages, and discounted hotel accommodations. Visit The Saltwater Edge in Middletown or click on the salwateredge.com site to get all the details and your ticket to tie.