Inaugural Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival

The inaugural Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival will be held at the Plano Centre on March 11-12, 2017. Along with unique and local microbrews, the event will feature lectures and classes throughout the weekend on fly fishing techniques and tactics for novices and advanced anglers alike.

Read more in the press release below.

Inaugural Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival

The 1st Annual Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival comes to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in 2017.

On March 11-12, 2017, the 1st Annual Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival (TFFF) comes to the Plano Centre, just 20 miles north of Dallas and easily accessible off of Route 75. The Plano Centre will host over 80 vendors in their main exhibition hall; seminars will be held in the Centre’s state-of-the-art classrooms. “It took us more than a year to find the right location for the Texas Fly & Brew,” says event director Beau Beasley, also the director of the Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival. “The Plano Centre is ideal because of its location and amenities. We think both Texans and out-of-state attendees will be delighted with the festival’s new home in Plano!”

“We are thrilled that the Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival chose Plano,” says Mark Thompson, Director of Visit Plano. ”This unique event is a first for City of Plano and should attract attendees from all over the region. We look forward to helping Beau and his team make this another signature event for Plano.”

Dallas-based fly rod manufacturer Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) was an early sponsor of the festival. “The region has been waiting for an event just like this one–for a new approach to fly fishing,” says TFO owner Rick Pope. Also on board early was the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF). “Texas is an important state to the fishing community and we’re pleased to support the Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival,” says RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson. “We need to encourage the next generation of anglers and boaters–a key source for wildlife conservation efforts–to get out on the water. This festival is a great vehicle for doing just that.”

“The focus of the festival,” says Beasley, “is to reintroduce Americans to the outdoors through the quiet sport of fly fishing. Plenty of people are intrigued by fly fishing but too intimidated to ever walk into a fly shop. Instead, come on down to Plano and get past that initial anxiety. Meet fly shop owners on your own terms. Immerse yourself in fly fishing and fly tying in a family-friendly, low-pressure environment. Listen to a talk. Watch a tyer. Observe a casting demo. Take a casting class yourself with your kids. Tailwaters Fly Fishing Company, the festival’s Official Instructional Sponsor, will offer free walkup casting classes for the entire family throughout the day. Unplug and unwind and get back in touch with nature, even if only for the weekend. You owe it to yourself and your family.”

The RBFF’s TakeMeFishing.org campaign will enable Boy Scouts to earn their Fly Fishing Merit Badge at the Texas festival through a series of classes taught by BSA-certified instructors. “We’re eager to support this new fly fishing festival concept,” says Peterson, “because we believe that these events in Virginia and now in Texas draw newcomers–and especially families–to the sport who might otherwise never pick up a fly rod in their lives.”

In addition to family fly-fishing classes, the Texas Fly & Brew will feature lectures and classes throughout the weekend on techniques and tactics for novices and advanced casters alike, exotic fishing locales, fishing etiquette, and much more. Also offered are free Women-Only Casting Classes as well as one-on-one instruction in basic knot-tying skills. Attendees can sit down at the vise for hands-on fly-tying instruction from members of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates wounded veterans through fly fishing and fly tying. Experienced anglers may considered enrolling in more advanced distance-casting or Spey-casting classes with expert specialized instructors. Fly fishing icon Lefty Kreh will speak as well as cast at the event; the names of additional fly fishing luminaries include Bob Clouser, Wanda Taylor, Ed, JaworowskiTom Rosenbauer, Brian O’Keefe, Mike Mercer, Steve Dally, Kevin Stubbs and many others. Unique to the Texas festival is local micro-brewery beer. Festival attendees 21 years and older will receive a series of tasting tickets with their paid admission. Local brewmeisters will offer free classes on what sets microbrewed beer apart, why and how certain ingredients yield different flavors, and how to brew and taste different types of beer. Beer will also be available for purchase during the festival.

Additional sponsors for the new festival include Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures, Southwest Fly Fishing, Mid-Valley Press, and Texas Lifestyle Magazine. The icing on the cake? Redding, California-based The Fly Shop will host a ticketed VIP Festival After-Party on the festival grounds beginning at 6:15 PM Saturday night, when fly fishing industry leaders and festival attendees alike can let their hair down and network over drinks and heavy hors d’oeuvres.

“Whether you are brand new to the sport or you’ve been fly angling all your life, we warmly invite you to the Texas Fly & Brew in Plano,” says Beasley. “Make no mistake about it: You and your children are the future of waterway and wildlife conservation. You’re the future of fly fishing and fly tying, even if you don’t know it yet. And we’re really excited to meet you and see what the future of our sport looks like.”

The inaugural Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival will be held at the Plano Centre on March 11-12, 2017. For more information, visit www.txflyfishingfestival.org or call 703-402-8338.

Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival
6729 Eckert Court
Warrenton, VA 20187
703-402-8338

[email protected]
www.txflyfishingfestival.org