Corneliu “Cory” Taritsa kind of blew my mind when I stopped by his Ionian Fly Casting booth (522) Friday at the Chicagoland Fishing, Travel & Outdoor Expo at the Schaumburg Convention Center.
I don’t expect to hear “trandscending,” “Ionian,” “human ideas” and “philosophy” at a fishing show, but it was part of talking with Tarista.
I’m still sorting through an extended conversation with him. It was centered at his innovative way of two-handed fly casting (not Spey casting, but related), but we ventured into other topics.
He is doing casting daily demonstrations at the casting pool.
Here’s some nuggets from the show:
- The tone setter came with Theo Anderson, 3, who sat, looking slightly afraid, in the big chair ready to fight simulated fish, under the smiling eyes of his dad Ted. They were in the Maple Bassmasters booth (4) in its usual spot on the left wall at the Schaumburg Convention Center.
- Fisheries biologist Steve Silic said the the new fishing booklets for the Forest Preserves of Cook Cook County arrived Wednesday just in time for the show (booth 700). The books are a something, especially for those of us who remember the small booklets of years ago. He also said the USGS is in the middle of remapping all the lakes.
- Jordan Marsh, owner of Fox River Rods (booth 309), explained his ice-fishing rods debuting at this show (third show overal) that felt like feathers in my hand. The rods were FRX blanks with AAA cork and high-res tips that quivered just as I held it. They started development in 2020, but Marsh said, “We just wanted to make sure with them. We had them in a lot of people’s hands tweaking them.”
- Pat Magdaleno founded Mags Custom Rods (booth 428) in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2017 and has never looked back. His was one of the most visually striking booths at the show with rods in neon pink, neon green, et al. More on him another day.
- Good to see Hall-of-Famer Spence Petros hitch-stepping it at the show in his early 80s. We did our usual catchup and he pulled out his phone to show photos of the flocks of turkeys around his place and some stories and photos of big fish from Geneva Lake. He said everything from the neck up is still good. He still some guiding with regular customers.
- Frankly, just good to see the usual suspects, friends, readers and to just catch up with people.
