Began in 1994 to showcase regional fly tying talent, the Eastern Idaho Fly Tying and Fly-Fishing Expo (EIFTE) is organized by members of the Trout Unlimited and Fly Fishers International affiliated Snake River Cutthroats (SRC) of Idaho Falls, Idaho. All EIFTEs have been held in Idaho Falls except in 1995 and 1998 when it was moved to Pocatello, Idaho. All were held in local hotels. From its humble beginning as a one day show featuring a few dozen demonstrating fly tiers, about half a dozen local commercial vendors, an entry level fly casting workshop, and an evening fund raising banquet holding raffles and a small silent auction, it has grown into a many faceted national event in the fly-fishing world. As in 2023, The EIFTE will be held in the Mountain America Events Center on Friday, March 22nd and Saturday, March 23rd.

Many local families have fly fishing traditions, and folks are moving here to enjoy the bounteous quality waters. So the EIFTE could not help but expand from its beginning into the two-day major fly fishing event it is today. Many attendees, local and from outside the area, come to the EIFTE to acquire information to form fly-fishing strategies for visits to the unmatched variety of quality regional waters, to become familiar with or to acquire fly fishing equipment suitable for use on Greater Yellowstone waters, and to obtain information on available services. Public admittance is free and EIFTE day time activities offer solid information on the entire spectrum of fly-fishing facets. These are directed toward women, seniors, youth, the fly-fisher in general, and those seeking instruction in fly-tying, fly-fishing strategy, fly-casting, and just plain “where to fish” directions. Destination presentations offer information on visiting specific waters. Daytime raffles and chance boards offer a wide variety of quality angling items. The fly-tying demos, with four sessions over two days, are the central daytime event. The demos feature well over one hundred tiers with emphasis on tying trout and salmonid fly patterns but also offering patterns for warm water and salt water fishing purposes. The demos also offer opportunity to observe the latest items and techniques in the fly tying world and the chance to meet many icon fly tiers. Fee-based fly tying workshops offer opportunities to learn specialties from renowned tying instructors. Other fee-based workshops specialize in entry level classes, fly fishing strategy, equipment selection, and fly casting. An array of about forty vendors will operate at the same time as the fly tying demos on the Hero Arena. Commercial vendor booths feature products ranging from fly tying materials, apparel, artwork, fly casting equipment, and on to guide and lodging services. Various conservation and promotional organization will be present.

The Saturday evening banquet is the EIFTE’s wind-up event. In addition to dinner it features a raffle, silent auction, and live auction. From this fund raising gala comes the SRC’s ability to fund important conservation activities that benefit regional cold water fisheries, their habitat and for public outdoor education. This fund raising action has enabled the SRC to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to regional conservation projects and public outdoor education.