Winter’s here. Your fishing gear is either safely stowed or haphazardly tossed in a corner somewhere. And you’ve still got the fishing bug.

Well, help’s on the way. If you’ve ever played the “this is the winter I’m going to learn …” game, the Penobscot Fly Fishers have a deal for you.

The club, along with the Bangor Recreation and Parks Department, will sponsor a fly-tying class for beginners.

The class begins Thursday, Jan. 9, and runs each Thursday for eight weeks. The class will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. each night. The class will be held at the Parks and Recreation building on Main Street in Bangor.

The course will cover materials, equipment, knots and fly-tying techniques.

Students will tie a variety of flies over the eight weeks, and the cost is $20 in advance or $25 on the first night.

Materials and equipment will be provided, but if students have their own equipment, they are encouraged to bring it.

For more information, or to register, contact Joe Bertolaccini at 825-3622 or brewerbert@aol.com, or visit the Penobscot Fly Fishers Web site at penobscotflyfishers.com.

Old Town plans fly fishing show

Speaking of fly fishing, enthusiasts of the sport may want to plan a few months ahead and pencil an event on their calendars.

The Old Town Rotary Club is sponsoring the Maine Fly Fishing Heritage Show, which will be held on March 1-2 at the Old Town YMCA’s Cyr Family Field House.

The show will be free to the public.

Organizers say the show will be a celebration of Maine’s fly fishing past and present, with every thing from the very old to the newest products and ideas available.

A 60-foot casting pool will be available for those wishing to try out a new fly rod, or to learn a new casting technique.

Look for more information here, as the show dates approach.

Massachusetts show on tap

Fly fishermen (and women) tend to be avid about their chosen pursuit, and traveling for several hours in order to wade into pristine waters isn’t the kind of thing that scares these sports off.

With that in mind, another fly-fishing show is on tap, and while it’s a few hours away from the Greater Bangor area, it might be of interest to diehard casters.

Simply named The Fly Fishing Show, this major exposition will take over the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, Mass., from Jan. 17-19.

Admission is $12 per day, $20 for two days, or $28 for all three days. Those under age 12 will pay $2 per day.

The show features appearances by several authors, exhibits by more than 100 outfitters and manufacturers, and enough seminars to keep even the most avid fly fisher occupied.

There will also be casting demonstrations each day, and a “destination theater” will introduce anglers to new places to visit. (Among those presentations will be one on the Moosehead Lake region, offered by well-known guide Dan Legere of Greenville).

And if that’s not enough, The Fly Fishing show will also feature 21/2-hour classes on each Saturday and Sunday mornings, with possible topics including an introduction to salt-water fishing, fly tying, and nymph fishing techniques.

The classes, however will cost you extra: $75 per class, which includes admission to the show for that day.

For more information on the classes, or to register, call 1-800-420-7582.

To submit an item for publication in the Outdoor Notebook, send e-mail to jholyoke@bangordailynews.net, fax to 990-8092 or mail information to Outdoor Notebook, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor, Maine, 04402-1329.