It’s said that over half of relationships start online these days. But I don’t think those statistics include fly tying friends. And yet — that’s how tonight’s tying group started.
Read More >>Tying Night With The Fly Pack & Presenting the Fly
Category Archives: Fly Tying
From the Vise: Striped Bass & Atlantic Salmon Flies
With spring approaching — it is approaching, I tell myself, despite what the weather does — I’ve stated tying regularly again, including Joe Blados’s Crease fly, some variations on Rich Murphy striped bass flies, and some Atlantic salmon flies.
Read More >>Green Spey Fly Pattern: A Winter & Salmon Favorite
Marc LeBlanc’s Green Spey fly is one of my favorite Spey flies. It bursts with color (which, in the depths of winter, is a great thing) and has, in the words of Megan Boyd, plenty of life to it.
Read More >>Miramichi Salmon Flies: Four Classic Patterns for a Friend
In sitting with Ben the other night, we talked about the river, and what might work well while he’s there. Being one for tradition, and for history, I suggested he try the classic Miramichi flies. Upon getting home, I was drawn to Ted’s old desk to tie those very patterns — patterns I plan to share with Ben, in hopes that he might catch a salmon on one.
Read More >>Building a Fly Tying Room from Scratch: What would you do?
I’d like to pose that question to you, just as I posed to to the members of the SpeyClave forum tonight. If you were building a fly tying room from scratch, what would you do?
Read More >>Atlantic Salmon Flies as Art
“Toward the end of the twentieth century, we began to see a disconnect between the art of Atlantic salmon fly tying and the sport of Atlantic salmon fishing. In the right hands, a workhorse fly pattern like the Jock Scott became a large, immaculately crafted object, suitable for framing and hanging on one’s wall. Though many like it have hooked thousands of salmon over the last century and a half, this particular fly will never see water, much less the business end of a dime bright Atlantic salmon.”
Read More >>Tying Flies Through the Boston Lockdown
Photo: The View Tonight
Weekend at the Vise
Facing a weekend with apartment to myself, I did what I suspect many fly fishermen in the Northern Hemisphere are doing: tying flies in preparation for the rapidly approaching season. As one tier said to me recently, “If I don’t start tying now, my boxes will be empty!” While that’s not entirely true — fishermen always fear a scarcity of flies, but rarely face it — the feeling is accurate: with the days warming up, it’s now a race.
Read More >>Spring Cleaning: Fly Tying Desk
This evening, trouble rode into town. I opened a bag of hackle and there they were: the dried husks of bugs. As I counted the husks, and ran what had been feathers but was now a fine dust between my fingers, I also counted the hours ahead that it would take for me to clean it up and to prevent all the other materials in my burgeoning collection from becoming infected.
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