Welcome to the J. Stockard Fly Fishing Blog. We’re here to share advice, how-to’s, news and inspiration about fly tying and fly fishing.

Pink Things and Goodoo Gurglers

Guest Blogger: Mike Cline, Bozeman, Montana

Last October I gave a presentation at our local TU Chapter on a different type of kayak fishing—Fishing the Last Mile First. This year I’ve been asked to talk about our 2017 trip to Australia. I am not sure that the program chair asked me because I am a good speaker, or he just needs to fill a slot. So, this year in October I’ll be giving my perspective on fly fishing for trout in Australia. As I’ve pieced together the skeleton of a presentation, I wish I had taken far more photographs than I did. Despite clearly not being any kind of expert on Australian trout fishing, talking about my fly fishing experiences in Victoria and Tasmania isn’t all that challenging. We tossed out a few different flies and caught fish in rivers and lakes that are much different than those I am used to. As I wrote about several times in this blog, fly fishing for trout in Australia isn’t all that different than here in the U.S. except that the trout swim on the left side of the river instead of the right. more…

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Meet the Latest Additions to Our Pro Team

We’re always on the lookout for new pro team members! And, we’ve recently added two new members, including our first Junior (age 14) member! Meet them now –

Luke Stacy resides in Virginia Beach, VA. His favorite flies indue “hair and hackle” dry flies such as stimulators, elk hair caddis and other various caddis/stonefly imitations using different materials. Luke has fished his whole life but began fly fishing and fly tying just under two years ago. Luke grew up making regular camp trips to the George Washington National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and had always been intrigued with the elusiveness of the native trout residing in the creeks. Shortly after picking up fly fishing Luke caught his first native brook trout from out of a creek right next to his camp site and was instantly “hooked” on fly fishing. Originally Luke started tying his own flies to be self-sufficient but Luke quickly realized how therapeutic fly tying was for him. From there Luke recognized that fly tying was an art and dedicated a majority of his time to become a better tier. Luke aims to tie a fly a day and likes using new materials and techniques to tie with. Luke enjoys sharing his knowledge with other tiers and gets inspired by other’s work. Find Luke on Instagram.

Our first Junior Pro Tyer is Braden Miller of Glen Allen, Virginia. Braden’s favorite flies to tie include Blane Chocklett’s Game Changers, deer hair poppers, Bob Popovics Beast Fleyes, and a variety of streamers. Braden taught himself to tie flies by watching videos on YouTube and Instagram. He has been obsessed with fishing for as long as he can remember and has been fly fishing and tying since he was 8 years old (he is currently 14). Since venturing into this sport Braden has traveled across the country chasing after fish with his TFO fly rods and flies he tied himself. He regularly makes fly tying appearances at shows up and down the East Coast, including Icast in Orlando, the Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival, the Fly Fishing Expo, Tie Fest and the International Fly Tying Symposium. Braden volunteers with Project Healing Waters and continues to dedicate his time to Trout in the Classroom at his middle school. Braden is also a junior ambassador for Temple Fork Outfitters, Norvise, Fly Life Company, District Angling, Fair Flies and Catch Cam Nets. You can find Braden on Instagram.

Efficiency

Guest Blogger: Mary S. Kuss, Life-long avid angler, licensed PA fishing guide, founder of the Delaware Valley Women’s Fly Fishing Association

Efficiency in fly tying is a subject that comes up from time to time in books and magazine articles. The authors are often commercial tyers who want to share what they have learned in the course of their work. Speed is essential for the commercial tyer, for whom time literally is money. You can certainly get some excellent ideas from these sources. Perhaps, though, the hobbyist tyer should stop and ask, “How fast do I really need to go?”

One of the more common suggestions made in these discussions is that one should carry the scissors in one’s hand all the time rather than wasting time by constantly putting them down and picking them up again. I gave this idea what I considered a fair trial, and found it awkward. I have the habit of lining up my tools on my tying bench within easy reach of the vise and automatically put each one back in the same place after every use. When I need my scissors, my hand automatically goes to them. The fraction of a second lost in this process just doesn’t seem significant.

Commercial tyers utilize a variety of time-saving practices that make their operations more efficient and profitable. To me, though, much of it seems rather extreme and tedious for the hobbyist tyer. It’s a common practice among serious commercial tyers, for instance, to pluck and store separately by hook size all of the feathers from an entire dry fly cape. One professional tyer I knew plucked out a cape and not only sized but also counted the hackles. He could then determine how many flies he could get out of an average neck and calculate the cost of hackle per fly. He obviously got a big kick out of this project. I wouldn’t. more…

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