Promoting Youth Into Fly Fishing (as the novelty fades…make it their own)

 

Tyler Befus & Al Cauci in photo. ‘Tyler Befus may only be 10 years old but has already been fly fishing and tying his own flies for more than seven years. His fly fishing journey began when he was old enough to go along in a child backpack. He started fly casting and fly tying before the age of three and landed his first fly caught trout on his own shortly before his third birthday. He is the youngest member of the Ross Reels, Rio Products, Inc., Oakley, Simms Fishing Products and Whiting Farms prostaff teams and is a Signature Fly designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants. Tyler frequently presents kids fly fishing programs at numerous fly fishing and outdoor sport shows around the country….’      http://www.tylerbefus.com

 Tyler Befus has had some strong guidance and promotion in his ten years. His site is fun. He is published. He is confident in his presentation. He will hopefully maintain this apparent passion for the sport as he transitions away from his guiding hand…probably dad? This is enjoyable to witness as a parent, family member or nearby adult friend. I know this because my son, Tony was tying at NW Sportsman’s Shows and Fly Tying Expos at 9 y/o. We toyed with publishing a youth fly tying book years ago, but time did not allow for it to happen and the novelty of age passed by. He caught the bug at a young age and eventually made the passion truly his own.

Tony Muncy Teaching in the NWFFO Loft (3/7/09)

 Above you see Tony, just today, at 19 y/o, teaching a stillwater class at the fly shop (NWFFO-Portland) where he has been fortunate to work the last few years. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the growth and especially the process, when the young adult makes it all their own…Today, Tony said sometimes he is surprised at how much he has learned over the years. It is refreshing to see he was paying attention. Good luck to Tyler Befus and to all the other boys and girls enjoying the sport in varying degrees. We welcome you. Dad, Mom, Aunt, Uncle, Mentor….remember these formative times.

Tony Muncy & SwittersB (Dad) on Crooked R. 1991

At an early age, say 7 or 8, Tony would accompany me to a Tuesday night meet for the NWFF Club in Troutdale, Oregon. This was intended as a relaxed learning experience for both of us and a side benefit not foreseen by me was the interaction with adults, mostly men. Tony was the only youth at the meetings. He wandered about and was immediately engaged by men, who (I love them) drew out conversations and challenged him to respond with more than shyness or mumbles. Tony has never been void of words, but he learned early on to not brag, BS or fabricate (traits of normal fly fishers) because his skills were intially suspect…but, in time club members came to respect Tony’s tenacious ability on a lake, sitting well below the top of the back rest of his float tube . This was a great experience for Tony and me as well because I saw him blossom and develop without me standing over him. He did it on his own and I owe a debt of gratitude to too many men and women to mention, but in particular to John and Jack Hagan, Shirley Hagan, Tim Evans, Jack Lynch, Todd and Peggy Sloan, Lee McKee…well there were many.

This club award was special to 10 year old Tony, but aggravating to some club members. Why would you give such an important award to a boy? I appreciated the recognition for Tony’s enthusiasm, but knew there were many men and women in the club who devoted many hours to club functions and missions. But, the message was clear that the club needed new blood, that the club should encourage other kids into the mix and that Tony was a special kid in his own right. For those that sacrificed or argued nay at the time, your club’s acknowledgement went a long way in Tony’s self esteem and comfort as a young man today.

Tim Evans and Lee Clark were first responsible for gathering Tony up and convincing me to have him tie at the Portland Sportman’s Show. Back then it was sit up in front of everyone, in the middle of the action,  hooked up to a microphone, camera and monitors activated and hold forth for an hour. I can still recall when Tony blazed through an hour’s worth of material in thirty minutes and ad libbed his way through with a couple more unplanned for patterns, up on stage, for the remaining thirty minutes. He was wedged between Dave Hughes, Brian Chan and Denny Rickards that day and he did a wonderful job….most of us know how nervous we would be in the planning, preparation, over thinking it and the actual event. Tony continued this a few more times at the Sportsman Show, the Fly Tying Expos in Eugene and the FFF show in Seaside. He was recently invited to tie in a Boise, Id. show, but had to decline because of work and his fire fighter internship. In short, involve your child. If you don’t smother, over manage, over plan, over instruct your child will blossom before your eyes, making it slightly easier later when they start moving out in their own direction. You will have helped pave the way.

 

Brian Chan, Tony Muncy, Dave Hughes

Spey Fly (Jumbo Critter)

Jumbo Critter~T. Muncy

Emerger (Simple Pattern for Caddis, Buzzer or Mayfly)

Vanilla Emerger~G. Muncy

This is a generic emerger pattern tied on Dai-Riki 135 hook. The pattern was tied to imitate an emerger on stillwaters before I really considered Callibaetis, Chironomids or  Caddis. I liked the idea of an emerger and gave little thought beyond that…I would cast it out into the film and work it back in the upper strata. This is an example of incrementally learning bits and pieces. The bits work but we don’t know the total picture of why. The pattern worked and that was enough. I recall using it mostly in the last half hour of light, casting into that yellow light on the surface…toward the setting sun. I crave that time..dark behind you, fading light to the front…porpoising fish here and there…some breath takingly big backed. Anyway, I digressed…into that euphoric recollection of the perfect moments.

The pattern is tied on the 135, the thread is dark colored and size 8/0 to 14/0 (thin) for the smaller patterns (6/0 if you haven’t got the tension thing down); the body is a dubbed blend of hare ear and antron (dubbed by twisting dubbing onto thread and wrapping); the under wing is a smallish clump of Ice Dub Tan UV tied in, then Partridge feather fibers tied in on each side of the thorax area, then two pheasant tail fibers tied on top of thorax and trailing back over the length of the under wing; then take one to two ostrich feathers (depending upon size of hook). Finish thread head. Of course, you can mix and match the body, thorax/under wing colors.  

So, over the years I have noticed small dark caddis coming off at last light and caddis with long antenna and chironomids and even the rare Hex depending upon the lake. The pattern takes fish even when I have no clue what the busy fish take it for…no matter. Chuck it to the vicinity of the last rises and immediately work it back toward you and pause..I would not add the bead head…go lighter and keep it up by the action.  Simple, effective and a combination of all those components we think of using in a hundred different ways.       

1,000,000 Jelly Beans…That’s How Many!!!

Thank You! Thank You! From SwittersB

Bead Head Nymph Pattern (‘Lurefil MF Nymph’ another gem from Lucian Vasies)

Vasies Pupa Pattern~Tutorial

http://www.flytying.ro/masa_muscarului/article.php?id=329

Lucian Vasies & Mihai Vasilescu, 04 Feb 2009

Salmon Tattoo (Rob Vitek’s Live Free Canvas)

Rob Vitek's Canvas

Found this at the ubiquitous Moldy Chum. Considering almost every fly angler or angler in the world probably visits Moldy Chum, why repeat the message? I do wonder how many hits a day they have….must be extraordinary…but, I love the fish tat’s and much like Fishing Fury, like to re-express the art form…I mean if there can be 3200 different re-do’s of Cheney’s sunglass lens, then I can show Mr. Vitek’s beautiful canvas….and for me…the ‘Live Free’ piece is especially apropos now….

http://moldychum.typepad.com/moldy_chum/2009/02/angling-art-atlantic-salmon-tattoo-project.html 

http://www.anglingartwork.co.uk

http://www.anglingartwork.co.uk/pages/angling_artworkpag.html

Woman & Fish (wilco ruinemans’ art~nose art potential for the drift boat?)

Woman and Fish ~ Wilco Ruinemans

I can only guess. Insanely provocative I know…I hesitated to post it as what would you call it…sex for sex sake…but I was querying women and fly fishing in Google Images and there it was. Ruinemans’ site offers little in the way of an explanation for his works. But, because he appears to be adept with the airbrush techniques, I considered it interesting to the nose art that I find fascinating and frankly the sexuality of the nose art and this piece is plain sexy. No apologies for that.  Airbrush work by Wilco Ruinemans would take nose art to a new level. Of course, this work would not be PC for a Defense Dept. canvas. Perhaps rather than the same old tired gear logos a drift boat could have a new angle. In addition too, an occasional tweak to PC would be welcome…because you will soon be a rebel to even suggest it.  (http://www.wilcoruinemans.com/galerie.html)

Also, check out Boris Vallejo for seemingly similar and erotic work: (thanks to Lissi) http://www.imaginistix.com/details.cfm?Id=219