Sowbug Roundup is a three day fly tying and fly fishing show that is held in Mountain Home Arkansas. The next event will be held Mar 24th, 25th, and 26th, 2022. This is the 23rd year that the North Arkansas Fly Fishers (NAFF) have put on the Sowbug Roundup. The first Sowbug had 20 tyers and 150 attendees. The 2019 Sowbug had over 140 fly tiers and over 1000 attendees. The official name is actually the International Sowbug Roundup, a Celebration of Fly Fishing. You can read about Sowbug Roundup on their official webpage by clicking here.
Part of the Roundup is a fly tying contest. Initially, your entries were due a few weeks ago but because of the low number of entries (perhaps) the due date was extended to tomorrow, February 21st.
If you’ve read some of my recent blog posts, you would know that I get a kick out of fly tying contests. I decided to enter a fly pair in every single category. I really enjoyed going out and finding some new fly patterns that I had never tied before to complete the lineup. Here are my entries for this year’s contest.
The first two pairs on the right side are a little scrunched together and the Tenkara flies are stacked head-to-head and almost covered by the Lefty’s Deceivers but I think you can make out all of the rest.
| # | Category | Fly Pattern | Reason For Entering |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nymph | Polish Nymph | Won the “Nymph” division at the Branson Expo last summer. |
| 2 | Dry Fly | Western Green Drake | Won the “Dry Fly” division at the Branson Expo last summer. |
| 3 | Wet Fly | Fontinalis Fin | Won the “Wet Fly” division at the Branson Expo last summer. |
| 4 | Smallmouth Bass | Muddler Minnow | Tied once before with limited success. |
| 5 | Bass | Braided Blue Damselfly | Had never tied it before but looked amazing. |
| 6 | Warm Water | Big Eyed Sempermouse | Had never tied it before but looked amazing. |
| 7 | Salmon/Steelhead | Thunder and Lightning | Had never tied it before but looked impossible. |
| 8 | Saltwater | Lefty’s Deceiver | Had never tied any saltwater patterns before. |
| 9 | Tenkara | Takayama Sakasa Kebari | Didn’t even know what it was until I saw the Category list. |
| 10 | Dave Whitlock Pattern | Dave’s Hopper | Needed a “Dave” pattern and had actually tied this one before. |
The winners of the contest will be announced on Friday March 25, 2022 at the Sowbug Roundup Shindig which will be held at St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Church in Mountain Home AR.
[…] As far as the type of wool yarn goes, I offer the most popular brand – Jamieson Shetland Spindrift. It’s a lightweight 100% wool yarn and comes in some really great colors. I currently have it available in Oyster, Salmon, Heron and Ivy. These colors will all be great for nymphs and scuds. I’ll be demonstrating the “Tellico Nymph” fly pattern, from my Classic Nymph Fly Collection #1, using some of these colors at the upcoming Sowbug Roundup. […]
Some great looking ties there Darrell! Good Luck in the contest! I had gotten some materials for trying to tie that Big Eyed Sempermouse and tried to tie two of them this afternoon. Of course after stabbing myself, more than once, with the pointy end of the hooks and exclaiming a few appropriate words, I did finish tying the aforementioned flies. I’m not saying they look as good as yours do or those in the video, but I’m hoping they’ll catch a few fish anyway. I might feature them over on the SRS website if I get one that looks good enough – time shall tell.
The name of your shindig reminds me of a guy that I remember from the Fly Tying Forum. He went by ‘Kimo’. He shared with me one time, how he tied his scud. I remember tying it and posting and he was very supportive of my effort. Needless to say, he was being nice I think. lol He is/was a masterful tyer I think out of Denver. I just tried to look for him there and it looks like he has pulled his images from that site. I wonder what happened? Your event name reminded me of him as he tied a hell of a sowbug – it was simply an amazing looking imitation. Again, good luck in the contest. UB
Thanks very much for the kind comments, UB. I’m sure your mouse flies will be worth fishing. Coincidentally, there’s a very recent post on Gink and Gasoline called How To Fish A Mouse Pattern! Basically, he said to cast it across the stream above an obstruction such as a log, let it swing just in front of the obstruction and then twitch/strip it back. Sounds easy, huh.