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 23rd, 24th, and 25th, 2023. This is the 26th 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 event on their official webpage by clicking here.
Part of the Roundup is a fly tying contest. Your entries were due last Friday, February 10th. An announcement with the rules of the contest can be found here.
If you’ve read some of my past blog posts, you would know that I really enjoy fly tying contests. As I did last year, I again decided to enter every single category in the contest – except for the Youth Category of course. I really enjoy going out and finding new fly patterns that I had never tied before in order to complete my lineup.
Here are my entries for this year’s fly tying contest.
| # | Category | Fly Pattern | Reason For Entering |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nymph | Atomic Stone | A good-looking, moderately difficult stonefly nymph pattern and one I had never tied before. |
| 2 | Dry Fly | Regan’s Mayfly Spinner | A very impressive-looking dry fly pattern and one I had never tied before. |
| 3 | Wet Fly | McGinty | A fairly easy fly to tie but very difficult to get it to look right. I don’t think I did very well this time. |
| 4 | Warm Water | Dahlberg Diver | An absolutely amazing looking fly and one I had never even thought about tying before. On a size 2/0 hook, it’s HUGE! |
| 5 | Smallmouth Bass | Gartside Gurgler | This is a classic bass fly pattern that I had never tied before. I think they turned out like they are supposed to. |
| 6 | Bass | Muddler Minnow | I have tied this one before but have never really had it turn out well. I think this pair did though. |
| 7 | Streamer | Barr’s Meat Whistle | The name alone convinced me to enter this one. It’s a new pattern for me. |
| 8 | Saltwater | Lefty’s Deceiver | I entered this one last year but wasn’t very happy with how it turned out. This year’s entry is much better. |
| 9 | Salmon/Steelhead | Dusty Miller | This pattern is similar to the one I entered last year, which actually won an award. Unfortunately, this year’s entry isn’t as good. |
| 10 | Tenkara | Grave Digger | The name alone convinced me to enter this one. I guess the colors resemble a famous monster truck of that name. |
The winners of the contest will be announced on Friday March 24, 2023 at the Sowbug Roundup Shindig which will be held at St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Church in Mountain Home, AR.
