Category: Fly Tying Posts

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And The Winner Is …

Me!

The judging of the 2023 Sowbug Roundup fly tying contest has been completed and I had the fortune of winning THREE fly tying awards: Best In Show, Best Warm Water Fly, and Best Wet Fly. All of the winning flies were mounting in a really nice frame and the end result looks like this.

2023 Sowbug Award Winners

Best In Show

At the top of the frame is my salmon/steelhead fly entry, the Dusty Miller. It is a very old and fairly ornate salmon fly of European origin. This fly was given the “Tom Schmuecker Best In Show” award, being voted the top fly in the entire contest. This year is the first year that the award became named for Tom Schmuecker, the president of Wapsi – a fly tying material company located in Mountain Home, AR. Unfortunately, Tom passed away a few weeks before the contest but his son Joe was able to attend the banquet and present the award. Very sad.

2023 Sowbug Best In Show

Best Warm Water Fly

At the bottom center of the frame is my warm water fly entry, the Dahlberg Diver. This fly won the Best Warm Water Fly award. It’s a fairly large fly, being just over 6 inches long, so I think that’s what got the attention of the judges. The head of the fly was made with tied/packed/trimmed deer hair of three different colors and the tail contains some really nice looking grizzly dyed saddle hackles.

2023 Sowbug Warm Water Fly

Best Wet Fly

In the top row of the frame just to the right of center is my wet fly entry, the McGinty. This fly won the Best Wet Fly award. It was invented many years ago by someone named McGinty. The body of the fly is wrapped with alternating strands of yellow and black chenille, making it resemble a bumble bee. The wings consist of feathers taken from the iridescent blue/white patches on a pair of mallard wings. They are quite delicate and it is not easy to get them tied onto the fly and still look decent. These wings look okay (not great) but they were still good enough to win an award.

2023 Sowbug Wet Fly

Presentation of Awards

The fly tying awards were presented at a banquet called The Sowbug Shindig. Here I am pictured with John Berry, a fishing guide in the Mountain Home area, who was one of the judges for the contest.

Presentation of Awards at Sowbug Shindig
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2023 Sowbug Roundup – Fly Tying Demonstrator

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.

As I have mentioned earlier, I will be a fly tying demonstrator at this year’s Roundup. The difference between this year and earlier years though, is that I have a plan! I prepared some presentation boards that show the topics and the flies I will be demonstrating. It really helps me when I plan ahead.

Day 1 – Tying Materials: Natural vs. Synthetic

On Day 1, I will be tying very similar flies, side-by-side, with one version containing mainly natural materials and one with mainly synthetic materials. There are no right or wrong tying materials but I will be highlighting the differences. The board below highlights those differences.

2023 Sowbug Expo Day 1

Day 2 – Winging Dry Flies

I commonly use five different methods of tying wings on dry flies. On Day 2, I will be demonstrating those methods. Some are old and some are new, some are easier than others, but they all produce a different look. The board below highlights the five methods I use.

2023 Sowbug Expo Day 2

Day 3 – Body Styles

I will only be demonstrating fly tying in the afternoon on the third day so the plan is pretty limited. Also, if you’ve been at Sowbug on Saturday afternoon the crowd clears out pretty quickly. I think everyone is just anxious to get their traveling underway.

Because of the limited time, I don’t have a presentation board prepared for Day 3 but I will be tying flies with two different body styles: Trimmed and Woven.

Trimmed

For the trimmed body style, I will be tying flies that are mainly constructed with deer hair that is trimmed to a shape that really makes the fly.

muddler minnow photo
Muddler Minnow
Dahlberg Diver

Woven

My “go to” woven fly is called a Polish Nymph. This fly is tied by weaving two different colors of floss, one on the top and one on the bottom, and creates a really realistic-looking caddis larva. The technique used is called a Shuttle Weave (I think!). One strand of floss is held in each hand and they are crossed over without ever letting go of them. It’s really amazing to watch.

Polish Nymph
Polish Nymph created by Vladi Trzebunia, the 1989 Polish Gold Medalist
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2023 Sowbug Roundup – Auction Flies

Royal Coachman Lake Fly

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.

I will be a fly tying demonstrator at this year’s Roundup. Part of the duties of a demonstrator is to donate three flies for the auction. The flies will be put into a framed collage and sold at the Fly Tyer’s Dinner on March 24th.

For my auction flies, I have chosen three flies from Mary Orvis Marbury’s magnificent 1892 book Favorite Flies and Their Histories. It’s a revolutionary book for its time and one I refer to often.

One of my flies is from the Lake Fly section, one is from the Trout Fly section, and one is from the Bass Fly section. Here are my flies as well as the images from the book where they came from.

No. 40 Royal Coachman (Lake Fly)

Royal Coachman Lake Fly
No. 40 Royal Coachman
Royal Coachman Lake Fly
40 Royal Coachman – Created by John Haily of New York City, a professional fly-dresser, in 1878

No. 143 Grizzly King (Trout Fly)

Grizzly King Trout Fly
No. 143 Grizzly King
Grizzly King Trout Fly
143 Grizzly King – A variation of John & James Wilson’s “Professor” wet fly

No. 273 Mather (Bass Fly)

Mather Bass Fly
No. 273 Mather
Mather Bass Fly
273 Mather – Created by C. F. Orvis; named by A. N. Cheney in compliment to his friend, Mr. Fred Mather
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2023 Sowbug Roundup – Fly Tying Contest

2023 Sowbug Roundup Contest Entries

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.

2023 Sowbug Roundup Contest Entries
2023 Sowbug Roundup Contest Entries

Here are my entries for this year’s fly tying contest.

#CategoryFly PatternReason For Entering
1NymphAtomic StoneA good-looking, moderately difficult stonefly nymph pattern and one I had never tied before.
2Dry FlyRegan’s Mayfly SpinnerA very impressive-looking dry fly pattern and one I had never tied before.
3Wet FlyMcGintyA fairly easy fly to tie but very difficult to get it to look right. I don’t think I did very well this time.
4Warm WaterDahlberg DiverAn absolutely amazing looking fly and one I had never even thought about tying before. On a size 2/0 hook, it’s HUGE!
5Smallmouth BassGartside GurglerThis is a classic bass fly pattern that I had never tied before. I think they turned out like they are supposed to.
6BassMuddler MinnowI have tied this one before but have never really had it turn out well. I think this pair did though.
7StreamerBarr’s Meat WhistleThe name alone convinced me to enter this one. It’s a new pattern for me.
8SaltwaterLefty’s DeceiverI entered this one last year but wasn’t very happy with how it turned out. This year’s entry is much better.
9Salmon/SteelheadDusty MillerThis pattern is similar to the one I entered last year, which actually won an award. Unfortunately, this year’s entry isn’t as good.
10TenkaraGrave DiggerThe name alone convinced me to enter this one. I guess the colors resemble a famous monster truck of that name.
The Lineup for 2023

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.

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2022 Sowbug Roundup – Fly Tying Awards

The 2022 Sowbug Roundup has come to a close and I can happily and humbly announce that I was the winner of two categories of the Fly Tying Contest. All the winners were presented with very nice plaques for the winning flies in each category. They were presented on Friday night at the Sowbug Roundup “Shindig”. Here are my awards:

2022 Sowbug Roundup Fly Tying Awards

There were some really amazing flies submitted, so I’m pretty astonished that my flies were among them. All the winning flies were mounted in a fantastic looking shadow box which was auctioned off at the Shindig. It went for $1600!. My flies are at the left end of the first row and second from the left in the second row.

2022 Sowbug Roundup Fly Tying Contest Winners

Here they are up-close and personal:

Salmon/Steelhead Category

thunder and lightning photo
Thunder and Lightning

Bass Category

braided blue damsel photo
Braided Blue Damselfly
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Fly Dressing (Update)

An English old-timer named Frederic Halford literally wrote the book on tying dry flies back in 1886 – yeah, published 136 years ago – in his book titled Floating Flies and How To Dress Them.

I often thumb through the electronic archive copy over at archive.org. Recently, however, I discovered that there have been some modern re-publications of his books and I now have a copy on order. Little did I know, the seller is shipping it from Australia. Talk about a slow boat from China …

A while ago I created a webpage based solely on the chapter in his book that depicts fly-dressing, Halford-style, in great detail. Recently, I added another section that shows a technique he developed called the Improved Method of Winging Upright Duns. Notice how the wings are tied on with the tips pointing rearward. You can read the rest over at my Fly Dressing page

What I really like about the technique is that it allows you to tie on the wings fairly close to the hook eye (necessary on small hooks) without the difficulty of trimming the wing feather stubs so close to the eye itself. It’s really an ingenious improvement to his original “ordinary” method.

One of the finest fly-dresser in the world today, Davey McPhail of Scotland, demonstrates this exact technique in one of his 700+ YouTube videos and it’s definitely worth a look. Saying that the guy is a master is actually an understatement. Here he spends the first few minutes talking about using hen hackle on a dry fly so you can skip to the 2:05 mark to get right to the fly-dressing.

Tying a Hen-Hackled Dry Fly (Greenwell’s Glory) with Davie McPhail

What a beautiful dry fly. Between the two of them, we fly-dressers can learn A LOT from their work. They are truly two of the best.

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2022 Sowbug Roundup – Fly Tying Contest

2022 Sowbug Roundup Contest Entries

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.

2022 Sowbug Roundup Contest Entries
2022 Sowbug Roundup Contest Entries

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.

#CategoryFly PatternReason For Entering
1NymphPolish NymphWon the “Nymph” division at the
Branson Expo last summer.
2Dry FlyWestern Green DrakeWon the “Dry Fly” division at the
Branson Expo last summer.
3Wet FlyFontinalis FinWon the “Wet Fly” division at the
Branson Expo last summer.
4Smallmouth BassMuddler MinnowTied once before with limited
success.
5BassBraided Blue DamselflyHad never tied it before but
looked amazing.
6Warm WaterBig Eyed SempermouseHad never tied it before but
looked amazing.
7Salmon/SteelheadThunder and LightningHad never tied it before but
looked impossible.
8SaltwaterLefty’s DeceiverHad never tied any saltwater
patterns before.
9TenkaraTakayama Sakasa KebariDidn’t even know what it was
until I saw the Category list.
10Dave Whitlock PatternDave’s HopperNeeded a “Dave” pattern and had
actually tied this one before.
The Lineup (from R to L)

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.

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Tying Streamers

streamer collage

From my last several posts you might conclude that I’ve been working on tying some different fly patterns for fly tying contests. If you did, you’d be right. And by ‘different’, I mean fly patterns that I’ve never tied before. Tying new flies is very rewarding but … time-consuming. What I have done is taken the time and ventured into a category of flies I don’t fish very often called Streamers. If you don’t know what a streamer is then here’s a nice definition I found on the web:

Streamers are big flies used to imitate small bait fish and other moving aquatic invertebrates and creatures. The majority of the time these active flies will be given additional movement by different retrieves; also known as strips.

Source: https://anchorfly.com/streamer-fly-fishing/
barrs meat whistle photo
Barr’s Meat Whistle
dahlberg diver photo
Dahlberg Diver
muddler minnow photo
Muddler Minnow
Big Eyed Sempermouse

Going clockwise from the upper left, here are the streamers I have learned how to tie and will be submitting to a few fly tying contests that are coming up:

Fly Pattern NameContest CategoryCreature Imitated
Barr’s Meat WhistleTraditional StreamerSculpin minnow
Dahlberg’s DiverTraditional StreamerBaitfish
Muddler MinnowTraditional StreamerSculpin minnow
Big Eyed SempermouseArticulating StreamerSwimming mouse
Streamer Fly Patterns

For the complete details of how these flies are tied, please scroll through the following stack of Fly Tying Cards or optionally download the PDF.

If you’re interested in tying some of these ”different” flies, hopefully these Fly Tying Cards will save you some time so you can get right to it.