# who taught you to tie flies



## spc7669 (Apr 15, 2015)

A former neighbor and fishing buddy taught me. My first one was the ugliest Wooly Bugger that’s ever been on a hook.


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

I went to a fly tying social here in Corpus at a beer/pizza joint. I had a box full of stuff that was passed to me from my dad which was passed to him from a life-long family friend who’s husband had passed. He was a very avid fly fisherman and fly tyer. The young guy that showed me a clouser was absolutely pumped at the “box” full of old stuff, and proceeded to explain basically all that was in there (I was clueless). I mean there was a vice, material, books, notes, and even a letter from a friend and a pack of his dog’s fur. I have it all and very well may make a crab out of that dogs fur…I’d love to know that story.

I get a lot of enjoyment out of tying flies with Mr. Rector’s vice, and imagine that he‘d be happy to know that I’m using it.


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## Fernando Perez (May 7, 2021)

YouTube university


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

Myself. Got an Orvis Fly tying kit as a gift when I was a teen. Tied a few trout flies back then, a light cahill dry was my first one and shortly thereafter set the kit aside along with the fly rod for about 30 years. Still had the kit after all that time when I decided I wanted to pursue the local saltwater fish with fly tackle. I didn’t particularly like the majority of commercially available saltwater fly offerings I was coming across and decided I would enjoy fly fishing more by tying my own. Took some trial and error to figure out what patterns I most liked to fish and tie. Tying for me now is mostly replacing flies lost to attrition.


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## Ironhead (Mar 24, 2021)

My Dad taught me to tie flies.


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## Flycaster (Jun 19, 2018)

Self taught. Tied my first fly when I was fourteen using pliers to hold the hook, sewing thread and squirrel fur. Used the fly to catch some panfish in a pond. The fly didn’t last long but it did work. To be honest though I think a small piece of cloth on the hook would have also worked on those fish.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I'm largely self-taught with the addition of the help and advise of quite a few along the way... My start came before my fly-tying when I found that the bucktail jigs we used quickly lost the cheap tied in bucktail or nylon tails. Starting with a handful of chewed up leadheads I was able to come up with workable bucktail jigs... From there I went to looking for charterboats that had what were called "jap feathers" that needed new feather tails - sometimes in quantity.... Back in 1976 I joined the Tropical Anglers Club in Miami and found that along with all the other tackle categories you could compete in was a fly division.. In typical backwards fashion I built my first fly rod - before I knew how to use it... Back then there simply were very very few places that even stocked decent flies locally so I struggled to tie up a few myself -and it was all downhill from there. Abe Gaspar, then working at Uslan Rods locally, was kind enough to not only teach me the basics of building fly rods - he also introduced me to Harry Friedman - who was a contemporary of Joe Brooks and nearing the end of his time... He taught me to tie my first bonefish fly (and I did catch a nice bone with it soon after..). You can see pics of Harry back in the early 1950's in the early books on saltwater fly fishing by Joe Brooks... His proudest catch over the years was a 72lb tarpon on 12lb tippet with the old Miami Beach Fishing Club. i didn't think much of it until I learned that back then no one used bite tippets (they thought them un-sporting...). I can't imagine how many tarpon he had to hook and fight to beat a fish that size on straight 12 lb tippet... 

At the end of the seventies I filled my first small order for a shop in Ft. Lauderdale and things just took off from there. In the early eighties I actually set up and taught fly fishing classes at night at my local community college - but after two years we lost our site when we weren't able to clean all the hair and feather trimmings properly from the classroom we were using... That was every bit of forty years ago now... but I'm still tying, just not commercially any more...


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## TrojanBob (Sep 30, 2018)

I would say myself and You Tube, but I have not been a good teacher.


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## attitudeindicator (Sep 8, 2020)

15 years ago back in high school, got the Lefty Kreh saltwater fly tying kit. Came with a VHF of Lefty teaching how to tie clousers and deceivers. After that it was working at a fly shop in Miami after school.


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## Fliesbynight (Mar 23, 2020)

Self taught using books, which is my usual strategy for my hobbies. I tend to dive right in and work it out as I go.

Not much information on fly tying or saltwater fly fishing when I started except for books. I have to credit J. Kenney Abrames, Ray Bondarew, Ed Jaworowski, Bob Popavics and, of course Lefty, for the material they published.


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## Vinny L (Oct 20, 2020)

Self taught with books. Started tying big buck tails for the surf/bridges back in the early 80’s. I graduated to freshwater flies in the late 80s then to salt.
Great therapy.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

I begged my parents for a fly tying kit when i was around 5 and started tying my first "flies" on Christmas ornament hooks before moving on to real hooks later.

I do credit a gentleman named Fred that worked at Bill Jacksons for really sparking the fire in me. I started regularly attending his tying classes when I was around 9, one day after class in talking I shared I tied flies but didn't even own a fly rod. The next week when I arrived there was a 6wt he had built himself cut to 7.5ft for a kid, from there the neighborhood bass didn't stand a chance.
To this day all my flies are still tied on a handmade tying station he built and gifted me.


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## Vinny L (Oct 20, 2020)

BrownDog said:


> I begged my parents for a fly tying kit when i was around 5 and started tying my first "flies" on Christmas ornament hooks before moving on to real hooks later.
> 
> I do credit a gentleman named Fred that worked at Bill Jacksons for really sparking the fire in me. I started regularly attending his tying classes when I was around 9, one day after class in talking I shared I tied flies but didn't even own a fly rod. The next week when I arrived there was a 6wt he had built himself cut to 7.5ft for a kid, from there the neighborhood bass didn't stand a chance.
> To this day all my flies are still tied on a handmade tying station he built and gifted me.


That’s a cool story!!


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Taught myself using this book which became my well worn teaching guide on fly fishing along with Tom McNally’s “Fly Fishing”.


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## flysalt060 (Aug 5, 2012)

Self taught by Randall Kauffman’s books. And hanging out at the local fly shop.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Another self taught here. I started tying in the mid 1980s, shortly after I got into fly fishing. I just thought that is what fly fishermen do. Most of my "instruction" came from looking at pictures of flies in fishing catalogs, then trying to match it with what materials I had on hand. Some of the ugliest flies you have ever seen will catch fish. I later got involved in NGTO (North Georgia Trout Online), and through the twice yearly "Flings" I met and learned from some great tyers. My biggest challenge was finding decent materials to tie with.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

Vinny L said:


> That’s a cool story!!


Thanks
I come from a very non outdoors family and only have a small number of people that have helped me over time.
I regret loosing touch as I got older and left FL.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

My grandson said he wanted to learn to tie flies a couple of years ago. So for Christmas I have him a Bait fish gift box from Fly Tiers Dungeon, gave him a vise and set of scissors, bodkin, spindle. Then gave him a lesson on basics, he took off tying hundreds watching YouTube. Still tying. I upgraded his fly rod to an 8 wt. So now he has a 5 and 8
By the way those gift boxes from FTD have so much stuff in them he has years of supplies


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## SS06 (Apr 6, 2021)

My dad, Harry Goode's fly shop, and You Tube


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## Caddis (Feb 2, 2020)

Self taught when I was 8 (51 now) First few I tied without a vise holding the hooks in one hand. Went on to work at a fly shop in high school and college and taught classes for them. One of my students went on to be one of the top Atlantic salmon fly tiers which was pretty cool. These days I buy most and just tie things I can't buy.....kids and work have me wanting to fish with free time more than tie. I tied for the shop stock in college too.


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## TX_maverick (Oct 26, 2020)

YouTube mostly. I do look at patterns in see in various places and try to put what I see on the hook. It is a fun hobby, but I never knew how much money you can dump on it! Worth it when you catch a fish on your own fly though.


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

My mom sent me to a Flyfishing school when I was 6 or 7. It was run by the local Nature Conservancy and lasted for a week in the summer. I was the only person under 25 in the class which in hindsight I am amazed they allowed me to go. Learned to tie pheasant tails, wooly buggers, parachute Adams, and San Juans. The best memory was on the last day they took us fishing at a private pond and everyone took out float tubes but I wasn't allowed to. So I fished from shore and caught 2 of the biggest rainbows I have caught in my life still. No one else caught a fish that day. I have a photo of it I will add someday when I find it. 

Now I like to go to the fly shop and bug the old guys into showing me how to tie stuff.


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## The Fin (Sep 28, 2021)

Drifter said:


> My mom sent me to a Flyfishing school when I was 6 or 7. It was run by the local Nature Conservancy and lasted for a week in the summer. I was the only person under 25 in the class which in hindsight I am amazed they allowed me to go. Learned to tie pheasant tails, wooly buggers, parachute Adams, and San Juans. The best memory was on the last day they took us fishing at a private pond and everyone took out float tubes but I wasn't allowed to. So I fished from shore and caught 2 of the biggest rainbows I have caught in my life still. No one else caught a fish that day. I have a photo of it I will add someday when I find it.
> 
> Now I like to go to the fly shop and bug the old guys into showing me how to tie stuff.


Sounds familiar! It seems like kids just have a natural ability to persevere!👍


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Yea kids and women


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## Frequent Flyer (Jul 23, 2019)

Over 20 years ago I took lessons from an old guy named Hal at Bass Pro Shops in Ft. Lauderdale. He gave me a solid foundation in fly tying, I’m still tying and I even still have some of those old flys.

Thank you Hal!


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## ChildsPlayOutdoors (Jun 28, 2021)

I learned from Bud Priddy of the Alamo Fly Fishers. That was 35 years ago. What a genuine man he was to take time to teach a wet behind the ears newbie. But it stuck and 35 years later I’m still tying. And the flies are a lot prettier too…


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## redchaser (Aug 24, 2015)

Nobody and if you saw my ugly flies you would believe me.


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## oceanluvr30 (Jan 30, 2009)

Nice work...my son taught me after he self-taught himself.


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

I wasn't that interested in tying flies but a few years ago a neighbor was clearing out some space in his utility room and said I could borrow his tying vise and tool set for as long as I wanted. I talked to a fly guide buddy of mine for some tips, picked a few patterns that would work where I fish and watched a bunch of tying videos online with those patterns. Started enjoying it and have stuck with it. Went to return the borrowed vise and my neighbor said, "No keep borrowing it. I have no interest in tying flies but it was a gift from the wife. If she ever asks where it is, I can say that you are borrowing it instead of I gave it away. Keeps the peace." I don't tie very much as of late. My son got a vise and we tied boxes full of flies just having fun and trying new material and patterns. We are loaded up with flies but we do get into the tying room and play around with new patterns and ideas, mostly for getting ready for a big trip somewhere. We've also spent an inordinate amount of time tying and trying different patterns for sheepshead but that is worth a whole other thread.


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## bknot (Sep 18, 2020)

dabbled (tied 1 or 2 flies) with older brother when I was 12-13 y.o., but really was self taught with books in my 20s


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## finbully (Jan 26, 2013)

Don Puterbaugh when I was in high school (1970's). I worked at a fishing tackle store and he worked there tying files and teaching classes. One of the stars for freshwater tying and teaching. Paul Fling who is also a well-known tyer worked at the same shop at the same time back in the 70's.


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## Tankerfly (Jan 22, 2021)

First classes were from Dick Talleur, but learned a bit from books before that and watching the demonstrations at LLbean when they had an huge fly department 25 years ago.


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## Mtntop (Mar 25, 2020)

First learned casting and tying from Carl Hansen when I was a kid next door, then read lots of books and practice before the internet, etc.


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## Clamfoot (Jun 21, 2021)

Self-taught as well but I've read and I keep paper books on the subject as reference. Whenever I find a book out in the world I usually buy it. Used or new. Some for technique, some for interesting patterns, and some for tying theory. It's interesting to learn why a good tier does what he/she does. What the thinking was behind the material selection and what was the expected result/presentation. Theories on eyes vs no eyes, How much weight and where it's positioned on the hook, etc. 

There are some guys on this forum that I wish would publish a book of secrets as well but I'm not sure that the fate of paper books holds much promise these days. Youtube is a different thing altogether. I'm hoping the good tyers do something to pass on fading knowledge. You know who you are......


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## SS06 (Apr 6, 2021)

I watch a lot of YouTube videos and tie along with them....even what I consider "ugly" representations still catch fish....I get better with the more I tie a pattern, but I will take the ugly ones and cast/swim them..if they swim true I throw em at fish. 
When I first started tying my version of gurglers I tied a real ugly flourescent green one....next trip it caught six snook in 3 hours....fish don't care what they look like


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## scottsflyshop (Oct 2, 2011)

Self taught at 12yo - ordered a kit from the local sporting goods store. Vise wouldn’t hold the hook - to this day, I still appreciate a good vise.


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

Yea, me too. My kit vise also had trouble holding hooks so I gave it to my neighbor, let him suffer. Lee Wulff reportedly could and did tie many fish catching flies without the aid of a vise. Maybe we are spoiled. I might try to see if I can pull off a Borski slider without a vise. Or not.


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## trekker (Sep 19, 2015)

I taught myself in the pre youtube days.


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## Snakesurf (Jun 18, 2019)

Started by hand tying bucktails on large offshore hooks and slider weights to catch fish off the Pacific coast of Michoacan Mexico back in the 80s. Took up saltwater fly fishing late 80s and started teaching myself to tie saltwater flies. Got a book that Lefty Kreh wrote, that showed how to tie his deceiver. That was the first fly I learned how to tie. Would of been nice to have You Tube back then, but what the hell, I figured it out. The old guys back in the early 1900s did not use vices and could do some incredible work. I think a vice is a vice, and you should try to do it like the oldtimers at least when starting.


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## Alex from GA (Jun 14, 2021)

In the early '50s a city park had fly tying classes. My parents bought me a Ned Grey kit and a model A vise. I rode my bike to a creek where I caught trout with my flies. Later on I lived a couple miles from Ned Grey's store and I picked his brain for help.


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## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

I lost about half a box of purchased flies to the mangroves back in Cayman and thought "I'll save so much money tying my own!" and nobody was there to tell me how gravely mistaken I was.

I had ordered some flies from Chris Kincaid and they were so beautiful - those got me really excited about the idea of tying. 

The blog on the Skinny Water Culture Website had a few dozen fly tying videos that Chase Hancock had filmed and those were the first ones that really got me pumped up about tying. The video production was really sharp. He didn't tie conventional patterns - they were all variations with non-traditional colors and creative use of materials. It was all totally outside the box, and I remain so thankful that I didn't realize how outside of the box it was, at the time. Fly Tying was offered as a creative exercise rather than the craft of recreating standard recipes. _This is a clouser. This is a deceiver._ I didn't even learn about those patterns until a long while after I began tying.

The In The Riffle videos were helpful in that the techniques and implements were explained as the fly was tied. 

I had just moved to Florida when I started tying. I didn't have a kiddo yet, or a boat yet, OR any friends yet, so I had time to focus on tying. Now I have all 3 so I tie less frequently, but enjoy life more. Hahaha.


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

Alex from GA said:


> early '50s a city park had fly tying classes


My dad was stationed in Southern California mid 60's.
He indulged my "fascination" of fly fishing by getting me a tying kit for my birthday and then taking me with him to the veterans park that had fly tying classes at night.
Only went a couple times but learned how to tie a Mosquito dry fly.

I think "craptastic" would be a good description of the flies I tied then.
Met Carl Hansen at a shop in largo (70's) when I lived in Florida. His advise upped my saltwater game dramatically. 
Over the years I still manage to tie a few "craptastic" flies now and then.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

mro said:


> My dad was stationed in Southern California mid 60's.
> He indulged my "fascination" of fly fishing by getting me a tying kit for my birthday and then taking me with him to the veterans park that had fly tying classes at night.
> Only went a couple times but learned how to tie a Mosquito dry fly.
> 
> ...


Craptastic flies catch fish


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

permitchaser said:


> Craptastic flies catch fish


they did 









I had to quit fixing it.
Managed to cut off the pectoral fin on the other side and this side got it pushed into the body.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

@mro man that thing would catch big leopard rainbows in Alaska. Kinda mouse looking


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

permitchaser said:


> leopard rainbows in Alaska


I've caught a boat lode of fish in Alaska, but never one of those Leopard Rainbows.
Maybe later this year.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

mro said:


> I've caught a boat lode of fish in Alaska, but never one of those Leopard Rainbows.
> Maybe later this year.


I could show you pictures of ones we caught but I was shooting transparencies back then. Caught them on Wolly Bugers


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

I went to the what are you tying now thread to see my post...
It's here rather than there.
I do have an excuse, just see what I just posted in the "drinking thread"


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## Cronced (Nov 18, 2016)

I started with some of Mom's sewing thread with no vise and no bobbin, and actually caught a few smallmouth with them. My parents, thinking it might help get it out of my system, took me to a friend's house to see just how complicated and difficult it all was. His name was Butch, and he showed me how to tie a hare's ear nymph and some generic dry fly, maybe an Adams, which also produced a few smallies and maybe a creek chub or two. I was using a bobber and spinning rod to cast these things without a fly rod.

When my parents realized I wasn't going to quit, they took me to our local fly shop for some lessons and a Cortland rod that I still have and is my primary fly rod. That was Bob Closer himself, and I had no idea how lucky I was that my parents randomly lived close to a fly fishing legend. He was just the nicest and most down to earth guy.

Then over the years Dad and I would sit and tie flies together and we learned a great deal from each other.

Oddly enough, the more I learned, the fewer patterns I tied. Now I tie a basic Clouser minnow, a really bland gurgler and a really bland crystal minnow. And that's it.


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## Natorade (6 mo ago)

Youtube. I didn’t grow up fishing. No one in my immediate family fished or fly fished for that matter. I got really hooked on The New Fly Fisher series on YouTube one winter and the rest is history.


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## The Fin (Sep 28, 2021)

Natorade said:


> Youtube. I didn’t grow up fishing. No one in my immediate family fished or fly fished for that matter. I got really hooked on The New Fly Fisher series on YouTube one winter and the rest is history.


YouTube has really made learning different fly patterns and fly tying techniques easier than the days of print.


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## birdyshooter (Sep 17, 2019)

This is good one!! I would say self-interest steered me to the dark side. My dad bought me a Sears kit some 30 years ago as a Christmas present. My brother from another mother really pushed my limits on trout flies. He’s unfortunately gone to better places now. But, he always said “you’re gonna bite off more than you can chew” when it comes to saltwater. I just keep pushing. If not for him, for me. I enjoy every aspect of it!!😁😁😁


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## Capt.Ron (Mar 5, 2014)

Back when I was 8 years old I started, and I wrote a letter to Randall Kaufman, and he mailed me a book. But mostly self taught.


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## MRichardson (May 27, 2010)

Several folks, but the main mentor was Vance Cook. Creator of the Cook's Critter (pic). When I met him he was in his upper 70s, no longer fished, but told me tales of the good old days in the FL Keys, Everglades, Bahamas. He was a retired airline pilot. In his old age, his hands shook when he tied but every fly came out perfect. He'd sit and smoke a pipe while tying and gave me more instruction and inspiration than you can imagine. I miss those days, and I miss him.

I tried smoking a pipe recently but it didn't help.


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## BLS FL (Apr 19, 2017)

I was at an outdoor expo at the old St. Pete pier with my dad when I was about 13. There was this this crusty old guy named Carl Hanson sitting at one of the tables as we walked by. I stopped to admire the flies he had displayed and he asked me if I’d ever tried fly fishing. I had not. He told me I should learn, and learn to tie my own flies. I told him it looked pretty difficult. He said “I know you can tie your own flies. You know how I know?” I shook my head no. He pointed at my sneakers “You tied your own shoes didn’t you?” He invited us to his house for a fly tying session. We spent many Tuesday nights sitting around his kitchen table with a bunch of his friends tying flies and telling stories.
My friends and I would stop by Bill Jackson’s where worked just to talk to him. He was this gruff, cantankerous old man but he had a soft spot for kids and always took time to share knowledge with us.
I remember him telling us there are 3 stages in an anglers life, first you just want to catch as many fish as you can, then you want to catch the biggest fish, finally you just want to catch fish in the most sporting way possible.
Those are some very fond memories.









Carl O. Hanson, "Lord of the Flies,' master fly fisherman


Carl O. Hanson, the Suncoast's legendary fisherman known as the Lord of the Flies, has died at age 84.




www.tampabay.com


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## Beauvet (8 mo ago)

Self taught but countless books, videos and forums over the years. Many of my flies still fall into the craptastic category. I started teaching boyscouts how to tie their own simple flies. I would say I'm in debt to MANY authors and fishermen.


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