DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — CJ Klenske’s basement is an eco-artisan’s dream.
There are shining silver strings, small ruffled feathers and fuzzy bits of fur carefully organized in plastic baskets all across a large table. A giant magnifying glass sits on his desk, alongside spools and spools of brightly colored thread.
Klenske, of Dubuque, uses these myriad supplies to craft small, hand-tied flies for fly fishing. Over the past decade, he has gained state and regional acclaim for his flies, meticulously tying thousands each year for customers in all 50 states.
“I find it very relaxing,” Klenske said of his tiny, insect-like creations. “I can sit down here and just concentrate on this … and sometimes create something new.”
Klenske started fly fishing decades ago, but he began selling his hand-tied flies 11 years ago, shortly before his retirement from Irving Elementary School. He said both the fishing and the tying became “obsessive” activities that let him enjoy time in nature.
“I caught my first fish, and I thought, ‘Well, this is cool,’” Klenske told the Telegraph Herald. “And then I started learning how to tie flies and caught my first fish on a fly I tied and thought that was even cooler.”
The point of tying flies is to make something that looks like the insects eaten by the fish a person is trying to catch. To make good flies, Klenske said, he had to learn the different entomological stages of all the bugs he was recreating.
Klenske said he makes “whatever the fish are biting right now,” but some of his common ties include recreations of mayflies, caddisflies and midges.
His smallest creations are forged on hooks the size of eyelashes, and the largest stretch about half his thumb, looking a bit like fluffy cat toys with a hidden hook. They can take anywhere from four to 15 minutes to make, depending on their size and detail.
Gary Woerdehoff, acting president of Dubuque Fly Fishers, said Klenske’s flies are well known in the local fly fishing community for their detail and creativity. He mentioned that Klenske will go out to local streams to test out his flies to see how they perform or if they could be improved.
“He’s very meticulous,” Woerdehoff said. “He’s very detail-oriented, and everything he ties is probably about as good as humanly possible.”
Most frequently, Klenske ties flies for trout, panfish and bass fishing. Klenske estimates he has created eight or 10 unique fly designs of his own, which he sells online and enters into competitions.
Some of those unique creations include the orange sherbet, lime sherbet and raspberry sherbet, similar designs named for their bright tufts of color. Klenske said he typically comes up with new ideas when he gets a new fly supply or is struck with a twist on an old classic.
“Sometimes, the suppliers that I buy materials from send me free samples of stuff, and I look at what they send and I think, ‘Oh, I can do something with that, but what is it?’ And that’s how I’ve come up with a couple of my flies,” he said.
In August, Klenske won two blue ribbons in the expert fly-tying division at the Iowa State Fair. He took second in the other two categories. Those ribbons will be added to a wall in his basement where he hangs his accolades, pinned next to the hand-tied flies that won the prize.
“I always know where he is,” Klenske’s wife, Jan, said jokingly about his time spent in the basement. “I think it’s exciting, really. It gives him something to do.”
Last year, Klenske hand-tied more than 7,500 flies. After an order from South Dakota earlier this year, Klenske has sent flies to customers in all 50 states.
But it took time to get there. After his son helped him set up his online store 11 years ago, he got just 20 orders in his first 12 months. The next year, he got 40. The numbers continued to grow from there as word spread and happy customers returned for new or replacement flies.
Klenske said things really took off in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Lockdown orders kept people from engaging in a lot of their usual hobbies, Klenske said, and many people turned to outdoor activities such as fly fishing to stay active. Simultaneously, many in-person fly shops closed, which meant more people had to shop online.
“COVID hit, and it just went bananas,” Klenske said. “It tripled my best year (in sales).”
Orders have stayed high since as people have stuck with the hobby, Klenske said. He has been able to keep up with the orders thus far and hopes they keep coming so he can share the hobby he loves with more people.
“The outdoors, simply put, there’s no place better,” he said. “Like they say, fish don’t live in ugly places.”
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