What’s the attraction of fly tying?
Pull up a chair at the Family and Adventure Pavilion at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show and you’ll learn from the volunteer fly tying instructors of the Southeast Wisconsin chapter of Trout Unlimited.
“How much time do you have?” said Greg Schick, a club member from Mount Pleasant.
The question was posed in fun. But Schick also didn’t wait around for an answer.
He proceeded to show, not tell.
Besides he had two visitors at his shoulder wondering what this fly tying thing was all about.
More: Platteville fish dealer convicted of selling invasive carp
Jane (age 6) and Birdie (4) Lynn, sisters from Shorewood, looked on with rapt attention as Schick constructed a fly before their eyes.
“This sparkly material gets wrapped around here,” Schick said, applying Flashabou to a hook held in a vise. “And this funny spongy thing gets tied on here.”
A bead head completed the pattern, called a Mop Fly.
In about a minute it went from a bare hook to a fishable lure.
There’s no denying the flutter and shine of the materials is a draw.
Schick and fellow volunteer Al Dalphonso of Milwaukee had two tying stations set up in the pavilion, each equipped with a range of components including colored beads, reflective synthetics, spools of thread, dyed chenille and natural hackle feathers.
And if you’re looking for a means to express your creativity, fly tying is a perfect hobby.
“Got an idea, go for it,” Dalphonso said. “I love to see what people come up with.”
Each bare hook in the vise is a blank canvas, ready to be made into something unique.
Anglers also appreciate fly tying because of its utility: they can make, rather than buy, some or all of the flies used for fishing.
There’s a huge sense of accomplishment, too, when you catch fish on a fly you tied, Dalphonso said.
Schick and Dalphonso, both retired, have taken their skills and passion for fly tying to a higher level.
They now devote significant time to teaching others. They along with a larger cadre of local TU members offer free instruction each year at the Sports Show.
Schick also leads a free fly tying session organized by his TU chapter each first and third Thursday at the Oak Creek Community Center.
Dalphonso for many years led fly tying at the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee. The program was designed to assist in the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active-duty military personnel and veterans through fly fishing and fly tying. It’s on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That part – therapy – of fly tying could be the most important.
Over the last two years of living with and around COVID-19, how did you cope?
Fly tying and other crafts have so many benefits, Schick said.
“We had a lot of cabin fever in my house,” Schick said of the last couple years. “I would take that energy and put it into fly tying.”
He’s now got “several lifetimes” worth of flies in his inventory.
But who’s counting?
Working with your hands to create a fly is positive all the way around.
Schick said he also uses fly tying to help him deal with more acute forms of stress.
When the tide started to run against the Green Bay Packers in their Jan. 22 divisional playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, for example, Schick turned to his trusted form of relief.
“I get absorbed into fly tying in seconds,” Schick said. “And the minutes and hours can fly by.”
Rick Larkin, a TU member from Pewaukee, said he and a friend periodically give a presentation to help anglers get into fly fishing and fly tying.
At its core is a collection of a dozen flies: six dry fly patterns and six subsurface.
“Our basic message was ‘this was all you needed’ to fish inland waters in Wisconsin,” Larkin said. “And that simplicity is based in truth. But my wife wanted to know why, if that’s the case, I had to have 2,000?”
Larkin said he knew better than to debate the point. But he’s continued tying and learning new patterns because it’s fun and rewarding.
Last but not least, fly tying can be a life-long hobby.
“I didn’t really appreciate that when I started,” said Dalphonso, 77, who learned the craft in his teens. “Now I’m looking forward to doing it the rest of my life.”
Schick finished off another Mop Fly for the Lynn sisters and put the two freshly-minted fish catchers in a bag for them to take home.
Together with their grandparents, Tom and Margaret Lynn of Wauwatosa, the girls walked off smiling.
Maybe they’ll become part of fly tying’s newest generation. Just try to imagine the patterns and materials they’ll come up with, Schick said.
“Anyone can do it,” Schick said. “And I hope more and more people keep learning what a joy it is.”
Credit: Source link
