Last weekend my six-month old son Paul and I attended the North Umpqua Fall Fly Tying Festival and it was a blast. I put Paul in his playpen behind me and tried to tie flies and talk to folks about everything from this blog to Pacific Stripers, to childcare tips. I got to pass out a lot of stickers and flies — most people wanted the shark flies to put on their wall, not to fish. And got to say hello to great folks from the area like Frank Moore, Pat McRae and Dean Finnerty. My host Les and his wife helped me manage Paul — along with some of the ladies from Casting for Recovery and we managed to pull off the day without too much of a problem.
I didn’t have much time to take photos of the flies while I was there, but I took some photos of my filled-up Cliff Bugger Beast and some hot flies for the Oregon Coast. And for the Strait of Juan de Fuca — I’m headed north this weekend!
Do you think it’s easy to tie flies with this guy behind you?
Do you have a badass collection of big flies? Send us photos of your Bugger Beast!
-MS
That HAS to be a “view from my bench” shot, but Pauly must be hiding the vice. It’s buried in there somewhere…..
GH
It was great getting to see you at the festival and it was even better seeing you there with your son! Our children are the future of this sport we all love. Involving them in all aspects of it should ensure the next generation will enjoy it, protect it and care about it as much as we do. I’m sure it won’t be long before Paul is knee deep in all your fly tying materials and swinging your favorite fly rod for McKenzie redsides! Cheers, Dean
Matt: I looked around my garage and found a few nasty looking things to stuff in my “beast”. Tried to take a photo as you requested. Do you know what these are? Do you think they will catch Crappie? I tried them at Junction City Ponds and didn’t get a bite — I’ll probably throw the dang things away tonight, the trash-man cometh tomorrow.
Sorry I didn’t have any glass beads to load my box with — I hear they catch fish.
Ha Ha!
JN