Eldredge

Another season of Fly Tying Jamborees ended today with Joe Calcavecchia teaching students to tye Jumbo Striper Flies. It’s always a pleasure to have Joe here to pass on his tying techniques that he gained from many years of production fly tying. Joe’s knowledge of fly tying and his jovial and humble manner make his classes one of our most popular. As the 2012 tying classes come to an end, all of us here at Eldredge Bros Fly Shop would like to thank everyone who participated in this winters classes. From the instructors to the students, you’ve made another winter memorable to us all. We wish you all the best of luck while fishing the patterns that you learned to tye this winter. Look for the 2013 tying schedule to be announced sometime in November. Our first announcement goes out to the people on our e-mail list. If you are not on our list please let us know and we’ll add you to it.

Dave Beattie taught today’s class on The Complete Clouser, Fresh & Salt. Dave was one of the original instructors that we had for our Fly Tying Jamborees and he’s stayed on for every year since. Back in those days we sometimes had as few as two students sign up for a tying class. Now we fill the winters classes in a matter of weeks, often with long lists of people waiting for a space to open up. Almost 30 years ago, while attending college at U Maine Orono, Dave tyed flies for Eddie Reif’s shop in Bangor for beer money. We are grateful to have such an excellent tyer and instructor teach for us. We always receive huge accolades for David’s classes and it’s always evident that he has put a lot of time and preparation into the topic of his classes.

Travis Johnson taught today’s class how to tye Early Season Trout and Salmon Flies with a Twist. His patterns were a 3 Ply Wooly Bugger, Maple Syrup Ya and a Dropper ~ Emerger. Travis is constantly coming up with new creative ways to tye flies. When he told me about his technique for tying the 3 Ply Wooly Bugger I thought, why didn’t I think of that. When I showed him the new spey plumes that we had in the shop he sat down at the shop vise and started messing around with them and came up with a great idea for chironmids and small emergers. He also has a thing for simplicity which is pretty evident with his Maple Syrup Ya. Don’t ask me what Ya means, I never got a clear answer from Travis about that. Last week, while sitting in on McKay’s class, I thought that his style of teaching reminded me of someone. It hit me today that it was Travis. They both teach freestyle, it’s like a fly tying party every time they teach a class.

Kevin McKay taught today’s Fly Tying Jamboree on Trout & Smallmouth Bass Flies. The class was instructed on how to tye a couple of patterns that Kevin has had great success with while guiding for brookies, landlocked salmon and smallmouth. It’s interesting to watch how different instructors conduct their class. Kevin’s classes are always full of energy. Not only does he instruct on tying but he also tells many fishing stories, gives advice on how to fish different waters, how to fish the flies for different species, where the best water to fish is, his favorite times to fish them, how his boys like to fish them, how many points his son Taite scored in today’s game, the downfalls to GPS units, fishing photography…where to find the strongest coffee and which blend to drink so that you can pass on a gargantuan amount of information in just two hours. This was a very engaging class and breath of fresh air for the simplicity and common sense Kevin conveys about his approach to fly tying.

Today Jeff Faulkner taught a tying class on Striper Flies. I’m always pleasantly surprised by the flies that Jeff designs. He is a constant creator and tweaker of beautiful fly patterns. He has been doing tying classes for our shop for many years and always comes to the tying table with something new that has been proven to be effective when fished for their intended species. That is no easy feat. I can’t wait to see what he tyes next year.

Todd Nutt taught his first Fly Tying Jamboree for us today. Todd is a production fly tyer and an avid fly fisherman who loves to fish the still water. His vast knowledge as a fly tyer and fisherman were evident as he taught today’s class how to tye Hex Life Cycle Flies. We always strive to pick the best instructors for our classes and we know we’ve succeeded when a student gives praise for the instructor at the end of the class. Several students went out of their way to give praise for Todd today. We’ll be sure to invite Todd back for next years jamborees.