Happy New Year to all, hope everyone had a safe, healthy, and porsperous 2009 holiday season;
It's been a long cold winter thus far and it's time to shake off
some of that cabin fever. A new decade is about to finally arrive; spring is around the corner and days are getting longer; time for our annual Bass Pond fly
swap. We are looking for members to participate in this fun group tying event. So, dust off your Vises and get out the tying material, it's going to be a
"Feather, Fur & Hackle Smorgasbord", for sure. Wayne made a great suggestion to some tie flies for this swap this season should contributed to
honoring pioneer Fly tyers who have pasted away in 2009 & left their fly legacy behind for us to enjoy... Great tyers such as Jack Gartside, William
Tapply, Russ Blessing, Ed Story, George Odier and other tyers which you may want to tribute. You can tie any type of flies you wish, but these well known fly
tyers were instrumetal for many fly fishermen to become successful at catchiing bass and other fish...
Last year we had fly tying members from Arkansas, Marland, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, California, Ohio, and Missouri; we have had some really fantastic flies tied the last couple of years
by our STS members. (Look back at 2009 posts) Flies don't have to be fancy,
novice fly tiers are encouraged to join in, as long as it has a buggy appearance it will catch fish. I caught a lot of fish from the great flies made last
year. Hopefully we can get at least 10 tiers for this year's fly swap (hope to get many more) and in this example each tier will need to tie 12 flies, (2
extra for the Bass Pond online auction). I will make a list weekly to let everyone know who is committed tying for the fly swap so tyers know how many flies
they need to make before mailing them to me.
Same rules as last year, we will have an online auction for the 2 extra set of flies from swap to help raise money for the website, this money will help offset the cost of not being bombarded with adware on the website. The 2 highest bidders will win a beautiful set of flies, fly box, 2010 Calendar and the money will be donated into the website contribution chest. I would like to have the flies mailed to me by February 15th. That give you 6 weeks to make a decision of what you would like to tie. You are not restricted to tying version of flies from these famous fly tyers, it is just a nice gesture...The flies don't have to be a fancy, classic fly; it can be a fly creation of your own. You may tie a fly suitable to target warm water fish such as bass, pickerel or pan fish.
Please mark your flies with a "toe tag" with your name and if
you want to honor a particular fly tyer let us know and the name of your fly. Put your flies in a Zip Lock baggie with a return address so that I don't get
your flies mixed up and can send you the collection of flies from The Bass Pond swap. I will take pictures of each fly and post it on the website so that all
members can view them. You never know, members may even inquire more info about flies from the fly swaps, request tying instructions and extra flies from
tiers. Please let us know what fly you plan to tie, so there are no duplicate flies.
Mailing address is:
John Medige
41 Union St Apt#2
Taunton, MA 02780
This is going to be another great event and looking forward to the participation
Tight lines
Gillbuster
