It's been a busy, busy, busy time in the shop these days....

Cutting out leather pieces & stitching them together....all to make more leather fly wallets available for you.

Folks, I can't remember a time when I had more variety of fly wallets for you to choose from than I do right now. Currently, there are nine different types of leather fly wallets for your consideration!!

This wallet, above, is one I just listed today. It's a nice brown leather, with some nice grain to it. It's a thicker leather, so it is a little heavier - but it's not a stiff leather. It has a nice feel to it in the hand. Truly, I think it's one my favorites up there right now, but that's just my opinion.

Below is another one I listed today. It's made from thinner, vegetable tanned leather, so it's lighter in weight. It's a 'natural' leather, in that it hasn't been dyed (except the edges) & this allows the natural markings on it to really show &, I think, adds a bit of character. It will patina very nicely, too over time & with use.

Of course, there's a bunch of other different fly wallets listed, too. One of my personal favorites happens to be this one. I just made more of these because they've been so popular lately.

I'm very proud of these leather fly wallets. I honestly believe that they're among the best you can get, & as such are a tremendous value for the quality that you get. I would proudly put these wallets up against any other - especially those that sell for a lot more money.

For more information & photos of these wallets (along with a host of cases, bags, rod tubes, etc), please visit the Accessories page of this website. To see the fly wallets that I currently have made, please click HERE. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me anytime. I'd love to hear from you.

There have been many long days & even longer nights in the shop since the year began. I'm trying to have as many items as I can in stock for all of you in preparation of the upcoming fishing season. Most days & evenings are spent in a mix of making a bunch of different fly rods & making different accessories.

Please note: There will be more rods listed in the next few weeks over on the Available Rods page. I've got some older demo rods & some other neat fly rods that I think you're really going to want to own & fish, so please check back often. 

I thank you all for allowing me to do this work that I love!! It's because of you folks that I'm able to do all of this.

I took some time last weekend to tie up some flies for next season. I was starting to  feel the pangs of cabin fever set in & so I thought maybe some time at the vise might help me a bit. As I was tying up some nymphs a few random thoughts passed through my mind that I'll share with you...

I am in no way, shape, or form a professional fly tier. The pros would laugh at me, as I can tie just good enough to get by & I'm very slow at it. However, I have watched a few pro tiers & - by chance & luck - picked up a few tricks along the way. I was thinking of a few of them as I was relaxing & tying my nymphs.

One of the things I've learned is to tie up one pattern at a time. I'll tie up to a half-dozen or an even dozen of the same fly, one right after the other before I move on to a different pattern. So before I start, I make sure to get out all the tools & materials I'll need for that pattern. I keep all my tying stuff stored in a nice machinist's tool box with drawers when not in use to save space, eliminate clutter, & to keep everything organized. I'll get out only what I need for the pattern I'm about to tie. This also helps me save time, & as slow as I tie, every little bit helps.

I don't know if it's just me, but if I'm going to be tying two or more different sized flies it always seems easier for me to do the smaller size first. I know it rally shouldn't matter, but when grabbing a pinch of dubbing, or measuring wings, etc, it's easier easier for me to get the right amounts & sizes right off the bat if I go from smaller to bigger flies rather than the other way around. It is probably just how my mind works, but I've found doing it this way makes it easier on me.

Fish the same streams & hatches long enough & you'll know more of what you want to accomplish at the vise. That said, I've learned to use standard fly recipes as a guide only. The books tell you that you should proportion your flies a certain way, & that's mostly true. I think proper fly proportion is extremely important - maybe even more than color. No matter what though, you have to go by your local bugs as a guide. If that means changing the proportions slightly, or even using different materials than the recipe calls for, then do it.

The photos that follow are an example of what I'm talking about. For one of my local streams, I've learned to make the tails of my 'general' nymphs a little longer & more sparse than the flies you see in catalogs or in books. I'm using groundhog hair for the tails, as this material helps me to accomplish this. I also make the fly very 'bushy' over all. I want those hairs of the dubbing to stick out all over the place, to give the fly a lot of movement in the water, so I make them with a really hairy dubbing loop. I wouldn't just make these changes because I thought they looked better, this is what I've found better represents these local nymphs - more than a store-bought nymph would. It may not look very neat, but these changes seem to work for me as the trout sometimes agree, too.

So ask yourself what - if any - small adjustments to the patterns you've been fishing do you need to make. Like me, the tails may need to be a bit longer (mine almost look too long, don't they?); or maybe you need a wider wing case; or maybe you need more guard hairs in your dubbing; or adjust the size of the wings on your dry flies.....you see, it all comes back to your local bugs.

Of course if you don't have any variations to make, or if you don't know of any you need yet, then follow the time-tested fly recipes to the letter. They've been around a very long time because they work, so respect them.

​These are just some of the thoughts that pass through my brain while I tie. I hope maybe they've been of some help - or amusement - to you. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I tie so slowly: I'm busy having all these random thoughts, rather than buckling down & getting to work!!

I'm very proud of the leather fly wallets & leader wallets that are made in my shop. They're very popular among anglers, too. However, I never want to stop improving things. If there's something I can do to make my products even better, then I'm going to do it.

To that end, I'm very excited to announce that from now on, each & every leather wallet will now have a gorgeous edge treatment. What does this mean? Well, it means that the edges of each & every leather wallet will be dyed black & then buffed for beautiful, finished edges!!

That's right, each & every leather fly, leader & mini wallet will now have this edge treatment. This edge work does two things: first, it seals up the leather edges where moisture could get in, making the wallets even more durable; & second, it gives the wallets a more elegant, expensive look to their appearance thereby increasing their value tremendously.

A lot of time, research, & experimentation went into this new feature. As any leather worker knows, there are many ways to finish an edge & many different types of finishes. After a lot of effort, I've found a great way to improve these wallets!!

I think this really takes these leather wallets up a notch. I'm proud to say that they are some of the finest wallets available on the market today, & as such, represent the best value in leather fly & leader wallets you can get. Folks, wallets that aren't as nice as these are selling for a lot more money - sometime only because of the company's name that's on them. When you consider the quality of the wallets made in my shop, combined with the price you pay, I don't think you're going to find a better value for a high-end leather fly or leader wallet anywhere.

To learn more about these wallets (along with all the other bags, rod tubes, & cases I make), please visit the Accessories page of this site.
Also, to see what leather fly wallets are currently available, click HERE.
To see the leather leader wallets that I have available right now, click HERE. 

If you have any questions about any of these wallets (or anything else) please feel free to contact me.

Folks, I'm very excited about this new feature to these wallets & I think you're going to love them, too. This improvement truly makes these wallets some of the finest being made today!!

It's President's Day, & five years ago I wrote a short post here about the Presidents who have enjoyed the sport of fly fishing. I thought I would re-post it here again, in honor of our past fly-angling Presidents:

In honor of the upcoming Presidents Day, I thought I might mention a little about how the sport has been in the office for a long time. Presidents Day was first celebrated on Washington's birthday, February, 22 in the late 1800's. By 1971, the holiday had been moved to the third Monday in February & had been designated to honor all those who have held the office.

Quite a few past presidents have been fly anglers, some more addicted to it than others. Of course, not all presidents were fly anglers, or ever even tried the sport, but many have at least given it a try - including the current president. It's no big surprise that Theodore Roosevelt was an avid fly angler & of course Calvin Coolidge is the fly fishing president that gets a quick mention in "A River Runs Through It." I think it's also well known that Jimmy Carter is a skilled & knowledgeable fly fisherman. But I never knew that Herbert Hoover was so devoted to fly fishing, saying the sport "restored & nourished" his soul. The sport was a very important influence on his thoughts. He once said: "Fishing is a ...discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish."

No matter what your politics may be, I think every president should give the sport a try. As we all know, it can be a great way to relax & spend some much needed time in peaceful thought. 

Okay, it might be just common sense, but it happens to me from time to time: I'll be tying a fly & get to a crucial part of the fly & bamm, my hook slips in the jaws of the vise. I usually utter a few words under my breath that I wouldn't dream of publishing here, & carefully hold the fly & materials together with one hand while trying to get the hook back into the vise jaws with the other. It doesn't happen very often but when it does I never see it coming.

That happens to all of us who tie flies at one time or another. So what gives? Well, it's most likely that when it's happened to me, its because I've been in a hurry to get a fly started & didn't mount the hook in the jaws of my vise correctly. That's usually why a hook slips in the vise jaws.

If you've mounted your hook correctly in the vise & it still keeps slipping, it might be that your vise jaws are dirty. Take them apart & give them a good cleaning. While you're doing that check to see the condition of the jaws. If they're worn out then you'll need new ones, but this is kinda rare as a good vise should last you a lifetime.

If you're new to tying flies, or just keep having your hooks slip in the vise jaws, then take a quick look at the short video below. It will show you the proper way to mount a hook into any fly tying vise - not just the vise they're showing.

I hate it when my hook slips from the vise & if I'd only take a moment to make sure I've put it in the vise like in the video below, I wouldn't have any trouble. 

I just found out that there is to be published soon, the memoirs of Maxine Atherton. For those of you who don't know who she was, Maxine was the wife of John Atherton - an angler / artists / author. He is best know for his book "The Fly & the Fish" which is a wonderful piece that looks into all aspects of fly fishing & has some really important thoughts about the color of the flies we use.

Maxine was also a very skilled & knowledgeable angler herself, accompanying her husband on his fishing in many different places. She did this in the mid-20th century, a time when women - if they did fly fish - certainly were not supposed be the experts of the sport that Maxine was. Her angling skills gave her a unique perspective of the sport, I'm sure, being an expert female fly angler at that time. A lot has changed since then, thank goodness & now it's not unusual to find a female fly fishing expert. At least Maxine, who passed away in 1997, lived long enough to see those changes start to take place.

So, while I haven't read the book yet (it's not been brought to market yet), I would like to. I think Maxine would have a lot of intersting things to say about our sport & the people who participate in it. Look for "The Fly Fisher and the River: A Memoir" coming soon to wherever you buy your books soon. It promises to be an interesting read.

Recently, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission published the dates for the adult trout stocking program for 2016. This list is searchable by counties in PA. So, if you're a PA angler or planing a trout fishing trip to PA this season you can look to see when the Commission will be stocking trout. Search the stocking lists for the counties where you'll be fishing HERE. 

In addition to this, the Commission will be starting a new program this season. Under this new program they have labeled eight streams in the state as "Keystone Select" where they will be stocking trout in the 14" to 20" range, in order to attract anglers to those spots. Take a look at the list of streams & read more about the program HERE. 

​I like it when the season's trout stocking lists get published, as that means it won't be too much longer until we're actually fishing for trout again!!!

Folks, I absolutely love it when I hear back from clients that are willing to share with me stories & photos of how their fly rods are being fished. To know that I had a part in making your time spent on the water even more enjoyable just makes me very happy. It's why I do what I do.

So I was tickled to no end when I received an email from a friend out west who had recently got a rod I made. With his permission, I'll share with you some of what he said about his new fly rod:

"Just thought I would drop a line.  I was really able to put the rod through its paces today.  I threw everything from 4x streamers to 18x BWOs.  It handled everything beautifully.  I was able to roll cast 50 to 60 feet with absolute ease, and best of all, it catches fish.  The feel of a fish in the end of that rod is exhilarating."
-Chris in Oregon

Thank you so much, Chris!!! I can't tell you how happy it makes me to get correspondences like this. This is what keeps me going, making these fly rods. I am truly blessed to do what I do, but especially to meet all the fine people that I come in contact with. Thank you all so very much!!