It was nice to knock the dust off my fly tying vice last night at a fun event sponsored by the Ken Sink Chapter of Trout Unlimited. It was our first ever Flies, Friends, and Food night held at H.B. Culpepper’s and it was pretty well attended. About five of us brought our gear and tied flies and answered questions of onlookers who are interested in the sport. We had beer and pizza too, and that alone made for a good night.
One of our tasks was to tie at least one wooly bugger for the wooly bugger tree that is raffled off each year at the annual banquet. I opted to tie two large yellow buggers from material I bought late last summer when I was chasing carp. For some reason I feel like a big yellow bugger would be a hit with the oversized bottom feeding fish but I never got around to tying them. I don’t much care for tying buggers, but this was for a good cause and if I’m being honest, I did a pretty nice job. Now I just need to tie a few for myself.
One of the other fun things about the event is seeing what others are tying and getting ideas. I think I learned something from every person who was tying, and a few people learned from me. I got questions about the peacock hurl Walt’s worm nymph I was tying and even gave one away. All-in-all, it was a lot of fun and it made me glad that I’ve rearranged my life a bit to spend more time on the hobby. I think it inspired me to get tying again just in time to prepare for the 2026 season.