Last nights club meeting

Last night I was going to go the fly tiers meeting for just an hour. Oops, three and a half hours later I left. There were a couple of visitors that had stopped in from Fairbault, MN. The older of the two visitors (70's I am guessing) was very interesting to talk to. He fished Oregon frequently as that is where one of his daughters lives and had a unique tying style. First he had a book on tying flies with glass beads, and his flies were neat variations of common patterns. The beads were definitely an interesting interpretation of the real deals. Second he was tying flies down to a size 28, and he was disappointed that he couldn't go down to a 32. Now I don't know about you, but at age 30, It's a good day to tie a size 24 fly. I was very impressed, usually flies at the size 28 are more impressionistic and use thread dubbing and nothing else. This talented tier had traditional tails and hackle and the whole shebang! So I guess that eliminates any excuses from anyone who says "that's just too small." By the way, he was catching some respectable trout with those flies according to a couple of stories/memories he shared with me. I chatted most all the members that showed up last night (about twenty or so) and hence the reason for leaving much later than anticipated. I so enjoy the meetings and I always leave in great mood, no matter what mood I show up with.

Tomorrow morning we are headed South to IA to have our family Christmas and I am debating whether or not to bring some stuff down with me to tie flies as there is always much sitting and chatting in various places of the house. I could just take one over, set up with a glass of wine and chat away while letting the creative juices flow from the finger tips. That and there is only so many days that I can work on refilling my fly box before January 1st comes and our winter season open on select streams in Minnesota!

TTFN,

-Critter