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On February 3, 2008 I drove up to near Guthrie Center Iowa,
at the Springbrook State Park Educational Center, to tie
flies with the Central Iowa Fly Fishers. I had received an
invitation from a couple of different folks to show up. My
wonderful wife decided that this would probably be a good
thing for me to do. She thought it might help with the "Shack
Nasties."
Work had been stressful the two weeks before this trying to
get everything done to make the new Medicare Carrier that I
have to deal with happy. That is not a fun proposition.
I did get there a few minutes before 9:00 am in the morning.
Anglerdave had told me to go to the dining hall as they had
coffee and rolls in the morning. The coffee held no appeal,
but the rolls called my name. When I got to the parking lot
I met a couple of the folks that were going to be there to tie.
We went into the dining hall and got one of the excellent
rolls. If I had one of those rolls a day my weight would
blossom worse than it is now. Very good eating, but very
rich also.
I headed over to the other building to get my stuff set up.
It is very nice as there are outlets all over the floor. The
tables were set up near these. I could plug in my light so
that it would be easier for me to see.
I was tying the Goldie Jr. (Previous FOTW) and a leech sort
of fly from materials that Joe V sent me. It is from the
Pallette collection of yarn. It is interesting stuff to
work with. I also had some boa yarn with me.
I tied up a few of the Goldie Jr. first, as I had promised a
few to Anglerdave. There were two other folks at the table he
was tying at and I gave each of them one of the flies. I then
tied a few more Goldie Jr, a few boa yarn flies and some out
of the other yarn.
About this time Keith Wunder, who works at the Park now, took
us to the room where he has been putting materials. He is going
to teach fly tying to PE classes that come in to the park. Tie
a fly and then go to the lake and try to catch a fish. Several
companies have treated him very well on this project. He did
have a few materials that he was not sure how to use.
He had some emu feathers and some short spey type hackle feathers.
I got a few of each from him and tied up some flies for him to
use. This let him see how to use the materials.
He asked if I would do a few more while I was there.
So I tied up some for him.
Another tyer came in and gave him two big cones of some materials
that was similar to punch yarn. Not made of the same stuff, but
about the same diameter. Several folks wondered what to do with
this. Keith had a few pheasant skins and goose wings there for
folks to take if they needed them.
I went over to the table and got about a dozen feathers off
the pheasant skin. I put glass beads on some hooks and then
tied up some soft hackles using the yarn for the body and
the feathers for the hackle. The flies did look pretty good.
Dale mentioned that there was another group that was going
to have an auction in a few weeks to raise money for a project.
I tied up some flies and gave them to him to use for the auction.
I had a few folks wonder why I gave the flies away as the weekend
was to stock their boxes. I told them my boxes had flies in them
and I have reserves in other containers.
I did talk to Keith about the number of flies that he would
like to have made up ahead for kids that might not be able
to tie a fly, but they could take one home. I ended up
bringing some stuff home and tying up a bunch of flies for
him to have ahead. I thought it was only fair as he was one
of the folks to invite me up there.
I will report that I came home much more relaxed than when
I headed up to tie with them. They are a neat group of folks
to be around. My battery died in my camera and I had forgot
to put the other one in. That means that I don't have any pictures.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick
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