GFF partner Bob Petti, USA

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A friend of mine once told me of an aquaintence whose financial situation forced him to decide between fly fishing and fly tying.

By Bob Petti

He sold all his tackle and gave up fishing so he could keep tying flies. I think I can relate to that and would likely make the same choice if faced with a similar circumstance. There's no doubt that my love of fly tying is rooted in my childhood. When I was a kid, if I wasn't making something out of cardboard and glue, I was drawing something with pencils and paper. At one point, my dream was to become an architect. I had the belief that architecture was the perfect combination art and craft. While I never did become an architect - my guidance counsellor "guided" me to engineering instead - I did find that blend of art and craft in fly tying. To some, fly tying is simply a means to an end - a way to tie up some bait to catch fish. To others, fly tying is fine art - a medium for self expression. While I count among my friends people at both extremes of this spectrum, I try to stay in the gray area somewhere between the two. All my flies are tied to be fished, but that doesn't stop me from adding some spit and polish here and there to make them pleasing to my eye.

I'm pretty fortunate to live where I do. About forty five minutes to the East of me is the West Branch of the Delaware, one of the finest trout rivers in the Northeast. The Beaverkill and other famous Catskill rivers are just a short drive further along the quickway. Two hours due north of me is the Salmon River with its world reknown runs of pacific salmon and steelhead. A hour to the northwest would bring me to the Finger Lakes region, home to Cornell University and some deep water lakes that harbor landlocked salmon, trout, and all sorts of warmwater species. To the south and southeast, I'd be in Pennsylvania fishing the mountain country, where many still fish wet flies three at a time. The famous Susquehanna River runs right through my town and hosts some fine smallmouth fishing. Yeah - I'm blessed. There's more fishing within day-trip range of my front door than I can take advantage of in a lifetime.

Of course, with such diverse fishing so close to home, well, let's just say I've had to support such activities with a similar diversity in tackle and fly tying materials. I guess I'm lucky I don't live close enough to saltwater fishing - then I'd really be in tackle debt. To help ease the financial strain, I've learned to build my own fly rods. My only regret is that fly rod blanks aren't as cheap as a box of hooks. I build and sell a few rods a year, just to keep a healthy level of tackle turnover in the house. After all, we don't want things to stagnate.

I'm also very fortunate to have a wonderful family life. My wife is unusually tolerant of my obsession with "formerly living" animal and bird pieces, although said parts are quaranteed to the garage. That's ok - we have cats, too - so keeping my materials isolated allows some peace of mind. My daughter finds her Daddy's feathers fascinating, but she doesn't yet understand what fishing is all about. Someday, she will. Daughter #2 is due in May.

It was truly an honor to be invited to join the GFF team. Here's to a long and happy partnership.

Some of my articles on GFF

Oatman's Silver Darter (Jan 2012) Everyday Fly Tying Tips (Jan 2012) A Fly Fishing Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park (Jan 2012) Atlantic Salmon Magic (Dec 2011) Vision and Refraction (Oct 2011) Barrel Full of Bucktails (Apr 2011) Yellow Marabou Special (Feb 2011) Favorite Streamer Swap (Jan 2011) Muskie on the Fly (Dec 2010) Secret Flies (Jan 2010) Trout Flies for the 21st Century (Oct 2008) LaFontaines Legacy (Oct 2008) Fly Fishing and Fly Tying II (Oct 2008) Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying (Oct 2008) Fly-Fishing for Smallmouth (Dec 2007) The Fly-Fishers Craft (Dec 2007) Fly Fishing for Striped Bass (Dec 2007) Ten Flies Simple Ties (Dec 2007) Good, Bad, and Ugly (Nov 2007) IFTS 2007 (Nov 2007) Nervous Water (Jul 2007) Soft-Hackled Nymphs (Jul 2007) Czech Nymph (Jul 2007) The Rise (Jan 2007) Clousers Flies (Jan 2007) The Trout Whisperers (Jan 2007) Nymph-Fishing (Dec 2006) Yellowstone Ties (Dec 2006) Practical Fly Patterns (Dec 2006) A Passion for Steelhead (Dec 2006) Streamer Flies for Trophy Trout (Dec 2006) Fishys Favorites (Nov 2006)

The Underwater World of Trout (Nov 2006) Chuck-n-Duck (Nov 2006) Streams of Consciousness (Nov 2006) Hen Hackle (Oct 2006) Slinkies (Oct 2006) Fall Colors (Oct 2006) S&L's Lost Flies (Oct 2006) Creative Fly Tying (May 2006) A New Generation (Apr 2006) Classic Wet Flies (Apr 2006) My Eyes!! (Mar 2006) ZipCast (Jan 2006) Limestone Streams (Jan 2006) Bassin' (Jan 2006) Raymond Classics (Dec 2005) Lefty on Bass (Dec 2005) Warm Water (Dec 2005) Lamiglas (Dec 2005) Essential Patterns (Dec 2005) More Small Flies (Aug 2005) New Hooks (Jan 2005) Biological Time (Nov 2004) Innovative Saltwater Flies (Nov 2004) New Stuff (Sep 2004) Spey Fly book (Aug 2004) Tying Small Flies (Aug 2004) Soft-Hackles (Jun 2004) Tying Emergers (Jun 2004) Rising Star (Jun 2004) Simple Streamers (Feb 2004) Czech nymphs (Jan 2004) Lamiglas Appalachian (Nov 2003)

Contemporary Saltwater Flies (Nov 2003) Imitative Fly Tying (Nov 2003) Trout from Small Streams (May 2003) LL Bean Book (Apr 2003) Taking Trout (Apr 2003) Stalcup's Mayflies (Apr 2003) Millenium flies (Feb 2003) Goddard's reflections (Feb 2003) Flies with CDC (Feb 2003) Tying Flies the Paraloop Way (Feb 2003) Realistic Flies (Dec 2002) Lamar Reel Seats (Dec 2002) Venneri's Reel Seats (Dec 2002) The Making of a Prize Rod (Dec 2002) Advanced Kreh (Nov 2002) Big Mike's streamers (Oct 2002) Lake Erie Shiner (May 2002) Bass bugs (Jan 2001) Fatal Attraction (Jan 2001) GFF partner Bob Petti, USA (Jan 2001) Little bucktails swap (Jan 2001) Mustad hooks (Jan 2001) Tying the Matuka style (Jan 2001) White Marabou (Jan 2001) Bobs Garage (Jan 2000) Spey Hackles (Jan 2000) Woodduck Flank (Jan 2000) Rangeley swap (Nov 1999) Hen Hackle Demystified (Jun 1999)