The Central Alberta Fly Tying Club feels very fortunate to have Phil Rowley spend the weekend with us teaching us so much about stillwater fly fishing and tying flies that will work great on our local lakes. Phil is a big part of the Central Alberta fly fishing community. This is Phil's 9th all day Saturday workshop in Red Deer. Thirty one fly tyers filled our tying area to capacity today. The day started off with an intense blizzard and nasty wind chill but everybody made it to the workshop.
As always Phil does a great job ensuring the students understand what food inhabits our lakes. We then focused on 8 fly patterns that did not include chironomids. We tied flies that are tried and true and also challenge everybody's tying skill. The flies teach all of us so much. Careful thread control, learning a sense of proportion on flies, creativity, the proper way to use hackle, dubbing loops, what materials to use and so on!
Phi is a master fly tying instructor. His explanations allow all levels of fly tyers to be successful at the vice. All of the fly tying students come away with a better understanding of fly construction and tying technique.
The best part of the weekend is the camaraderie amongst the group. Visiting at the pub, working together tying flies, learning and just plain having a great time.
As always we owe Phil a big thank you. We also owe his wife Patsy a big thank you for helping Phil gather materials and package them. That is a big job!
A big thank you to Garnet Clews and his brother for allowing us the use of their facility for the workshop!
...and lastly, yes there is a fly tying session this Monday at TC Outfitters. See you there when Dan Reaman is our guest instructor.
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