Sunday, January 27, 2013

Endless Swap Assault

I keep wondering when the endless assault of swap posts will be just too much.  On the other hand all comment feedback seems to say; "Keep It Coming!"

The first package I received this weekend was from Mark Vibber at the blog Tie & Flie.  He calls this fly the Carpsicle and you can get the dirty details on this fly, his experience with the Suncor oil spill and the Denver South Platte by following this link to an excellent blog post.

Mark Vibber's Carpsicle
 
Matt Pike who is on the Catch Fly Fishing carp fly design team and blogs at Big Fish Fly Shop sent in not one but three different flies in sets of 10!

Matt has been living out a public fascination with egg-yarn on the CarpPro forum ever since Gregg introduced many of us to egg patterns for carp last year.  I like his thought process allot which has moved beyond just eggs and started to treat egg yarn as another possible material in all kinds of patterns.  The first of which is his Egg Bitters.  Apparently he has developed a complicated relationship with egg-yarn.  You can get a feel for this love-hate-love triangle at the link above but the fact that he took the time to make the following should give you some idea:

     
And the Egg Bitters themselves:


And finally Matt sent in this fly which he calls the Yiman which has more of a meat pattern feel to it.  As the oddly terrifying dude from Sweet Genius would say - "That is dense... that is nice"



Saturday, January 26, 2013

More Swap Submissions

The fly swap submissions are flowing in steadily now.  Here are couple more.

The first couple are from Josh Rinehart in Texas.  He uses these completely un-weighted patterns for super shallow Texas reservoir carp.  Evidently he needs flies that land as lightly as possible with a nearly neutral buoyancy to stay out of shallow weed-beds.  These remind me in principle of the un-weighted black leach patterns my friend Mike Medina uses to deadly effect for similar reasons.  

Josh Rinehart's Soft-Shoe Carp Fly 


It must be obvious that graft and corruption rule this swap because Josh sent in some extra flies for "testing" as well.  A McLuvin variant he calls the Roo:


Meanwhile Kevin Frank from the blog Feather Chucker sent in a fly that he calls the DamCraw.  He was going for a hybrid between a dragon fly nymph and crayfish when he worked this one up.  It has a very heavily and dubbed body that is soft and squishy with marabou tail and collar.  The dubbing he is using is some sweet custom stuff from warmfly.com.

Kevin Frank's DamCraw




Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Swap Shenanigans

It is unlikely that I will make individual posts every-time I get a fly-swap shipment in the mail.  The novelty does wear off after a while.  At least I think it would as a reader.  This one bears some special attention however because I recently received Gregg Martin's flies.

Now, you may be wondering how you get a little extra special attention from the swap-master.  A little TLC on the pictures of your flies, or perhaps you have your eye on a certain fly that just must be in your package.

Well, take a lesson from Gregg my friends because not only did he send in a full shipment of eggs for the swap:


He also sent a shipment of flies for the swap-master to "test".  Take note people, "test" is code for "make sure my random selection of flies rocks".  I expect to be doing allot of extra "testing".


I am kidding of course, Gregg asked if I wanted to try these out on the South Platte a while back.  Pretty sure they will work just fine, particularly this yellow one for some reason.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Instustry Interview #5: UMPQUA Feather Merchants

This is the final in a five part series of interviews exploring the relationship between fly fishing for carp and the industry. This interview features Bruce Olson, New Fly Manager at UMPQUA Feather Merchants and was performed as a free-form interview over the phone. A summary of all the interviews with commentary is also available in the recent CarpPro Fly Fishing For Carp Special.

Fly-Carpin:  I would like to talk about what products you currently have available. 
Bruce Olson (UMPQUA):  As a matter of fact we have close to three pages in our catalog devoted to flies for carp, and I noticed on your blog that you are familiar with Jay Zimmerman’s Fly (Backstabber), and you know we also have Egan’s Headstand out there.  I think I would have to say, I have no absolute numbers at my fingertips, but that among all species that we fly fish for these days carp is the fastest growing and explosive.   
Fly-Carpin:  Sometimes I wonder if 100 or 1000% growth in a tiny segment is tiny and if the industry feels like it is worth their while.    The fly companies seem to be leading the charge; do the fly companies feel new trends before other segments of the industry?
Bruce Olson (UMPQUA):   Well, we try to stay right on the cutting edge of course and well, you know carp are everywhere.  Gosh it’s been 16 years since Dave Whitlock basically said sight-fishing for carp in Lake Michigan is the best most fun fly fishing he has ever done.  That’s Dave Whitlock.  When you are talking about Jay Zimmerman and you get post runoff in the mountains he’s still more likely to be down here on the Front Range fly fishing for carp or pike.  Pike is another one that is growing but they are not found in as many places, you can chase carp in Arizona, California, and the Kentucky River down just below (indecipherable), they are pounding that for carp.  Barry “Carp” Reynolds here in Colorado, he pounds the Platte River all the time.  You know they are everywhere.  Every year, I would say for the past four years, we have added one or two or three new carp flies. 
When we first came out with our carp section, all we had to put in it was some trout flies that we knew would carry over for carp and some bonefish flies.  Now, it’s not like we have a huge carp offering but now we have 31 different flies that we recommend for carp.
Fly-Carpin:  I imagine there are a couple dozen more in your catalog that would work in a pinch at least.
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  Oh, far more than that, yes.  Because carp feed on so many different things.  If you are fishing the reservoirs of Montana at certain times of year you had better have a cotton wood seed fly.  Carp will take on the surface they will take off the bottom.  They eat everything.   Let’s face it, if you have the option of fishing a 7 weight rod, who is going to give you the bigger tussle, a 10lb carp or a 12inch rainbow?
Fly-Carpin:  You have got allot of carp flies, does your carp fly line-up sell well?
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  Absolutely.  Otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned that we are going to keep adding carp flies.  We sell allot of them.  But then again, allot of flies for carp also cross over into other fisheries.  One of our bestselling flies for carp is Mike Mercer’s Micro crayfish, and yet I bet for every one that is purchased to fish for carp, probably up to 50 or so are for trout or smallmouth.  See smallmouth is the latest prior to carp explosive fishery.  I mean, smallmouth has gone just great guns.  But then again smallmouth are even more (could not transcribe) than carp are.  Especially since they react like Trout in rivers and like bass are expected to act in lakes.  You can feed them all kinds of stuff.  That is why we don’t have a smallmouth section, just a general bass section.  We would have to put half our trout flies in that section.   
Fly-Carpin:  So you guys have a pretty good selection of carp flies already.  Are you going to keep on adding?
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  No, No we are going to keep on adding.  In fact next catalog that comes out next summer we are going to add more carp flies.  A couple every year.
Fly-Carpin:  Are you adding Barry Reynolds new fly?
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  We have Barry’s [Reynolds] carp fly we added two years ago and in this catalog we added three colors of the fly called the carp bitters.  He is serious about his carp fishing. 
Reynold's Carp Bitter, Rust (Photo by UMPQUA)

Fly-Carpin:  Do you participate in any activities?  I know for example in the past you have supported Carp Slam right?
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  Yes, we mostly supported them with prizes.  You know, it’s hard to give out flies to everybody.  .  We also supported the carp throw-down in southern California.  Sponsored by Conway Bowman and Al Quattrocchi.  Yeah we supported that pretty heavily because of our relationship with them. 
[Editors Note:  Bruce was being modest  or simply does not have personal involvement. UMPQUA has been extraordinarily supportive of Carp Slam including flies for participants.]
Fly-Carpin:  Are any of your marketing guys, product guys or executives into fly fishing for carp.  Have they tried it?
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  All of them.  All of us.  Our President and our sales manager last summer were either going out before coming to work or after work.  Our fly products specialist, he fishes with Jay Zimmerman and John Barr allot and he fishes for carp allot.  There are just so many opportunities on the Front Range.  I know of ten guys who work with us who fly fish for carp at some time or another.
Fly-Carpin:  In the discussions I have had so far I have been surprised at the positive response [to the question above].  There seems to be a trend with guides where trout guides really want to fly fish for carp in their off-time.  It seems like that might be an industry wide trend?
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  I think it depends.  If you are one of the guides up at Taylor Creek in Basalt you’re probably not going to go out fly fishing for carp.  If you have free time I know for a fact these guys are trout junkies and they are going to be pounding the roaring fork and frying pan but if there are carp available, yeah lots of shop personnel and fly fishing guides are branching out into carp.  It’s something different.  I am going to take a quick count here.  I know of 10 guys who work with us who fly fish for carp at some time or another.
Fly-Carpin:  I almost wonder if the actual doing of fly fishing for carp is moving faster in the industry than in the general populace.  One guy mentioned that carp might tend to be an advanced species. 
Bruce Olson  (UMPQUA):  See years ago I think people thought “they’re warm water trash fish, they’re kind of ugly and what is so hard about carp?”  Well, try and catch one pal.  They’re not easy.  You don’t just walk up to a pond, and see a bunch of carp swimming and hook 'em hand over fist.  You have got to use stealth and all kinds of still-water skills, and you know they will spook in a flash.  
I just know that every magazine now is coming out with articles on fishing for carp.  It’s happening.  And people are guiding for carp.  Henry Cowen in Atlanta guides (…) part of the year for spotted bass and stripers and then when it gets real warm they wade and sight fishing for carp with his clients. 
It’s taking off.  The fish have been discovered and they’ve been affirmed as not just something different but a prize to seek out.  And they’re strong as hell.



Saturday, January 19, 2013

2013 Fly Swap: Early Birds Shipping Worms

Over the past two days I received four shipments of seven different patterns.  It seems that the idea of sending in multiple flies in sets of 10 has gained more traction this year.  That is going to make the next month extremely interesting!

Two shipments came from Zach Janssen (roughflyfishing.com) and Ben Muraski.  They are carpin buddies from Kansas, 16 years old and have already been fly fishing for carp for several years.  If these guys represent the future of carpin I am pretty pumped because these flies are extremely well tied and thought out.  I am not giving an inch of slack for age in that assessment.

They also both sent a meat pattern and a small finesse pattern with the finesse flies shown first below.  I am not sure if that was on purpose and coordinated but is really cool either way. 
 
Ben Muraski's Slim Pickins
Zach Janssen's Alien Shrimp

Zach Janssen's Wizard's Sleeve
Ben Muraski's Bottom Creeper

The next shipment came in from Nolan Majcher from Pennsylvania   Nolan is a regular on the CarpPro forum and sent in two different worm / egg hybrids.  These are relatively small and delicate patterns tied on a size 14.  Nolan does quite well on these and they are fascinating.

Nolan Majcher's Worm Spawn
Nolan Majcher's Egg Worm

The final submission this weekend was from one of my oldest fishing buddies Miles Christmas in Michigan.  We started chasing carp together over a decade ago and the Jaimee's Krazy Karper thought up by a guy at one of the local shops was the first fly we knew of that was specifically designed for carp.  It is still Mile's go-to.  

Jaimee's Krazy Karper by Miles Christmas





Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Foam Trouser Worm Update and Video

When I visited John Montana in Oregon this summer I had a couple dozen leather Trouser Worms and one foam.  Early in the trip John told me that while he likes the leather allot, he prefers the foam version on the Columbia and I immediately tied it on..  I only landed two carp before I broke it off but I also got 5 or 6 more takes and briefly hooked several more in less than half an hour.  It was easily the hottest half an hour of carpin I had all year.

That experience galvanized my intentions to re-work the Foam Trouser Worm to fix some of the issues that have relegated it behind the leather version in my box.  I think that this the updated version is a significant improvement.



Updates:
  1. Switch to a size 6 Scorpion Gaper hook for more positive hook-ups with zero risk of bending the hook.
  2. Switch to a single strand of big-fly thread for the tail instead of mono-filament to reduce stiffness of the tail under water.
  3. Make the end of the tail out of a brass bead.  This adds weight to the end of the tail that adds action under water and is also a more durable way to make a stopper for the foam beads.
  4. The bead at the end of the tail and the heavier gauge Scorpion Gaper hook both add weight.  Replace the tungsten bead at the hook-eye with a brass bead to offset this inrease in weight.

Here are the tying instructions for the new and improved Foam Trouser Worm.  There is a little bathtub footage at the end to show how the new fly acts in the water.
 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Choose Your Own Adventure Swap Fly

Which fly do you think I should tie for the swap?  Vote now in the poll on the upper right hand side of the blog.  Of course if I don't like the answer I am going to just do what I want anyways.

Improved Foam Trouser Worm (Details Soon)
McLuvin
Primordial Carp Stew
Leather Trouser Worm
Primordial Crust
Something Odd and Experimental


Sunday, January 13, 2013

Industry Interview #4: RIO Products

This is the fourth in a five part series of interviews exploring the relationship between fly fishing for carp and the industry. This interview features Simon Gawesworth, Marketing Manager at Rio Products and was performed via question / answer through email.  A summary of all the interviews with commentary is also available in the recent CarpPro Fly Fishing For Carp Special.

Fly-Carpin:  Please tell us about any current participation in the fly fishing for carp sub-culture that you are excited about as an organization.  Does RIO have any products specifically designed for carp? Do you participate in or support any carp events or activities?  Have you had any interesting interactions with the community?
RIO Products:  We only have the carp fly line at the moment. There are no plans to develop anything beyond that at the moment, as it is not exactly a popular fly line, nor a popular branch of fly fishing – yet.  However, as open-minded as we are, if carp fly fishing does continue to grow, we will certainly be looking to develop more and specific products.  Zack Dalton, our sales manager here, has fished a few carp on the fly tournaments locally, and we have helped with some sponsorship of such events as a result, but nothing more major than that.
 
Fly-Carpin:  Does RIO have any near-term plans to expand your reach in the carpin’ community that you would like to share?  New product releases, events, activities, etc.
RIO ProductsI guess I answered this question as part of the above one!
 
Fly-Carpin:  In a more general sense how does RIO view the long-term future of fly fishing for carp and how does that future relate to you? Examples would include: Do you anticipate a growing market with changing demand for product and marketing strategies? Do you have any thoughts on what the relationship between the general industry and the community might change and grow?
RIO Products:  I have no doubt that the popularity of fly fishing for carp will grow. Every week there are more articles, more references and more talk about it, and really that is all that needs to get increase participation. There are many more states that have quality carp waters than quality trout waters, so the opportunity and fisheries are certainly there. Unlike the UK (where I am from), there is no real carp fishing culture in the US – with any kind of fishing method, so the first step is to enlighten all anglers about this species.
 
Fly-Carpin:  I am also personally curious if any of your executive, marketing or product development staff has any experience with targeting carp on the fly.
RIO Products:  I fly fished for carp in the UK before I moved here, and have had a couple of excursions since moving here, but that is all. Moving to the fabled trout waters of Idaho ensures that most of my fly fishing time is spent pursuing trout on the rivers and lakes, rather than carp. Having said that, when conditions are lousy for trout fishing, a carp on a fly is an excellent alternative. Zack Dalton, who I mentioned earlier has certainly spent a lot more time than I pursuing carp.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Happy B-Day to Me

I turned 39 today and my wife had a couple of custom Fly-Carpin t-shirts made for my present.  Really cool!  She loves me.



   


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

2013 Carp Fly Swap



UPDATE - 30 participants have signed up, further registration is CLOSED!  If you are uncertain if you are in or not I have updated the list of participants at the bottom of this post.  Man I hope I didn't screw somebody, registration happened FAST this year!

The second annual Fly-Carpin Carp Fly Swap is a go.  I already have 14 commitments (participants from last year got 24 hour advanced warning) and we are setting the cap at 30 so the next 16 people to send me an email at mctage@yahoo.com are entered. 

Here are the rules, with the only significant differences from last year is registration via email (instead of comment), 30 tiers instead of 21 (including myself) and a slightly later due date of Feb 10th and return date of March 10th.  .

WHAT YOU DO
  1. Email me your intention to participate at mctage@yahoo.com
  2. Mail me a minimum of 10 copies of your carp fly.  Due Feb 10th!!!  I will send out my address in an email.
  3. Fooey on rules, restrictions and handcuffs.  Feel free to send more copies or more sets of ten if you feel like it.  You will get some duplicates and a few less flies than you sent though.
  4. Include your return address!!!!
  5. At your discretion include materials lists, instructions, how to fish it, about you, website links, credit due etc.  On one hand I want this to be fun so skip all or part of this step if you don't like it!  On the other hand your fly will live on in the summary on Fly-Carpin. See last years example.  The more information you include the more I add (within reason).
  6. If you earn or supplement your income in some way related to fly fishing for carp feel free to include promotional literature or cards (within reason) and I will include it in the return packages.
  7. If you do NOT want me to post any pictures or other information about your fly for any reason just let me know via a note in the package or email. 
  8. There is no requirement that these are unique flies.  What is and is not a unique fly is a murky subject but I will be highlighting your flies on my website, so try and give credit where due if applicable so that I don’t get nasty-grams or lose possible carpin buddies.  If you are not sure if your fly is a dead ringer, a variant or truly unique just ask and we can decide together.  I will communicate with you directly and negotiate if I feel we need to apply some discretion.
WHAT I WILL DO
  1. I will take pictures of each pattern and compile a summary page on Fly-Carpin.
  2. I will do my best to capture any and all supplemental information included with the flies.  This will be the absolute hardest part of this process so have patience with me.
  3. The summary page will include links or plugs to participant’s fly fishing for carp related websites and businesses where applicable. 
  4. I will sort the flies into sets of 10 and mail back packages by March 10th!!! 
  5. The packages will vary randomly.  I will work hard to kype all the good stuff be fair.
  6. In order to make this as easy and fun as possible I will cover shipping costs back first class. 
  7. I will make an effort to improve packaging as compared to last year where a couple of flies got smushed.
Current Participant List:
  1. Myself.
  2. Justin Watkins
  3. Gregg Martin
  4. Will Rice
  5. Barry Reynolds
  6. John Jensen
  7. Matt Pike
  8. Dan Frasier
  9. John Montana
  10. Ty Clifton
  11. Jean Paul Lipton (AKA Roughfisher)
  12. Mike Medina
  13. Austin Anderson
  14. Alonzo Sanchez
  15. Mark Erdosy
  16. Nate Gubbins
  17. Adam Hope
  18. Geoff Anderson
  19. kevin Frank
  20. Josh Rinehart
  21. Austin Orr
  22. Mark Vibber
  23. Matthew Dobrowolski
  24. Nolan Majcher
  25. Bennet Muraski
  26. Ty Goodwin
  27. Steve Martinez
  28. Miles Christmas
  29. Bill Henry
  30. Zack Janssen


Monday, January 7, 2013

Ringing In the New Year

First, some context - My final carp of 2012 was a 22lber caught blind casting an Olive McLuvin a couple of days before Christmas.  This was only the second 20+ pound carp (out of over 130) I have caught in the South Platte and the first was caught over a year and a half ago!

Conclusion:  Either I suck or carp over 20lbs are pretty rare in our river.

In a crazy turn of events my first carp of 2013 was also a 22lb carp caught sight fishing a Rust McLuvin a couple of days after the new year. 

Conclusion:  Either I suddenly no longer suck or it is time to buy lotto tickets.  ASAP!

Look at the Tail on that Thing!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Industry Interview #3: Catch Fly Fishing

This is the third in a five part series of interviews exploring the relationship between fly fishing for carp and the industry. This interview features Eric Bebee, owner at Catch Fly Fishing and was performed as a free-form interview over the phone. A summary of all the interviews with commentary is also available in the recent CarpPro Fly Fishing For Carp Special.


Fly-Carpin: Does CATCH have any fly fishing for carp products that the readers might be interested in?

Catch Fly Fishing: Currently, in this year’s catalog, no. Next year we plan on adding a total of around 300 new patterns but 125 to 150 will be for carp.
Fly-Carpin: Why the big carp push?

Catch Fly Fishing: Well I am a carp fisherman myself and it’s a way to branch out. To get people into fly fishing who don’t normally have a trout fishery in their states. Carp fishing is pretty much in all 50 states in some form or another and it’s a way to reach out to future fly fishermen. To get them involved into something they normally wouldn’t be able to because traditionally fly fishing is trout and it should branch out. If you can catch a fish on any kind of gear-rig or spin-rod you can catch them on a fly. There are new materials and new stuff out that you can build flies as big as you want. You can build them as strong as you want and you can go after any species of fish you want, ranging from trout all the way to shark. 
Fly-Carpin: How are you going to get to 125 to 150 carp patterns? Where are those coming from?

Catch Fly Fishing: Well, we have a design team for CATCH Fly Fishing. You yourself are going to be like the head designer for carp. The stuff that you are throwing out there is pretty fantastic. 
[Editor’s Note: This interview was performed during a rapidly and still evolving relationship between CATCH and I. On my part there are clear conflicts of interest involved in this interview. While the intention of the interview was strictly to be informative and interesting, clearly those intentions are tainted to some degree. Judge for yourself to what extent]
We also have 150 tiers right now that are instructed just to go make something up. Make something that is going to work for what you believe about carp. Do your research and look for stuff. We are going to try and stay away from your bread patterns. Even though they work, if you are going to go after them on a fly, make it a realistic fly. It’s like fishing for trout with trout beads. They work. They work well, but is that what you really want to do? I want to make it an actual sport where you have to work for the carp because carp are really hard to catch.
Fly-Carpin: How do you picture the evolution of fly fishing for carp in the future and the relationship between industry and fly fishing for carp?
Catch Fly Fishing: I think it is definitely going to grow. You will notice it started out with trout then to smallmouth. I fish for Walleye, bass, carp and musky. If you are going to release the fish anyways it doesn’t matter what you catch. I will catch shad. I will catch what we call whitefish. It doesn’t matter to me, it’s about fooling the fish with something you have made and really enjoying the sport. Just getting out, getting people new into fly fishing. That is what it is about for me. And I think that is what it is about for the company. Just getting people involved, and you have to focus on everything. You can’t just pick what sells the best and go from there. You have to really get involved into every aspect of fly fishing from saltwater to freshwater to anything.
And the carp, the carp will take you into your backing in nothing flat. They are strong, they are hard to catch. You have to really sneak up on them. If they see you they don’t even let you know they have seen you, it just like game over. You have been sitting there struggling over a carp for a couple of hours and he has already seen you and he is not going to eat and you don’t know. You just have to be very stealthy, and they release pheromones into the water that lets other carp in the vicinity know that there is danger. There is just so much going on with carp that makes them all that much harder to catch. That is what I like about it, and they are strong.
Fly-Carpin: How about carp tournaments, and carp activities through local clubs. Can you picture ever participating in those?
Catch Fly Fishing: Oh absolutely. There is a carp tournament up on the Bighorn under Yellowtail Damn. It is put on by the Bighorn River Alliance. Although I haven’t had a chance to participate in it CATCH fly fishing does donate flies for raffles to support the club and to keep the bighorn safe I guess you could say. There is allot of stuff that goes on in terms of damn management and water releases and money that they raise from the carp tournament helps to fill all those needs. I do want to [personally] participate in the carp cup and the stuff that they have going on here. I just haven’t had a chance yet.
Fly-Carpin: That’s the model of the Carp Slam here in Denver and it has been extraordinarily successful. 
Catch Fly Fishing: It’s growing here. I mean you start out here a few years ago with four or five boats. I think last year they had twenty-some? It just a good time and they do a really good job with it. Live music, food, auctions. Just fun stuff all day long, it is like going to a bass tournament or something like that (giddy laugh).
Fly-Carpin: There is a distinct possibility that a national traveling carp series comes into existence in the next year or two. Just some interesting info, I am not involved in making that happen or anything.
Catch Fly Fishing: That would be awesome (another giddy laugh). They should really try putting the Yellowtail damn or the Afterbay damn on there because there are some huge carp.
Fly-Carpin: Have you or any of your staff tried fly fishing for carp?
Catch Fly Fishing: Absolutely. I and another fly designer James Cranford spent allot of time this year looking for carp. Every time we see carp we stop what we are doing and fish for them. There is no comparison between carp fishing and trout fishing. Carp are a lot stronger, they are a lot faster and they are a lot bigger. At least where I am at a three foot carp is not out of the question. To me it is fun. Any time you can take an eight weight and actually have him peel you off into your backing with your drag set pretty good; it is allot of fun.
Fly-Carpin: The readers might not be familiar with your organization, it is fairly new. Can you say something about how they may be able to find you?
Catch Fly Fishing: They can find us on Catchflyfish.com or Facebook at Catch Fly Fish
Fly-Carpin: If they do want to get ahold of some of your flies can they go into their local fly shop and ask them to order from you?
Catch Fly Fishing: Absolutely. If they see anything in the catalog that they want or if they see it online, tell them to go to their local fly shop, tell them what they want and we will get it to them. A minimum order for a fly shop is one dozen.

Eric Bebee With a Nice Montana Carp