Friends: show

Eric Austin is a new friend, again as a result of the web site. If I had known there as many people out there with similar interests I would have done this a long time ago. Eric was kind enough to send several fly pictures as well as a bio, saving me a great deal of time and energy. Eric?s Bio:

"I grew up in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. I began fly fishing in the early ?60s, and took up tying shortly after that. I was a dry fly purist from day one, and I?m not really sure that anything?s changed much. Oh, I?ll fish a nymph when I have to, or drop an emerger off the back of a fly, but I still thrill to the sight of a rise, and mostly fish the hatches. My fishing these days is confined to the Mad river here in Ohio, and a yearly trip to Montana. You can see some of my everyday fishing flies on Hans Weilenmann?s site at: Danica.com/flytier/eaustin
I became enamored of the full dress salmon flies about 5 years ago now, and became so frustrated that I ultimately quit tying for a year, completely. I tied over 75 Silver Doctors without ever getting one I was remotely happy with, among various other flies, none of which I was too thrilled with either. I think the breaking point came when one day I discovered some of Marvin Nolte?s work on-line, and I said to myself ?what are you doing??. So I took a year off, and it was just what the doctor ordered. When I started tying again I found an opportunity to do some turn of the century wet flies for the website Fly Anglers On Line. This gave me a chance to work on my skills, and in the process find some better sources of materials. You can see some of my old wet flies at FAOL, in the ?Just Old Flies? section: Flyanglersonline.com/ I hope to continue doing these, most of the later flies in this section are mine. They lead me to start in on the salmon flies again, and things are better.
When I first found this site I was again about ready to give it all up. Needless to say, there are some awesome tiers featured here, and I was once again taken aback.. But I have decided to present a few humble offerings, with more to come in the near future. I?m working very hard on improving, and at least now have a better idea of where I?m headed, and what I?d like to achieve. Hope you like the flies."

Well I like Eric?s flies as I?m sure everyone else will as well. Simply click on the thumbnails below to see an enlarged picture:

Eric finished the Nursery Rhyme Trilogy (the first three flies in the row above) and added these poignant words: rub a dub dub, three men in a tub....