"Commercial" Tying

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I've been tying for shops, guides, and anglers that know what they want now for many years. In the last fifteen years full time guiding has left a lot less time for the bench but I still manage to fill a few orders (I'm working on about 50 dozen right now). Unlike freshwater stuff, in the salt there's a limited ability for offshore work to fill the specific needs in a given area. Yes, most shops now will load their bins with standard bonefish bugs, the usual deceivers, clousers, etc.... but for specific patterns that actually work - that's a different matter entirely (tarpon flies for instance.. what works in the Keys won't work in the 'Glades fifty miles away). Guys like me that tie for the salt have one other advantage over freshwater tyers. There's a lot less of us so we can charge at a significantly higher level than freshwater tyers... I"m actually on both sides of this issue since I'm one of Umpqua's contract tyers and have a few patterns being produced offshore. The royaties are very small but every bug tied offshore adds up to thousands that I just don't have the time to do myself.

 

By the way, occasionally shops in my area will contract an order out to tyers that might be in Colorado or other place far from the salt. The resulting product will rarely perform properly (unlike freshwater bugs, lots of saltwater stuff needs to sink or suspend or move through the water in a very specific fashion.... if it doesn't fill the bill customers soon notice). I've had one shop or other place a small order with me and then I see copies a year or two later (that I'm sure they bought for lots less than I charge). When that sort of stuff happens I quit tying for them (and notice that those copies don't seem to sell very well at all....).

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay