Sandan 0 Report post Posted January 9 5 hours ago, RickZieger said: I will toss in Son Toa as a great tyer. Son Tao rocks the vise for sure Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gene L 0 Report post Posted January 10 How about Meghan Boyd? Salmon flies. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SilverCreek 0 Report post Posted January 10 I suspect that some of the best fly tyers are the commercial fly tyers in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chaing Mai is the hub of the fly tying industry in Asia and many of the flies you buy are tied there. Almost all of them are women. They work out of their homes and they make more money than their husbands. They tie over a hundred flies a day, thousands in a month. And tens of thousands in a year; year after year. Gary Borger was hired by a company to teach new patterns to these tyers and he said that they were some of the best fly tyers he has ever seen. He said one lady specialized tying Royal Wulffs which is a difficult fly to tie. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/04/20/fly-fishing-industry-catches-on-in-thailand/f88f8f8c-76aa-4240-9f97-42b8de3f362b/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LisaLou 0 Report post Posted January 10 3 hours ago, SilverCreek said: I suspect that some of the best fly tyers are the commercial fly tyers in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chaing Mai is the hub of the fly tying industry in Asia and many of the flies you buy are tied there. Almost all of them are women. They work out of their homes and they make more money than their husbands. They tie over a hundred flies a day, thousands in a month. And tens of thousands in a year; year after year. Gary Borger was hired by a company to teach new patterns to these tyers and he said that they were some of the best fly tyers he has ever seen. He said one lady specialized tying Royal Wulffs which is a difficult fly to tie. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/04/20/fly-fishing-industry-catches-on-in-thailand/f88f8f8c-76aa-4240-9f97-42b8de3f362b/ This is a really nice article. It’s nice to hear the industry helping elevate the quality of life by giving a good wage. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DFoster 0 Report post Posted January 10 12 hours ago, Gene L said: How about Meghan Boyd? Salmon flies. I'll second Meghan- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DFoster 0 Report post Posted January 10 9 hours ago, SilverCreek said: I suspect that some of the best fly tyers are the commercial fly tyers in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chaing Mai is the hub of the fly tying industry in Asia and many of the flies you buy are tied there. Almost all of them are women. They work out of their homes and they make more money than their husbands. They tie over a hundred flies a day, thousands in a month. And tens of thousands in a year; year after year. Gary Borger was hired by a company to teach new patterns to these tyers and he said that they were some of the best fly tyers he has ever seen. He said one lady specialized tying Royal Wulffs which is a difficult fly to tie. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/04/20/fly-fishing-industry-catches-on-in-thailand/f88f8f8c-76aa-4240-9f97-42b8de3f362b/ There's something to be said for a commercial tier that can sit and tie a hundred of the same fly and have them all be consistent . I usually get bored with a pattern by the 4th one or so- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaydub 0 Report post Posted January 10 12 hours ago, SilverCreek said: I suspect that some of the best fly tyers are the commercial fly tyers in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chaing Mai is the hub of the fly tying industry in Asia and many of the flies you buy are tied there. Almost all of them are women. They work out of their homes and they make more money than their husbands. They tie over a hundred flies a day, thousands in a month. And tens of thousands in a year; year after year. Gary Borger was hired by a company to teach new patterns to these tyers and he said that they were some of the best fly tyers he has ever seen. He said one lady specialized tying Royal Wulffs which is a difficult fly to tie. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/04/20/fly-fishing-industry-catches-on-in-thailand/f88f8f8c-76aa-4240-9f97-42b8de3f362b/ Yup. I alluded to that here. On 1/9/2024 at 8:20 AM, Jaydub said: The best fly tier ever is a woman from southeast Asia, who has never written an article or filmed a Youtube video. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niveker 0 Report post Posted January 10 Being able to quickly tie somebody else's pattern just makes you a good production tier. If they were among the best, let alone the best, they wouldn't need somebody else to teach them how to do it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chugbug27 0 Report post Posted January 10 From the article it looks like they're paying those Chaing Mai tyers a piecemeal rate of under a nickel per fly... I'll double-dare their generous boss to comp his star Chaing Mai tyer to demo at Sowbug this spring. I'll even chip in for the motel, cigarettes and whiskey, and one dinner. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flytire 0 Report post Posted January 10 its a 20 year old article is it even relevant today and who really cares is this master tyer even alive Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niveker 0 Report post Posted January 10 Did someone say they're buying cigarettes and whiskey? I'm in whatever it is! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gene L 0 Report post Posted January 10 I think the Thai flies are OK, but the ones I've seen are not top of the heap. Materials are not as good for the most part as they are here. I wouldn't say they're the GOAT fly tiers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Facemelted 0 Report post Posted January 26 Davie McPhail for sure. Great all-around tyer. He's the type of person that can look at a fly, decipher it and translate it to the vise. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SilverCreek 0 Report post Posted January 26 I nominate Royce Damm - honored by his fellow fly tyers and fly fishers as one of the best ever. https://www.flyfishersinternational.org/Portals/0/FlyTyingGroup/FTGDocuments/Buszek/1994_RoyceDam.pdf https://www.flyfishersinternational.org/About-Us/Awards/Fly-Tying-Awards I have 3 of Royce's Shadow boxes. The following photos reveal the depth and breadth of his skill, not only in traditional trout flies but in full dress salmon flies and hair bass bugs. I know of no other fly tier who is accomplished as he is over the entire spectrum of fly tying. The first is a shadow box I ordered from Royce with the USPS special issue commemorative stamps of flies. This was series of 5 stamps with a Royal Wulff, Jock Scott, Stu Apte Tarpon Fly, Lefty's Deceiver, and Muddler Minnow. The entire plate is shown then close ups of the Jock Scott and the Royal Wulff. The photos below are of a deer hair bug. Notice the alternating green and yellow bands of deer hair that he has tied and how tight the hair is. The photos below are of a stonefly nymph plate and a close up of one of the nymphs. Buz Buszek Memorial Fly Tying Award The International Federation of Fly Fishers’ Buz Buszek Fly Tying Award is the most prestigious award in the world of fly tying. 1970 - Jacqueline Knight 1971 - A.I. Alexander 1972 - Dave Whitlock 1973 - George Grant 1974 - Ken Bay 1975 - E. H. "Polly" Rosborough 1976 - John Schollenberger 1977 - Andre Puyans 1978 - George Harvey 1979 - Everett Drake 1980 - Boyd Aigner 1981 -Doug Prince 1982 - Darwin Atkin 1983 - Art Flick 1984 - Frank Johnson 1985 - Bill Blackstone 1986 - Billy Munn 1987 - Dick Nelson 1988 - Bing Lempke 1989 - Jimmy Nix 1990 - Kent Bulfinch 1991 - Wayne Luallen 1992 - Stanley Walters 1993 - Chuck Echer 1994 - Royce E. Dam 1995 - Marvin Nolte 1996 - John "Ned" Long 1997 - Judy Lehmberg 1998 - Jeff "Bear" Andrews 1999 - Al Beatty 2000 - Bob Jacklin 2001 - Bruce Staples 2002 - Helen Shaw Kessler 2003 - Bill Heckel 2004 - Chris Helm 2005 - Reginald Denn 2006 - Gary Borger 2007 - John Van der Hoof 2008 - Henry Hoffman 2009 - John Newbury 2010 - Scott Sanchez 2011 - Tony Spezio 2012 - Steve Fernandez 2013 - Walt Holman 2014 - Oscar Feliu Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
