Futzer

Hello everyone, Jeff "Futzer" Anthony here, Park City transplant. I like fish with big nasty bitin` teeth, and big Angelina Jolie-ish poochie lips, also the innocence of a trout sipping a dry fly. I am 47 now and been tying for 40 years, flyfishing for 41. I am the custom tyer for Cutthroat Angler's in Silverthorne, CO. Best friends with the owner Trapper Rudd since we were 15 and busing tables together in Littleton, CO. I have sat at the shop table with John Barr showing him my damsel nymphs, and fished double meat whistles with him on the Colorado. I have tied micro midges for Emmett "The Python" Heath and helped him name the first Chirnobel Ant. I have tied many of the Royal Wulffs for Gill O` Sander's lovely trout carvings. In college I sustained myself with about 1500 dozen bugs a year, by myself. I still believe you really don't have a pattern down until you have tied 100 dozen of it. I have fished 4 different continents and about 30 U.S States. Carp are a new passion, so are smallies, and tiger muskies. I am full of lots of useless information to share. See you on the water. Cheers Futzer.

Bon jour Bigeyes, Sa va? I spent 3 months living on Rue Didot near Port du Orleans, just inside the Peripherique, about 6 years ago. It was a business trip. I can now brag that I can drive in Paris, not an easy feat. I remember sitting out on my patio with a fresh baguette and a good glass of Montrachet and looking at the street below there was a Vespa with a G`Loomis sticker on the wind screen. I knew everything was ok with the world at that moment. Ala Sante` Futzer

I tie the flies I fish with, based on nature and attraction. A bright red and yellow popper may not be natural, but very "fishy". I tie the flies I sell to catch fishermen first and fish second. For example my hoppers that I fish, I use rubber legs, and the ones I sell, I use cut and formed hackles dipped in Softex. The flies I tie to display or frame I tie to catch other fly tyers. When tying fishing flies I also tie from the fish's eyes perspective, dries for how they ride on the water and the silhouette from below, Nymphs for how they look from above, the back, and the side and how to give them nymphy movement. Streamers I tie to look "scared" and the plop they make when they hit, you need a good PLOP. In my mind, I keep an image of the natural bug or if not natural an idea of the movement I want to create. I never draw anything. I think how I will make it move or work, and how to tie that durably. I always tie a few, "that will never work" bugs just cause sometimes they work. If you do think you are really inventive, take a look at old English tying books, many of our "new ideas" were tried a hundred years ago. Cheers, Futzer

For me the name only solidifies when you start selling them in the dozens to hundred dozens. Lee Wulff teeked the Royal Coachman with hair tail and wing and it truly became his Royal Wulff. He engineered a better floating version of the original. Something like the Copper John, needs John Barr's name in it since literally millions have been sold. A simple color change should still maintain the original name, So I guess for me taking a Closer minnow and tying it in Pink on a size 16 hook and using it for panfish, I could call it Futzer's pink weasel to my buddies, but if Umpqua picks it up for 1000 dozen, the most I would say is it is Futzer's Clowser panfish variant. Silly fly names are fun!!! Cheers, Futzer.

I pull the fibers forward between my right hand thumb and forefinger, then simultaneously push back and twist clockwise about 15°, then tie off. It minimizes the teasing with a dubbing needle. The twist gives the bubble strength. Sometimes I tie a clear glass bead of two under the zylon, just for giggles. Cheers, Futzer

Spirit River Deep See Eyes or Real eyes, but there are several brands. I usually use Mad rvier http://www.madriveroutfitters.com/pc-3125-302-real-eyes.aspx or Feather craft www.feather-craft.com. Any fairly good shop will have them too. I do agree though if you want the best most durable, paint your own. Cheers, Futzer