de·sign
- verb (used with object)
to plan and fashion artistically and skillfully.
to intend for a definite purpose: a fly designed to catch FISH.
Fly tying is a millennium-old angler’s practice that weds form and function with the ultimate goal of fooling hungry fish. In the earliest times, simple flies were tied with just a few materials; fur, feathers, and silk were wrapped around a roughly cast iron hook shank to resemble the aquatic insects that grayling and trout call breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The earliest Macedonian fly fishers were probably more interested in catching their own dinner than casting their flies for sport (quite a foreign concept to us moderns, wrapped up in our own recreational pursuits of catch and release game fishing). Even so, the very oldest fly patterns served a purpose and were deliberately created and constructed to achieve a goal.
Over time, the fly angler’s ultimate goal has certainly shifted and morphed. We now tie and cast flies to just about anything that swims. The world’s now got flies for tarpon, sharks, muskie and pike, bass poppers, giant squid patterns for stripers and billfish, and funky feathered creations for steelhead and salmon. We truly have gone beyond the bug.
For all of this progress and nuance, the fly essentially remains the same: it’s a highly designed piece of functional art – yes, art – and Beyond the Bug should be thought of as an online art gallery of sorts. We’ve created a clean and modern space where the ideas behind the function and beauty of the world’s very best fly designs can shine.
As we move forward, following the trends of today’s new generation of fly tyers, we’ll show you interesting tying ideas, post reviews of materials (new and old), highlight tyers we think are “on to something good,” share step-by-step tying videos for some of our favorite flies, and above all, we’ll fill these crisp, digital walls with the angler’s art: good flies.
photos in this post by Ian McNemar, a regular contributor to beyondthebug.blogspot.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment