The art of flytying came to me twice over the years. I've been bait fishing since I was 7 and never though about flytying or flyfishing until I was in my 20's.

One day a buddy says to me that we should try flyfishing. We both bought a rod and reel and some flies, the pretty ones.
We knew nothing about flies or hatches and what fish ate. We knew for sure they eat worms. We didn't catch anything on the flies and soon lost interest and back to bait I went.
I kept the rod and reel, why I'll never know!

5 to 8 years went by until my cousin asked me to go flyfishing with him, he said he'd supply the flies that worked good, from that day on I was hooked. Catching my first of many fishes that day was the best day I ever had fishing. Soon after, the word "flytying" came up and I went to the community school with a cheap flytying kit I had purchased. I though this was great but soon after I lost interest and gave all my fly tying material to a friend.

10 more years passed and I was getting bored in my spare time looking for something to do. My mother suggested I try flytying again now that i was older and little more settled down. It sounded like a great idea and that was all that was said about it.

The christmas of 96 I opened the gift from mom and "wow"... it was a bobbin, scissors and thread and some feathers with a gift certificate from a local fishing shop. My hobby has since grown from that gift at christmas into the thousands of dollars of material and many hours sitting at the fly tying bench. I made a lot of friends on the streams and on the internet through fishing web sites and flyswaps.

I look back now and wonder why I did not tie flies back then and what would I be doing now without this great hobby of flytying and flyfishing. I hope to keep tying until my fingers and eyes stop me from doing so.

Thanks for the life lasting gift mom.

Dave Banks (a.k.a. Dunkin )