The Claypool

As life would have it not everything has been smooth these past few weeks. It seems that nothing in real life will fit into my mental schedule. The real job is taking its toll on my psyche and things I use to brush away are now the things that aggravate me to no end. These things too shall pass, but I need my outlet. That thing that drives me when all else fails. Family is a huge help, but I often need that one thing that take me where I need to be and recharge. I tyed these flies back in the fall of 2011 to show a new influence, Les Claypool, my way of saying "thank you". I held off on showing many people, I guess waiting for a rainy day. That day is here. Les Claypool is a musician/artist and fly fisherman. His style of music is his own and he takes no prisoners as he beats is bass guitar into submission. Dancing on the edge of bizarro at times, Les and his current band Primus are out promoting their new album Green Naugahyde. They will be making their stop in Syracuse, NY on May 20, 2012. Les if you are out there, there are a few fly fisherman in the Upstate, NY area that want to take you fishing.
The flies influences come from Les's welder style glasses, a funky hat, a touch of green naugahyde, some purple onion, stubble of a goatee, and the passion for doing what you love. We salute you by chanting along with your legions of fans....Primus sucks!

Quill Wings

I have for some time now wanted to learn to tie quill wing flies.....e erything from upright wings on dries, to traditional wet flies, and spey style wings. There many ways and styles to set them and marry them. This should prove to be a learning process and a laughing process. More to come soon......just a couple that I've attempted recently

Putting Pen To Paper

I've been doing a fair amoint of writing lately. It seems to come and go in spurts for me. Subject matter varries for me and a lot of stuff lately is more personal experience rather than technical. For me reading magazine articles from the latest issue of Blah Blah Angler is almost painful. The majority of fly fishing / tying magazines are just full of pointless, emotionless dribble. If I read one more article about fishing this location, from this resort, this fly shop, this fly, I may pass out from bordem. If you are writing articles for a leading publication please make it interesting, and tell me a story. I am a reader wanting entertainment, not a high school English teacher looking to see if you followed all the guidelines in order to graduate. Don't sell me on a fishing trip, your magazine has plenty of advertising already. Then on to photography. I love beautiful images of flies stuck in a fishes maw, hero shots, clear fly photographs, and the like, but I swear there are only two photographers allowed to publish photos in the slew of magazines out there. Good for them, but I can recognize your photos a mile away. Show me something artistic and full of content that shares your passion with me. Hatches magazine typically does this and I feel honored that they find most my articles worthy of their online magazine. I write because I enjoy it and I'm not selling you on anything but experiences. Yes I plug products here and there because I believe in them. This industry is built on a passion, forget the publishers full of fluff in business to be in business.....go grass roots and show those who have the heart, to keep at it. Remeber this, I write to put pen to paper, not because I have to, but because I enjoy it. I'm attaching a link to some of my articles in Hatches.....read and enjoy them when you have time.


http://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/tag/vern-o/?utm_source=FTFEmail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3-1

Taking It To The Next Generation

I told Santa Claus that I wanted to bring my business into the next generation and to do that I would need an ipad or tablet. I want my business to be as mobile as I am. What better way to show a fly shop your work than to pull out a tablet and let them scroll through a catalog of your work? Santa came through in a big way and the tablet has proven its worth in the two tying demos I've done in 2012. Now I figured lets take it one step more...Why not videotape me tying a fly? I recruited my oldest daughter as my videographer, who was more than willing to get to fool around with Daddy's cool new toy. She was a trooper to say the least. The first run through went light years better than I expected, and I usually set my expectation bar pretty high. After the first take, though it wasn't perfect, I knew she had potential. We've had a ton of fun and the videos are meant to be that way. No fancy footage, just down and dirty...a guy with his daughter sharing time together and learning from each other. I'm proud of you my oldest, though you may not realize how much yet!

http://youtu.be/e0YtQluF9F4

http://youtu.be/nIauJnWC24Y