Custom Flies by VERN-O: 2013 Arctic Circle Flies

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

2013 Arctic Circle Flies

Occasionally cool things happen to flies I tie. Sinking hooks into jaws is always nice. Sometimes my flies get to travel to faraway places that I can only dream of fishing. Thus I live vicariously through my flies. In mid-June I was contacted through a social media vacuum by an individual in Germany who had stumbled across a picture of some flies I had tyed a couple years back for a buddy who was headed to the Arctic Circle. This individual wanted to know if I was interested in tying some flies for him as he was going there himself in late August. For me it’s always exciting to see messages like this. There is a gamble involved with a prospect like this; meeting deadlines, shipping costs, lost packages, currency exchange rates, and just getting ripped off in general. Fly fishermen are generally decent people and keeping initial orders small tends to minimize the risks. Sven and I worked out an agreement for me to tie some flies for his trip to the Ekaluk River. On July 22, 2013 mailed the flies to Germany. Then the waiting began……lots of waiting. It took nearly a month for the flies to arrive and Sven got them literally days before leaving. PPPPHHHHEEEEEWWWW! I never anticipated it taking that long for the flies to reach him and anxiety had set in over what to do if they had arrived after he left on his journey. Part of our deal was to share some photos from his trip when he returned. Sven delivered on his end with some cool pictures and a brief note.

Had a Great Trip, flies worked well, cold and storms (Winds over 100 mph), very nice people, Good Camp, loads of big, big Char!