As
many of you know, the most important fly fishing event of the year is the
Sowbug Roundup. It is a three day celebration of fly tying that is scheduled
for April 14, 15 and 16 in 2016 at the Baxter County
Fairgrounds. Fly tyers from throughout the United States will be there and we
usually draw a tyer or two from abroad. Am on the Sowbug
committee and I believe that the next Sowbug Roundup will be the best one ever.
My
job on the committee is chairman of the Fly Tying Contest. This has become an
integral part of the show and I really enjoy doing it. I invite each of you to
enter the contest. There are nine categories, nymph, dry fly, wet fly, streamer,
smallmouth bass, bass, warm water, salmon/steelhead and salt water. In addition
there is a best in show. The winners of each category and the best in show will
receive a plaque (the perfect thing to hang over your tying desk). The real
prize is the bragging rights for winning.
Rules
have been kept to a minimum. The entrant must tie the fly submitted for
judging. Each entry must include the name, address, phone number and email
address along with two flies for each pattern submitted. You need to include
the recipe for the fly and instructions on how to fish it. You may submit as
many patterns for as many categories as you want. All flies submitted will
become the property of the contest and will not be returned. Any fly that
contains insect parts (legs wings, etc.) will be eliminated from competition.
Commercially tied patterns will not be accepted. The decision of the judges is
final. Committee members and judges are not eligible to participate in the
contest.
To
participate, all you have to do is send your flies, recipes and fishing
instructions to me, John Berry, at 408 Combs Ave. Cotter, Arkansas or you can
drop your entries off at Blue Ribbon Fly Shop by Monday
March 7, 2016.
The winners will be announced on Friday April 15, 2016 at the Sowbug Roundup
Shindig which will be held at St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Church beginning
at 6:00 PM. This event has become the top fly fishing
social event of the year.
The
idea behind the fly tying contest is to identify and acknowledge those talented
tyers among us that nobody knows about. The best example of this is Chad
Johnson. He is a respected local guide that has entered the fly tying contest
for the last three years (the first year it was sponsored by the Baxter
Bulletin) and has won the Best in Show in every one of them. He has become a
bit of an institution in the local fly fishing community because of the quality
and effectiveness of his streamers and bass bugs. He is now teaching fly tying
and is a designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants, a large supplier of flies. This
year he is going to retire from competition and become one of our judges. We
are very proud to have him join us and we all look forward to having a new tyer
rise to the top.
My
only regret is that, as a committee member and judge, I cannot enter the
contest.
John
Berry is a fly fishing guide for Blue Ribbon Guides in Cotter, Arkansas and has
fished our local streams for over thirty years.
No comments:
Post a Comment