May 27, 2023

It is said that an angler’s goals change as one progresses through fly fishing for trout. At first, they may spend weeks trying to catch their first fish. As they advance, they will want to catch numbers, or they may be determined to only pursue big fish. At some point, they finally come to the realization that they just want to fish the way they want to. Whether that is a particular technique, a time of day, or a water type, is a matter of personal choice. For me, this progression evolved into a current interest in regionality. In other words, tying and fishing patterns that are culturally or historically linked to the Adirondacks, the place where I first learned to fly fish. 

When I started fly tying in December 2021, the volume of books and resources available on the internet was overwhelming. It seemed like everyone and their mother had a meticulously curated Youtube channel dedicated to fly tying with patterns old and new. I came across many contemporary, flashy patterns that will probably catch fish anywhere. These are no doubt fun to fish with. However, I started to wonder, if a fly is that successful, does that dilute the value of catching the fish that eats it? To me, regional context, where I fish and the fly I tie at the end of my leader, matters. As I continued to gain more experience, I began considering how to become more intentional with my own tying. Learning to tie and fishing with fly patterns from the Adirondacks have become my interest. My flies don’t need to be perfect: I want to do my own thing.

The initial inspiration for Blue Line on the Fly came from this desire to learn about the regional fly patterns of the Adirondacks, and share the information and resources found through this research with others. This exploration of context is an attempt to merge contemporary fly fishing with the past, with an attention to the regional heritage of fly fishing in the Adirondacks. 

Forthcoming posts to the ADK Tied series of the blog will explore the patterns that have significance in the Adirondacks and see what fish we can catch with them. The goal will be to tie a different pattern, fish with it, and share what I learn about every two weeks or so. These posts will be aligned with the Fly Box page of the website. There you can see a list of patterns to explore, and more information on the patterns will be provided after we highlight each in a dedicated post.