I began
flyfishing and flytying at age 12, after winning a cheap bamboo fly rod at a
church festival. Soon after that, a friend of my father gave me a box of
assorted flytying materials and a Herter’s vise. There was no one in my family
to teach me, and very few fly fishermen in the area to learn from. There were
even fewer flytyers around! Progress was very slow in both departments. My
entire education in these arts came exclusively from magazines, catalogues and
books.
Years went by with
only the Herter’s catalogue and Noll’s Guide to Trout Flies to learn from.
Somewhere in the early 70’s I discovered the wealth of flyfishing literature
available to me. I would beg and borrow what I couldn’t afford to buy,
accumulating as much information as I could on tying and fishing methods,
patterns and techniques.
In more recent
years, I have had the opportunity to attend many flyfishing and flytying shows,
where I feel that my education has grown exponentially.
I began tying
full-dressed Atlantic salmon flies in November of 2000, and I must have found my
niche in the world of flytying. I was the 2001 Irish Open Flytying
Championship’s overall champion, and in the 2002 FQSA World Salmon Flytying
Championship, my creation “Colors of Water” won a gold medal, and I received a
silver medal for the compulsory pattern, the Black Dose. These honors were
quite a surprise to me, as I am relatively new to the world of salmon flies!
I try to give
something back to this wonderful art by volunteering at the Rivers Conservation
& Fly Fishing Youth Camp. The camp is held each June in Boiling Springs, PA and
is hosted by the Cumberland Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
Note by Ed Gallop:
Tim has a natural talent that makes him one of the top master tiers that I know.
It's a pleasure to have him participate on Fly Tying World. If you visit a
fly fishing event, and see him at a booth, be sure to check it out.
Pictures: Tim at Portland Creek (top), Tim's first sea-run Brookie
(middle), and Tim at 2001 International Flytying Symposium (bottom).
See
more of Tim's work at this direct link: FeathersMc.com.
These are Award Winning Full Dress
Salmon Flies

Tier: Tim Trexler
Colors of Water
Won the FQSA
Gold Medal

Black Dose
(as per T.E. Pryce Tannatt)
Won the FQSA
Silver Medal

Water Witch
Won the FQSA 5th Place Award

The Fédération québécoise pour le saumon atlantique
(FQSA) is
a non-profit organization founded in 1984 and currently has more than 1000
members. Among them are people (anglers and non-anglers) as well as
organizations that are interested in and support the development and improvement
of Atlantic salmon resource preservation. You are welcome to visit
the FQSA website at http://www.saumon-fqsa.qc.ca/.
You can translate into English by visiting
AltaVista - Babel
Fish Translation Web Site
and entering the web site address.
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