Inspirational fly tying
There are two kinds of fishing flies. Flies that are designed to catch fish, and flies that are developed to catch fly fishermen. In this section of my website, you will find both. Teaching fly fishing and giving fly fishing seminars across North America has allowed me to meet, to fish with and to tie flies with some astounding people. These folk have made me say, "Wow!" with a bit of luck, through this section of my site, I hope you will say the same.

How it works:
In this section of my site I will be featuring the work of some of the most inspirational and creative fly tiers whose work I admire. Some of them you may have heard of, and some of them you won't have because these are the sort of folk who shun the spotlight. They sit at their vise and through patience, observation and trial-and-error develop great flies. Most of the patterns will be cracking fish catchers, but some, like the ultra-realistic spider flies of Junior are tied strictly for show. Claude has been crowned the World Fly Tying Champion, Bears flies are a work of art and Berry's patterns are "seriously productive." Rob and Mac have a reputation for catching big fish and Dons patterns get fish when all else has failed. Here is the tentative list of tiers:
Junior Crow, Arkansas.
Rob Prytula, Tennessee.
Dennis "Bear" Reed, Arkansas.
Mac Stark, Northwest Territories.
Don Moore, Ontario.
Claude Bedard, Quebec.
Dan Berry, Tennessee.

Purchasing these flies:
Within a few hours of posting this page, someone asked me to tie up some of the patterns. The best way to do this is to contact the person who tied the pattern. If you contact them, you will receive the pattern exactly as it should be tied. You will be able to see the proportions on the fly and the proper use of materials on the fly. Remember, these folk are not professional tiers, nor are they production tiers, so it may take a bit of time for them to get the flies out to you. I suggest you contact them via e-mail, and then follow up with a phone conversation. Some of the tiers who will be listed here do not sell flies, so those I can tie for you.

Here we go

Junior Crow
Junior Crow has been tying flies for only two 2 years, and he has been making his spider flies for about a year. I met him, well actually I sat down and tied flies beside him, at the 2006 FFF Southern Council Conclave in Mountain Home, Arkansas. I watched Junior tie up one of his spider flies, but I was so enthralled in watching him make the darn fly, that I paid little attention on how he actually did it. Now, I have seen many realistic spider patterns before, but these ones just look "better." Then again, he lives in Arkansas and they sure do know a lot about spiders in that neck of the woods.

Junior began spin fishing about 30 years ago, in farm ponds in Northwest Arkansas, he picked up a flyrod in 2004 because "it looked like fun." Self taught, he now enjoys fishing smallmouth bass on Crooked Creek and brown trout on the White River and the Norfork River in Arkansas. He is a member of the Federation of Fly Fishers, North Arkansas Fly Fishers and Friends of the Norfork Hatchery. He will be tying at the 2007 Sowbug, in Mountain Home in March.

An inspiration
If you tie your own flies and you are looking for a huge chunk of inspiration, do yourself a favor and pick up a few of these spiders. If you don't tie your own flies, these spiders may just be the creative catalyst you need to get started. The spiders sell for between $10 and $15 each, and it's well worth the investment. Well, well worth it.

Contact Junior or Kim his wife at:
Tel: 870 427 2333
E-mail: Creek Critter Flies