Team Biographies
**News flash**
John Martin
Joins Deer Creek
Welcome on board
Nickolas Wright
(Owner)
John Martin
I’m originally from North Yorkshire, but now living in Omagh N. Ireland and I’m fortunate enough to fish the famous river Mourne and its tributaries, being the rivers Finn, Derg, Strule and Owenkillew. My main quarry is Salmon and Sea Trout. That’s why I took up the art of fly tying some 30 years ago. It’s only recently since I took early retirement from work that I’ve concentrated more to fly tying than fishing. I mainly specialise in the shrimp patterns with the occasional hair wing/cascade types, the Irish patterns are my favourite.
But what I enjoy most is creating new patterns and sourcing unusual and different materials for my new creations. It was through the recent competition in the Trout and Salmon sponsored by Deer Creek that I gained a respectable 3 place with one of my new patterns the Kinloch Mallard.
Fred Hannie
From the Gulf coastal region of the US most of my patterns are for targeting warmwater, fresh and saltwater species. Though I tie mainly fishable realistic patterns to target these fish I have found many crossover patterns that work well on trout and many other coldwater species. As I am a dental tech working with fine detail for very discriminating clients , it would seem my chosen profession and my passion for tying go hand in hand. You could say " by day I make teeth to fool people and by night I make flies to fool fish"Fred.
www.realisticflytying.net
Mike Mercer
Grew up in Northern California, enjoying the fish-rich streams and rivers of the region. He’s worked for The Fly Shop in Redding, California, for the past 30 years, beginning as the “counter guy”, and spending many years guiding local rivers, including Hat Creek, McCloud River, Sacramento River, Fall River, Pit River and the Trinity River. His current position in International Travel Sales allows him to journey to the finest world-wide fly fishing destinations, and the lodges found there. Mike was one of the first fly tiers to export the use of epoxy resin used on saltwater flies to trout patterns. Mike has recently written his first book, Creative Fly Tying, and what a masterpiece it is to.
John Horsfall Snip-its of John's flies for 2010 season
John's been involved with fly fishing & tying for about forty years. He founded & is Life President of the local branch of the Fly Dressers Guild. John has taught at Adult Evening Classes etc. Some students have gone onto win national & international prizes for fly dressing. They've also been highly placed & won several major fishing competitions. He writes & supplies photographs for most leading magazines. Has given talks & demonstrations to various clubs and at many local & national Game Fairs etc. Recently he has instigated, taken part in & promotes many events for the "Casting for Recovery" ladies cancer recovery charity.
Norman Maktima
One of six members of Team USA, Maktima will be the youngest person to ever represent the states in the international competition, now in its 21st year.
Introduced to fly fishing at age seven by his father, Maktima first cultivated his skills in the waters of the desert Southwest. Then, after graduating from high school in 1998, he was recruited into the world of competitive fly fishing.
Recommended by a former employer at a fly fishing shop in Santa Fe, N.M., Maktima was named that summer to the USA Junior Team. He and his team-mates placed a surprising second in the junior world championships, which were held here in Wales.
Troy Bachmann
John Randolph, the editor and publisher of Fly Fisherman magazine, has called Troy Bachmann “one of the best fly tyers in the world today, and one of the most innovative. And I believe he’s producing the best commercially-tied flies on the market - bar none.” Frank Amato, the legendary publisher of fly fishing books, has also commented: “Troy’s knowledge of flies is the equivalent of a Ph.D. in molecular physics.”
Niklas Dahlin
My name is Niklas Dahlin, I was born in the early 70's. I live together with my fiancée and two children in Storvreta,Sweeden. I Work as a sales manager in the used cars business.The flies I like too tie most, & closest to my heart are classic Catskill dry flies such as the Quill Gordon and Red Quill. I love the feeling of using a classic dry fly that I have read about and then tied. Doing that makes me feel like I have stepped back in time, as if I am standing in the creek with Mr Theodore Gordon himself.
I attended the Bffi in 2008/9 and must say that I am really looking forward to see all of you again this year. This years fair I will be demonstrating how to tie a couple of different Catskill dry flies and some other quill-bodied flies. Also my Deer Creek patterns. A selection of my flies are displayed atwww.danica.com/flytier/ndahlin/ndahlin.htm
Dai Jones
Started fishing at the age of six, on the Afon Twrch. When I was a bit older my Dad started taking me sea fishing off the Mumbles pier.
At the age of 9, i started fly tying and fishing for sewin on the River Tawe. in those days the river was just full of fish sewin huge runs it was an awesome river and you never though about catching 30/ 40 sewin in the day spinning and fly fishing, you would also catch salmon / bass and twait shad by the bin full, how the days have changed.
I love the sewin and bass fishing, those were the two fish I loved to fish for. 41 years ago I started fly fishing for bass off the Gower. I have also fished many places around the world, catching blue fin tuna 625lb, shark 450lb, sailfish 124lb, my PB fish on a fly tarpon about 60lb
PB salmon on a fly 22lb 08oz, Sewin 10lb 12oz, rainbow 15lb 12oz, Brown 10lb 04oz, bass 11lb 06oz, tarpon 60lb, lemon shark 85lb, I also like my carp fishing PB on a fly 36lb 12oz, on bait 51lb UK PB, French PB is 57lb 12oz.
Adam Trina
Started fly-fishing at a young age, in the Adirondack Mountains near Lake Placid, in up state New York. He tied flies for Fran Betters for 3 years during high school. In a quest for more and bigger trout he moved to Missoula, Montana to pursue his degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of Montana. Adam started guiding in Missoula in 1992 and eventually guided on most Montana rivers, He continued to tie commercially for 6 years for the Missoulian Angler, Grizzly Hackle, and Kingfisher Fly Shops.
Gary LaFontaine
The work of this genius still lives on in fur and feather. Gary who died from Lou Gehrig's disease several years ago was one of the most important fly designers of the 20th century.We will still use his name so to keep his designs living in the 21st century. His royalties will go to the Lou Gehrig Foundation.
Blane Chocklett
Chocklett came up with the idea for the Gummy fry while trying to create a fly-fishing version of soft plastic jerk baits.Chocklett knew that those lures often out-performed traditional streamer flies in trout rivers during the low-water months of late summer.
The Gummy Minnow doesn't really have the random darting action
"You need to give it some action with the rod," Chocklett said.
It does have a unique wobbling motion in the water. Combined with the lures lifelike appearance, that's often enough to draw strikes from picky game fish.
Dave Wiltshire Snip-its of Dave's flies for 2010 season
Living in the South West of England, Dave Wiltshire is blessed with a wealth of fishing at his fingertips including some of the finest rivers, reservoirs and coast line that the UK has to offer. His interest in tying flies lies mainly in the pursuit of wild trout and graying. His offerings here include emergers, dries, nymphs and some heavy-weight patterns too. He is our resident photographer also. Dave keeps a regular update of his fly tying and fishing on his blog: http://davewiltshireflytying.blogspot.com/
Carl Pennington Snip-its of Carl's flies for 2010 season
As a young adult after fishing for many years with friends and family I decided to teach myself to tie flies to save a little money. Armed with a Thompson Model "A" vice and basic tools and materials I got started on what would become a life long pursuit of knowledge and skill in the art of fly tying. Twenty years and thousands of flies later I realised that I wasn’t saving any money bout I had developed a love for tying flies for trout. Fly tying has been a passion of mine and has grown in recent years with my appreciation for Colorado and all the great fishing waters it holds. I don’t travel much and may never fish anywhere else which is fine by me. I would have to say my signature patterns are those that require the most attention to detail and purporting such as the pheasant tail, biot emergers and parachute dry flies. I am a bit of a perfectionist when comes to the size and profile due to many years of fishing Colorado tail waters and the tiny flies they require. I hope you enjoy these patterns as much as I do and treat your local waters with respect as we do here in Colorado. Carl has a Blog too click the link below.
Vidar Egilsson
My name is Vidar Egilsson and I'm a professional flytyer in Iceland. Fly fishing and tying flies have been my passion for many years. For the past years I have also opened a website for my flies and flytying materials(www.galleriflugur.is) and I have also opened a little store in the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik. I mostly tie flies for customers in Iceland, Scandinavia, Scotland, Argentina and Russia.
The picture: Vidar Egilsson fishing in Iceland
Andrew Baird
Originally from Leicester, Andy has been based on the North coast of Co. Antrim since 2000 and a fisherman since age 8. He is a committed short-rod, light line, small fly specialist. He fishes the smallest of streams, burns and brooks in search of wild brown trout. The US style of small fly fishing has been a huge inspiration to Andy who regularly fishes 2wt lines and 8X tippet with flies down to #32. In fact it was Deer Creek who supplied his batch of TMC #32's, the only direct, commercial source of this hook pattern available to small fly enthusiast in the UK.
As the UK tackle market caters more and more for the ultra-light fly fishing enthusiast, with short, light line rods and specialist taper lines and leaders, there remains a distinct lack of high quality and innovative small fly patterns available to the discerning fly fisher. Andy has joined the Deer Creek team to address this shortfall and will be developing new patterns in the #20 - #24 size range for those who demand the most exacting standards from small fly patterns. He adds "Fly fishing with the smallest of patterns is a niche at present, but this is a fast growing branch of our sport and I am thrilled to join the Deer Creek team and hope we can grow support for this uniquely challenging and rewarding pursuit." Andrew has two blogs.
Andre Miegies
Hello, my name is André Miegies I live in Holland in a town called Soest.I am 41 years old and work as an account manager.
I started flytying about 25 years ago, at first just for fishing and later on as a true hobby. I give a lot of tying demonstrations at many shows and fairs, and also teaching the fly tying at local clubs and the Dutch Fly Fishing School.
Hope to meet you all on the BFFI this year. I will be tying some of my Deer Creek patterns.
