Tuesday December 17th marked the last Bob Mitchell's Fly Shop Hops & Hoppers open tie night of 2019 at Lake Monster Brewing in Saint Paul. The turn out to these open fly tying events is usually good, and there's a lot of diverse fly Tyers that attend to tie flies, drink craft beer or soda, and talk about past and future fishing trips. It's also a great excuse to escape the house and shake off the cabin fever if ice fishing or winter trout fishing is not your thing.
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| Lucas Gluesenkamp aka Strange Bugs sits amazed that a ziplock baggie appeared on Jim's vise. |
I cannot remember the last time I brought my vise to an open tie. I've learned over the years, that I never tie flies at these things, and I spend more time taking photos and talking to others. I'm okay with that. I prefer to tie my mop flies in the comfort of my own home, so, no one can steal my secret mop fly recipe.
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| Mike and Sam focused on their bugs. |
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| Micah Crider tossing the whip finish on a winter trout streamer. |
All kinds of flies were being tied. Trout flies, musky flies, dry flies, and streamers. The only consistent thing I noticed on this night were the laughs. There were a lot of them. I think we all need to get out and fish.
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| Driftless Drew whipping up a bug the same size of a Driftless brown trout. |
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| Armone Vang tying a chironomid that ended up in one of my fly wallets. |
Looking forward to future open tie night, but more importantly, I'm looking forward to 2020.
