Winter is fly tying season out West, even during dry and warm winters like this one. One place I can always go to find inspiration is Fly Fish Food. Their blog and Instagram always have fresh and new ideas, patterns, techniques, and tactics that will really get your fly tying juices flowing. Cheech and Curtis Fry not only tie great flies but they write very well about it as well. If you don’t have their blog on your daily read list, you should. They are constantly coming out with new videos of their awesome patterns that are clear and concise and can help even the most novice hack out there tie flies. Check out their website, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube channel.
The guys were kind enough to agree to do a ten question interview with me recently. Enjoy part 1 today and look for the conclusion tomorrow!
All photos and videos courtesy of Fly Fish Food.
Who are you guys, and what do you do in the “real world”?
Cheech – I’m 6’5” 300 pounds of pure chiseled muscle, let’s just say that it’s hard to find waders that fit. I work as a Human Resources/Ninja guy during the day and in the evenings I tie flies and fill packages. My official title at Flyfishfood is Head Viseologist.
Curtis – I have a necessarily-evil 9 to 5 job to pay the bills (for now) and make sure my kids can go to the doctor every now and again. Lucky for us my “real” job is helping run a consulting company that works in business (accounting, inventory, e-commerce etc) management software, so Flyfishfood has become an exercise in reality with my business and technical background. By trade, I used to design jumbo jet fuselage parts, but much prefer designing flies or other things that don’t have the chance to drop out of the air and explode.
What is the story behind Fly Fish Food? How did it get started?
We have been collaborating for years on different things because we kind of have the same mindset on most things tying related. It’s really nice to have a business partner that you really see eye to eye with on almost everything. The only time we about threw down was on a road trip after Curtis ate a bleu cheese burger at Wendy’s, and his burps literally smelled like a week old dirty diaper.
Part of the reason for the site was because it was easier to just make a YouTube video tutorial than to try to explain how to tie a Cheech Leech for the 50th time. We started it just to see if there was any market for the kind of junk we were putting on hooks, and then we realized that we were creating a pretty big demand for the materials we were using. It was kind of a no-brainer to open up an online shop in order to keep the tying junkies satisfied.
What is it about fly tying that really intrigues you?
Cheech – For me it has always been the freedom to create whatever I want at the vise, and that I could use some of my art interest in a sport that I love. I really like the fact that I can find a bug in a river and lake, and then go home and tie flies that look just like it. At the same time, I like to tie stuff that is totally off the wall to see if the fish will eat those too.
Curtis – I’m a total analytical nerd with an artistic flair. So the ability to solve fish-food-chain problems with some creative use of Yak hair or Chicken feathers is a win-win. I think it’s also this connection you gain when catching a fish with a fly you not only tied but that you designed.
Have you been surprised at how big Fly Fish Food has become?
Cheech – I’d love to say that we planned this growth all along, but then I’d be lying. Our approach was something that was somewhat off the wall, and we had several people tell us that it wouldn’t work, but we knew that we had a lot of potential based on early growth of our site. All we did was kept tying, drinking copious amounts of Diet Mt. Dew, and writing stuff on our blog. It seems to be working out…
Curtis – I remember talking with Cheech a few years ago about maybe throwing together a blog. At the time, I wrote a weekly fly tying column for a local newspaper and I had a few Youtube videos floating around out there and Cheech was busy with some schooling and a busy job. We kinda tossed it around and then threw it out. Later on, once we finally decided to pull the pin, we still had no clue how fast and how big it would grow. We’re just a couple of hacks with access to copious amount of dead animal by-products. We figured, worst case scenario, it would give us a good excuse to get together and tie flies and buy new materials. Guess that turned out better than expected.
What drives your fly designs? Is it the materials, a personal creative streak, a desire to simplify things, etc.?
Cheech – I’ll admit that I’m a pretty compulsive person, and when I get an idea, I kind of go nuts with it (kind of like the slider phase I’m in right now). I think materials, creativity, and a desire to simplify are always out there, but there are also plenty of times at 2:30 am where you have an idea that won’t leave your head, so you go put it on a vise. It’s kind of cool to see other people tying and modifying my creations.
Curtis – Going back to the “analytical nerd” part of me, I am fascinated by why, what, how and where fish eat. For me, it’s a problem solving exercise with some creative special sauce to put it all together. As an example, my Fripple pattern was born out of a need to find out why fish were fully ignoring the high-floating adult mayfly duns on the water. Nerd-hat engaged and I came up with a pattern fit the behavior I was seeing on the water. I also really groove on new materials and finding ways to incorporate them into my tying sessions before Cheech comes over and steals all the new good stuff and I’m left with crotch lint from my dog.
