At this month’s meeting our speaker will be Mike Kesselring from Bryson City. His first fly fishing experiences were in 1966 at the age of 15. At the time, his father was stationed on the Pacific coast at a small Air Force Norad Station in Washington State on Cape Flattery inside the Makah Indian Reservation. Riding his bicycle to the nearby Wa’atch River, that emptied into the Pacific Ocean, Mike fished for steelhead and pacific salmon with some of the most beautiful salmon flies of the day. It was those flies that got him started collecting, but it would take a few years before it really took off.
Mike has been collecting flies for over 30 years now. He brags that he has “…never tied a single fly in his life, except to the end of a tippet.” He also likes to brag that he has more flies than many fly shops. He estimates he now has 12,000 flies. His collection keeps growing because he picks up flies everywhere he travels, always picking up a few extra to add to his collection. One thing that fascinates him is how fly tying materials has changed over the decades, moving from nearly all natural materials to more and more artificial/synthetic products. And, how the same fly can have a dozen different names.
Chapter meeting will be Tuesday March 26 at Barley’s in downtown
Maryville. Social hour starts at 6:00 and the business meeting will start at
7:00. We meet in the upstairs banquet room.
Hope to see you there.
