Above, Squirrel Tail Orange Streamer
By GEORGE LISET,
Writing on the Fly
As members of the University of New Hampshire Fly Fishing Club drifted into the meeting, club president Chris Chase sat with Master Fly Tyer Scott Biron and myself to discuss what streamer pattern Scott was demonstrating to the club that evening.
The Squirrel Tail Orange would be the pattern the club members would be tying. A deadly streamer pattern for rivers, ponds and trolling on big lakes.
I have known Scott for over forty years. Scott was the athletic trainer for the UNH Hockey team and I was coaching Track and Field. We would sit in the Track and Field office with Coach Boulanger and talk about fly fishing.
Scott’s family had a camp up on the Androscoggin River in Errol, NH. That is where Scott began to fly fish and tie flies. Needless to say, there were a lot of fish stories being shared about fish that were getting bigger by the minute.
It wasn’t until a number of years later, when Scott was getting ready to retire from his teaching position in Massachusetts that he decided to take his fly tying up a notch. Scott applied for and received a New Hampshire Traditional Artist Grant supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Scott explained that the craft is becoming a lost art. Flies are being tied overseas and by machines, and the older tyers are passing. Tying flies has a secretive component to it. The older master tyers were not sharing their patterns just like some fly fishers will not share their secret spots to fish.
Some patterns went to the grave with their inventors. Other patterns were revived when they were found handwritten on fly tying benches.
Scott’s favorite patterns to tie are streamer patterns. Streamers imitate smelt. Smelt are bait fish that large Salmon and Trout live on. Flies are made with natural materials like feathers, fur from deer and squirrels and other animals. Some chickens are specifically raised for their feathers and fly tying value. Synthetic materials are also used.
Scott shared an old adage that, “You catch fisherman by how the fly looks dry, you catch fish by how the fly looks wet.” It is so true. Scott’s flies are as much works of art as they are effective in catching fish. It’s the pattern, the light and the water that makes the fly look alive.
Scott tells the students that the three most important tools in tying are the vice, the scissors and the hook. Scott prefers Swedish made hooks since they will bend before they break. Scott suggests that if you use debarbed hooks, that you flatten the barb before you tie the fly. Scott likes to tie his flies in the Rangely style made famous by Carrie Stevens, who was a milliner that tied flies for her husband who was a Maine guide.
This evening Scott is sharing his art with eager UNH students who would like to learn the art of fly tying. Scott laughs as he mentioned that the students probably wouldn’t save any money tying flies. It can be a rabbit hole for the particular tyer. I can relate. I have three beautiful machinist chests filled with fly tying materials, and still I can find something new to buy.
Scott’s handiwork is displayed at the Fly Fishing Museum in Manchester, Vermont. The museum is right across from the Orvis Fly Fishing flagship store that carries a wide variety of tying materials. Scott will be making a video tying on the oldest vice known at the museum.
Scott is also a feature tyer at the big Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough, MA, January 5,6 and 7, 2024. Scott also represents HMH vises and does a number of local demonstrations for New Hampshire Fish and Game as well as for many local fly shops. Winter is a great time if you want to learn to tie, or if you are an experienced tyer wanting to expand your repertoire. Check with your local fly shop or New Hampshire Fish and Game as well as your local Trout Unlimited Chapter and watch out for the rabbit hole.
George Liset of Dover is an award-winning outdoor writer and avid fly fisherman who shares insights of his time on the water exploring New Hampshire streams and rivers as well of those around New England. George is a graduate of Wheaton College, Illinois, and the University of New Hampshire. His column Writing on the Fly has been honored by the New England Press Association and the New Hampshire Press Association.