Tony DiPaolo Hooked on Tying Flies

Tony DiPaolo

Hooked on Tying Flies

Interview by ChrisRWK (Robots Will Kill) Photos courtesy of Tony DiPaolo

Learning that Tony tied these small intricate flies was amazing. Especially when you know his daytime job is working on bicycles. Sure bikes have small parts but for the most part it’s a mechanical job with things like grease, wrenches and rubber. So seeing these tiny flies and the attention to detail was inspirational. You can also tell by his interview his love of doing his side project.

Can you tell me a little about what day job is? Hey Chris my day job is working in a bicycle shop in Jersey I’m the lead mechanic and I mostly do repairs in one of our locations. There are two shops and I bounce between both. I also do sales and fittings on higher end bikes.

Did your day job start out as something you wanted to do or was it just a job? So how I got into working in a bike shop was

when I was in my early twenties I used to do a little racing and was really into cycling. I used to hang around a local shop and became friends with the owner. One day he had told me he was looking to open up another store and asked if I wanted to manage and wrench for him and been doing it to this day.

On the side you tie flies for flyfishing? Tell us a little bit more about that. Even though cycling is a passion for me I also got into flyfishing about eight years ago. A friend’s father really got me jazzed about it when he would tell me about all the flies he would make and he would give me all these great books and magazines on tying and techniques of flyfishing. I got totally into it.

Why do you do the side project? I guess I started doing it because I kept losing lots of flies so much from either snagging them on the bottom or losing them in a tree and I just didn’t want to wait to order more flies so I was like hey why not I’ll give it a try. I’ll see what I can make from watching

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It warms my heart to see someone catch a fish on something I made from a bunch of materials like feathers and yarn that I’ve come up with...

youtube videos and the books my friend’s father gave me.

So would you say you do it for the passion of it or are you looking to make a business out of it? I would say I do it for the passion. I give a bunch away to family and friends. It warms my heart to see someone catch a fish on something I made from a bunch of materials like feathers and yarn that I’ve come up with and just get totally stoked on seeing people catch the first fish with it.

Can you explain what goes into tying a fly? Research? Technique, etc.? There’s a lot that goes into making something. First is to try and match the hatch or what insects are in the stream that the fish are feeding on. Then once you find out what they’re feeding on you need to find the right materials or recipe for that particular fly. Most guys use natural things like pheasant tail and peacock hurl. Then you have to find out what size hook to use - if you’re going to use it with a bead head - if you’re going to

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wrap the body in some sort of a wire and then find the right colors to match what insects are in the water. Also you have to figure out what species of fish you’re actually going after is either trout or bass or panfish or are you going for saltwater or freshwater fish.

How much of your day jobs crossed over and vice versa? Not much of my day job cross over to tying flys. My passion for cycling and working on bikes is still there but there a lot of times I find myself thinking of a new pattern or a different spin on an old classic - nymphs.

What’s next / where do you see the side project going in the future? I guess, Chris, the next step for me on tying is maybe starting in selling them online. I have guys on tying forums always asking to buy some of my flies or if I had an online store. So what I usually do is I flow them a couple. If they like them then I’ll usually ask for money. I just sent out a few to Australia, Texas, Florida, and out to Minnesota so I think that’s what I will probably be doing in the future. Thanks for all the support from you guys.

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