> To start this interview, tell me something about yourself. How and when did you start making your own flies? I grew up in a small town in the Natal Midlands, South Africa, called Nottingham Road. Being a small farming community I ended up in a boarding school in Underberg at the foot hills of the Drakensburg Mountains. One afternoon I walked into the School dinner room and a class mate was sitting at the table with a mound of feathers and skins tying nymphs and dry flies and I was hooked. That weekend I begged and basically wined until my father caved, got in the car and drove and hour and a half to find a fishing store that sold fly tying kits. For the first five years my main targets were brown and rainbow trout, small mouth and large mouth bass and I built my critters to match food. My Saltwater experience started on a holiday when I was
about 14 years old down to Umgazana estuary where I caught my first fish on a fly in the saltwater. It was small but it hooked me. I then spent another year tying and dreaming of shrimps, crabs and baitfish. Eventually my father took up a post down in the wild coast, in the Eastern Cape, the salt took over my life and I have lived and breathed saltwater, tying, ever since then. Over the years I have tied thousands of flies, honed my tying style and have learnt lots of tricks and tips along the way. 12 years ago I started tying commercially for a few select people and through word of mouth the business grew to a point I decided to start custom tying and 8 years ago I started an online store www.ukflies.com > What came first, tying flies or fishing? I have been behind the vice for a good 27 years now, I call it
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