WOMEN IN WADERS On the vice with Denise Denise van Wyk
Who started your tying journey? That trout that took my malformed first attempt of a “White Death”. A few years later, I joined Jacaranda Fly Fishing Club and learned so much in a few months. Today I am proud to give back the knowledge I gained to new fly tyers at the club, running the fly tying event at the club twice a month. What inspires you to tie your own flies? Catching a fish, any fish, with my own tied and sometimes own designed flies. What forums do you tie for and why? I don’t tie for a specific forum but I do share some photos of my tied flies on Facebook from time to time. I also wrote a few Step by www.saflyfishingmag.co.za
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Steps for Fly Fishing newsletters and magazines. Is it okay to tie a fly using synthetic materials entirely, and if we do, at what point does a fly become a lure in your view? Over the years synthetic materials have become more popular than tying with natural materials. Lure makers also started moving towards using natural material like feathers and fibers. This created a very big “grey area” defining what is a lure and what is a fly. For instance, a Perdigon fly being covered in resin or a Squirmy Wormy being made with mostly rubber. Those are still flies but they employ the building methods of a lure. So, where does one draw the line? Return to contents
