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Fly Masters Final League

The Results are in!

Finally after 1 year the results for the largest fly tying competition in the UK are in the final league positions are:

1. Ryan Houston
2. Gavin Snowdon
3. Bob Holland

Well done Ryan, Gavin and Bob plus everyone who entered.

Ryan Houston Wins Total FlyFisher’s / The Essential Fly's First Fly-Tying Masters competition

Farmers and pet owners in County Fermanagh should check their animals carefully after a visit to, or from, the vet, especially if they have particularly interesting hair or fur! Ryan Houston, who works in the Erne Veterinary practice, is a keen fly tyer who’s always on the look out for interesting materials. He is the winner of Total FlyFisher’s first Fly-Tying Masters competition, so we went to meet Ryan on his home ground to discover more about this talented young tyer. Ryan has gained an impressive reputation in recent years and is now recognised as one of the top tyers in the country, if not the world.

“I suppose it all started when I was eight or nine,” Ryan recalls. “My dad took me fishing and I enjoyed it and wanted to go again. My uncle Trevor then showed me the basics of fly tying. I tied a couple of flies, used them and caught fish. Since then, I’ve only bought maybe two flies – all the rest have been self-tied.”

It’s hard to believe that someone who ties so well has never been taught!

“Apart from that first ‘lesson’ from my uncle, I’ve never been shown anything else. I’ve always worked out how to do things for myself, through trial and error. The main drive for my tying has always been the fishing. I wanted to tie flies that would fool fish. If they did, great. If not, it was back to the vice to try to produce something that did.

“I was very much into competition fishing when I was younger, and that was a big influence on my tying. When the pressure is on to catch, you The competition scene has been a big influence on pattern development, as anglers search for anything that will give them that extra edge. We ask him why he doesn’t fish competitively now?

“I qualified for the Ulster team three times and won the Nationals twice, which qualified me for the Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association team for the rivers Home International. It was a truly great experience, but I feel that if you are going to enter a competition of such standing that you have to take it seriously. I had a few issues with some of the management. The next time I qualified, again I was working and taking time off was difficult. So when they changed the dates at short notice I wasn’t able to compete and I more about this talented young fly dresser. The competition scene has been a big influence on pattern development, as anglers search for anything that will give them that extra edge. We ask him why he doesn’t fish competitively now? “I qualified for the Ulster team three times and won the Nationals twice, which qualified me for the Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association team for the rivers Home International. It was a truly great experience, but I feel that if you are going to enter a competition of such standing that you have to take it seriously. I had a few issues with some of the management. The next time I qualified, again I was working and taking time off was difficult. So when they changed the dates at short notice I wasn’t able to compete and I haven’t bothered since.” To which one can only say, what a sad loss to the Irish team and competition fishing

Check out the full story in this months Total FlyFisher Magazine.