Daniel Seaman

My name is Daniel Seaman and I own and operate Bug Wild out of eastern North Carolina. I have been fishing a little here and there my whole life, but really started fishing consistently while in college with some friends. After graduation, the job search was a bit slower than expected, mostly due to the downturn of the economy (especially with an architectural degree). I needed something to pass the time while job searching…so I began fishing more and more, basically every day. Eventually, spin fishing got somewhat predictable to me so I decided to pursue fly fishing. I quickly found that fly fishing was actually more efficient at catching fish than traditional spin fishing, at least for me (I was never a great fisherman).

After two years of slinging other people’s files—mostly from online value stores—I decided to give tying my own flies a shot. I have always been somewhat “artsy”, so this was a good way to incorporate that into a useable application. Living in Rocky Mount, NC a lot of folks around here don’t fly fish at all. In fact, the closest fly shop is several hours away. I really have to rely on the internet for advice, materials and ideas.

I purchased my first vise in June 2014. Needless to say, it has been slowly downhill since then (in a good way). I have never been as addicted to anything in my entire life, as I am with tying flies. Something about the mindset and process really calms me down. If you know me personally, you understand what I mean by this. I have little, to no patience for anything…..except tying flies.

When I first started tying, I began researching fly patterns and popular artists and stumbled upon Pat Cohen’s work randomly in Google Images. I thought his deer hair work was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen and knew I had to try it myself. After several hundred attempts of my own, folks were starting to notice my work and wanted to purchase flies from me. I had no intentions on selling flies, and never thought I would ever be at this point….it just sort-of happened.

I tie mostly warm water flies, specifically for targeting the larger species in my local waters, such as bass and carp. I really love when a big bucket mouth inhales a fly. I enjoy tying articulated flies and top water bugs. You can easily see who some of my major influences are in my flies (including FrankenFly). I would not be where I am today without help, advice, and ideas from the best fly tiers in the world.

I am not a large commercial fly tier; I really prefer small custom orders. I work a full time “8-5” job as an estimator at a metal building company, so this is absolutely not my main source of income. I honestly don’t know how folks do this as a full time job. I have tremendous respect for the professionals. I always believe in quality over quantity, in everything I do in life. I am probably much slower than some folks, but I believe if you take your time, you can accomplish anything. People constantly ask me for advice on how to improve their fly tying and I say, “test your flies.” You can tie the prettiest flies in the world, but if you don’t test them out in the water, they could look like total garbage to a fish and not perform as expected. You don’t need anything fancy to do this, just a sink or a bathtub.

I am truly honored and humbled to have been asked to write something up for FrankenFly. I have been following the website since I’ve started fly fishing. I am very glad people are enjoying my work; it makes me extremely happy, and motivates me to continue doing what I do. I am also very thankful for certain companies for giving me professional opportunities along the way. Stay tuned for more to come!