Category Archives: Steelhead

Aaron Marzec

Currently, Aaron lives in both the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in the Twin-Cities area of Minnesota. He is a Union Refrigeration Pipefitter and is in high demand, but he does an excellent job of balancing his day job with his passions….fly fishing and fly tying.

Aaron got into fly fishing while attending Northern Michigan University (Go Wildcats!). Before class, he would spend time on the Carp River. Between classes he would spend time on the Dead River near the Jacobetti Center. After class (sometimes instead of class…) he would hike towards Big Bay, MI and fish the Little Garlic River.

Aaron’s father-in Law, Joseph Bicigo, got him into fly-tying and is responsible for his tying addiction (or at least that’s what he tells his wife)! One day, Joe sent Aaron a bag that contained bucktail, squirrel, chipmonk, a vise and some thread. When visiting his in-laws, he and Joe would stay up all night and tie classic Scottish patterns from YouTube. All of those videos started a snowball effect, and soon Aaron has hooked on tying…it became a passion.

With the move to Minnesota, Aaron started studying under Michael Alwin who, at the time, owned the famous “Bob Mitchell’s Fly Shop”. Mike fueled Aaron’s passion for tying classic patterns. Aaron was in heaven…working at a job he loved and during his off time fishing and tying. One day the phone rang and life was about to get even better. Nick Simon from Switchback Gear Exchange called and said he had heard about Aaron’s flies and asked him to send him some as he was interested in having locally tied flies at his shop. One thing lead to another and Aaron found himself tying for Nick as well as 10 additional shops in Michigan, one in Wisconsin, two in Minnesota, and a numerous other fly shops around the US and Canada. Upper Peninsula Flies was born, and currently ties for 20+ shops.

Aaron considers the small streams in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan his home waters. “There is just something about losing yourself in the woods. When you are alone, and the only thing with you is your Maker; a person can find themself.” He ties primarily for the rivers, streams, and tributaries of Michigan. He also ties for South Eastern Minnesota streams and rivers, and West Central Wisconsin. He is a self-professed “Midwestern Fly-tier.”

Through his studies, he developed a deep and abiding passion for everything “Ray Bergman”. Through his travels, he has had the good fortune to meet Don Bastian who shares his love and appreciation of the classics. As Don once told him, “Ray Bergmans plates are nice, but seeing and holding the real fly in your hand is where the joy really starts”.

Aaron also loves the Catskills style of fly tying. “The flies are sparsely tied, simple, and elegant. There isn’t much material on the fly to hide poor tying or poor skill. “What you see is what you get. You must make every turn of the thread count.

If you want to purchase flies tied by Aaron, head over to MyFlies.com.

Depth Charge Spiderman

Mad River Outfitters have created a page dedicated to Greg Senyo related fly tying materials. Pretty much everything he has designed/endorses/uses can be found here:

https://www.madriveroutfitters.com/c-531-greg-senyo-stuff.aspx

This is one-stop shopping if you are tying Greg Senyo style flies or just like using his name brand materials.

Greg Senyo
Saturday, October 26th

Greg Senyo returns to Mad River Outfitters! Greg is one of the most ingenious and prolific fly tyers in the world today. His products and patterns are used by many…and for many species. He is a well-known guide and owner of Steelhead Alley Outfitters. Mad River Outfitters works closely with Greg and his crew and they do most of our steelhead guide trips here in the Erie Region. We also stock 100% of his fly tying products here at the shop and are thrilled that he will be around to show our customers a thing or two on how to use these products.

Saturday, October 26th- 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.- In-store Demos and Q & A with Greg- simply stop by and watch him demonstrate many of his new products.

Saturday, October 26th- 2:00- 5:00 p.m.- Fly Tying Class with Greg- 6 lucky tyers will get to spend 3 hours learning how to tie 3 of Greg’s latest creations…from the man himself. Class is limited to 6 tyers and the cost is $50.00 per student. Please call the shop or Click Here to register.

Mad River Outfitters welcomes Greg Senyo

Saturday, October 26th

Stetzer’s Fluttering Termite was originally designed by former Deschutes River guide Randy Stetzer. The intention was to mimic the erratic behavior of large carpenter ants that hatch during the fall season every year. They hatch in large numbers and fall clumsily into rivers, often struggling and fluttering as they attempt to fly away. This pattern is used for steelhead.

This particular one is the best looking Stetzer’s I have seen and it’s tied by John P. Newbury. You can follow John on his website.

Hook: Partridge single wilson light wire
Thread: Black
Tail: Natural red fox squirrel tail
Body: Orange angora dubbing twisted tightly in a dubbing loop. Dark dun hackle palmered over body.
Hackle: Dark run rooster saddle thick and full – choose a very stiff hackle.
Wing/Wingcase: Stiff moose body hair tied forward and divided,

John P. Newbury recently had an interesting blog post that grabbed my attention. He is taking a trip back in time like I enjoy doing quite often. John is heading back to a time in steelhead fly tying, to a time before the Intruder style fly.

“I would like to take a short time machine ride back to the days before the intruder style of fly dominated the real estate in a steelheaders fly box. I would like to go back to the simple grace and elegance of the classic steelhead wet fly. It wouldn’t be a long ride, less than a decade and a half would get you there. Once there, you would have a handful of decades to roam around searching for materials and pushing the envelope with dyed colors and mastering your tying skills.

#1 on the list is the General Practitioner as developed by Esmond Drury as an Atlantic Salmon Fly. This fly has been popularized by West Coast steelheaders and has undergone many transformations as creative as steelhead fly tiers are. I once tied this fly commercially to be sold in Portland Oregons fly shops. Bill McMillan had commissioned me to tie these on heavy 3/0 salmon irons for use with the dry line technique in vogue before spey rods marched onto the scene back in 1995. I now tie them as close to what I can find are the original dressing as noted by Esmond Drury — Mainly from memory and mainly by my own fly tying style.

I caught my first Pacific Salmon and Steelhead on a 2/0 General Practitioner and thats why it has earned a spot in the Essential twelve.”

Hook: Partridge Salar #3
Thread: Orange
Tag: Medium gold oval french tinsel
Tail: Dyed hot orange polar bear with a topping of golden pheasant tippets and golden pheasant flank feather.
Tag: Medium gold oval french tinsel
Rib: Medium gold oval french tinsel
Body: Hot Orange Seal fear tied in two sections. In the middle section a golden pheasant tippet feather and flank feather tied flat on top.
Hackle: Orange saddle hackle palmered through both sections.
Wing: Golden pheasant tippet feather and flank feather tied flat on top.

Senyo was busy crushing on a bag of donuts so he asked me to knock this out since people have been asking about the technique. Basically the idea is to pre-taper the Predator Wrap so the longer fibers match where the hook will be and trim one side of a Foxy Brush. Then you tie them both in at the same point and wrap them forward together, being careful to switch hands and stroke the flash out of the way each time around the shank. Finish with a topping of arctic fox, palmer some guinea, and tie in some Jungle Cock.

If you missed my recent interview with Mike, check it out here.