The Laughing Fly by Andrew Nelson

I was born and raised in Minnesota and grew up spin, fly, and ice fishing under both of my grandfathers’ careful watch. We lived on Forest Lake, just north of the Twin Cities, and fishing was always my escape. I had a 16’ Crestliner Nighthawk boat that my parents would let me take out essentially whenever I wanted. When I was in 9th grade my mom purchased a portable Clam ice fishing shack for me and I was given a very long leash to explore and fish the lake. We took many trips to Lake Superior every year and I even worked for some time as a first mate on a charter fishing boat out of Bayfield, WI. Never during this time did I raise any farm animals or spend much time around livestock.

In our late twenties my wife and I moved back to her family’s farm in the mountains of West Virginia. I took a job working for a university autism program and began to fly fish much more as trout fishing opportunities abound in the Mountain State. My fishing buddy lent me his fly tying kit one winter and I began to tie very mediocre flies. It is a very common progression and a yarn you have likely heard a million times before.

It got decidedly more interesting for me when we found out our third child was on the way. I quit playing guitar and mandolin in a local band and looked for more steady part time work to help balance our budget. That is when my friends David Moran and Lori Wall approached me and asked if I was interested in coming to work part time on their alpaca and sheep farm. I immediately said yes and have been with them and the animals at Crimson Shamrock Ranch ever since.

One day, when preparing for the annual shearing of the alpaca, I got the idea to try to take their fine fiber and work with it to create fly tying dubbing. Aileen Lane of MK Flies had tweeted that alpaca was one of her favorite materials and I decided I would try to work on some colorways to send her. That is when my small home grown fly tying materials business, The Laughing Fly, was born. I think back to those early samples now and realize how much I have learned since then.

Over the years we have taken our animals and fiber arts to various festivals and shows and I was always on the lookout for interesting animals that had fibers which would work well for tying large predator flies and streamers. That is when I first laid eyes on Monty, a Pygora goat.

Pygora are crosses between angora and pygmy goats. They are bred to carry the long lustrous fiber of angora goats while having the hearty toughness the pygmy breed brings to the table. Monty produces about 4lbs. of fleece per shearing. That does not sound like much, and in the grand scheme of things it is not. However, about 3-4 of his large locks when hand washed, dyed, carded, blended, and packaged on my small 2 acre farm make for a nice product for tying streamers. The fibers are not as soft and thin as alpaca or as stiff as yak or bucktail…they fall somewhere in between. Daniel Seaman of Bug Wild and Gunnar Brammer of Brammer’s Custom Flies have been very helpful in the development of this product. With their help, the help of others, and information from my own tying sessions I know what potential these fibers bring to the vise. I also know what they lack and this information will inform our goat breeding program moving forward.

One of the things I enjoy most about this process is that my small two acre farm is perfectly self-sustaining. I have a small herd of goats. The hay my land produces is exactly what is needed to get the herd through the cold winters in the mountains here. The grazing paddocks in the summer provide enough to see us through the warm season as well. This process adds meaning and peace to a busy life. Bringing homegrown materials like the alpaca dubbing and Pygora Goat Streamer Blends to the fly tying market contributes to the creative community of fly tyers and fishers. We believe in this small farm concept so much, in fact, that a small group of us started something called the Fly Farm Coalition (www.flyfarmcoalition.com) to help small scale producers, those sourcing unique materials, and tyers who are open to using locally produced materials network and get their products and ideas out to the masses.

There is nothing like catching a fish on a fly you tied…except, maybe, for catching a fish on a fly you tied using materials from an animal you raised or a material you created. It is primal and fun and I dream every day about the materials I am developing playing a role in your life as you fool a fish in your home waters.
Have a great time out there everybody and come see us in the mountains of West Virginia if you are ever in the area!