MOUNTAIN EXPRESS | FLY-TYING A WAY TO BEAT THE DARK WINTER MONTHS.
The 5B Anglers November fly-tying workshop, one of a series of fly-tying workshops offered this winter at Hailey Town Center West, was crowded.
Fourteen people had shown up for the session, normally capped at 10 participants, not including volunteers. A Spanish-speaking program was taking place in the center’s larger space, so the fly-tyers sat snugly around four long tables set up in a closed donut shape in a smaller back room.
From a table at the front of the room, Paul Van Every, the instructor for the evening, walked the group through tying a Pheasant Tail fly. A small camera trained on his vice captured his fingers as he made loops with wire and string to secure feather fibers to a small hook, projecting his step-by-step guidance onto a large screen pulled down behind him. As he spoke, 5B volunteers walked around the room, leaning in with suggestions and corrections.
The nonprofit 5B Anglers was founded in 2021 to promote stewardship of the fisheries and waterways of the Wood River Valley. The organization started hosting winter fly-tying workshops—for the months that anglers aren’t outside fishing—almost immediately.
“We were tying flies that we liked,” said Paul Aguilar, a 5B board member whose responsibilities include coordinating educational events.
For the first two years, the group met at the Wicked Spud or at the Sawtooth Brewery in Hailey. Participants brought their own materials and tools. In 2023, the organization received a grant to buy fly-tying tool kits. It purchased additional vices using its own funds.
Last winter, the organization moved the workshops to a conference room at Mountain Humane in Hailey. The brewpubs got loud, Aguilar said. The nonprofit structured the entire six-month winter fly-tying series around teaching patterns from the stonefly lifecycle: Pats Rubber Legs, Sally Jig Head Rubber Legs, Chubby Chernobyl, Water Walker or Dancin’ Ricky Golden Stone, Stimulator with and without rubber legs. It also provided vices, tools and materials for all participants.
The organization went with the same model for this winter’s series, which delves into tying flies based on the mayfly lifecycle. The group now meets at Hailey Town Center West, which is more spacious than the room it was using at Mountain Humane. The workshops take place the first Wednesday of each month, from November through April.
At the December workshop, participants practiced tying a Hare’s Ear fly. For the January session, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Town Center West, the focus will be on a fly called the Parachute Adams. February will be the Humpy, and so on, through the various shapes of the mayfly as it morphs from nymph to adult.
Stoneflies, mayflies, caddis and midges are the four main categories of flies found on the Big Wood River. The flies 5B Anglers teaches people to make are classic patterns, and they’re meant to catch trout in the region’s rivers and lakes.
‘Come hang out with your people!’
The group attending the November workshop was a mix of ages and of men and women. Nine were new to fly-tying. Charlotte Mosedale and Hali Young, nurses at St. Luke’s in the Wood River Valley, were not.
Mosedale, who is from Vermont, has been fly fishing for about two years. Her father taught her before she moved to Idaho. Young said her grandfather was a master guide in Alaska and tying flies for him was one of her jobs growing up.
“Slack season is hard,” Young said.
It’s dark earlier, so you can’t go hiking or fishing. The two were sampling as many craft classes as they could find in the valley to remedy the situation. They fit in easily, deftly tying flies alongside Jim Wilkins, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a member of 5B Anglers.
Fly-fishing sometimes has the reputation of being “snooty” or of being an activity done in solitude, said Aguilar. The work of the 5B Anglers cheerfully counters that perception.
The organization is committed to increasing access to and interest in fishing. The registration fee for the fly-tying workshops is $15 for each two-hour session, all supplies provided. The event page for the workshops includes a link to an article with detailed instructions and screenshots to help people register. It also includes a link to contact the organization if paying the fee is prohibitive.
The nonprofit will also host a family-friendly ice fishing class on Jan. 24, all materials and equipment provided, “from augers and snowmobiles to rods and bait.” The cost of the class is $15.
Everyone who attended the 5B Anglers holiday party at Hailey Town Center West in December went home with a gift, a bottle of wine donated to the organization in memory of an esteemed local fly fisherman, Cal McCarthy. The organization opened the event to members and non-members.
“Come hang out with your people!” the invitation on its website read.
It was something members of 5B Anglers volunteers had repeated at the November workshop a month earlier.
“It’s not just fishing. It’s a passion, a way of life,” Aguilar said.
See more on the Mountain Express website!
