Saturday 16 October 2010

Pharside of the Pond with Peeete

Saving the World
Phlying!
Catching
Welded
Welded
Not Welded
Not Welded

Whilst I’m gathering info together relating to the Bug-Bond Pro-Tying Team I thought I’d share a few images and words with you. As I’ve mentioned before it always gives me a buzz when I see flies tied by others or fish they’ve caught… especially when they tell me Bug-Bond forms part of that equation.

I’m going to blog twice today as I’ve a huge amount of info to put out there…

First up is none other than Pete Gray with all his phuzzie notions and out of the box fly tying… with the advent of light cured acrylics now being common place in fly tying Pete has pushed the envelope. “Phly Welding” is the new art form… place braid on the hook shank and then start spot welding your material on and create your fly.

I recently wrote to Pete and said that I’d like to put a profile up along with some photos of his ties… so a package was delivered to my door by two “suits” with dark glasses and ear piece communication… not to mention the bullet proof blacked out 4x4 that hit a quiet leafy lane in England on an autumn day.

The USB stick in the pack immediately downloaded the files onto my PC… of course they were encrypted… well nothing a couple of judicious blows of a hammer can’t fix! (Jack Bauer, eat your heart out!)

I was shocked, according to Pete I’ve violated his Federal Witness Protection Scheme… there are images I just can’t publish here... safe to say he was looking after all our best interests whilst in the USAF and he believes he can still “Phly”.

Latterly he can be found in his tying bunker at an undisclosed location breathing life into fish catching creations.

All the above is said with tongue firmly in my cheek BUT with huge respect for the man.

Thanks for allowing me to peer into those files and allowing me to see the unabridged Pete on the Pharside of the Canal… and here’s to an adult beverage in Somerset!

And Pete, keep whacking the home runs…

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