Pretty fly for a fish guy

Jul. 7—RUSSELL — Sitting at a table in the back of Eridanus, Jason Stacy clips a fish hook into a small vice.

He takes a spool of black thread and winds it tight around the shaft of the hook, all the way up to the eye.

Stacy is making a Wooly bugger fly, a type of lure used in fly fishing.

Thirty years ago, when Stacy was in high school, he picked up fly fishing after watching it on a Saturday morning fishing show. He bought a Walmart rod and reel and began practicing in his front yard.

Stacy said he was always into fishing. He recalled catching minnows on Cave Run Lake and using them for bait on crappie. He chased bass, he set out lines for catfish.

"Nobody in my family knew anything about fly fishing," Stacy said. "So everything I learned about it, I had to teach myself."

And along with that came tying the flies — the act of making the fly — himself.

"Back then, the closest fly shop around was down in Lexington," he said. "Now, I think the closest one around here is at the Cabela's in Charleston (W.Va.), so if I wanted flies, I needed to order them from the Bass Pro Shop catalog."

Watching those Saturday morning fishing shows, Stacy said he soon caught the bug for actually tying flies — it also helped he could get more bang for his buck by buying the raw materials to tie them himself.

While he had to put it down for a while when his kids were young, Stacy estimated he's tied roughly 50,000 flies in the last decade.

Stacy has caught all manner of fish on his flies — from stone nymphs on the classic trout, to the classic Wooly bugger (almost like the rooster tail to spin-cast fishermen in its versatility) for blue gill and bass to saltwater Red Drums with streamers (which mimic the heave-ho of a bait fish's gills in the water).

After wrapping the thread, Stacy reaches into his supply box and pulls out a spool of wire. He pinches off a piece about as long a pinky and proceeds to wrap it around the hook.

"These Woolybugs aren't supposed to stay on the surface; they're supposed to sink," he said. "So I wrap this wire around it to get it to sink down."

Out of a plastic bag, Stacy pulls out a Marabou feather dyed green. While this feather comes from a stork in Africa, Stacy said any feather will do — chicken, roosters, pheasants, turkeys. and fur will help, too — flies made to look like drowning mice are made out of deer fur, he said.

"The only thing that can limit you is your imagination," he said.

He takes one feather, cuts it in half, then wraps it around the bottom portion of the hook's shaft, creating a tail.

About four years ago, Stacy started working with Dragon Fly in Greenup County by assisting the business in its youth fly fishing classes — having a mess of flies laying around the house, he agreed to donate them so the kids could practice.

"I had a lot just on hand — they were driving my wife nuts," he said with a chuckle.

Through that, people started hitting him up for flies — and then COVID hit.

A respiratory therapist by trade, Stacy said he used fly tying as an escape from the stress of watching people go through the pandemic.

"You got to remember that first six months, nothing was open, so all you had to do was sit at home," he said. "I needed something to take my mind off of this and this is what I did."

Stacy continued, "A fly can take me anywhere between a minute to 20 minutes to tie, depending on what type I'm making. In that time, when I working on it, that's all I'm thinking about."

That escape led to a business — Homewaters Kentucky Fly Fishing — where Stacy offers private or group lessons in fly fishing, fly tying and guide services.

He then takes a wireless pipe cleaner — think just the felt — and wraps it up the upper part of the hook shaft, all the way up to the eye.

He takes a darker feather — called a hackle — and winds it around, creating the illusion of legs on the hook. The pipe cleaner keeps it bedded to the hook, so it doesn't unwind.

Using a little tool called a whip finisher, Stacy ties off the top knot of the hook, leaving one finished woolybug.

Stacy said one can find his flies either on the internet at Homewatersky.com, on Facebook or by visiting him at the Maker's Market at Broadway Square and other events.

For folks fixing to get into fly fishing, here are a few tips from Stacy:

—An angler can catch anything on a fly rod, from muskies to marlins. While trout is the number target fish in the fly world, Stacy said blue gill is a great place start.

"I can drive two hours to a trout stream, or I can walk down here to the river to catch a blue gill," he said. "I love chasing trout, but fly fishing isn't strictly for trout."

—While everyone wants that "River Runs Through It" moment with the fly gently landing on the water, underwater flies such as nymphs (which resemble larva) are the work horse.

"Ninety percent of what fish are eating is under the water, especially trout," he said. "If you can match the larva in the area, you'll have more success."

—For those thinking of giving fly tying a shot, Stacy said less is more.

"When I first started out, I had to learn proportion control," he said. "You don't need a lot of feather to make a good-looking fly."

—For those traveling, Stacy recommended hiring a guide to get them on spots and learn how what the fish are feasting on in a different area. At the very least, Stacy said checking in with the local fly shop in an area can go a long way.

"What fish are eating in West Virginia is going to be different than what you find out in Yellowstone," he said. "You have to match the hatch in those areas. Fly shops in a given area can give you a good idea on the size, the color and type of fly most people are using."

(606) 326-2653 — henry@dailyindependent.com