Chum Fry Competition Winner

Well, we had quite a few chum fry submitted to us and a few sent us photos that didn’t want to part with their flies.  We had a lot of fun with this fly tying competition. Further, we had a really hard time picking the winner.  Actually, we are behind on posting this because we hated to pick a winner.

First off, we chose the winner because it was something we would want to fish.  The tier followed the rules, and provided something unique.  Not only that, but the difficulty of tying a such a small fly with the movement and detail is pretty high.  This along with the runner up were the two flies most unlike the commercially available chum patterns. It was hard to pick a winner, however here you are…

And Now For The Winner!

So! Without further ado… Your winner is Mr. Bram Wessel.   Bram actually submitted two chum fry, Early Chum Fry and Late Chum Fry.  Bram’s pattern is well balanced for a small flat-wing, I actually had to double take how it was tied to realize how much thought went into its fishability.  I am a sucker for the use of the fish mask being filled enough to fool me into thinking it was epoxy too!  The flies will swim well, fish well, and I will be bummed to not keep them for my box.  Bram will be contacted today to schedule his day on the water! Congrats!

My runner up is from one of my favorite guys. Bob Kline! Bob wins on creativity.  First off, I was super impressed with the creative use of a paddle tail on a small fly.  Bob also wins on a love for Fly Fishing.  Not to mention, one of the most unique tippers I’ve ever met as a fly fishing guide.  Bob runs a christmas tree farm in the Kingston/Pouslbo area and my daughter and I went a cut down our christmas tree after fishing with him last year!  Thanks a ton Bob!

Like I said, I hated having to pick a winner in this one.  There were a ton of great flies that we received.  We actually did not get any crummy flies (believe me, I expected it).  Thanks to everyone who participated and we look forward to doing this again soon!

The next competition we do will be Sand Lance. We will announce it in May as the chum fry start to dissipate a bit.