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3. Son's first classic

This is my son Joshua's first streamer, a Mickey Finn. He picked the pattern out of a book and tied it almost completely on his own. I showed him how to hold things when mounting materials, but the tying was entirely his own. The only things I did was give a few hard wraps at the end to keep stuff from falling out and help him half-hitch the head. He also took the photograph. He's a very proud four-year-old.

-Shawn

he's four years old?! My four year old cant even tie her shoe laces
Amazing

McJames, go look at Shawn's website in his signature, and you'll see that the apple didn't fall far from the tree...grandma must be proud!

Shawn-
I can see it now. www.davis&sonflydesigns.com.

One of the great, all time, smallie flies was also invented AND tied by a 4 year old fly tier....... Believe it or not, it's "The Puke Fly" and IT DOES WORK!

Thank you, guys. I've already passed along your comments to Joshua, and he's very appreciative. His grandma would certainly be proud (she likes to wear flies on her jacket, and Joshua is considering giving this one to her), but his mom is harder to please. Joshua tied the fly while she was out, and by the time she got back home we'd already posted the photo on the web. When she got home (after Joshua was in bed), I showed her the photo and said, "What do you think of this fly?" She goes, "It's kind of ugly." Having suckered her in, I said with fake chagrin, "What kind of mother says that about something her son has made?" She backpedaled pretty quickly after I said that, talking about how she thought I was showing her some famous tier's artistic creation and blah blah blah. It was pretty funny.

This is the first time Joshua has tied a fly with my direction. He has often tied flies completely of his own invention, however, while I'm at my bench tying one of mine. His strategy is typically to tie on as many different-colored maribou feathers as he can, in all directions. He likes to put the finished flies in a little picture frame I gave him. Those flies in the picture frame do look a lot like real insects, too - insects smeared on your windshield, that is. I love my son, and God bless him, but every time I look at that frame I have a little chuckle.

-Shawn

P.S. And McJames, he can't tie his shoelaces either. I'll bet your daughter could tie a simple streamer, too. And if you can get her to like doing it, you might just have a little free child labor on your hands.

Sorry!
Hers' the description, of this 4year old's fly and the link to see the fly itself...



"Created by Willie McLennan, age 4, in 1993, this is a great fly for bass, carp, drum and redhorse. He noticed when hooked smallies regurgitated food, other fish would scoop it up. His first fly was made from white marabou, but we changed it to rabbit fur for durability. A lot of folk say they invented this, but Willie tied the first one. Larger sizes are good for pike and lake carp."

http://www.about-flyfishing.com/library/weekly/aa101601d.htm


And, ABOVE ALL, many congrats to YOUR SON, Shawny3!!! That's a nice looking streamer and for a 4 year old, it's amazing!

Wow, the Puke Fly is not only tied by a 4-year-old, but it's imitative as well?! Pretty ingenious thinking for anyone, let alone a little kid. Cool story, Flybinder.

-Shawn