Little River Outfitters - Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains

It was always a quiet time in Townsend until Fly Tyers Weekend came about. The leaves have usually fallen off the trees and the tourists are gone. But the fly anglers will be there. We held this event the first time in 2004. We had arranged for twenty fly tyers to meet here for a weekend and demonstrate their skills to a large audience. It was an assembly of many professional guides, fly tying experts, demonstrators and avid anglers. We rented a tent to put up behind the store that was heated and attached to the store. It served as an extra demonstration room. We had five or six fly tyers tying at one time so people could move from table to table watching who they wanted to. It was a huge success. Hundreds of people came.

We planned the event for the same weekend, (first weekend in November) in 2005. We knew, based on the year before that we had to have parking for at least 150 cars and serve food so participants didn’t have to leave for lunch. We arranged for more parking and had a hot dog and Coke mobile kitchen parked in our lot. Bob Clouser and Chris Helm tied each day in our two classrooms upstairs. The heated tent this year was much larger and could handle ten people tying flies. We also had people tying in two locations in the retail area of the store. We advertised the event in our newsletters throughout the year. Billed as a huge event with over thirty fly tyers, it became obvious to us that it would be well attended. And it was. It was much larger than our first one, once again a great success.

Below is a photo story of Fly Tyer’s Weekend 2005. Thanks to everyone who participated.

	On Friday the tent crew showed up and built our new 2,000 square foot heated room for Fly Tyer’s Weekend. We didn’t need the heat all weekend.
	Early Saturday morning everything was calm. I wonder if people will show up for the event? We hope so. We’ll just have to wait and see.
	The tent is ready.
	The A-Team prepares for the day. Anticipation is high. From left to right: Chris Montgomery, Clint Lensgraf, David Carson, Paula Begley, Daniel Drake and Annette Meador.
	Bill Hey is ready. This is the second year that Bill has greeted and counted every person who attends Fly Tyer’s Weekend. Bill is a customer and friend from Huntsville, Alabama. His wife, Martha Montgomery is an artist. She painted the picture of our store that you see on almost everything we print.
	Bob Clouser (left) and Byron Begley pal around before the event starts. They seem relieved as they see cars pulling into the parking lot.
	Almost immediately after we opened, the parking lot filled up. That’s OK though. We could park another fifty or so cars across the street. Whew! People showed up!
	People started pouring into the tent and our two classrooms upstairs to watch the fly tyers.
	Jim Meador was our chef in the Weenie Wagon. Byron lost the photo of Jim cooking and serving so we substituted this one. Jim is at his best in a bush plane flying in to a secluded river in Alaska.
	Mary K our friend worked in the Weenie Wagon serving up scrumptous chili dogs and other refreshments. Mary K is also an artist known as the “Fish Lady”. She paints, you guessed it, fish.
	Paula and Clint in front of the Weenie Wagon. Paula is taking food to a fly tyer. Clint is taking food to his mouth.

Fly Tyers at the 2005 Fly Tyers Weekend
	Mike Adams - Mike is a professional guide from upper East Tennessee. He specializes in guided trips on the South Holston River.
	Bob Clouser - Bob is from Middletown, Pennsylvania where he guides smallmouth fishing trips. He also owns Clouser’s Fly Shop. He is a fly designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants. He invented the Clouser Minnow.
	Walter Babb - Walter is a guide, fly fishing instructor and fly tying instructors at Little River Outfitters. He has been fly fishing in the Southern Appalachians for almost fifty years.
	Chris Helm - Chris owns Whitetail Fly Tieing Supplies in Toledo Ohio. He writes articles for various fly fishing magazines including Fly Tyer, Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Journal, American Angler and a British Publication - Fly Fishing and Fly Tying. Chris also teaches fly tying at the Little River Outfitters School.
	Sarah Weeks - Sarah lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. She learned to tie flies at a school given by her local TU Chapter. Her home water is the Clinch River and Smokies Streams but she also enjoys her annual trips to Montana.
	David Carson - David lives in Knoxville Tennessee. He teaches fly tying and beginner fly fishing at the Little River Outfitters School. He fishes the Clinch River and streams in the Smokies. He is known for his realistic spider flies.
	Bill Boyd Sr. - Bill started teaching fly tying in the early 1960’s. He lives in Dayton, Tennessee and has been fly fishing most of his life. He is a regular demonstrator at the store.
	Roger Lowe - Roger owns Lowe Fly Shop and Outfitters in Waynesville, North Carolina. Roger spent his childhood fishing with his father and grandfather in the Great Smoky Mountains. His newest book “Roger Lowe’s Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains is a fly tying and identification guide.
	Walt Holman - Walt lives in Madison, Alabama. He has been fly tying and fly fishing almost sixty years. He makes some of the finest poppers we’ve seen.
	Bill Boyd Jr. - Bill and his dad are a fly tying dynamic duo. He is an avid angler and tyer and thanks to his Father’s early introduction in the sport he has enjoyed it for many years.
	Cassie Sulzby - Cassie lives in Warrior, Alabama. She is an avid fly angler and tyer. She has been tying for nine years and fly fishing for five. We met her at the FFF Conclave in Calloway Gardens, Georgia. She is a full time student who also works at a fly shop.
	Jim Evans - Jim lives in Loudon, Tennessee. He has been fly fishing for 48 years. He started tying over 35 years ago. He ties trout flies, saltwater flies and he especially loves to tie small midges and tailwater patterns.
	Kevin Howell - Kevin owns Davidson River Outfitters in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. By the time Kevin was eighteen, he had fished in 35 of the 50 states, Canada and other destinations. Kevin has several patterns that he created and are offered in the Umpqua Feather Merchants collection.
	Bev Howard - Bev’s home water is the Clinch River in Tennessee. She lives in Oak Ridge near her river. She also likes to fish in Yellowstone, North Georgia and the Smokies. Bev is an artist at the fly tying bench.
	Brian Courtney - Brian is a longtime member of the Little River Outfitters family. His home river is the Clinch but he spends a lot of time of the streams in the Smokies. He teaches fly tying at Little River Outfitters.
	Kieran Frye - Kieran is from Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He has won numerous awards both here in the United States and aboad. His most notable was winning the Dry Fly category in the 1994 Mustad Scandinavian Open Flytying Competition in Elverum, Norway.
	Wendy Williams - Wendy lives in Dayton, Tennessee. This was her first tying demonstration and she did a great job. Her favorite streams are Little River, Tellico and Hiwassee Rivers. She also enjoys fishing with a fly rod on lakes near her home.
	Dean Campbell - Dean grew up in Western North Carolina fishing the streams in the Great Smoky Mountains. He was awarded “Fly Tyer of the Year” by the Southeastern Council of the Fly Fishing Federation. He specializes in poppers and streamers for large fish. He also teaches fly tying at Little River Outfitters.
	Jeffrey Wilkins - Jeff lives in Summerfield, North Carolina. He enjoys fly fishing in saltwater, for bass and other warmwater species and for trout. He is a FFF Certified Casting Instructor and serves on the St. Croix Pro Staff. He is a professional guide and instructor.
	Gary McCown - Gary lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has been fly fishing and tying for 45 years. One of his passions is fly fishing for gar and he is consistently successful at it. He is an excellent trout angler as well.
	Brad Weeks - Brad has been fly fishing for over 40 years. He lives in the Chattanooga area where he is a municipal judge. He has made annual trips to Yellowstone for twenty five years straight. Brad has been a strong supporter of Trout Unlimited where he served as the Southeast Regional VP.
	Rex Wilson - Rex lives in Candler, North Carolina. He has been tying flies for 35 years and he was introduced to the art by a well known tyer named Frank Coffee. Rex ties beautiful mountain trout patterns.
	Mike Bone - Mike is a fly fishing guide and partner in Clinch River Outfitters. His guide service offers float trips on the Clinch River, South Holston River, Holston and other rivers for trout and smallmouth bass. Mikes flies are designed to work on a day to day basis where success is of utmost importance.
	Phil Brandt - Phil lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. His favorite fly fishing is on the Clinch River, South Holston and Holston Rivers. He also has a passion for fishing the ponds and rivers around Rangeley, Maine. He has been tying flies for over 25 years.
	Buz Buffington - Buz grew up in Idaho. He as been a fly fisherman for over 50 years. His home stream is the Clinch River where he can be found fly fishing almost every day. Most anglers who know him will tell you he fishes the Clinch more than anyone they know.
	Ken Long - Ken is a fly fishing guide who lives in Lenoir City, Tennessee. His guide service, Soggy Bottom Outfitters offers trips on hte Clinch and South Holston Rivers. He also guides in the Great Smoky Mountains. He has been tying for 20 years.
	Tim Doyle - Tim has been fly fishing in the Smokies since childhood. He is an avid angler, fly tyer and professional guide. He has been guiding for Little River Outfitters almost as long as we’ve been in business. He is an excellent and innovative fly tyer.
	Doug Shultz - Doug is a professional guide, fly tyer and artist from Knoxville, Tennessee. He grew up 20 minutes from the Clinch River where his dad first took him fishing when he was five years old. Doug is a regular demonstrator at Little River Outfitters with an emphasis on midges.
	Jack Gregory - Jack has been fly fishing in the Smokies since he was a kid. He grew up and still lives just a few minutes away from the park. He is equally at home on the big rivers of Yellowstone. Jack also ties flies for and fishes for saltwater species. He has caught bonefish, permit and tarpon in Belize and Florida
	Anthony Hipps - Anthony lives in Lexington, North Carolina. He fishes for mountain trout and saltwater species but his favorite target is river smallmouth bass. He has been tying flies for 32 years. He is the Fly Tying Conclave Chairman for the Southeastern Council of FFF.
	Reid Benton - Reid started fly fishing as a boy in Georgia. He has fished most of the streams in the northeast, southeast and many in the west as well. He has tied flies for 25 years. He lives in Madison, Alabama.
	Dave Duffy - Dave grew up in Butte, Montana where he started fly fishing at the age of six. He really caught the warmwater bug while living in Northern Minnesota and started to tie his own flies by working with spun deer hair. Dave is President of the Southeastern Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers.
	Dubbing - The shop cat, Dubbing checks out Byron’s lunch from the Weenie Wagon. Don’t worry, we don’t let him in the kitchen. We hope you enjoyed these photos and Fly Tyer’s Weekend.
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