Jim Stein teaching CrossCurrents’ Beginner Fly Tying Class

We usually are fully booked on our Fly Tying Classes 4 to 6 weeks in advance.  However, we had to do some shuffling of students between our February and March classes and that made for some openings.  We have only 1 space left in our Beginner Class starting on February 13th.  We also have just 3 spaces left in our Beginner Class starting on March 20th.  Please contact us if you are interested in either of these classes.

Have you thought about tying your own flies to fool those fish?  One of the most rewarding aspects in fly fishing is sitting down at the vise, tying up a fly, then taking that fly to the river and catching a fish on it.  Your smile will be bigger and fist pumps will be more intense when you use your own hand tied bugs!  (Why we derive so much pleasure from tricking a primitive creature with the brain the size of a pea into eating a little insect puppet, is a phenomena I can’t explain.  However, if I didn’t have job and family responsibilities, I would would be knee deep in water trying to fool fish full time!  I would have take breaks from the angling just so I could build up my ammo by tying my own flies.  But I digress.)  CrossCurrents Fly Shop has been holding Fly Tying Classes every Winter since 1995 in our Downtown Helena store.  We have literally taught over 1,000 people to tie their own flies and we love it as much today as when we started over 20 years ago!  Our classes are 5 sessions each and progress from the simple and effective, Woolly Bugger, to the challenging and classic, Royal Wulff.  Our “graduates” are able to identify just about any fly tying material used in tying and can twist up many classic and modern patterns.  They also learn a lot about entomology and fly fishing and always have a ton of fun.

Also in the fly tying realm, Larry “The Urban Legend”and myself (Chris Strainer) have been hosting a few fly tyers on Saturdays in our Helena shop.  It’s open to anyone and it’s a lot of fun.  It’s a good place to grab a great cup of coffee (we brew a special blend from Firetower Coffee Roasters), and more donuts, cookies and other various treats to keep your blood sugars up.  We have all levels of tying skills that show up on Saturdays so feel free to bring your tying kit to the shop and tie some flies with other anglers.

Please check out our Schools and Instructions page on our website for more information on our Fly Tying Classes.  We have posted a lot of fly tying information in our Fly Tying Room, including recipes and videos.