Instagram Fly Swap -- Part 1

-- Taking over the Dining Room --

It's been about two months since my last post for no other reason than not having much news or good fish porn that warrants blog space. It was unseasonably warm in New England in November and December, so we were able to get out to the local streams, but no fish were brought to hand. The temps have finally settled into the normal range for this time of year (5 degrees F this morning), so my attention has turned to fly tying and, with another good cold week, ice fishing. I'll save the ice fishing story for a future post.

The Christmas tree came down, decorations and lights packed away and "occupy dining room" is in full swing. What really got the tying cranked up was getting involved with the first ever Instagram Fly Swap. 

For those of you not familiar with Instagram, it's an app for the iPhone that allows very simple and fun picture sharing. You can take a picture, modify it with filters & effects, then publish it with a comment to the Instagram network and other social networks. Similar in many ways to Twitter, you can follow others, like & comment on their photos, and follow themes or topics with hash-tags.  Started by two guys in 2010, the network has over 15 million users sharing and interacting through their photos.

-- Start of 1st Instagram Fly Swap --

I started following fly fishers and tiers on Instagram about 3 months ago, many of which I interact with through their blogs and other social media channels. I use the Instragram handle @deanwo (same as my twitter handle) and recently started posting fly fishing and tying photos under the handle @ginclear.

A week ago, Instagramer @mkupfer32 of the blog "Tight Lined Tales of a Fly Fisherman", posted a photo of some nice looking streamers and asked his followers if anyone was up for a fly swap. Through comments on Instagram to that post and some follow-up emails, there are now 9 total participating in the swap. We are each tying our favorite trout and bass flies to swap with the group. The international group is made up of seasoned guides and professional tiers to total hacks novices, like me (hopefully, I won't embarrass myself and be banned by the group from future swaps).

First Instagram Fly Swap Participants (follow on Instragram under #flyswap)

• @mkupfer32 of the blog "Tight Lined Tales of a Fly Fisherman
• @phishtitz of the website "Blurred Focus"
• @mgoblue_mg 
• @dr_moreau
• @flyfishing84
• @mike_phazeone of the blog "Dub the Thorax"
• @ramcatt of the sites "KevinHoss.com" and Hatches Magazine
• @bored_in_montana
• @ginclear of the blog "Gin Clear"

To keep it interesting, all pictures of what we are tying are embargoed until we complete the swap and everyone has received flies from the swap -- hence Part 1 of this post. Everyone should have their flies in February, so I'll post pics of what everyone tied along with the recipes in Part 2.

If you are part of the swap and want me to add your blog, website or other info to the list above, let me know and I'll update the post.

Stay tuned....