Alex Ferguson
My fishing career started at the age of seven, fishing for minnows at the Black Board outside New Cummnock on the upper reaches of the river Nith. By the age of nine I'd progressed to upstream worming for Trout on the the Nith, Afton, Euochan and other waters.
My first fly fishing experience, at the age of ten, was at Draycote Water in Warwickshire when my Dad and I tried reservoir Trout fishing. Eventually we managed to catch a fish on a Whiskey Fly which promptly fell apart. That was where my fly tying began, I repaired the fly in a small bench vice in the garage at home. By the age of thirteen I was able to afford materials by doing a morning paper round and made a "vice" by putting a craft knife handle in the bench vice. That was it, I was bitten by the bug and in the following years I won junior prizes in local club fly tying competitions. At the age of seventeen I joined Hardy Brothers at their shop in Pall Mall and fished for the England youth team. By twenty one I'd left Hardys and my fishing interest had waned (beer and women eh?). By thirty I'd refound my one true love, wet fly fishing. Now at nearly forty I'm enjoying a second "youthful" passion for my fishing.
My tying style has undergone some changes too. At one time I was obsessed with neatness where as now I go for scruffy. My interest now is in colour. I dye all my own materials and am very much influenced by the ideas of subtle shade blending and the effects of reflected and transmitted light.