I’m VERN-O and I’ve lived in the Upstate, New York (USA) area all my life. I’ve been fishing since the time I could walk. I love to fish for anything with a fly rod, but my heart lies with steelhead and stream trout.
It wasn’t until the early 1990’s when my former employer Les Cordone introduced me to the world of fly-fishing. It wasn’t long after that; my wife bought me a fly tying kit. My tying started quite slowly but eventually I found myself reading fly tying magazines and chatting online with fellow tyers and anglers. Then a new job brought me a new fly tying venture. I was soon tying 50-100 flies at a time for a new boss. This helped improve my skills and got me more efficient at tying. Eventually my online contacts lead me to Loren Williams (www.flyguysoutfitting.com). Loren has been and still is a huge influence on my tying ability.
I’ve always had a tremendous fascination with realistic tying, and enjoy finding patterns that are fishable and semi realistic. My true passion is in tying soft hackles both traditional and non. There is so much history and art to be revealed and discovered. I look forward to see what lies beyond the next river’s bend in my tying. I am currently selling some of my flies in an online Fly Market.
I owe a great deal of thanks to my family for their support and patience in allowing me to chase my passion. And no matter how often it seems that I disappear to the basement, family always comes first.