Most of you
don’t know me
so let me fill you in. I’m originally from
Scotland and grew up fishing the lochs
and rivers of the central belt. I started
with trout and salmon and began tying
my own flies when I was twelve—
particularly traditional Scottish and Irish
wet flies, but also streamers and mini
lures for stocked fish too. I was lucky
to grow up in Ayrshire, not far from
Davie Mcphail, who was always helpful
when it came to teaching techniques or
critiquing flies. I eventually started tying
commercially to earn money during
university, and in the period after I
started, it got a bit out of hand with
me struggling to complete orders and
shipping them round the world, but I’m
glad I did it!
I fished twice for Scotland in youth
internationals
and
was
British
Youth Champion in 2001. Strangely,
competitive fishing really turned me off,
and after that I started targeting pike,
which continued until I moved to Japan
6 years ago and that’s when things got
interesting...