We haven't had a fly swap at About Fly Fishing for quite some time, and it's time we had another. One reason why you might want to consider taking part in this swap is that reknowned fly tier, Ian Colin James will be participating - his first ever ("and only one ever will," he stated to me) and will be tying up his scud pattern, the "Scudalicious" Bead Belly Scud, shown in the image on this page..

Before we get to the rules, I'd highly recommend that you visit Ian James' humorous but interesting article discussing facts about scuds, and why you should consider learning more about them if you are a fly angler. According to Ian, "In some watersheds, suds make up to 20% of a fish's diet. Some trout can pack on over a pound per year in waters that have a high scud population."

Convinced?

We're looking for a maximum of 15 tiers that want to send along their favorite scud pattern. You'll tie up 15 flies of the same pattern, send them to me and in return, you'll get a fly from each of the participants. With Ian James and myself already being confirmed as participating, that leaves room for 13 more tiers.

General Information And Rules

1. Remember, you will by tying up 15 flies of a single pattern. If someone else has chosen the fly pattern you wanted to tie, I will let you know and ask you for a second choice.

2. I am looking for 13 more participants and two alternates. The deadline for entering the swap will be February 28th. Please have your flies tied up and in the mail to me by March 10th, 2008. I will update this blog post with the names of participants and the pattern they will be tying as I receive the information.

3. Please include $3.00 with your flies to help cover the cost of shipping.

4. Please send your flies in a container that is labelled with your name and address on it and which I can send back to you with the other flies from the swap.

5. I would request that you send me the pattern for the fly via email in a text, Word, or Open Office file. This will make my job easier when posting the patterns to the site. If you want to include some comments about the fly, such as history, interesting experiences while fishing the fly, or tips on fishing the fly, please do so. It was a real pleasure reading these from many of the participants of the other swaps and I know visitors to the site also appreciate this!

6. To make it easier to identify your fly, please attach a small strip of paper to each fly, through the hook, with the name of the fly. Each fly that you send in should have this strip with the name on it. It makes it easier for the recipients in identifying the fly.

7. If you intend to participate in the swap, please make a commitment to meet the deadline. There is nothing more frustrating for fly swappers who have concientiously tied their flies, sent them in and are looking forward to receiving flies back to be told that one or more of the participants is late and hasn't sent flies yet.

If you are interested, please email me as soon as possible and include the name of the fly that you will be tying. Remember, you will be tying 15 flies of the same pattern.

My email address is ian@about-flyfishing.com