From The Flyfishing Show:
Fifteen year old Rylie Lake stopped the judges in their tracks with a spot-on realistic imitation of a lady bug at the annual International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ.
Lake, of Napanoch, NY, won the competitive Youth Division by replicating the realistic methods of noted fly tier Bob Mead, Glenville, NY.
According to Chuck Furimsky, Tying Symposium director, the youth winner “learned how to tie the Lady Bug by watching Mead. Bob thought the youngster was so nice when he called to get his permission to enter the lady bug he copied. Mead was pleased by how the youngster asked for his permission to enter his design, and then won.”
Judges for the event included Bob Clouser, Fishy Fullum, Enrico Puglisi, Tom Baltz, Charlie Craven, Gary Borger, Ben Furimsky, Marc Petitjean, John Shaner, Mead and Bob Popovics.
Winners were:
Trout: “Gray Fox Paddychute,” Greg Glitzer, Douglastown, Penn.;
Bass: tie between “Shadnado” Bryce Fitzgerald, West Grove, Penn.; and “Deer Hair Popper” Holger Herold from Germany
Saltwater: “Green Deceiver,” Jere Haldeman, Marmora, NJ;
Salmon/Steelhead: “Parson,” Bill Chandler, Burlington, Vt.;
Realistic: “Morphing Stonefly,” Scott Stryker, Scotch Plains, NJ; and
Youth: “Lady Bug,” Rylie Lake, Napanoch, NY.
In the fiberglass rod casting competition, Ben Furimsky, Crested Butte, Colo., and Mike McFarland, Altoona, Penn., tied. They jointly donated the prize custom Seele flyrod to Dutch fly tier Theo Bakelaar to be auctioned on behalf of a children’s cancer center in the Netherlands.
