Fly Central - Ryan McConnell

Some fly tyers go years without indulging in the difficulties of stacking or spinning deer hair at the vise, but in the case of Ryan McConnel, it became his starting point when he bellied up to his first tying station in June of 2023. Let’s face it, deer hair sucks. Unless of course, you disciplined yourself, dedicated the time, watched the tutorials, bought the "primo" strips, discovered GSP, cut your fingers, and invested in a new dust buster to keep up with the mess. Then of course, you've probably gotten to a point of having some fun with it.

Ryan McConnel @theflycentral from Massachusetts was locked down in isolation during the peak of covid when he picked up a fly rod for the first time. Lacking wild trout in his local waterways, Ryan fished bass, panfish and carp prior to taking the next step and learning to tie. With an artistic background in sketching, paint and graffiti, Ryan was immediately immersed in the challenge of creating clean cut bass and hair bugs at the vise. In his words, he's obsessed, and his dedication to stacking and spinning clean deer work certainly shows in each fly he drops off the vise. Inspired by the traditionalists of bass bugs before him, he finds new ways to tweak classic patterns while offering some impressive original work. It's not often talent goes so far so fast, so keep an eye out for more work from Ryan and don't plan your next mousing trip without hitting his Etsy page.