Written By - Nick Simonson - 10/17/2007
Link to Original Article here

Quilters have their bees and bakers have their cookie exchanges. At these events, the artists in their respective hobbies get together to exchange patterns and recipes, adding a little more to each other’s experience, each taking away something new to try. The equivalent for fly anglers, the phenomenon that is fly-swapping, accomplishes the same. 

The fly swap is becoming commonplace on many internet message boards and websites where fly anglers meet and discuss fly tying, rod building, and the changing nature of fishing with the long rod. In these exchanges, anglers tie up a number of flies in a single pattern and either send them in to a swap master with a postage-paid return envelope or meet in person to exchange.

The Missouri Valley Fly Fishers Club (MVFF), based in Bismarck, is one such group of anglers that hosts a pattern swap. For the third year in a row, I have been privileged to be part of the MVFF fly exchange. Last year, I was able to attend in person, and I highly recommend that anglers interested in fly fishing give the club a try and stop in for a few meetings, or visit them online at www.mvffclub.com. Being on the road this year, I regrettably knew I would have to send my patterns in.

I set to work on 25 of my recently-developed â€�"soft hackle fry” flies. The fly is a simple recipe, consisting of a wet fly hook, some Mylar tinsel for flash, orange dubbing for a body and a partridge feather for a collar. In my mind’s eye, it looks like a hatchling minnow or other small fish; on the vise it just looks cool. Throughout first snowy weeks of April, I cranked them out, three here, five there, until I had the number I needed.

I packed the patterns in a small plastic container and mailed them off with a return box, expecting a number of goodies to be returned in their place. After all, twenty-five flies of the same type going into the mail box means twenty-four different ones come back. Some patterns might be the other swappers’ favorite streamers, dries or terrestrials. Still others might be classics that work on the tiers’ home waters. Whatever was in the box the following week would certainly be eye-opening and provide insight into other anglers’ strategies.

I was not disappointed.