| Your Executive Committee 
Charles Jardine - Chairman
I started fishing aged three (perch – is everyone’s first fish a perch?) and caught my first trout on the fly aged six, on the lesser Stour. This water and my father fuelled a passion for fly fishing, but also for conservation and art. My life then meandered through school years, art college, a rock band, journalism and artwork, the family restaurant and an enduring love of cooking and good honest food, more writing, illustrations, painting and teaching … Plus a lot of fishing along the way, on rivers and then increasingly stillwaters, for tench, pike and roach but mostly for trout, then saltwater, in the UK, the US and anywhere else I could. Throw in fly fishing, casting and fly tying demonstrations throughout the world and you quickly get to a veritable Cornucopia of piscatorial experiences, but hopefully still much more to come! The new Millennium saw me venture into angling politics, as Angling Director for the Countryside Alliance. I remain associated with them through their Countryside Alliance Foundation, as Angling Adviser on taking fishing into schools to teach school children about angling and its worth. I am very proud to be part of the sports’ fabric and I am deeply committed to its future, hence my determination to see the Guild thrive and prosper as never before. | Chris Reeves - General Secretary
Some of you may have met me at FDG evenings, the BFFI or other shows in the UK, Ireland or further afield. Others may have fished with or against me on the riverbank, lakeside or more likely in a boat in “Loch Style” competitions, or in social outings.
I’ve been fishing for as long as I can remember and fly fishing for over 25 years. It is a world that fascinates me and I’ll take every opportunity to fish for whatever species, whenever and wherever I can ...
Fly tying was a logical progression from fly fishing, so I started tying flies almost as soon as I began to fly fish, learning from books and from exchanging ideas with other fly tiers. I really enjoy the challenge of developing and tying new patterns, and then making sure they work.
I got involved in the organisation of my local FDG branch and then with the main Guild itself as a way of giving something back to this splendid institution which was instrumental in my formation as a fly tyer and fly fisherman and introduced me to some remarkable people along the way. | Stephen Millington - Treasurer
[Stephen Millingon to provide] | Malcolm Price - Membership Secretary
[Malcolm Price to provide] |
|  Patrick Camber - Marketing Manager and Member without Portfolio 3
I have now been fly fishing and fly tying for about ten years. It all started after a winter of disappointment with my sea fishing trips out of Rye Harbour. We had six dates in the diary for December and January to go cod fishing, but the weather prevented all six outings. Driving back home, I passed Bewl Water and popped in for a look. The next thing I knew, I had booked myself on a course with Iain Thompson and I never looked back. Fly tying and fly fishing are now my No. 1 choice. I have been a member of the Guild for about seven years now and am also the secretary of the Swale Branch. | Richard Ellis - Guild Fly Tying Awards and Fly Tying Competition Secretary
I started fly fishing and fly tying as a teenager, fishing on the lakes and rivers around Aberystwyth and reading the local fishing column written by Moc Morgan. After an absence due to the pressure of university, work and family life, I returned to fly fishing and tying in 2004. I am a keen trout and grayling angler and love winter nymphing. I've completed my Silver FDG fly tying badge and am working (slowly) towards my Gold. I am currently treasurer of the Thames Valley Branch of the FDG. I have been a Member without Portfolio on the Executive Committee of the main Guild, responsible for organising the Annual Raffle for the last couple of years and have recently taken over as Manager of the Guild Award Scheme. | Lee Hooper - Fishing Competitions Secretary
I started fly fishing with my Dad and two uncles at about the age of seven, a small stillwater called Algars Farm in my native Wiltshire. I loved grubbing about in the stream and lake, possibly the fuel for a fly tying future, who knows? I recall that when I started showing an interest in fishing, my dad would hook fish and let me play them in. I loved it! Then a great day came, my dad came home with my first fly rod, a Shakespeare 8ft 6#. I was truly hooked!
I remember being fascinated by my fathers fly tying kit and it wasn't long before I was itching to have a go; although encouraged, I think I just messed everything up. I was about 12 when I caught my first fish on my own fly (a blood worm type thing), it felt fantastic. Since those times, I have been a keen member of The Fly Dressers' Guild and am currently treasurer of the Wilts Chalk Stream Branch. I am a passionate angler and fly dresser who really enjoys helping others to both fish or tie flies. In fly dressing terms I like tying anything from boobies to bumbles, tiny dries to tube flies, but confess to having a soft spot for Irish lough flies.
I am always travelling the country with my fly fishing partner, Julie, fishing small waters & rivers, but also have come to love fishing reservoirs. | Ken Nutting - Events Manager
[Ken Nutting to provide]
| Steve Bielby - Merchandise Manager and Member without Portfolio 5
Born in 1955 on a small Country Estate in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. I have fished since the ripe old age of seven, starting, as many have with, with perch from the local estate lake, progressing onto worming for trout on rivers and reservoirs. Being an avid coarse fisherman for many years, I was invited on a week’s fly fishing on Lough Corrib nearly 20 years ago, and on my return, never picked up a coarse rod again.
Very shortly after I was shown the art of fly tying and my passion was ignited. After struggling to obtain the materials I was looking for from the usual sources I started to search out suppliers from further afield. Friends then asked if I could supply them as well, hence the start of my current vocation as a retailer in the fly tying and fy fishing industry.
Now 12 years on, I enjoy the interaction with other anglers and fly tiers, both in the shop, at shows around the country and at our two local branches of The Fly Dressers' Guild. The enjoyment I have from teaching fly tying to others is great reward. And I look at tying as “still fishing even though I’m not on the river”. Long may it continue!
| Paul Davis - Member without Portfolio 7
Thanks to my father I’ve been fishing as long as I can remember, starting on the Coventry Canal catching gudgeon, roach and perch and holidays in mid-Wales where I caught my first brown trout and sea trout (both on a ‘Blackbird’s Fancy’ i.e. a worm!). Fly fishing came later and after an absence of a few years caused by girls, drink, universities, jobs overseas and sea fishing, I re-discovered it and became hooked once more.
It was only seven years ago that I tied my first fly. Since then, I’ve become passionate about fly dressing, and probably more passionate about it than fishing! I’ve fallen headlong into all aspects of it, devouring older and all modern literature and spending around 20 hours a week at the vice honing my skills. I’ve been fortunate to win national competitions (such as the Righyni-Roose Trophy) and have also become an FDG qualified instructor.
My passion for fly tying has led me to become involved with my local branches (Surrey & Sussex) of the FDG, which in turn led me to become involved with the main Guild.
My spare time is spent fishing, preferably river fishing for salmon, grayling and wild brownies- although I am also passionate about catching carp on the fly. | Caroline Emmet - Member without Portfolio 4
I started fly fishing and fly tying some fourteen years ago. We were living in Chile then and went on long road trips in the south of Chile and Argentina. My first flies were therefore a Woolly Bugger and a Prince Nymph. I can’t remember catching fish on them, but I was definitely hooked (on fly tying and fly fishing, not the flies). Back in the UK, when my husband (Chris Reeves) started tying at fly shows, I kept squeezing an extra chair next to him so I could set up my own vice and tie some of the flies I was seeing around me – “I can do that! Give us a hook! And some xyz …”. Eventually, a few show organisers took pity on Chris and his neighbours and gave me a chair and name plate in my own right, which still fills me with awe and gratitude. The national Guild and my local branch have therefore become very important to me, as a means of learning or reaffirming my knowledge base of techniques, materials, patterns and their use, which I can then discuss with visitors and other fly dressers at shows and events. | Mike Guest - Webmaster
I have been fishing since a lad although exclusively coarse fishing in those days. The rods took a back seat once I started in business and I only came back into the fold a few years back thanks to meeting an old school friend who was a dedicated fly fisher. Once I learnt to chuck a bit of fluff and feathers around I felt the urge to tie my own flies. I came across the Sussex Fly Dressers Guild demonstrating at the South of England Show and have been a member of my branch for the last three years. Apart from game fish, I am also keen on luring some coarse fish onto the hook. To date, I have nailed many carp plus a few roach and dace. Pike and bass are both on my future plans. |
Last modified on 13 April, 2013 | |