William Underwood's Decorative Wooden Flies

Since 1998, Salmonfly.Net has been celebrating the art of tying flies, by presenting the work of fly tyers around the world in our Contributing Fly Tyer Series. In this issue we are presenting the work of William Underwood, a contributor to the art of constructing salmon flies, to be sure, but the flies he constructs are not the type that you will use for fly fishing. You will not find them displayed in a fly tying competition, either. These are wooden flies, sculpted with all the devoted attention to detail as any fur and feather fly constructed by a Master Fly Tyer. William Underwood's craft , is not only deserving of our attention as fly tyers, but also as conservationists, for as he stated in our email conversations about his sculptures, "I especially like the salmon patterns as I can recreate the exotic bird feathers without harming any endangered species".

William Underwood a Native American of Abenaki Ancestry, is biologist, wildlife sculptor and communications professional, who lives with his family in upstate New York. He has been drawing, painting and carving wildlife for as long as he can remember. The Abenaki are a northeastern woodland people who were skilled in all phases of woodcraft and used wood extensively for both utilitarian and artistic purposes. Although William inherited the love of art and skills in woodcraft from his ancestors, he also earned a certificate in commercial art, a BS degree in biological science from SUNY Empire State, and a Master of Science in organizational communication and learning design from the Park School of communication at Ithaca College. For 30 years he had a successful career working for IBM in positions ranging from manufacturing to multi-media design and marketing, but he left all of that in 1995 and devoted his time between teaching and his love of working in wood. When I asked him about his career he quipped, "I should have spent the 30 years fishing!"

William took up his second career with just as much if not more zeal as his first and it appears to me that he truly loves what he does. He talent and enthusiasm are undeniable. He has been recipient of a N.Y. S.O.S. grant, has shown his work in local, regional and national competitions and has won numerous awards. He generously shares his skills, conducting classes and demonstrations at public, Native American schools, and regional art centers. William designs, sculpts and creates decorative wood sculptures of whimsical characters, custom butterfly pins, feather pins and feather earrings, but his primary subjects are birds, animals and fish set in their natural environments. His website, which is still being constructed, is aptly called  Underwood Wildlife Studio.  His creative energy comes from a love and deep appreciation of his Native American heritage and philosophy. He describes it this way in his webpage biography, "All of nature is part of the great circle of life and held in great esteem by Native Americans. Many are powerful clan symbols in the culture and are key figures in our mythology." So, in the opinion of Salmonfly.Net, his skill with reproducing bird life, like the piece shown to the right, and beautiful replicas of colorful feathers, like the one to the left, naturally spilled over into the realm of creating beautiful wooden sculptures of salmon flies. It also helped, of course, that William had been a fly tyer too.

William likes to recreate Atlantic Salmon wet flies and streamers because ..."they lend themselves to carving with their larger wings, less hackle and brighter colors. The flies are based on the winged wet patterns that I had in my box and reference from classic wet patterns that were in my reference books. I try to represent the original however I do use some artistic license." Well William, what fly tyer does not take some artistic license with their salmon and steelhead creations of fur and feather. As illustrated by the photo to the right, he constructs the fly by dividing it into different sections, almost as a tyer constructs a fly by dividing it into its different parts. He then takes the individual sections of the fly, assembles and glues them, refines his work and hand paints it.  Here he tells in his own words how his wooden flies are sculpted.

"All my reproductions have hand carved basswood bodies textured and burned to produce a soft realistic look. Wings are thin basswood with burned shafts and splits, hackles and tail are formed with reeds or straw and inserted into the body. Hooks may be part of the body or a decorative hardwood insert such as cherry. Flies are mounted to a variety of bases using a brass or stainless rod and can be whatever the customer requests flies available presently are on hardwood cutouts and driftwood They are then painted with acrylics using brush and airbrush and sealed to protect from fading. Each of the wooden flies is an original and are guaranteed to delight the owner. The wet flies are approximately 15 inches tall including base and 8 inches long, the streamer is approximately 15 inches tall and 20 inches long."

The end product is a beautiful, larger than life fly creation of exceptional quality that in my estimation  would be the perfect work of art and a conversation piece for a desk, fly tyers bench, or bookshelf, or mantle in any anglers den. Naturally, I was interested about whether William would carve specific flies upon request but William had already been asked about this. In one letter, he wrote, "Since I made these have been to several shows were people have asked for specific classic patterns.  Future designs on the site will be be more faithful to the many classic wet and streamer patterns.  I will try and reproduce any fly that is requested however the winged wets and streamer designs look best in wood."  So, imagine one of the Decorative Wooden Flies of William Underwood gracing your own desk or mantle. I know that I have. Take a look at some of the other flies in his collection below and then visit the Underwood Wildlife Studio. You will be glad that you did. You may click on any image below or any on this page to enlarge them in another window. The images are good, but they still do not quite capture the delicate shading of the wings and other features. To see the detail that William puts into his designs, you should really visit his website and look at all his works of art.