The Flies of Ard Stetts Presented by Salmonfly.Net

Irish fly tyer Stevie Munn is also a qualified fly casting instructor and guide with over 30 years of angling experience. Although he is a guide on many Irish rivers he is found most on his local river, The Six Mile Water in Co. Antrim where he is an expert on Brown Trout, Dollaghan (a Lough run Brown much like Seatrout) and Salmon.

Stevie has a true love for his sport, as you can tell from his flies and his work. He has given fly tying demos at many game fairs over the years throughout the UK and Ireland and he teaches fly tying at his local Belfast collage. His qualifications are impressive and include Hardy Greys Academy Instructor, Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor - Fly Casting (APGAI), Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor-Fly Tying (APGAI-Ire), and Professional Angling Guides & Instructors Network (PAGIN) in addition to just being a fantastic guy. For more information about Stevie, his guide service, world-wide angling holidays, and tackle store, visit his web site, www.anglingclassics.co.uk . Please read on to hear what Steve says about himself and his tying and don't forget to look at his flies.

My father, George who was fly fishing mad started me off at a very early age, probably about six, He made me a fly rod from a WW2 tank aerial which I still have ,he taught me to cast in a field. I had to cast a fly into a bucket while holding a book under my rod arm. If the book fell I got told off until I got it right. You have to remember this was Belfast in the early Seventies, at the height of the Troubles, and I suppose it was his way of keeping me off the streets. He also taught me to dress flies, Trout, Salmon and Seatrout flies, simple flies that took fish. In those days there was no such thing as catch and release, we fished for the pot, although I now would advise all to practice releasing most of there fish while fishing our local waters to help preserve wild stocks.

I still fish now the same rivers as I did with my father, the Main, the Ballinderry, but most of all on my beloved Six Mile Water. We'd fish for the river trout and the occasional Salmon during the day and when the Dollaghan were running switch to them in the evening and into the dark. We didn't have a car in those days and I remember having to run to catch the last bus from Antrim back to Belfast. I was so jealous of the few locals who were turning up to fish as we were running for the bus.

Many years latter I saw my first Classic Salmon fly in a Pub in Galway while on a fishing trip to Lough Corrib to fish the Mayfly, it was a framed Jock Scott I was amazed at its beauty and the skill it took to dress. As soon as I got home from that trip, I had to give the classics a go, the first book I got about classic flies was Mikael Frodin's Classic Salmon Flies and that was me truly hooked, pardon the pun.

I enjoy tying all flies and realize I am best at the Irish Lough Trout flies, and that I'm still learning, and will be all my life. That's why I like meeting and talking to other fly dressers. There's always something new about, what they're doing or a trick or two you can pick up.

The Flies of Stevie Munn