Tyer's Table with William Cernitz

I got my first fly rod at the age of 7, I'm not sure why I was drawn to fly fishing, but my previous time spent gear fishing definitely planted the seed for my love of fishing, and being on the water in general. It would take a few years for me to develop any real knowledge, but every time I went out with my dad I got a little bit better. Before long, I was rigging myself, putting my own boots and waders on and finding my own holes to fish. My dad and I would fish all over Oregon, all for trout. For my tenth birthday, I went to the bighorn with my dad. The conditions were brutal, with sleet and snow for the majority of the time, but the amount that I learned firmly set my passion for fishing. Since then, I’ve been back to Montana three times and those experiences alone make me want to live my life there.

Today, I’m 16 years old and I am even more passionate about fly fishing than ever before. In 2019, I began tying flies. I would watch hours of tying videos and wanted my flies to look like the ones in the videos. I began to understand more about aquatic insects and aquatic ecosystems through tying. I would fish the flies I tied with success and realized how fly tying didn’t need to be difficult. I understood that it was more so where in the water my flies were, and not what flies I had tied on. Despite how simple I could make these flies, I wanted to tie more interesting things. I began tying streamers and really enjoyed it. I began doing more warm water fishing whenever I could because I knew that smallmouth would eat these things. From then on fly tying was something that I could have fun with but still have it be very useful. I began working with deer hair and tying tightly packed, artistic, yet functional flies. For me, being in the Oregon high desert fishing for trout will always be my favorite thing to do.

Join the fun from 10:30 to 1:00 this Saturday, January 21st.

What I’m planning to tie: (Trout streamer theme)

Baby Gonga, Intruder Trout Spey Fly, Balanced Leech, Tasmanian Devil, articulated Trout Slider. Plus, anything else I have time for. (Deer hair bugs, hoppers, euro nymphs, etc)