"The more you limit yourself in tactics and techiques the less fun you are letting yourself have." - Cheech
"You can't change the color of wire and call a pattern uniquely yours, most if not all new patterns are building upon the patterns that have come before it." - Curtis
Curtis and Cheech never really “started” Fly Fish Food, it seemed to grow through their efforts and interests in tying top quality flies and finding out new and creative ways to feed fish.
Pretty soon they began uploading videos to their Fly Fish Food Channel on YouTube which quickly became one of the most popular sources of fly tying tutorials. As more subscribers began to ask for materials they decided to create an online store and the their latest evolution is having a brick and mortar store in northern Utah. All along they have maintained their friendship, their love of fly fishing and their passion of tying flies.
Cheech and Curtis have maintained a level of transparency in sharing information that seems to be unique in fly fishing. As you will hear Curtis strongly believes that all boats will rise on a tide. He wants to share his knowledge and experience as many have shared with him with the hope that we all get a bit better, catch a few more fish and have a lot more fun.
And share they do. Over 350 YouTube videos, fly tying tutorials and a big social media presence they give away information on a daily basis. This is a cool glimpse into the guys that put together some of the most watched tying videos on YouTube and in my opinion have contributed significantly to making fly tying "cool" to beginner and experienced tiers. They have also contributed a crazy amount of proven and effective fly patterns that are now commercially available through Fulling Mill and here at the Reno Fly Shop.
We cover a bunch of ground from Curtis’ favorite patterns to Cheech “nerding” out on hackle and sharing us the history of one of his signature patterns the Cheech Leech.
We also talk about a bunch of patterns through the episode. I kept track and have provided links to each of the fly patterns YouTube Tutorial.
Flies we discussed in this episode in no particular order: