Scott Stisser
Signature Tyer
In 1972 when I was a junior in high school and avid bass fisher the owner of a gym in which I worked out was tying flies in his office. I was intrigued and asked if I could try and so I tied flies between my workout sets.
The owner seeing my natural ability took me to Creative Sports Inc in San Ramon about 20 minutes away to meet Andrey Puyans and Dave Inks the proprietors, GAME ON. I spent many many hours in listening and asking questions to pull as much knowledge from Andre as possible. Andre did not teach by today’s norm but taught fundamentals and understanding of materials and proportions, his motto was "I intend to teach you
problem solving such that in your journey you will have the skills to tie any fly and overcome problematic material applications". We did not even complete a fly until the sixth class… patience is a virtue!
Over time not only did Andre become my mentor but good friend, spent many a late night sipping scotch and tying flies with Andre. He was inspirational in my fly tying journey.
One day he had a guest tyer come in and demonstrate tying of an Atlantic Salmon fly, I remember falling in love with the beauty of this fly and thinking I must learn this art. Soon after I was at the San Mateo show and met Paul Fillipone tying a large Jock Scot, wow, I watched for hours. He asked if I thought I could do such work, the challenge, I said yes. The journey in tying Atlantic Salmon flies began, I have been influenced by many great tiers in person, to name a few Wayne Luallan, John Betts, Marvin Nolte, Charles Vestal.
Some of my flies have been published in books, Modern Midges by Rick Takahashi, Modern Terrestrials by Rick Takahashi, A Fly Fishing Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park by Steven Schweitzer and Salmon Fly Patterns by Michale Redencich. The lessons learned in material manipulation of salmon flies has greatly improved my trout fly tying as well, in my opinion.
Fly tying and fishing became part of who I am. My engineering back ground has also helped in observation and designing new flies, techniques making difficult flies easier and applying new approaches to using materials. My fishing forte is dry fly fishing and many of my dry flies have been very successful in some of the most selective fishing situations, the Hot Mess Midge is just one such fly in my arsenal. My motto is never stop observing, learning and experimenting to successfully seduce selective fish as this is most rewarding to me.
In 1972 when I was a junior in high school and avid bass fisher the owner of a gym in which I worked out was tying flies in his office. I was intrigued and asked if I could try and so I tied flies between my workout sets.
The owner seeing my natural ability took me to Creative Sports Inc in San Ramon about 20 minutes away to meet Andrey Puyans and Dave Inks the proprietors, GAME ON. I spent many many hours in listening and asking questions to pull as much knowledge from Andre as possible. Andre did not teach by today’s norm but taught fundamentals and understanding of materials and proportions, his motto was "I intend to teach you
problem solving such that in your journey you will have the skills to tie any fly and overcome problematic material applications". We did not even complete a fly until the sixth class… patience is a virtue!
Over time not only did Andre become my mentor but good friend, spent many a late night sipping scotch and tying flies with Andre. He was inspirational in my fly tying journey.
One day he had a guest tyer come in and demonstrate tying of an Atlantic Salmon fly, I remember falling in love with the beauty of this fly and thinking I must learn this art. Soon after I was at the San Mateo show and met Paul Fillipone tying a large Jock Scot, wow, I watched for hours. He asked if I thought I could do such work, the challenge, I said yes. The journey in tying Atlantic Salmon flies began, I have been influenced by many great tiers in person, to name a few Wayne Luallan, John Betts, Marvin Nolte, Charles Vestal.
Some of my flies have been published in books, Modern Midges by Rick Takahashi, Modern Terrestrials by Rick Takahashi, A Fly Fishing Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park by Steven Schweitzer and Salmon Fly Patterns by Michale Redencich. The lessons learned in material manipulation of salmon flies has greatly improved my trout fly tying as well, in my opinion.
Fly tying and fishing became part of who I am. My engineering back ground has also helped in observation and designing new flies, techniques making difficult flies easier and applying new approaches to using materials. My fishing forte is dry fly fishing and many of my dry flies have been very successful in some of the most selective fishing situations, the Hot Mess Midge is just one such fly in my arsenal. My motto is never stop observing, learning and experimenting to successfully seduce selective fish as this is most rewarding to me.