The "Fishing Office"

Squeaky clean, but not for long

When my wife and I moved into our current home two and a half years ago, I was excited to have a room specifically for fly tying. I quickly claimed the bedroom with the best natural light. A few months after moving in, my brilliantly eccentric pianist friend, Craig, swung by to pick me up on the way to a gig in Springfield, MA. Craig requested a house tour, which happened to end in the fly tying room. Just before leaving, Craig was going on and on about how much he liked our new house. I remember him saying something like, "I love your new house. You've got a beautiful fishing office with a bay window and everything!" My wife and I cracked up when he referred to the room as my "fishing office" and the name has stuck ever since.

Tying desk (left) and photo desk (right)
Notice the toddler locks

The last time the fishing office was throughly clean and organized was just after moving in. I decided to bite the bullet and devote my January tying time to getting the fishing office back up to snuff. Sure, I tied a few flies here and there, but I really hunkered down the past couple of weeks and finally finished the job. I wanted to get a few pictures of the room in its current (and temporary) pristine state. 

Craig's "bay window," which is actually an arch window
More toddler locks on the closet doors

The big window lets in a lot of light. It actually lets in too much unfiltered light in the winter. It's a lot more pleasant when there are leaves on the trees. The light is awesome for the plumeria cuttings, but I worried about UV light damaging tying materials. Also, I had a couple of framed flies and a large shadow box (with pictures and contents of my great grandfather's barbershop) on the wall. I decided to replace the framed flies and shadow box with pictures of flies and fishing scenes. If the pictures fade, they can be easily replaced. The frames will go into the music teaching/rehearsal studio in the basement where they will be safe. I used to leave a lot of materials (dubbing boxes, thread, etc.) out on the desk, but have since moved them into drawers. I think the room's contents are pretty safe from direct sunlight now. 

Fishing books, The Onion anthologies, Mutiny on the Bounty,
Colonel Sanders' autobiography, etc. 

Another task I finally got around to was taking a razor to retired and/or junk flies. Having been tied in our previous home, sone of them actually predated the fishing office. In the future, I need to cut them up as soon as they get into the room instead of letting them pile up in a plastic cup for years. Another new year, another resolution...we'll see how that goes.

The reason for the toddler locks

The fishing office hasn't look this nice and orderly since we moved in. I almost don't want to tie flies in there for fear of messing it up again. I've been going in there just to hang out and relax lately.  A new order for salmon flies just came in, so looks like it's not going to stay pretty for long. I'm glad I got some pics before I trash the place!

Room for more materials!