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The Zen And The Lure Of Realistic
Fly Tying
Fly-tier Bill Logan creates
fantastically detailed flies that are never used for
fishing, take 150 hours to create and start selling at
$4,000
By Bill Becher
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Fly-tier Bill Logan of Upper Saddle River,
N.J., has won his share of fly-tying competitions for his realistic
"art bugs."
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"You have to be prepared to move things on a molecular
level," is one of those catch phrases that Bill Logan, a
New Jersey based fine artist and fly tier, likes to
quote. Those words might also describe how Logan ties
his tiny, ultra — realistic insect imitations. You need
to examine Logan's creations with a magnifying glass to
appreciate the minute detail that he reproduces with
bits of fur and feathers. His flies transcend the line
between fly tying and fine art.
Recently Logan visited the West Coast to speak, tie
flies, and show slides to local fly fishing clubs,
including the Conejo Valley Flyfishers and the Pasadena
Casting Club. He talked about his theories of fly tying
to catch fish, reminding anglers to check how their
flies look and float in the water, as that's how fish
see them.
"Bill Logan's an amazing guy," said Seymour Singer, a
member of the Pasadena club. "The ideas he put forth
were pretty revolutionary. If he decided to push himself
in that direction, Logan could be a landmark figure in
fly tying."
Logan is talking to Umpqua, a major supplier of fishing
flies about producing some of his patterns for sale to
fly fishers. He's in the process of refining and
simplifying some of the flies he tied for the club
demonstrations so they can be mass-produced.
But it's the fantastically detailed flies that stand
Logan apart from others in the fly tying fraternity.
While some tiers of collectible flies can get $500 for a
single salmon fly, Logan's works can be commissioned
starting at $4,000. That's enough to buy about 2,000 elk
hair caddis flies at your local fly shop.
Logan's answer to why he spends 150 hours tying an
artificial bug that will never see a trout stream is a
bit Zen like, having more to do with the journey than
the destination.
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Master fly-tier Bill Logan's "art
bugs" are museum-quality creations. |
"I'm trying to see how far you can push tying as a
method," said Logan. "If you look at glassblowing or
blacksmithing, it all started as practical method to
make something like a horseshoe or a drinking vessel.
But sooner or later someone comes along and said this is
a cool way to make something and you remove the
practical purpose. I can tie a fly to catch a fish. Or I
can spend all my hopes and frustrations in creating a
fly for the pure whimsy and feeling of success when it's
completed. I'm driven to do it."
Logan said while he used to keep his flies for fishing
separate from his flies for art, there's starting to be
a crossover as he strives to tie flies that are
practical to tie for fishing while still being better
imitations of the real bug. He uses a two-projector
system in his talks to show his audiences the real
insect and his imitations side by side and the evolution
of his designs as he seeks a better bug to fool fish.
Logan, 42, grew up in Colorado where his father was an
outdoor columnist for the Rocky Mountain News. At the
age of five Logan pleaded with his father to be allowed
to tie a fly. His father gave him one hook and told him
to see what he could do with it. Using thread borrowed
from his mother's sewing basket Logan tied his first,
admittedly crude fly.
Fishing western water like the Madison River in Montana,
Logan refined his tying techniques for fishing flies. He
received a degree in fine arts from the Parson School of
Fine Arts and toiled in New York City for ten years as
an illustrator and production person for Life magazine.
Deciding to become a full time artist, Logan moved to
the Midwest to get a masters degree in fine arts at
Southern Illinois University. With no nearby trout
fishing water, fly tying was a way for Logan to stay
connected to his boyhood love of trout fishing.
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If you want a Bill Logan fly, they can
be commissioned for up to $4,000.
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In 1993 Logan's ultra realistic Isonychia nymph won a
fly tying contest run by Norwegian hook maker Mustad.
His flies have been on display in art galleries from New
York to Palm Springs and seem to be getting more
attention than Logan's bronze sculptures.
A New York Times article in 1998 about Logan's work
brought him international attention and resulted in an
interview on National Public Radio and fly tying
articles for magazines as far away as England and Japan.
Logan has two books in the works, one an illustrated
collection of his father's columns as an outdoor writer
at the Rocky Mountain News, the other a book on fly
tying.
At lunch there's a glint in Logan's eyes as the
conversation turns to a restaurant in Santa Monica that
serves dishes made with insects. That's probably why his
wife came up with his Internet handle: "BugsLogan".
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