What is Fly Tying
This question, posed by the Editor may provoke many emotions among the fly tying fraternity. At...
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Welcome to the website of The Fly Dressers’ Guild - it has information on joining, how to find an FDG branch near you, the Guild's fly-tying awards and competition and much more. You will also find a list of events where the Guild or its branches will be in attendance.
For Guild members, the 'Members Only' area holds a fly patterns database, a large number of illustrated patterns and step by step instructions, fly-tying hints and tips, articles of fly-tying and fishing-related matters, and details of discounts available to members, amongst other things.
We hope you enjoy the site and if you have any ideas for future content please contact the General Secretary, secretary@flydressersguild.org.
We will also keep you updated on the FDG Facebook page - www.facebook.com/FlyDressersGuild.
Chris Reeves, General Secretary - 26 December 2022
When you sit down to tie a fly, you take a seat at a very large, very old table. As you go through the magazines, books, and videos—taking and ignoring advice, learning tricks and shortcuts, discerning and taking sides in old debates, then picking and choosing a pattern, a style, eventually even an aesthetic stance—you participate in a long, complicated, and apparently endless conversation over those and many other matters. You join not merely a club, but a guild.
—Paul Schullery, Cowboy Trout
This question, posed by the Editor may provoke many emotions among the fly tying fraternity. At...
Read MoreSummer updates to the open part of the website include details of the 2023/24 Fly Tying Competition to the website and some hints and tips that you might find useful. Further updates have been made to the Members’ Only...
(extracted from the Winter 2018 issue of Flydresser) One of the beauties of attending fly-tying shows like BFFI and fly-tying demonstrations where you can get close up to the fly- tyer is getting to ask and hear about...
(extracted from the Winter 2018 issue of Flydresser) One of the beauties of attending fly-tying shows like BFFI and fly-tying demonstrations where you can get close up to the fly- tyer is getting to ask and hear about...
2023-24 Fly-Tying Competition The patterns for the 2023/24 Fly Tying Competition have been published in the Summer issue of Flydresser and are also set out in the Fly-Tying Competition page of this website, together with the...
12augAll Day30mar2023-24 Fly-Tying Competition - 30 March 2024
2023-24 Fly-Tying Competition The patterns for the 2023/24 Fly Tying Competition have been published in the Summer issue of Flydresser and are also set out in
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2023-24 Fly-Tying Competition
The patterns for the 2023/24 Fly Tying Competition have been published in the Summer issue of Flydresser and are also set out in the Fly-Tying Competition page of this website, together with the full details on how to take part. The competition is open to members of the Guild and caters for varying levels of skill and experience. It’s a good way of building and testing consistency in your tying.
Entries must be received by 5.00 p.m. on Saturday 30 March 2024 at the following address: The General Secretary, The Fly Dressers’ Guild, 2 Briar Close, West Byfleet KT14 6QF.
August 12 (Saturday) - March 30 (Saturday)
Featured48th John Watts Competition at Draycote, Saturday 26 August 2023
The John Watts is the FDG’s annual boat fly-fishing competition. Past participants will attest to it being a friendly and enjoyable day, attracting members from a variety of
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The John Watts is the FDG’s annual boat fly-fishing competition. Past participants will attest to it being a friendly and enjoyable day, attracting members from a variety of Branches and wide-ranging parts of the UK. Although traditionally an inter-Branch event, it is also open to individual members of the FDG.
The competition is contested by teams of four. Each Branch may enter up to two teams and individual entrants will be placed into pairs or teams of four if feasible. All competitors must be paid up members of the Guild. The competition is fished from boats to fishery rules with certain exceptions. It is fished entirely on a catch and release basis. The tally will be followed by a light buffet and prize giving at the fishing lodge.
Members who would like to enter but are inexperienced boat anglers or are reluctant to fish with a serious comp angler can tick the corresponding box on the entry form and will be paired with a friendly, helpful Guild member.
To take part, entrants will need to complete the entry form and return it with the corresponding payment as soon as possible as per the instructions on the form. Entries are restricted to twenty teams of four and will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. More details on the event, including the entry form and competition rules, are available below.
For more information: John Watts info 2023 Final v2
For the entry form: John Watts – entry form 2023
Year Around Event (2023)
Draycote Water
The Fishing Lodge, Draycote Water, Rugby, Warwickshire CV23 8AB