I had the pleasure of talking to Tom Whiting who is the man behind Whiting Farms, the leader in fly tying hackles.  We hear about the history of how Tom built a great company and has taken the lead in producing the highest quality hackles for fly tying.

Tom has had a passion for chicken genetics and shares some cool stories about how he produces ultra high-quality chicken hackles including the spey hackles that are substitutes for heron hackle.

Click below and listen to the Tom Whiting Interview:

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Show Notes with Tom Whiting and Whiting Farms

00:20 – The Fly Fish Food guys produced this Video on the Whiting Farms Operation.

We also had Curtis Fry on the Podcast from Fly Fish Food way back in episode #40 of the Wet Fly Swing Podcast.

15:10 – Archaeopteryx was noted as one of the first feathered dinosaurs and how birds evolved from dinosaurs.

18:00 – We talked about the history with Henry Hoffman and the history of how Tom purchased Hoffman’s.

24:23 – We note Metz hackles who was also a big player in the past.  Umpqua purchased them in the mid 1990’s and sold many more times.

32:50 –   This Clip of the Feather King, plus  Tom Whiting – The Real Bird Man, as well as the CBS video that should be out soon.

47:00 – Their spey hackle and how close it is to heron hackle.

47:45 – John Shewey and Spey Cock was a topic that Tom has been working on.  John Shewey was on the podcast here.

48:50 – Classic Steelhead Flies by John Shewey

49:40 – The new book on Spey and Dee Flies is coming out soon.  Here’s the first run of Spey and Dee Flies.

52:38 – The Predator Packs are great for pike, musky and steelhead.

57:00 – Rick Takahashi was on the podcast here and is a pro team member for Whiting Farms.

1:02:00 – Tom notes Crystal Bowersox who for 2 years blew up Whiting Farms because of her fashion trends.  Here’s one of her videos from American Idol.

1:07:30 – Kelly Galloup noted that fly tying is cool in this episode.

1:10:20 – Rare and Unusual Fly Tying Materials: A Natural History, Volume 2–Birds and Mammals has a full chapter on what Tom does.

You can Find Tom at Whiting Farms.

Resources Noted in the Show

Rare and Unusual Fly Tying Materials: A Natural History, Volume 2–Birds and Mammals

Classic Steelhead Flies by John Shewey

Videos Noted in the Show

Clip of the Feather King

Tom Whiting – The Real Bird Man

Crystal Bowersox Midnight Train to Georgia

Conclusion with Tom Whiting

We hear the full Whiting Farms story and how Tom Whiting has created one of the best fly hackle supplier in the world.  We get into steelhead hackles and different methods he has used to create amazing hackles.

I sat down with Rainy Riding, the founder of Rainy’s Flies, to hear the story of how she created one of the largest fly distribution centers in the country.  We go in deep to the history of how she created the company given plenty of setbacks along the way.

Click below to listen to the Rainy’s Flies Interview with Rainy Riding:

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Rainy’s Flies Show Notes

06:00 – Fly Fishing the West was the first magazine that Rainy placed an ad in for Rainys Flies.

30:50 – The Snakehead is one species Rainy notes for SE Asia.  Here’s a interesting video on snakehead.

33:10 – Here is the Joan Wulff interview.  Rainy notes the impact from Joan to woman in fly fishing.

34:40 – The Grand hopper is one of Rainy’s favorite patterns.

36:00 – Big Y Fly Shop and the Grand Hopper.  Rainy notes that she doesn’t agree with others selling or tying their patterns.  Leave a comment below if you have more clarification here.

40:00 – The Letort Hopper vs the Grand Hopper fly pattern.  We talk about innovation and how Rainy tries very hard to do a lot of fact checking before selling a new fly.

50:20 – Montana Flies and Umpqua are two big players in the space as well as Rainy’s.

51:00 – Jesse Riding has some fly tying videos here.

53:00 – The DVD set through Rainy’s can be found here.

56:30 – Click here to listen to the Frank Sinatra Christmas Alblum.

You can find Rainy at Rainy’s Flies here.

Videos Noted in the Show

Jesse Riding Fly Tying

Frank Sinatra Christmas

Rainy’s Flies Conclusion with Rainy Riding

Rainy shares the story of how she created Rainy’s Flies which is one of the big distributors of flies in the country.  We hear a little bit about the patterns she ties and developed and what building a business in fly sales is like.

Rick Takahashi is on the podcast to cover fly tying, fly fishing with terrestrials and how he created a life of fly tying and fishing.  Rick tells us why he loves terrestrials and which terrestrials you should focus on as your #1 goto bugs.

Rick describes his biggest influences and the books he loves including Caddisflies by Gary LaFontaine.  Tons of great resources and tips in this one by one of our great teachers in fly fishing.  Find out the best materials to find from the Dollar Store along with some other items and dollar store nuggets.

Click below to listen to the Rick Takahashi Interview:

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Show Notes with Rick Takahashi

07:30 – Anglers All Fly Shop was one of the first mentors for Rick.

12:00 – Ross Purnell was the editor of Fly Fisherman Magazine. Rick put together some illustrations for Ross and the shop to get started.

14:30 – Jay Nichols with Headwaters Books came to Rick to write a book so Rick wrote his first book on midges – Modern Midges.

16:50 – Modern Terrestrials was the second book that Rick published.

26:00 – Rick has taught fly tying for a number of demonstration fly tyers over the years.

26:50 – We discussed IFTD and Whiting Farms.

29:30 – Ask About Fly Fishing had Rick on their show to cover terrestrials as well.

33:40 – Gary Lafontaine was a huge influence on Rick with his underwater work in identifying the insects.

34:50 – CaddisFlies from Gary LaFontaine is one of the most influential books in fly fishing.

36:40 – The Letort Hopper with Rick’s spin on it.  Ed Shank is the guy who designed the original Letort Hopper.

38:00 – River Roads Creations makes a great synthetic wing material that works great for some of Rick’s favorite patterns.

46:45 – Jason Randall was the guest who I asked about whether he’d still do it if there was no money in writing.

52:30 – Bears Baetis is a pattern that uses wig material from the Dollar Store.

1:02:30 – We noted Pat Dorsey who was on the podcast in episode 56 and covered Colorado fishing.

1:04:45 – The Manzanar anglers who snuck out from the Japanese internment camps during the war and went trout fishing.

1:08:00 – The Taka-Hopper is one of Rick’s goto flies.

1:12:15 – Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying book along with Pat Dorsey and Landon Mayer’s books are all goto resources for books in fly tying.

1:18:15 – Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys

1:21:30 – The finest fly tying benches are what Rick uses and is another person who Rick influenced early on.

You can find Rick on facebook here.

Resources Noted in the Show

Modern Terrestrials – Rick Takahashi

Caddisflies by Gary LaFontaine

Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying

Videos Noted in the Show

The Taka Hopper

Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys

Read the Entire Transcript Below or Download the PDF Here:

Download the PDF Transcript here

Conclusion with Rick Takahashi

I had a great conversation with Rick Takahashi on fly tying with a focus on terrestrials.  Not only do we cover all of this but Rick even breaks out a joke for us.  Haha, the lots are of telling jokes.  If you have a good joke to tell leave it in the comments.

We also hear about Rick’s band and his guitar playing, lead singing and the blues harp.  As usual we are all over the place on this one but we do get into some nice fly thing tips.