Provided by Star Valley Trout Unlimited
The Star Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited is excited to have Jay Buchner, a nationally recognized fly tier, present a demonstration on entomology of local aquatic insects, and flies that can be tied to represent them Saturday, March 1st from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in room B101 at the Thayne Community Center.
Buchner was born and raised in eastern Iowa, and spent a great deal of his childhood on family fishing excursions to Michigan and Ontario, Canada. He learned to tie flies at age 8 from his grandfather.
His fishing experience covers the gamut, from bait fishing for catfish in the Mississippi River, to plug fishing and fly fishing for northern pike and smallmouth bass in Canada, to fly fishing for trout in the cold waters of Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Czech Republic, England, Sweden, France, Spain, Slovakia, Portugal, and Finland, not to mention tigerfishing in the Zambezi River of Africa.
After moving to Jackson, Wyoming in the late 1960’s, Jay turned his love of fishing into a career, guiding fisher people in the area for nearly 35 years and owning and operating both a retail mail order fly fishing catalog and a fly fishing shop in Jackson.
For several years, Jay and Don Veirs, an entomologist from Logan, Utah, have taught fly fishing entomology through the Teton Science School in Kelly, Wyoming. The class includes field and lab work in identifying aquatic trout foods, fly tying demonstrations relating fly patterns to the “real thing,” and fishing opportunities, which put to practical use the knowledge learned about the insects and their life cycles.
Jay and his wife, Kathy, have been involved with Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers for many years, attending conclaves, conventions and the like, demonstrating fly tying and promoting their business ventures.
Their fly patterns and tying techniques have been featured in such publications as The Second Fly Tyer’s Almanac (Boyle & Whitlock), The Book of Fly Patterns (Leiser), Tying Flies with Jack Dennis and Friends (Dennis), Fly Tyer magazine, Fly Fisherman magazine, and American Angler magazine. Articles and photographs by the Buchners have also appeared in numerous fishing and outdoor magazines, such as Fly Fisherman, Fly Tyer, American Angler, Backpacker, Mountain Bike, and the Scientific Anglers Handbooks.
Jay has volunteered to donate a box of his handtied flies as a raffle prize for the Star Valley Chapter to use. The chapter has chosen to make this a free event, and one raffle ticket will be given to every person attending, and an additional raffle ticket will be awarded to those with a current membership and anyone signing up for a membership at the meeting.
