Get hooked on a new hobby at fly tying night at Middleton Brewing. Once a month, fishers of all skill levels gather at the local craft brewery to enjoy beer and create fishing flies together. Fishing flies are artificial bait, also known as lures, which mimic small invertebrates such as insects to attract fish. Fly tying is the process of binding various materials such as feathers and animal fur to a hook with thread.
Fly tying nights started at Middleton when current owner Calvin Kouba took over operations. Local fishermen in the Central Texas Flyfisher Association used to meet at each other’s houses to make flies before Kouba offered the brewery space to them. The fly tying nights are open to the public with pros and beginners learning and creating together. Hosting the event at Middleton allows guests to enjoy a beer while they tie but it also allows access for beginners to try a new hobby in an open and welcoming environment.
“There’s a guy that comes every month, that just walked in randomly one night,” said Grant Powell, a local fisherman and photographer.
San Marcos is a fly fishers dream with multiple river access points as well as close proximity to other Texas rivers and lakes.
“We have a bunch of beautiful hill country rivers surrounding the brewery: the Blanco, the Guadalupe and San Marcos. It’s just a lot of really pretty, beautiful water that you can explore, have a good time with and enjoy a new sport and a new hobby,” Powell said.
Tying flies can lead one to exploring more of the nature that central Texas has to offer.
“I have told people getting into fly fishing, that there’s a lot of pretty areas of Texas that I would have never gone to unless I was trying to fish,” Kouba said.
The benefit of fly fishing reaches beyond just exploring new areas of the natural environment. “When I started fly fishing that level of connection you get to the river deepens a little bit because you start understanding how the fish behave in certain environments,” Powell said. “[The] level of care deepened, for me at least, when I started fishing; environmental concerns start becoming a lot more important to you because you care about the fish.”
Fly tying is a creative feat, utilizing many materials from feathers to animal fur.
“You have to tie things to try to imitate food sources. So whether it be tiny crayfish or in the summer, you can tie locusts,” Kouba said. “That’s another example of how you get a deeper layer of understanding for the rivers, you start imitating bugs that these fish eat. So it could be anything from small nymphs or a bug along its life cycle,” Powell said.
The fishermen hope that deeper connections are made through the creative gatherings.
“If you come in and get interested in the sport, you have more people that are interested in the river and enjoying the river and protecting the river, and you get more conservationists, it’s just a beautiful thing,” Powell said.
According to Kouba, the fly tying nights are a great excuse to “build community one pint at a time.” Catch the next fly tying night and keep up to date on all the upcoming events at Middleton Brewing on their instagram at @middletonbrewing or visit their website at middletonbrewingtx.com.
