Starting in 2019, the Ft. Lewis Program, moved two of its four monthly tying nights from the Warrior Transition Battalion (WTB), to the Puget Sound Fly Company, allowing greater access and bring in guest tiers.

Jay Paulson

Our first tying session for March was at the Puget Sound Fly Co, and we had Jay Paulson, from Amazing Flies as our guest tier.

Jay’s passion is dry flies and he ties some beautiful ones! His Horny Damsel fly has been picked up by several large companies and sold as one of their top fish catchers. Fly tiers often discuss what’s the next evolution in fly fishing. Well, Jay has moved the ball forward with his Titanic Series of Dry Flies.  They are dry flies with a custom foam hull. The concept of this design is instead of searching for rising fish, you cast this dry fly out, strip-it, skate-it, and jerk-it across the water ringing the dinner bell and calling in fish for an eat. As Jay states on his website, “The Titanic series flies are unique and exciting to fish — My aim is to make dry fly fishing fun!”

How Jay came across designing these flies was on a bet. He and some friends were out swinging flies and a bet was made who could tie a fly to get Steelhead to raise and take a fly. Jay ended up tying a fly and putting foam hull across the bottom. The next day they all headed down to river, started casting, and within a few casts, and to everyone’s surprise, a Steelhead rose from the deep, and took his fly.  This started Jay on the path of refining his design to what it is today. The forms he’s developed are pretty much dummy-proof. They give you the right shape for your hook size and also states what thickness of foam to use.

These flies are ton of fun to tie and we can’t wait to give them a try. We really appreciate Jay Paulson taking the time to come out and donate his time to helping Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, the Ft. Lewis Program, and disabled veterans.