I began fly-fishing and fly-tying in 1999, shortly after meeting my husband, Chris Reeves. It was a rather privileged start - we were living in Chile at the time and went on two long road trips around the south of Chile and Argentina, as well as some shorter trips to central Chile and to the “Small North". My first flies were therefore a Woolly Bugger and a Prince Nymph. I'm ashamed to say I can't remember if I caught fish on them, but it didn't matter - I was hooked on both (not the flies, the fishing and the tying). So much so, that on the last trip in Argentina, I had to be dragged out of the river by my wader shoulder straps, still trying for one more cast.
Back in the UK, I had no time for fly-tying at home, but Chris kept being invited to tie at all these fly shows and I developed the knack of squeezing an extra chair between him and his neighbour and tie some of the flies I saw around me. There must have been enough complaints from his neighbours because I started to get invitations to shows as an official tyer.
I like tying new patterns, trying different materials and techniques, but regularly find myself drifting back to natural materials. At the moment, I’m exploring new and old different patterns that make use of pheasant feathers, or where pheasant feathers would make an interesting alternative. Especially the wide range of superbly dyed pheasant feathers produced by Chevron Hackles.
I’m a big fan of Chevron’s feathers and of Renomed’s scissors and tweezers and help to act as their ambassador at shows to raise awareness of these products and their uses. I’m also a Life Member of the UK’s national fly-tying club, The Fly Dressers’ Guild or FDG, and edit the FDG's quarterly journal, Fly dresser. This allows me the opportunity to discover new patterns and techniques with every issue. I still don’t get to do that much fly-tying at home, so I like to think that I still demonstrate quite well that you don't need years of practice and experience to tie flies that will please you and the fish. And maybe inspire some others as well! Chris and I were very touched and honoured to have received the 15th Claudio D’Angelo Award at the SIM Fly Festival last year for our contribution to spreading the art of fly-tying.