There are so many talented fly tyers throughout the country that we couldn’t wait to reach out to a few of them and stock our fly bins with their creativity.
We encourage you to check out what each one of our talented ambassadors is doing, follow them on social media, and live vicariously through the windows into their fishing worlds.
Matt Bennett is a full-time commercial fly tyer and the owner of Fly Geek Custom Flies. While having a varied interest in many different types of fly fishing, Matt most enjoys both tying flies and fishing for the native bass species of the Texas Hill Country, and most of his flies were created to fool these specific quarry. However, most of Matt's patterns have a broad universal appeal to fish species all over, and he very much enjoys sharing his tying and fishing knowledge with others. Matt lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Amanda, and their Welsh Corgi, Winston.
Matt is a royalty fly tyer with Umpqua Feather Merchants, and owns Fly Geek Custom Flies. He fills our bins with his Lunch Money, Craft Fur Baitfish, and Rio Getter flies.
See Matt's InstaGram feed
Ellis grew up in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky, but fished mostly in northern Michigan during the summers of his youth chasing smallmouth, rockies, and perch with his mother and cousin. He learned to clean and cook them with his mom and grandpa. Now living in northern Virginia, he can be found in his back yard or a park with his daughter and wife, who can fish you under the table and descale a rock bass faster than you.
When not covered in marabou and dubbing, he enjoys stripping junk for brown trout, and being told it's time to go home by redfish. He fishes with his mom more than ever, and still manages a few smallies with his cousin every summer. He is a destroyer of bobbins.
Check out Ellis's InstaGram feed
Morgan grew up fly fishing with family and friends for bluegill, bass and trout on the east coast. He has lived most of his life in Virginia and frequently fishes the upper and tidal Potomac, Shenandoah, James and New Rivers. His favorite species to target is smallmouth bass although he also seeks out redfish, stripers, musky and snakehead regularly.
Morgan enjoys tying as much as fishing, and likes tying everything from simple to complex, and small to large fly patterns. He is normally sitting at the vice or running up creeks in a jet boat in search of the next catch.
See Morgan's InstaGram feed
Kevin is a lifelong fisherman and avid outdoorsman. From a very young age Kevin started fishing for panfish on a dock with his grandfather. Graduating from live worms on the end of a bobber, Kevin started fly fishing and by age twelve was stealing his mothers thread to tie his own flies. After getting a fly tying kit one Christmas, his art truly started to develop. Kevin’s fishing craft was honed on the Potomac River and is a skilled angler and a phenomenal fly tyer.
Kevin’s artistic creations at the vise can be found in our shop.
Check out Kevin’s InstaGram profile.
Luke has been fly fishing and tying flies for about a decade, and got to know the District Angling team as a customer at its predecessor fly shop.
He focuses both his fly tying and fly fishing on one species at a time, and is currently fixated on striped bass, tying patterns large and small as he pursues this awesome species from Virginia to New Jersey, New York and beyond.
When not fishing or tying flies, Luke can be found immersing himself in books and articles about his favorite fish, fisheries and fly tiers.
Check out Luke’s life on his InstaGram feed.