Idaho man takes fly tying to new, unusual levels

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- If immortality in fishing circles is what you're after, you better hope you're in tight with Gerry "Randy" Randolph.

Just ask his wife, Becky.

Phone his fishing buddy Bruce.

Or track down his old pal Kevin.

Then check your tackle box or favorite fly shop.

See whether you can pick up a Becky's Mouse, the Brucski or a KLP Beetle.

Catching on?

Randolph, a 60-year-old Idaho Falls retiree, names his 150 or so original fly patterns after friends, heroes and casting comrades. In one good 10-hour session, Randolph can churn out dozens of his famous balsa wood flies.

This winter, he may craft 1,000 of those babies from scratch -- starting with a hard hunk of balsa and a small knife, continuing with an airbrush and a finish of clear coat and ending with hackle, dubbing, fur and feathers.

"Randy is a world-class bass bug tyer doing wonderful trout flies," fishing buddy Bruce Staples said. "He's unusually interesting and a hell of a fly-tyer."

Randolph's going rate is $10 a fly and up, but most of his beetles, hoppers and snakes don't ever see the water, much less the mouth of a monster brown.

"I'd say 80 percent of the stuff I sell, people don't even fish with, they collect," he said. "I think they're frightened they'd lose them."

His is a passion that's progressed more than 23 years, but he hasn't always been that prolific a craftsman.

Randolph fell in love with fly fishing the second he saw men pull a crappie from a California lake. So he got himself a rod and rented a tying video. Then frustration set in as his hands fumbled.

"I just said, 'Shoot I can't do that stuff,'" Randolph said. "So I put it down for six months. It was intimidating."

There's the first lesson Randolph has for rookies. Even though tyers manipulate fine threads and feathers on tiny hooks to mimic insects, Randolph insists you don't need a surgeon's touch to be successful.

Look at one of his heroes, the late Andre Puyans. The guy had big old hands like a boxer, but it didn't stop him from creating the highly effective A.P. Nymph.

Randolph shares other philosophies and tricks, too.

He tells first-timers to pick up an affordable kit and forget about wasting money on expensive vices. He's also a bit of an innovator in a hobby steeped in tradition.

He only knows three other black tyers.

He's one of the few tyers using balsa wood for anything other than bass poppers.

And he tells the zealous match-the-hatch crowd to rethink their obsession.

"I'm not into throwing a PMD into a pool of about 1,000 others just like it," Randolph said. "When I fish beetles and hoppers, the fish have never seen the damn thing before, but if it looks good, it will sure do the trick."