On the Fly: Who says quality flies can’t be tied in America?

Most commercially-created flies are hand-tied overseas in places like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Africa and China — but there is a terrific local tyer creating patterns for local shops, too. There is a noticeable difference in the quality from different sources, most noticeably sizes, shapes, colors and proportions that can be out of whack. These nuances in flies are noticed by fish, especially those that get more angling pressure than their cousins that swim elsewhere. 

Jeremy Stott is a local guide who came up through the ranks here at Taylor Creek back in the 1980s and 1990s, while working winters and springs learning the ways of permit and tarpon in Espiritu Santo Bay, Mexico. Now a Glenwood Springs-based proud father of two and devoted husband, he keeps himself busy tying flies for local shops during the off-season.  

Jeremy specializes in small baetis (BWO) nymphs heavily relied upon by local float guides (during now-commonplace low-water summers), and his flies work great on many other rivers, streams and tailwaters, too. 

His immensely popular Juggernauts, Raisinettes, Good Carls and Bad Carls have been proven fish-catching flies here for a few years now. His new patterns for 2026 include the Rhea-listic (named after his daughter, Rhea), the Private Dancer, Belly Dancer and the Slingshot. These flies all come in either black, gray or brown, featuring a foam wing or polypropylene-wing, plus mercury glass bead versions to boot.  

We’ve had various customers take them to the San Juan in New Mexico and the Bitterroot in Montana, where they outfished a lot of popular patterns there (much to our glee). Jeremy’s flies cost a little more than the average trout bug, but most anglers are happy to chip in a little extra to fish a fly made in America, tied by an American. 

Check out Jeremy’s flies the next time you’re in a local shop; his kids are headed to college soon!