Once a year, our FATC member and Master wood craftsman, Gary Elliott, holds his very popular net building class. Gary takes his “students” through the art of making a beautiful, custom made fly fishing net. In the past many of our guys have created some gems. I personally think mine is the best ever! I call her “Maria” after the song from West Side Story. If you fish with me just ask to see her.

Ken Welter sent in this short report as the latest net building class gets underway. Check out the pictures below!

Kenny,

Saturday was the first net building class and I took a few photos. Not sure if anyone does a write up for this, so I thought I would pass along some photos I took, see attached. Gary has an amazing and impressive wood shop nestled in the woods beside his home, complete with everything you can think of.  Josh Robinson did not attend this class, but had started his net earlier with Gary. The rest of us began the process of building our own net after some introductions by Gary. Most of us chose our handle wood and cut and sanded them to shape. Bob Palish lead the bunch by finishing his handle first and getting his frame glued

and in the fixture. Gary said it usually takes about 48 hours to fully dry. One by one the rest of us will schedule time to glue ours and then begin the sanding process. Gary says to expect about 2-3 hour to complete sanding. Obviously there’s more to the process that we will be taught as we move forward.

Regards,

Ken Welter