S6, Ep 73: PODCAST INTERVIEW: From Gear Dude to Fly Tying Guru: Adam Hortenberry's Journey and the Rhode Island Fly Bash

Marvin Cash: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of The Articulate Fly. On this episode, I'm joined by Adam Hortenberry, the driving force behind Anchor Fly and Tackle. Adam shares his rapid journey from being a gear dude to becoming an obsessed fly angler and fly tyer. He also updates us on the inaugural Rhode Island Fly Bash on July 13 at Rejects Brewing Company. I think you're really going to enjoy this one. 

But before we get to the interview, just a couple of housekeeping items. If you like the podcast, please tell a friend and please subscribe and leave us a rating and review in the podcatcher of your choice. It really helps us out. And we've received several listener questions asking about ways to support the show. One way is to become a member of our community on Patreon and make a single or recurring donation. Our community has some great benefits, like discounts on tying materials, guide trips, and more. Check out the link in the show notes for more details. 

And we recently released an interview-only show, The Long Haul with The Articulate Fly.  So if you prefer to listen to The Articulate Fly without the fishing reports, just search “the Long Haul” in your favorite podcatcher. Now onto the interview. 

Well, Adam, welcome to The Articulate Fly.

Adam Hortenberry: Thanks, Marvin. Thanks for having me, man. Appreciate it.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. And we have a tradition on The Articulate Fly.. We like to ask all of our guests to share their earliest fishing memory.

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. My earliest memory is chasing bluegills on farm ponds with my grandpa. That was kind of our big thing growing up.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so was that Zebco 33 chasing, or was that cane pole chasing?

Adam Hortenberry: Actually, both, ironically. So it's, he would, he was like a sight fisherman. He was, he was a very interesting guy who's..yeah, he's a very eccentric fella. You know, he was a Vietnam vet, so he's a pretty, pretty wild guy. But yeah, we would, we would sight fish them and the Zebcos. .

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's neat. It's kind of funny. I've got a picture here in my office of me. I'm probably, gosh, maybe, maybe six years old, fishing for trout on a cane pole with my grandfather. And he's got one of those aluminum worm boxes on his belt and he's wearing, we didn't call them wellies back then, but basically like, you know, above-your-knee rubber boots. And that was fly..well, wasn't fly fishing, but it was trout fishing, right?

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah, yeah. I can remember people doing that, too, back home in Ohio. Yeah.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so when did you come to the dark side of fly fishing?

Adam Hortenberry: We tinkered with it as kids, but, not officially until 2018 is when I got super into it. And then fly tying 2020.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, what made you kind of make the official leap in 2018?

Adam Hortenberry: It was just a matter of a more challenging way to do things, in my opinion. And I wanted to do it for bass, specifically. Like, the trout thing was cool, but I wanted to, and focus on the warm water stuff and really hone that in.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. Cause if I remember correctly, right, you were kind of a gear guy, kind of fishing for bass before you picked up the fly rod?

Adam Hortenberry: Exactly. And it was like we were obsessed with, like, finesse fishing for, smallmouth bass and stuff like that. That's kind of where we were. We love doing, you know, the..the seven foot ultra, you know, you know, ultralight kind of deals. Chasing big, big smallmouth.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, who are some of the folks that have mentored you in your fly fishing journey and what have they taught you?

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, sure. Yeah, slowly along the way. I mean, for fly tying, I would say my friend Alan Rupp and a couple other randoms.  I would have to say my friend Rob, Rob Alexander. Huge, huge mentor. And then lately, I've been picking Landon's brain, Landon Mayer. Like, he's been a huge help, and he just knows so many, like, people don't think about him as being a guru fly tyer,  but in my opinion, he is. He is certainly that.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. It's interesting, right? There's a certain level of kind of knowledge and skill to be as reductive as he is with his patterns, right? You know, to find something that, you know, you can tie, you know, call, I guess you call it a guide fly, that you can tie relatively easily, but, you know, consistently works when you're out on the water, you know, trying to put fish in the net.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah, yeah. That's one big thing he was telling me. And we were over cocktails one night. I don't know what night, but, you know, it's just focus on making something easy and, you know, obtainable for someone else to try to do, replicate and have success.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting. That's actually kind of one of my pet peeves with the fly fishing industry. I think we do a pretty lousy job of simplifying things for people. And you know, I think we have a tendency to try to bury people in kind of disassociated information, and I think it makes it harder on them than it needs to be.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah. 100%. Like, we were just out there with him, he and my sister in Colorado, and it was her first fly fishing trip, and she's like, “Oh, is it always this easy?” Because he's just such a good teacher. And it was..It opened my eyes, truly.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's an interesting place. I mean, I've had the chance to go out there, I guess I was out there a couple years ago for Clean the Dream, and, I don't know, we maybe spent 2 hours kind of looking for, you know, for big- jawed brown trout. But it's an interesting fishery, for sure. And the great thing you have there is you can go fish the stillwaters, too.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah. That's actually what we got to do that for a whole day. And the belly boat thing, it was really cool. It was an interesting experience with really good weather, and I was very happy and pleasantly surprised.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, and you know, so being, you know, up in New England, you know, is, are you..is your favorite species to chase still smallmouth bass, maybe largemouth, but, you know, what are you, like, super honed in on? I know you're not trouty, but you do it sometimes. But, you know, if you had to pick three species to chase on the fly what would they be?

Adam Hortenberry: Top three is, I mean, people are gonna laugh, but obviously number one, smallmouth, and then, you know, largemouth bass, probably panfish will have to be number three. That's one of my favorite fish, and on a 4wt glass rod, like, you can't really beat that.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's pretty awesome. You know, I guess the only downside with panishes is they're so damn slimy.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, that's very true. It's very true.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, It's hard to kind of do that evening, you know, 2 hours of fishing and come home and not have to take a shower cause you smell like you were in a fish market all day long.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've worked in that industry as well, so I just get used to it after a while.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so you were saying, you know, in 2020, you kind of got the inkling to get behind the vise, you know. What led you to decide that you wanted to tie flies?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. At first I thought it was, you know, oh, the old I'll save money thing. And, my wife chuckled and she said, “I can tell you right now, this is, this is not gonna be that. It's like a whole hobby.”

Marvin Cash: Yeah. I would say for sure, you know, if you're tying big flies, you're definitely not gonna save money. I mean, anything that involves buying a brush, there's just no way to save money.

Adam Hortenberry: No, no. And I jumped straight into Woolly Buggers, into articulated Kelly Galloup stuff and Russ Maddin patterns, and then it just kept going. And it was like a snowball effect.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. That's pretty amazing. I mean, we were talking before we started recording. I mean, you've only been tying for four years, you know. What was the first vise and fly that you tied on it?

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah.I had a Renzetti Traveler. Most people start out with that. I think it's one of the best all around vises to start on. And the first fly, I would say, it was a Woolly Bugger. And then I did, a CK Baitfish, also one of my favorite flies, CK Baitfish, which is from your neck of the woods, I believe, Chuck Kraft. And, I think those are the first two because they're the most productive, in my opinion. So that's what I started with.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. It's interesting, too, you know, because that CK Baitfish is a lot like maybe Landon's patterns. I mean, it's a dead simple pattern, but it crushes..

Adam Hortenberry: I mean, it did from California to Connecticut. That fly is something you have to have in your box. That's my opinion. But that's just, it's a staple, no matter what, for trout or bass, you know?

Marvin Cash: And so do you still tie on that same traveler or if you moved on to, like, a presentation or something like that?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. Yeah. I went on to Regal for a little bit and then met the folks at Norvise, and I tried their stuff out and ended up jumping on their team, which I really, really like. And I think it solved the problems for a lot of production tying and it just made more sense for what I was doing. And they had, they came out with a whole line of jaws, and they're just a great company and great people, too, to deal with.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, absolutely. You know, they've been a longtime advertiser on the podcast. And I say, you know, if you go watch Tim, you know, lay down a dubbing noodle with that vise, you'll kind of be sold, right?

Adam Hortenberry: That. Yeah, most definitely. He's really good at that. Yeah, it was awesome.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so what's your...what's your preferred Norvise configuration right?

Adam Hortenberry: Right now, I like the fine-tip things. It kind of looks like, I wouldn't say it looks like a Renzetti, but it kind of has that arm thing, like a Renzettii would. And it. It spins like a true rotary as well. Not that the others don't, but like it, for me for what I do, It kind of helps me, you know, do what I'm doing with game changers, and you know, little flies, too.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, got it. And that's the one, basically, where it kind of is like looks like an “L”,  right, cause you got to get the shank on axis to be able to rotate it?

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, yeah. And then the vise I use from them is the Legacy C. And, yeah, you can choose whatever color you want, but that's the one I like right now.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. I bet you're a purple guy, right?

Adam Hortenberry: That's it. Purple.

Marvin Cash: You've been profiled.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, for sure.

Marvin Cash: So you had mentioned Alan Rupp a little earlier in the interview. You know, who are some other tyers that you follow?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. tyers. I follow would have to be locally in the fly fishing circuit world would be Sgt. Bassfisher, of course, my buddy Matt Bailey. But big big names I really love is Kelly, Russ Maddin,  Blane, of course. I mean, that's huge. Bob Bob Popovics.  mean, the list is endless. And then, yeah, like, Landon, he's huge, too. Charlie Craven, of course. I mean, I can go on all day.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, and is there kind of a particular. I mean, all those guys are accomplished, but, you know, like, Sgt. Bassfisher is a dear hair guy. I mean, is there something in particular that you're kind of gravitating to right now? 

Adam Hortenberry: Right now, I've been. I've been tying a lot of crayfish patterns, and I nerd out with that. And, Kelly, has the best perspective on that, in my opinion. So crayfish patterns and, like, not overdressing the fly. Yeah, yeah. Crayfish are definitely the fly I've been, you know, trying to// that's the bait I'm trying to replicate the most lately. 

Marvin Cash: Gotcha. And so kind of, what is your kind of prototypical crayfish fly look like?

Adam Hortenberry: I think the easiest way to start it out is use Dave's Near Nuff Crayfish as a starting point, and then go from there and tweak it, add on what you want, subtract, and he's kind of already laid it out. And the other crayfish pattern that's awesome is that another Chuck Kraft pattern. I think it's a Clawdad, or, I think that's the name of it. That's an awesome one.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And you can crank those things out. You just buy those pre cut claws, and, I mean, you can knock out a dozen in no time.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a tremendous pattern guide fly.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Adam Hortenberry: Amazing.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. Which is funny cause you know, I work with Matt Reilly, and he says, you know, you're gonna lose a lot of them with those lead eyes, but, it's a good thing they're easy to tie and you can do them pretty quickly.

Adam Hortenberry: That's right. Yeah. You gotta fish them with confidence. It's another reason you're not scared to lose it, so, you know, you're gonna get where they are.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And it's interesting, too, right? I mean, so you start tying in 2020. You know, I guess we probably, II know you were taking some of the COVID classes that I did with Blane, and I guess we probably met officially in person, was it in Edison?

Adam Hortenberry: Edison, yeah. That was my first year doing that particular show. And it was amazing  getting to meet, like Andy Mill was there. It was just like all these guys that I really look up to and admire. I was like, “Wow,” you know? It was crazy.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, it's amazing, right? So in four years, you go from tying a Wooly Bugger  to, like, being, you know, a prominent tyer on Fly Tyer Row. We're gonna talk about your fly tying event coming up. You know, how did you progress so quickly?

Adam Hortenberry: I really paid attention to detail and I watched a lot of Kelly's videos, ironically. And, like, he's very meticulous about, like, the amount of wraps you do, the amount of material you put on, why you're putting it on, etcetera, etcetera. It's just managing your materials is number one in fly tying, and I don't think. I don't think people do it enough. And  you know, I think sometimes people just slap stuff on a hook and add more rubber and they call it a fly. I mean, that's cool, too. But I don't know, I like to put things on for a purpose.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting, but I mean, there's gotta be a little bit more to it than watching some Kelly videos cause there are a lot of people that do that. So, you know, I'm gonna push a little bit harder to get you to cough up the secret sauce.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah. I mean, I truthfully think I just got obsessed and just kept doing it. Reading books. That's a huge one. People don't like, guys my age don't do, you know, in their twenties to thirties. They just they're afraid to buy that book and just commit instead of just YouTube is like really read it, understand why they're doing it. And then, you know, you kind of have to get obsessed in a weird way to hone your craft, so to speak. Like, you gotta dial it in. You gotta tie 100 bad flies to get the good one. Really just repetition and really pay attention to what you're doing and have attention to detail.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so what are some of your favorite tying books so that you can kind of help some of your younger generation brethren?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. Yeah. I mean, I would start out with Modern Streamers, Kelly, Kelly Galloup. And then follow that up with Bob Popovics. Either of his books, the Pop Fleyes or the, oh, the second one, I'm blanking on it, but, that's a huge one.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, I think it's Fleye Design.

Adam Hortenberry: Fleye Design.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. It's the one he co-wrote with Jay Nichols, right?

Adam Hortenberry: Yep. Yeah, that's it. And then Blane books, tremendous. I like, what's his name? Jake. I think it's Jake, the smallmouth guy from Pennsylvania.His book's really good.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. Villwock.

Adam Hortenberry: Yep. Yeah, he's really, I like his book a lot. And those are some great  books for trout and smallmouth bass. Tim Landwehr has one, too. I think it's called Smallmouth Basics, or one of those. I'll send you all the books I was referring to so people can look them up cause they're huge, in my opinion, especially for smallmouth. But  those are huge, And then in the trout world, I love Craven stuff. Charlie Craven.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. I mean I think his kind of introductory tying book is probably one of the best tying books I've ever read.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, Charlie's. Yeah, I would agree. Yeah. If you're a trout guy, you need that on your tying desk.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And then you can go down the rat hole and buy his nymph book and his streamer book and everything, so. 

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, support him for sure, man. These people are tremendous in our industries, for sure. Buy their books and, you know, support them.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And it's interesting on the video side cause it's funny you say that, you know, because I'm kind of working on this book project. And so all of Kelly's old school videos, like, I mean, there's all the stuff he does on YouTube. I think he probably needs his own FCC license at this point. But, you know, all of his old school stuff, you can actually find those on Vimeo and buy them or rent them.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah, I saw those actually, like, you know, back when I first got started typing on Google, where to, you know, what to do, where to find anything.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And then I would say the other thing on the video front is, if you haven't checked out FishingTV it's insanely cheap. It's like six bucks a month. And they're, they're old. like DVD, VHS tapes of Bob Clouser and Lefty Time Flies, and Bob telling the story of the Clouser Minnow. I know Popovics’...

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah

 Marvin Cash..videos are up there as well, so that's another great place for people to go.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, that was some of, that's from, like, the nineties. And then the stuff from the other guy, like Lefty and Bob, those are, ah, tremendous videos. And Joe Humphreys is on there, too. His little documentary. It's amazing. Love that documentary.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, I'm gonna push one more time, cause, again, you can buy books and you can watch videos, but you don't go from zero to a hero in four years. So what did you do?

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah. So, I mean, I just picking the brains of guys at shows. Honestly, like, what really has helped me progress. My buddy Rob, he's not like you know, he's not big on social media. He has one, but he'll be at my event that we'll talk about in a bit. But he, he's been tremendous with, like, you know, helping me out and what to do, what not to do kind of thing, and then just, just overall, like, asking people their opinions, like, “Hey, does this suck? Does this look good? Like, be honest. Don't, don't shy away.”  If you really want to get good at fly tying, you have to kind of find that person that'll just be honest with you. Not just be nice to you for social media, you know?

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting. So I think Sundays at the fly fishing show are great days to get that kind of intel.

Adam Hortenberry: Huge days. Yeah. This year in Marlboro on Sunday, very insightful. Yeah, it was. It was, after the show was even better. It was football, a couple of cocktails and laughs. You know, it was, it's the best time to learn.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so you start tying in 2020, right? So when did you decide, hey, I want to be a production fly tyer?

Adam Hortenberry: I would say a couple years after that. Yeah. And I started that up, and I thought I was gonna, like, just destroy it, and I had a few hiccups. And it's very. It was very. A lot of lessons learned early on, and then I've kind of dialed back on that sort of thing. And then I kind of, I'm focusing on  trying to create my own stuff, too. So instead of producing, like a Blane's Changer Crawl, I'm trying to dial that back because he has his own thing going, too. So I'm trying to just, you know, make my own mark eventually, but, you know, slowly but surely work on my own stuff.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so what were some of those surprises and lessons you learned as you kind of went down the production time path?

Adam Hortenberry: Production tying and overall, the industry is just, don't try to rush it, because you're not gonna get there super, super fast. You got to kind of pay your dues, you know? Just sit back and, you know, you'll get there eventually. And with the production tying, it's a lot of work, man, like for the production flies tied overseas, I give those people kudos because it's tremendous to sit there and tie, you know, a dozen game changers. I ask anyone to do it, get consistency. It's very time consuming. Away from your family and friends and fishing, like, what we like doing.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting, too, right? Cause, I mean, my impression is, you know, there's a difference between, like, you being a production tyer and cranking out Parachute Adams and, you know, being a production tyer tying, you know, I'll just call them loosely, predator flies, right?  And it's kind of like, you know, people call you like, “Dude, I need a dozen of these tomorrow.”

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, unrealistic expectations are a big thing. But you kind of have to be nice about it, too, cause you don't want to be that butthead at the shows or with your customers or your friends, you know, “Hey, dude, I need a dozen of these supplies for my trip.” Oh, I normally just tack on a service fee, and they kind of understand, you know, cause you have to sacrifice at that point. So, you know, if people want flies like that cranked, I normally, you know, there's, you know, you just tack on your fee, make your time worthwhile.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, but, I mean, particularly during COVID I mean, dude, just getting hooks and materials was hard. So, I mean, it wasn't like you could just kind of, you know, pull flies out of the air.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah. That was huge. Yeah. And then, like, then I didn't have some commercial accounts and stuff, so it was also like, oh, man, it adds up quick. Yeah. And, like you said, like, hooks, like, you just, that's another reason I learned never go with a specific hook  brand. Like, just kind of keep it loose, like, size one, size two. You know, stick to the three you like cause it'll change quick. Now we're looking good in the industry. But then it was like, oh.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, and that's even before having to think about collecting and remitting all that excess tack stuff, too, which is an absolute nightmare for fly tyers.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, that's a big piece of it. That's another reason why I'm kind of like, oh, all right. Let's figure something else out.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Adam Hortenberry: I still want to tie flies and stuff, but, like, maybe I'll just try to create a commercial fly and keep it low key and not have to worry about it as much.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. That's a lot of brain damage to move twelve game changers, you know?

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah. 100%.

Marvin Cash: So, you know, as you kind of, you've got in this production groove. And I know you're not doing as much of it as you used to, but, you know, I was wondering if you could maybe share three tips for mere mortal tyres that you kind of learned on that journey to kind of help folks kind of up their game.

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. One big piece is like preparation. Kind of like, like a chef does. You know, you got your Mirepoix and, like a, blah, blah, blah. You got everything ready to rock. I would do the same in fly tying. You know, set out your, your feathers. We'll just use a feather game changer, for example, to make it easy. You know, those little prepping stations from Hareline are a huge asset to your fly tying bench. Prep your feathers in advance, you know, pluck them all up nicey nice. Get everything ready, you know. Get your shanks ready. Have everything at the ready that you're gonna use and then clean as you go is a huge piece because some desks can look and it just overwhelms you. And you, you know, if you want a production tie for your own box, it just makes it a nightmare. Yeah, that's a huge piece. 

Another easy one is like Morrish Hoppers or like a Chubby is just stamp it out, get it ready, you know, crank them. Because it can be intimidating to have all those materials flying around. And you're jumping around for material. Like just do one fly at a time and do like six.For a normal tyer., I would do, you know, “Okay, I got Squirmy Wormy, I'm gonna do six.” Just do sixes and twelve and your boxes will be really full. That's a huge piece. I learned from some guys at shows. Always tie six or twelve and then, you know, you got some for your box and some to sell, you know? 

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting you say that cause, I mean, that was kind of how like me, particularly when I was, you know, trying to get better at tying dry flies, I would do six and then I go down a size and tie six and go down a size and tie six. And that was a trick. So I guess I'll give you credit for maybe like one and a half. I'll squish those together. And I think those hareline blocks you're talking about are the ones, right? I think Drew Chicone has them. But they're basically like blocks of foam. They have slits in them, right? That you just kind of, it's almost like a male, it’s like a bill holder almost, right?

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah. Yeah. You could probably craft one yourself. But they're like, they're like six bucks.. Like just go to your fly shop and get one, you know? Yeah, they're super helpful. Like huge piece of my, my tying and many others. Many other people's.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so what's tip number two?

Adam Hortenberry: Organization is huge. It kind of tacks in with the other one, but it all kind of goes together. So organization is huge. Sometimes I'm really bad about that, I'll admit it. But organization is huge. Like, that's, that’s another reason why I like Landon, is cause like, I really like to observe people when they're doing something. Not just sit there and watch them. Just to watch them is like, the dudes, everything's organized. Hooks, you know, his pine squirrel for his leech with patterns and et cetera, et cetera. Everything's meticulously organized, so that when he goes to tie, it's right there where he knows it is. So stay organized on your bench and on your desk, too. That's a huge piece, is organization and preparation. 

And then third would have to be planning. You know, It kind of goes into preparation as well. But just make sure you have everything ready to rock. And, yeah, and then the slash to that would be, consistency with your flies is, you know, if you do two wraps on that, do two wraps on the other, etcetera, etcetera. Make a match, and It'll give you confidence in your fly too, cause you don't want the wonky doodle one. That's the one you'll never fish. You always have that one sitting in your box, wasting space.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's funny you say that. I remember Tim Cammisa convincing me to, like, you know, cut all the stuff off my crappy flies for the hooks. And that was like a two and a half hour football game, beer drinking thing. That was. I was like, I should have just put them on corks and thrown them in the trash can. But…

Adam Hortenberry: That's a huge commitment. So, and props to Cammisa.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, but I didn't slice…

Adam Hortenberry: for convincing you

Marvin Cash: …I didn't slice my fingers open. And then, of course, some of them I tied, you know, from my early days of tying. So I had to basically, you know, go get my digital drug scale, so that I could try to figure out, you know, what the hook was based on what I had. But, you know, you know, in terms of organization, do you generally like to have your vise and tools kind of set up the same way every time or for every pattern?

Adam Hortenberry: Pretty much, yeah. Like, I'm, I mean, with the Norvise, for example, it has the different jaws, so sometimes you gotta beef up the jaws if you're going, you know, bigger saltwater stuff like Popavicks’ flies or whatnot. For the most part, yes. For different vises, you know, it's gonna be a little bit different, you know, but like the Renzetti, for example, you're gonna  just flow with it. You know, it's easy peasy. Regal, same way. So, you know. PEAK, whatever you got. HMH, whatever the vise company is, just, you know, get it to your comfort level and try to keep it that way. That way, your flies are coming out consistent.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And in terms of kind of organization, kind of on the on the bench part, I mean, are there any kind of particular ways you like to store particular materials?

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, right now, I use, like to simplify things, which is something I didn't do before. So, for example, like, it's, we'll just say game changers again, just to make it easy. But I'll have my, you know, my thread scissors and then my larger curve scissors for the trimming process, like, you know, how Blane does, you know, to get it nicey nice, and the good taper. So having those ready to go, and then, for the Norvise, we have, you know how you have to, like, load the threads all onto the spools and whatnot? So, I prepped those in advance, have those ready into the little container, and I have the colors I need ready to go next to me. Or I have them preloaded on a bobbin. And then for a regular tyer, I would say just load them, like if you got a fire orange and a black, load them up ready to go. So you can just swap in between the two. So that's huge pieces in production tying, in my opinion. You know, having what you need ready to go.

Marvin Cash: Yeah

Adam Hortenberry preloaded. 

Marvin Cash: Yeah. But anything like, you know, any particular interesting way you, like, store feathers or hooks or keep flash from getting all smushed or anything like that you want to share with folks?

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. So, the,Flashabou, I just hang, like, on a one of those, what are they called? Oh, whatever, you know, like the tool rack things. So I use those with little pegs on them for the flash cause I like to have mine exposed, like I'm at a fly shop, you know? So I can kind of see all my colors. It's just the way my brain works. But, and it keeps it from getting all ratty. And then feathers I keep in these, like, industrial bags we use, in the cooking world. And I put, like those little food, you know, moisture things in there with them, and I zip them up so that there's no chance that buggies are gonna get in there, which is a huge piece. And keeping chicken around or any dead critters, you know? I seal all those stuffs up, like the feathers and the deer hides. I. I put it in big, like, food safe, like, Ziploc bags beefed up. And I zip them up nice and airtight and throw a couple of those little packets in there. And iIt keeps all the critters away if there are any.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's that'll make you cry for sure. Yeah, I'm trying to think, you know, any kind of tricks about like how you like to organize your hooks or your beads or anything like that you wanna  share with folks?

Adam Hortenberry: I just use a couple of Hareline items, and then I use simple tackle boxes from Bass Pro, honestly. Like it's, it sounds so silly, but they're so cheap. And you go buy a five pack and load it up with your beads and your hooks and your cones and all that stuff. Even you could, you could probably put some threads in there, too, if you wanna go that route. I got a thread organizer from JOANN’'s actually. They have them. So I put all my little threads on there ready to go, color code them and that makes life easy, too.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's funny you say that cause I've got one of those racks, too, with like a bajillion spikes for holding spools of thread.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, yeah, they're, they're a really good piece.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. It's it's interesting too, cause I think probably the only thing I can, you know, one of the things I do is I have, I buy those like, you know, individual like three-ring binder hooks. And you buy a whole box of them for like two or three bucks at like Office Depot or Staples. And that's kind of how, you know, since hooks now are in boxes for the most part. 

Adam Hortenberry:Yep. 

Marvin Cash: Super easy to do and organize beads the same way. And then I guess also, you know, dubbing. Yeah. But that's an obsession in and of itself. And then you start going to places like JOANNA's or Hobby Lobby and you come out and you know..

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah

Marvin Cash: You try not to like buy any like you know, silk flowers or anything, but you know, get some containers and beads and pliers and stuff.

Adam Hortenberry: Mhm. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of interesting.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. So do you have any favorite materials you like to tie with or maybe stuff that you're playing around with right now?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. I'm obsessed with like a lot of the stuff from Enrico EP,  a lot of his brushes and stuff. I think, man, I was talking to him in Edison, and he just like obviously the Tarantula, the Wooly Critter, like all those brushes are phenomenal for what we do with game changers and crayfish flies, shrimp flies, baitfish flies. A lot of his stuff just makes life easy. But,  a lot of the stuff he has coming out and some of his production flies, man, that he has tied. And just in general, his stuff is crazy. Like, he's very meticulous, man. And he, I love his materials. So EP, I love the EP stuff. 

And then, I'm obsessed with rubber legs for some reason. I don't, I don't know what it is, but Sight Cast has some really cool rubber legs if people want to check those out. I'm not affiliated with either of them, really. But those are huge. Those are awesome.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. So have you gone down the rat hole of making your own brushes?

Adam Hortenberry: I was going to, and then I was like, you know what? No, for now, I'm good. Like, Enrico, I think, has a dialed in his Foxy brushes, his Tarantula brush. I mean, they're just so good. And he's a really, I think, he's awesome. Nice guy.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting. In Edison, I remember watching Squimpish Flies  making brushes, and it was just mind blowing, right?

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, that's one company I forgot to mention. That Squimpfish of course, I mean, David Nelson and his wife, oh, my God. Tremendous people. Their material is fantastic as well. I don't tie too much of that big stuff anymore. I don't use it too much. But, what you can do with that, with those materials is tremendous. So if you, if you're a, you know, musky guy or tarpon or steelhead, like, you need to check David's stuff out.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. It's an amazing thing. I mean, you know, kind of once Bob cracked the code on getting size without, you know, in creating something that was bigger that you could cast. I mean, those brushes…

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah.

Marvin Cash: …are insane, right? 

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, yeah.

Marvin Cash: But, you know, another question I always like to ask serious, tyers is, I bet you have some kind of goofy bizarro tool on your tying table that you can't live without. I was wondering if you could share that with us.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, I mean, maybe it would have to be, everything else is pretty common. I would have to say a BIC pen..A BIC pen. Or,  I use the finger comb brushes, you ever seen those? I don't know if it's crazy or whack a doodle, but it's very essential to what I do. Like, some guys use, like, regular combs, but this is like a little finger comb. Looks like a cat toy thing. It's really. I can say it has tons of little spikes on it. So that's what I use a lot.

Marvin Cash: Oh, I'm with you. It's kind of like a dog or a pet brush, but it's the one that you like, put on your finger. Is that, is that what you're talking about?

Adam Hortenberry: Yep. Yeah.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. I would say that's an unusual one, for sure. Yeah. You're the only person on over 800 episodes of The Articulate Fly to say that you use a finger brush when you fly tie.

Adam Hortenberry: I think it's a just you. It's for consistency and, not, not making sure you trap the fibers and all that stuff. It's huge.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And I would imagine, right, you're using the BIC pen. You're just throwing the, the pen part away and you're using it to reverse tie bucktail and stuff like that?

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah. Yeah. There's some really expensive cool tools from, I'm sure, awesome companies. But, man, when in doubt, I pick it out. You know, it's right there. Ready to go. So.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's funny, I can remember, gosh, was, might have been the last fly tying symposium before COVID. People were like, for whatever reason, someone had told me a story before how they, like, they didn't have any bobbin threaders, and they didn't like to suck the thread into their bobbins. And so I went on Amazon and, you know, bought like 5,000 of them for like $5 before COVID and was just passing out like, you know, 25 and 50 packs of threaders. “I was like, dude, if you lose it, you got 49 more.” So.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, honestly, you know, that's a huge one that people don't think about. I like having that bobbin threader, especially with the Norvise setup. Just cause it makes it easier. Like, I don't mind doing it that way with, you know, getting it up with the mouth. But you know, it's very, it's just so convenient to have that little threader.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. I would say though, you know, once you start playing around with, let's just say, kind of either really fine or kind of non-traditional threads, that little trick, I mean, you pretty much have to have a threader, right?

Adam Hortenberry: I agree. Yeah. Like with your nano silks and GP, GPS, GSP’s,and whatnot. Yeah. You gotta have it. It makes life way easier.

Marvin Cash: Here, you start doing crazy stuff like weaving bodies and you're splitting embroidery threads. Stuff like that.

Adam Hortenberry: Exactly.

Marvin Cash: So, you know, if you're not crazy enough, you start, you know, fly fishing in 2018. You take up tying in 2020. 2022, you say, I want to be a production fly tyer. And, you know, now the, you've bitten off, you know, organizing the Rhode Island Fly Bash, which is going to happen, I guess, middle of July. And, you know, what on earth made you say “Well, hey, you know, why don't I create a tying event in New England in the summertime?”

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, I got a lot of weird looks, to be honest. A lot of naysayers at first, at first. Most of them are on board now. But, I wanted to combine a lot of my passions, which is music. You know, I played drums in punk band, and I wanted to do that. And then the venue we're gonna be at my band played, and I was sitting there, and you can see Newport from the venue, like when you're playing the show. I'm on the drum kit. You can see Newport in the background. And I'm thinking, imagine if you're on this thing, giving a presentation about fly tying. As you can see, the bay in front of you. Like, how much better is that? And, of course, there's already booze on site. And that just makes things a little more interesting. Stories get a little more elaborated. The fun begins, so to speak. So I think it's just a great combination of what we love, you know, in one way or the other.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, let's do, you know, you know, you wanna share some of the tyers that have committed to the event already?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. I won't go down the full list, but I’ll go, I'll name some of them. We got Tim, Tim Flagler's the main guy. He's gonna do a presentation on what, I don't know yet, but, you know, it's. I'm sure he'll have something cool for you. And then, the second fellow doing a presentation is Joe Cordero with the Flatwing. He's a Rhode Island staple, New England staple, in my opinion. He'll have his books and some, you know, obviously, he's gonna  bring all of the chicken feathers for you. And then, a few other names. My buddy Rob will be there, who I mentioned, the guy who I really look up to tying. And I don't have a full list on me right now, but I'll send you the list, and you can put it on here. But, a lot of great tyers that you would see at the fly fishing shows normally, as well. So,  a lot of Jersey guys, a lot of guys from New England. Sgt. Bassfisher is coming. So that'll be the deer hair guy. And we kind of have all the bases covered. Trout, saltwater and warm water for, you know, it's not just a one-stop shop. It's more than that. You're gonna learn everything. It's not just saltwater. It's not just trout. It's well-rounded tyers.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And it's interesting, too, cause I think the great thing about these kind of smaller tying events is that, you know, you get to really spend a lot of one-on-one time with the tyers

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, that's a huge piece I wanted to include. So I've been. I kind of just made the decision about 2 hours ago. I'm gonna  do it i like a bench format, you know, as you would see at some of the, where people can sit down in front of you versus just stand there awkwardly. So they can just sit down with you and, you know, you can run them through a pattern, like, kind of like the Sowbug show out in Arkansas, but, like, where you can actually spend 25 minutes with someone here, and I'm just standing there gawking over them. You can sit down, have a conversation, sip your beer or water, wherever you're into, and, you know, have that discussion with them, you know, and everyone will be there available, you know, to tie. I forgot to mention Bart Lombardo is also going to be there with his buddy Lou and Panfish Guy, and he's something special. I love that guy.

Marvin Cash: Very neat. And so, you know, in terms of kind of a run of the day, you know, you're gonna have two presentations and then just kind of open time. Have you got kind of anything else going on you want to share with folks?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. Yeah, we got, we have, a couple of vendors Squimpfish, which is David Nelson and his wife Steph's company. We're gonna have tons of raffles. Another company called, High Guys Fly Co They're going to be, he's, gonna be selling materials. bucktail, you know, chicken, all sorts of stuff. So we'll have two or three vendors there, raffles, from TFO Rod, Oros bobbers, or strike indicators, sorry. Angler’s Coffee, all sorts of goodies. EP kicked in huge with a massive amount of materials for everybody. Yeah, it's gonna be nice. We got tons of raffles and all the proceeds from the raffle are going to Project Healing Waters.

Marvin Cash: Very, very neat. And so if someone wanted to either attend the event or, you know, if you've got an open tying slot, grab one of those. Where can folks go to get more information?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. You can go to the RI Fly Bash page on Instagram, or you can just email me and I'll send you the email for that. You can tag it on with this. But, yeah, it's gonna be huge. It's going on July 13. It's ten to five, and it's a one-day thing. So, and there's a food truck on site, you can be there. You can hang out all day for all your fishing needs.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And your craft beer needs, too, right?

Adam Hortenberry: Exactly. Yeah. Awesome brewery.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, I will drop that link in the show notes for you. But then also, too, I know you're kind of scaling back, but I'm sure people can go to the tying flies forum If someone has. If someone has a burning desire to give you money for flies, where should they go?

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, just hit me up on Instagram. And in my bio, I have my website, which is anchorflytackle.com. You can, you know, I limited the amount of flies that are on there, but there's plenty of options. And hit me up. I'll tell you whatever you want to. I don't mind doing custom orders still. I just, you know, from now until July, it might be a little delayed, but I'm happy to do it.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. Or it may cost a premium, right?

Adam Hortenberry: No, no, I'll get it done. Just beware. I'm a little distracted at the moment.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, is there anything else before I let you go this evening, Adam, that you want to share with our listeners?

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, no. Just. Just have an open mind. Don't have a huge ego and really try to embrace any knowledge that anyone's willing to gift you from a nobody to important people at shows, you know? Just be willing and always be willing to learn, you know? That's huge in my books. That's why I'm doing the show.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And it's an amazing thing, too. I think these kind of smaller tying events are great cause it's so hard if you can't make a Sunday morning at one of the fly fishing shows to kind of get that one-on-one time with the tyers. Yeah, it's one of the reasons why I like the Fly Tying Symposium so much.

Adam Hortenberry: Yeah, no, that's, that's, that's why I like, that's why I wanted to do it is cause you could just, you can get that one-on-one that you, that you want. You know, it's, it's. How do you learn that pattern? What did you do? You know, where'd that thread go? Okay, show me that again. You know, technique is more or less what I want people to get down when they get to come hang out with these people.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, got it. And so, you know, Adam, what's the best way for folks to follow your adventures at the vise and on the water?

Adam Hortenberry: Sure. Yeah, just,  Instagram, Adam.Hornberry. That's the main spot. Facebook, too. Just my name. Yeah, hit me up on there, and have a conversation. Let's have fun.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And,  you got everything in that link tree on your Instagram profile, and I'll drop all that stuff in the show notes for you.

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, thank you very much. Yeah, appreciate it.

Marvin Cash: Well, listen, I probably, I won't see you, before your event, but I wish you all the success in the world. And hopefully I will see you in 2025 or maybe like right before Thanksgiving in 2024 at the Fly Tying Symposium. 

Adam Hortenberry: Oh, you'll definitely see me there. Appreciate it.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. Well, listen, it's been a blast. Take care.

Adam Hortenberry: Alrighty. Thank you. Thanks, Marvin.

Marvin Cash: Well, folks, I hope you enjoyed that as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. And don't forget, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend and please subscribe and leave us a rating review in the podcatcher of your choice. I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July. Tight lines, everybody.