Who the heck are these Saltwaterflies.com folks and what do they do?

Anglers surfing the web often wonder what really goes on here at Saltwaterflies.com, especially when considering purchasing flies or materials from us the first time. Here's the scoop on what we're all about...

Saltwaterflies.com was founded by Chris Windram in the spring of 1997. Mr. Windram began his career as a professional saltwater fly tier a few years earlier when the demand for quality saltwater flies was growing, and the supply of well-tied and well-designed flies was non-existant in many places. Mr. Windram made the commitment to tying saltwater flies full time by 1994, and was soon selling flies to top-end fly shops in various locations along the East Coast of the United States from Maine to Florida. Flies in hand, Chris would often travel to these shops on sales calls, and this created opportunities to sample the local fishing as well. Time not spent tying flies was spent fishing intensively, which provided chances to learn, improve fly fishing skills and ultimately to the designing and refinement of a series of saltwater fly patterns which remain important, productive patterns for many anglers to this day. A dedication to quality and service helped to round out Mr. Windram's reputation as a full-time professional saltwater fly tyer.

As saltwater fly fishing and tying in the United States grew in popularity during the early nineties, many excellent tiers began developing patterns to match conditions in areas that they fished. A tradition of matching the prevalant baitfish and invertebrates, and paying close attention to details like balance and sink rate began to create the same kind of tradition that trout fly tiers have enjoyed for many years - noticing the subtle patterns in nature, and recreating them as flies that would fool discerning fish. The list of tiers who developed useful patterns during this period are too numerous to mention, but tiers like Bob Popovics, Glen Mikkleson, Capt. Johhny Glenn, Bob Veverka, and more stand out as examples of New England tiers who influenced tying styles throughout the world. Please let it be known that we do not wish to omit any other fine tiers from due credit - dozens of other fine fly tiers working during this period also had a profound effect on the development of saltwater fly styles that continues to this day.

Mr. Windram's flies have been included in such fine books as Deke Meyer's Saltwater Flies - Over 700 of the Best, published in the mid-nineties, and later in Innovative Saltwater Flies by Bob Veverka, one of the finest and most beautiful books ever published on the subject. Saltwater fly tying and fishing articles penned by Chris at this time appeared in a variety of regional and national fishing publications.

With the advent of the internet in the 1990's, Mr. Windram made the jump from selling custom-tied saltwater flies at wholesale to fly shops, to creating an online catalog of flies and tying materials available to tiers and anglers worldwide. Together, Chris and his wife Jennifer attended many Fly Fishing shows around the country, working to get the word out about Saltwaterflies.com. As word-of-mouth quickly spread among internet fly tiers about the quality of the products and service offered, we gained the attention and patronage of many customers from locations around the world. Word-of-mouth and customer posts on internet fly fishing forums remain our best advertising, because folks tell it like it is. We are very pleased that so many fly tiers and anglers have provided us with the opportunity to serve them, and we pledge to continue to provide the level of quality and service that we have become known for.

Here at Saltwaterflies.com, we have a few basic precepts when it comes to the flies and materials that we offer. For fly tying materials, our concept is simple: we closely inspect all materials that we receive for quality - if we would not tie with it, we will not send it to you - our customer. We refuse or discard any materials that do not meet these standards. Some of these materials which don't quite meet standards, but still have some degree of usefulness we donate to youth fly tying programs who request such materials so that the younger generations will have a chance to experiment while learning to tie with an instructor.

Flies? Same deal. If we wouldn't fish with it, we won't send it to you. Though we offer many of the same patterns supplied by some of the "big guys", we inspect and sort all of the flies that we receive, and again, we refuse or discard any of those that don't match our standards for one reason or another.

In keeping with our tradition of quality, we go out of our way to try to obtain flies from domestic professional fly tiers whenever possible - flies tied by men and women who fish. Regardless of assertions that flies tied in overseas factories by major fly manufacturers can be as good as any others (and this is certainly possible), the fact remains that there is magic in flies tied by folks who fish. Knowledge and understanding of a gamefish species and how it operates in its environment translate into fly designs that have the correct balance, sink rate, color, and subtlety of movement required to fool discerning fish species like bonefish, striped bass, bonito, false albacore, permit, and more. Those anglers who become professional fly tiers are often among the best anglers in their field - true fishing addicts who live to fish and tie flies. It is always more difficult and more expensive to get flies from these local or domestic tiers, but we plan to continue our tradition of obtaining flies from these tiers. Though the supply of these patterns will always be limited, the quality of these flies will always remain among the best possible.

In closing, we would just like to say thank you, once again, to all of the people that have aided us along the way. To our families, friends, and teachers - thank you for your support and your guidance - without you we would not be who we are today. To our many fine customers - thank you for offering us the chance to serve you...it remains our hope and our pleasure to continue to serve you as best we know how. Best wishes and Tight Lines to all anglers, and health and long life to all.

Chris and Jennifer Windram