ABOUT
Welcome! I am the owner of Larry's Fly Box online. I began tying fly's in 1995 and have been designing fly's since 2011. My success in fly tying has prompted me to design my webpage, LarrysFlyBox.com to display some of my creations as well as other popular fly patterns. I hope you like it. Thanks for looking!
Growing up on a lake in Connecticut in the early ’60s afforded me the opportunity to learn to fish at an early age. I would spend many summer days fishing with my buddies for Sunfish, Bluegill, and Bass right in my own backyard with a spin caster. What got me interested in fly fishing was watching “The American Sportsman” with Curt Gowdy on ABC television on the weekends. As I watched Curt and his guests fly fishing the streams and rivers out west, I daydreamed I was standing in the stream next to them, catching trout on a fly.
I told my parents I wanted one of those do-it-yourself fly tying kits for my birthday. When I turned 10, I received a 9’, 5wt Eagle Claw fiberglass rod with matching reel and one of those Noll Fly Tying kits proclaiming “It’s fun! It’s easy! Tie your own!”. The kit had everything I needed to get started; a Thompson vice, materials, hooks and tools, including an instruction booklet. I remember the first fly I tied was a very simple wet fly, a white chenille body with a white hackle collar. I tied that fly on the end of my mono line, tossed it in the water, let it sink, and proceeded to catch my first fish on a wet fly, a white Crappie. I was hooked!
Unfortunately, high school, college, work, marriage and 3 kids put my fly fishing and tying on hold. Moving to Colorado in 1979 resurrected my fly fishing passion and I’ve never looked back. Meeting and learning from friend, mentor and Umpqua Signature Tier Charlie Craven in the 1990s, helped hone my fly tying skills. I became quite adept at tying trout flies and have had the opportunity to fly fish all of the western states, including Alaska.
Fast forward. I now live in Florida. Fishing for Bass, Panfish and the likes as well as fishing for Tarpon, Snook, Redfish and Sea trout—are quite different than fly fishing for trout out west. Fly tying is different for me too. While I still tie several hundred trout flies each year for my visits back to Colorado, I find myself tying larger flies for use in the salt or warmer waters.
From 2014 through 2019, I was President of the Tri-County Fly Fishers Club of Lake, Sumter, and Marion Counties and am currently President Emeritus, Fly Tying Coordinator, and Program Chairman. Since 2016 I have been a member of the Daiichi hook pro tier staff. I tie commercially for select clients throughout the United States and for fly fishing guides in central and southwest Florida. I have designed multiple patterns that are proven fish catchers in both fresh and salt water. I also teach fall and winter six-week courses on basic and intermediate fly tying at Grand Oaks Resort in Wiersdale, FL.
Please check our site periodically for updated offerings in both salt and fresh water flys. If there is something you are looking for and don't see it offered, please drop me a line and I'll see what I can do for you. Thanks for visiting our site.
Larry Nazzaro