What are the Aims of the Awards Scheme?
The aim of the Awards Scheme is to encourage members to develop and improve their fly tying skills at their own pace through a structured learning plan with progressive goals. The Scheme is meant to be informative, enjoyable and encourage camaraderie and co-operation amongst those taking part. In addition, it can also assist Branches and instructors in the planning and delivering of courses.
There are three levels of awards: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each level develops a series of techniques, with subsequent levels building on previous ones.
A Bronze level tier must be able to use straightforward materials and techniques to tie a small number of simple flies of a sufficient quality and consistency that they could be shared with friends, i.e. “Flies that Catch”, as the title of the syllabus indicates.
At Silver level, tiers must be able to tie a wider range of flies, using more complicated materials and techniques to produce more intricate patterns and closer representations of specific insects – hence the Silver Syllabus is called “Matching the Hatch”. The degree of consistency and the standard of the techniques applied must be a clear step higher than at Bronze level.
A Gold Level award signifies a highly accomplished fly tier, capable of demonstrating excellent application of a wide range of materials and techniques on a consistent basis across a variety of types of flies – “Flies to Frame” (or which should score highly in national and international fly tying competitions).
Brian Stokes receiving his Silver Award from Pat O’Reilly