JWFF September 2, 2010 Meeting

Here it is almost September and time to get together with your JWFF friends again next Thursday!
Hope to see you there.

DATE: Thursday September 2 , 2010

TIME: 6:30PM

PLACE: Ridgewood United Methodist Church
100 Dayton St.
Ridgewood, NJ 07450

TOPIC: Fall Striper Fishing Flies
Get ready for fall striper fishing by coming to see Enrico tie his world famous saltwater flies using his branded synthetic materials

PRESENTER: Enrico Puglisi

Bio: To learn more about Enrico, please visit his website: http://www.epflies.com

O8/28/01


Enrico Puglisi

Biographical Notes



Surrounded by the saltwater of the Mediterranean, Enrico learned about fishing in his native Sicily before he could walk while watching his father and uncles catching dinner. Gaudy chicken feathers that seemed to attract some of the largest fish especially intrigued him.

But his passion for fishing remained latent while he was urged to pursue a career in the culinary arts. He worked as a chef in a Sicilian hotel where he eventually met his American wife, Karen. After arriving in the United States in 1980, he continued to work as a chef.

Even though he was bound to the kitchen, he still found time to explore fishing opportunities here. With Karen's help he learned about fly fishing at the Connetquot River State Park Preserve on Long Island, and other New York State streams. After hooking his first trout on a fly it instilled in him an insatiable thirst to understand why fish "eat" wisps of wool and feathers on a hook.

Over the winter, Enrico taught himself to read English by subscribing to fishing magazines and reading books on flyfishing. He also discovered the Orvis catalogue and fly tying. Learning to tie flies for trout was a watershed experience for Enrico since these tiny imitations were quite different from the crude artificials he had constructed from his mother's chicken feathers on snelled hooks.

Since that year, Enrico expanded his knowledge of fish and what makes them strike an artificial fly. But something kept drawing him back to the sea.

So he took the knowledge he had recently accumulated about fresh water fishing and added it to his earliest memories about catching saltwater species. He then took to fishing several local Long Island beaches.

He opened The Practical Fly Shop in Little Neck, NY in 1992, where his customers encouraged him to create many of his innovative flies. But the rigors of fishing in saltwater and the toothy fish he pursued led him to experiment with more durable synthetic and natural materials to create flies. Those flies eventually became part of the catalog of offerings that are now marketed through Enrico Puglisi Ltd. as EP Flies and EP Fibers.

Today, Enrico no longer maintains The Practical Fly Shop, but through Enrico Puglisi Ltd., his innovative products are making a major impact on the future direction of saltwater flyfishing. His unique hand-tied flies are recognized around the world, and he has been invited to demonstrate his meticulous tying techniques across the United States and Europe. All of his patterns are designed to match specific baitfish and to be eminently fishable.

Enrico and his innovative style of flies were featured on The Reel Guys – an ESPN2 fly fishing show that aired in the spring of 2002. The show shows how effective Enrico’s flies are on East Coast striped bass.

Recently, while appearing as a featured guest tier at a major fishing show, a youngster standing with his father pointed to one of Enrico's creations and said, "Daddy, that looks like the fish in our fish tank."

"Yes, I know," said the father. "That's why it catches fish!"

That was a proud moment for Enrico because that's what he wants to create for his customers -- flies that catch fish!

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