Stu's Story

2004 - Stu became a Royalty Fly Tier for the Umqua Feather Merchants fly tying pro team who produced 17 of Stu’s fly designs. Stu had no control over his designs so he dropped out of the program.

2005 - Stu became a Royalty Fly Tier and member of Rainy USA fly tying program. He was the first fly tier outside of America ever to sign a contract by a large American fly tying company.

2005 - Stu was commissioned to design and tie flies by an Auckland Real Estate company for the promotion for the selling of some NZ prime real estate life style properties. The fly designed and tied was called the Bendemeer Beauty.

2006 - Stu won the 1st gold medal for fly tying in Australasia – the People’s Choice Award in an international fly tying competition with his fly the Bionic Bug

2006 - Stu’s fly designs are featured in the book NZ best trout flies - 6 pages of flies

2006 - Stu became a certified IFFF Fly Casting Instructor

2006- Grub Club started

2007 - Stu released his cutting edge fly tying film, A Foam Odyssey

2007 - 'High flyer born to fish in NZ' - Southland Express, Oct 11, 2007

2007 - Stu went to the USA and became the 1st FFF certified master fly casting instructor in Australasia

2007 - Stu with the legend and inspiration Mel Krieger and other FFF Masters

2007 - Stu represented NZ Southland as a guest fly tier at the 22nd FFF conclave in Livingston, Montana, USA

2007 - Fly-fisherman Stu masters his goals Otago Daily Times

2007 - Rise Article in Trout Fisher magazine, August 2007

2008 - Article by Rob Sloane from FlyLife

2008 - Article in NewsLink Oct 2, 2008

2008 - Article In Troutfisher, February/March 2008 'Chasing your dreams or goals'

2009 - The Complete Flyfisherman - article about Stu bringing the foam back into the world of fly tying

2009 - Stu as a saltwater guide in Northern Australia, Cape York

2010 - Front cover of Flyfisher magazine, flies and article

2010 - Article 'Flash Flies' in 'Be Guided' Winter 2010 issue

2010 - The Southland Times article, Oct 29, 2010 'The Artistry of Fly-tying'

2010 - The Waters Of Greenstone featuring Stu

2010 - New York Times featuring Stu fishing the Mataura river - Jan 31, 2010

2010 - FlyLife Article, Autumn 2010 'Review - Stu's Superior Flies'

2011 - Flyfishing & Tying Journal, Fall 2011 – 'Neutral Buoyancy Nymphs' article

2011 - Stu’s fly designs are featured in the top selling fly fishing book The Trout Diaries

2011 - Stu’s flies were painted for the month October in the NZ fly fishing calendar

2011 - The Complete Fly Fisherman, Nov 2011 - Stu appeared besides well-known other fly fishing legends, authors and industry players e.g. Lefty Kreh

2011 - Election newspaper article, The Southland Times, Nov 2, 2011

2011 - SAGE advert featuring Stu's Fly Shop

2012 - Stu’s saltwater crab fly got a mention in The Western Australia Fishing Magazine Nov/Dec 2012, Issue 6

2012 - Stu was interviewed and filmed for the Willow Grub section of the award winning Fly Fishing Film 'Hatch'

2012 - Trout Fisherman article 'Foam? Subtle? Some mistake surely...'

2012 - 'The Essence Of Fly Casting', Derek Grzelewski

2012 - Article in Fliegenfischen (Germany’s biggest fly fishing magazine), Issue 1/13, Dec, 2012

2013 - FlyLife Magazine Article 'Shop Locally'

2012 - FlyLife Advert, Edition 69, Spring 2012

2013 - Front Cover of NZ Trout Fisher magazine, Feb/March 2013

2013 - Stu’s advertising and cutting edge marketing campaigns inspired professional Australian photographer Jesse Whyte

2013 - Some of Stu’s Superior Flies have been painted by Wanaka artist Stella Eve Senior for the NZ Trout Bohemia book

2013 - Stu's Fly Shop is listed at Landandsee.com

2014 - Stu is featured at 'Around The Mountains'

2014 - 'Fisherman Content in His Niche', Otago Daily Times

2014 - FlyLife Advert, Edition 75, Autumn 2014

2014 - Stonefly Magazine Advert

2014 - Trout Unlimited Advert, Summer 2014

2014 - Stu's Fly Shop and New Zealand Fly Fishing School are listed at www.newzealand.com

2014 - Field & Stream Review by Kirk Deeter, July 2014

2014 - Stu fly tying at Sage factory usa

2015 - Field and Stream Blog Q & A with Stu on the NZ Mouse 'Hatch'

2015 - TROUT Spring 2015 article

2015 - The Last Word in Denizen Magazine

2015 - Drake Fly Fishing magazine story

2015 - NZ fly school buys land

2015 - Australian fly fishing club talks

2015 - World's first trout truck

2015 - Trigger joins the team

2015 - Stu's book vision's

2016 - Stu's adventures, so many .

2017 - Stu's world famous fly shop - closes its doors

2017 - Stu starts on the new, NZ Fly School building and fish tank home

2018 - To the Jungle.

2018- The fly school /house takes shape

2018 - NZ Fly School, creative area & home is complete

2019- Trout Diaries books & Stu

2019 - Stu visits Nepal & India yet again - Two books

2019 - NZ fly fishing school, Stu opens new building and casting area.

2019 - Queenstown Writers Festial- Stu gives book talk

2020 - NZ fly fishing school History - 18 + years

2020 - Stu & fly fishing history

2020 - Jungle Blues book nearly finished

2020 - JUNGLE BLUES BOOK - Crowd funding launch

2020 -The Best Fly Fishing Book in Years - FROM ANGLING TRADE MAGAZINE

2020 - Jungle Blues vol-3 - book reviews

2017 - Stu's world famous fly shop - closes its doors

Having completed what he wished to do which was no mean feet in such a small town and country .

" To own and create the coolest fly shop in the world"

Stu had no choice to close it even though it actually did became world famous, featuring in untold media, print and films through out the world.

It struggled survive and did not make enough money to employ staff and Stu was being run into the ground trying to do all the jobs.

The next step was to sadly close its doors and go online with his fly designs and get stuck into some other goals and dreams.

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