Enrico Puglisi

How it all began
By Mick Hall

I first met Enrico Puglisi nearly three years ago when I was invited to attend the British Fly Fair at Stoke-on-Trent in the north of England. At that time we were both tying flies and talking to all and sundry. We talked about methods and products that we use, places that we fish and all that stuff.

Enrico and I were actually sitting side by side, so naturally we conversed, swapped some flies and talked about the materials. Enrico was using his EP-Silky Fibers and showing the style of Saltwater flies that he is so well known for.

That’s Enrico in the yellow shirt; I’m in the light blue shirt next to him. It was a very busy show, we tied our thumbs off!!!

You probably know this already but Enrico was one of the leading pioneers in the development of the wide bodied style of saltwater flies. The EP-Silky Fibers that he developed to create his style of flies is unique, as you will see if you browse though the many patterns featured on his website: www.epflies.com Then you will see what I mean.

During the 2005 British Fly Fair I asked Enrico if he was doing a range of this winging material for the Freshwater market, as it was the best that I had seen. I had been using the EP-Silky Fibers during that Fair and it worked and worked well. So naturally I thought he would be crazy if he did not put this stuff on the Freshwater scene. His reply was no, as he did not really understand that side of the market. So with a gift of a bundle of EP-Silky Fibers under my arm, I headed back home to Australia.

In the peace and quiet of my office-library come fly-tying and fishing stuff room, I had more time to play with this fascinating fly tying medium.

It was a year later at the 2006 BFFI that I again met up with Enrico and we put the pressure on for that freshwater range. That was not only me but a lot of other noted fly tyers who were attending the fair. Well, the bottom line is, he finally agreed, especially when a cheeky tackle company was already doing it for themselves, using his EP-Silky Fibers and repackaging under their own label. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back but there was one proviso and that was I had to do it for him.

The project model was to put together a package of winging products that had been specifically designed to internationally compliment the winging colours found in Nature.

So the research started. Thumbing through lists of fly patterns, reference books and colour charts, I then looked at the colour comparisons with our natural winging materials, including items such as lemon duck, starling, wood duck, partridge, pheasant tail and so it went on.

Photographing Mayflies, Caddis, Stoneflies etcetera, has been a hobby of mine for many years and over that period I have accumulated a collection of around 7000 pictures of Mayflies and other bugs taken streamside and naturally, believe me, it helped make the job a little easier.

When you think there is something like 2500 species of Mayflies, 2000 stoneflies and 9000 caddis world wide, how do you come up with a range to individually match all of these bugs? The truth is you don’t, but we have developed a system that we believe overcomes this problem. A big statement, I know but here is how it all comes together. Because of the non-matting nature of the Trigger Point material, you can simply blend the colours to match what we are looking for anywhere in the world.