It’s cold, very cold, the wind cuts into you, your beard freezes and if you’re not wearing gloves, you’ll get frostbite. It’s a January winter in Chicago, the second Monday of the month and of course that means a trip to Galloway Bay bar and the gang at Chi-tie.
But first Eric, his wife and I make a stop at Jinya, a Ramen Noodle Bar a bit up the street from Galloway Bay. Now this is a fishing blog but if you’re going to go downtown in the freezing cold to tie flies, you should stop here first. It’ll warm you up for the rest of the walk. The appetizers were good, I had a chicken Ramen that was excellent and by the time we finished our walk to the bar, I was ready to tie.
A couple of things you should know before going to Chi-tie. It’s dark in the bar, if something falls on the floor, leave it, unless it’s your expensive scissors, and if you have a light to attach to your vise, bring it. You’ll be glad you did. This is not your daddy’s tying group, in other words, you bring what you want to tie, buy a beer at the bar and sit and tie and kibitz with those around you, get some popcorn, buy another beer. It’s that type of group. Like going to a buddy’s house to sit and tie and drink but now you’re at a bar where you meet new people, sit and tie and drink. If you’re new to tying, there’s enough experienced guys around to help you and always someone experimenting with something.
Like Dave the leader of this rebel outpost. Dave Kuntzelman is the head of Chi-tie. A good fly tier, although I’ve never seen him tie anything smaller than a 1/0, to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen him tie anything smaller than 5/0. But Dave likes to tackle toothy critters, big fish and to catch the big fish, you need big flies. Also, in the bar, big flies are easier to see. He had a nice looking articulated crawfish pattern that I’m going to try and steal from him. Or borrow and never give back and see how it works on some of the places I fish.
So here’s the rest of the info, in case you need an address and all that:
Blog: http://chi-tie.blogspot.com/
Rebel Leader: d_kuntzelman@yahoo.com
Bar: currently at Galway Bay bar
500 W Diversey Ave, Chicago, IL 60657
Next time they meet: February 8th – hope it’s warmer by then
Stuart Van Dorn
