https://www.etsy.com/shop/StarkyFlies

Starky Flies LLC, Warsaw, IN (2026)

06/01/2026

In the immortal words of the great Harry Caray...Holy Cow! Seems like just a few weeks ago I was celebrating having 900 followers, and now, here we are at 1000+. I know that this is not a huge number by many people's standard, but I am humbled that so many of you have been nice enough to follow me on this journey. So, thank you. I will have to do something a bit more significant on the next give away. You guys are awesome!!!

Here is a little fish action for you. So far, Kentucky Lake is as beautiful as ever, and the fish are letting me have a little fun.

I took the shop offline for a few days just to take a little break. I have been pulling 12 to 14 hour days during the week between molding minds and crafting flies, and pumping out tons of fish catchers all weekend as well, so I just needed a small break. Of course, I say this after having whipped up some gillgetters in the cabin. I think I have a problem. The lighting is terrible, but I am getting them done.

Funny story, I am putting my gear away back at the cabin, and I strike up a conversation with a fellow bluegill guy. We get to talking, and he and his buddy come over and we're chatting about fishing, and they're asking me how I catch fish without worms because worms are getting so doggone expensive, and they are just nasty, so I start showing them some of the plastics and flies and jigs and everything else that I use, and one of the guys, Paul I think it was, says that he has seen my jigs somewhere and wondered where the heck he could pick some up. Needless to say by the end of our conversation he and his buddy had a few "to give a try." They didn't have any light line, so I let them use a spool of 4 lb test to help get them set up to pitch some of those tungsten bugs I gave them. They wanted to pay me, but I thought it'd be better if they just paid it forward to the next guy. So, I hope you're the next guy.

This really can be a cool sport and community. Thanks again...now for some fish pics.

05/24/2026

Finally seeing the light at the end of a gillgetter tunnel. I have been wearing out my vise this week making custom orders for fishermen. I am humbled that so many people trust me to help them catch fish. That's what it is all about.

I try to mix in plenty of fun with the work, and the gills and redear have been active for me for sure.

Feel free to message me here at Facebook if you want to place an order. I'm going to be sort of in and out over the next couple weeks on my starky flies Etsy shop as I try to keep up with orders and do a little traveling to try out some products and see my friends down in Kentucky. Thanks again to everyone who placed an order this week.

If you're getting tired of having wormy fingers and want to try something that is both highly successful and just a lot of fun message me about a kit or see if you can get a friend to make some things like this because catching bluegill and red ear and crappie on these little bugs is a blast.

05/18/2026

Was a busy week, but I managed to get some spawning gills and redear and some staging females full to bursting. Right now, the best luck I have had is around scattered, small clumps of lily pads in 1 to 3 feet of water. I am pitching an a-justa-bubble with a slow sinking bead head (in pic below) or a larva lace fly. And I busted out the fly rod for several hours this week as well. So much fun pulling them out of the pads. I know I make my own flies, so it is easier to take risks, but I think I only lost 2 flies all week, and one was just a frayed spot where a knot had formed.

Anyway, I was talking with my pops today, and we were talking about the most effective fly I have created over the years, and hands down, we agreed that the lightweight bead head nymph either dropped on a fly rod or fluttering behind a float has caught the most fish for us through the decades. It started as a buggy dubbing body, but now I normally go flashier with them. We often fish it naked, but we also tip it with a small chunk of gulp alive waxie to add a little scent. Something about this pattern that drives gills nuts.

I have also been busy making tons and tons of tungsten gillgetter jigs for lots of folks around the country. Thanks to my Kentucky lake friends, Tony from Big T Guide Service LLC and his cousin Anthony for helping me to grow this small business. If you are looking for a guide, Tony is hands down one of the best in the business. Also, a big thanks to Jason Sealock for mentioning my flies and for linking my shop in one of his articles. If you aren't reading his stuff or watching his videos, you are missing out on some high quality fishing content.

And of course thanks to all the folks who have been sharing pics and success stories with me. It warms my heart to know that I play a small part in the success of so many folks out on the water...especially on those days when the fishing is tough. I am gonna create a post of just customer pics soon. Have to get some permissions first.

05/10/2026

What a busy couple of weeks. I haven't had any time to post or really do much of anything other than work, fish a little bit, and make bugs. You guys are keeping me hopping for sure. Thank you for all the orders this last couple weeks. It has been really fun getting these orders out and talking with people about fishing. Here are some pics of some of the orders I recently did, and a few fish pics.

This week the fishing was hit and miss as the fish are trying to figure out what the heck to do with the water temp's going up and down. One day they are fired up to get down to business, and the next they are scattered about. It seems like right now if you can find shallow water, like 2 feet or less, with sparse lily pads or holes in the moss, you can start catching some pre-spawn males and the females are hanging a bit further out.

This week my top producers were a lightweight bead head nymph and a new pattern that a friend showed me that is an old school leech pattern on a jig head. They really like that one a lot. Have to try it out a few more times to see if it's a real keeper. So far I like what I'm seeing.

If you need any jigs or flies please PM me. I just finished up a pretty good sized order, and I'm getting ready to make some stuff for myself, but I should have a little time over the next couple of days to get some jigs made.

04/28/2026

So, one of my followers, a fellow Hoosier and excellent angler, Tony, sends me these pics of his son Drake, and I just had to share. Although I don't set my flies to catch the bigguns, that did not stop this young man from having a ball with one of my creations. He didn't catch any gills on it that day, but he nabbed 5 good bass. Well done Drake!!! He won't forget this day, that's for sure. So glad they shared this with me. Thank you gentlemen! This is what it is all about.

04/27/2026

And the winner is... Bruce Gaskins!!

Thank you to all of you for your guesses. Next chance should be coming soon. Only 38 to go until 1000. Might have to do something more significant on that milestone.

04/25/2026

One more day to get your guesses in. I will be generating a random number tomorrow evening. It has been a busy week at Starky Flies LLC. Lots of orders from around the country.

We are firmly in spring/summer mode now, so lots and lots of orders of bluegill and crappie jigs. I also managed to get out a few times this week with mixed results. Overall, I got lots of nice gills and crappie. I was scouting out several lakes this week. I think at last count I visited at least five lakes since last weekend.

Let me know if you need anything. I finished up a few big orders last night, and haven't seen any new ones roll in yet so there's a slight window. PM me or check out my Etsy shop. If you don't see what you need there, just drop me a note and I can throw together a custom order for you. I take Venmo, PayPal, and can do credit card with private sales as well.

04/19/2026

You know how if you spend the whole day sitting there staring at a bobber on the waves and you close your eyes to go to sleep, you can still see that bobber? I think I'm having dreams of gillgetter tungsten jigs and snails right now. Although I'm making lots of other things, it seems to be the time of year when that one-two punch becomes very popular.

So I have decided to give away a new variation on the gillgetter and a flashier version of the snail I messed with in Kentucky to celebrate crossing the 900 followers threshold. That number jumped quickly since my last post, and now we are 957 strong.

So, all you have to do is pick a number between 1 and 957 in the comments. The person who gets closest gets these four jigs. The gillgetters are in the color we call "Kentucky Lake" because that's where they became very popular. The snails are root beer brown with gold flashy stripes.

A couple of special notes:

1. I will never reply to your comments that you won. So if you get a congrats reply, it is a bot.

2. If there is a tie or a number is repeated, the person who posted earliest will get them.

3. I will announce the winner a week from today, so get your guesses in ASAP.

04/09/2026

Two things. First of all, I am back at the vise...well, I never actually left it. I just had limited supplies with me in Kentucky. Second, I blinked, and about 15 people followed Starky Flies LLC and took me over the 900 followers mark. So you know what that means? Got a giveaway for my followers coming for reaching the next 100 followers. Stay tuned as I will be putting out the ground rules soon.

For now, just enjoy the pic of this beautiful Kentucky lake redear. Not one of my better trips for numbers or size on the gills, but I caught a dozen or so redear at or over 12 inches. Next stop 13 or 14. 2lb test for most of them. So much fun!

04/08/2026

There is just something special about Kentucky Lake that keeps calling me back. Could be the chunky gills, the massive redear, or the plentiful crappie. Or the fine folks I have met down here. It is definitely a place that is perfect for me to try out my new jigs.

I tied on a new, flatter design to the flatfish in a shad color, and the crappie were chomping it. And the tungsten fuzzy beaver tail was a hit with the gills and the redear. And of course, the jig that steals the show every time I am down there is the snail. I don't know what it is about that thing...they just love it.

I am opening the shop back up tomorrow evening. So if you need anything, my Etsy shop will be open, or you can just pm me for a custom order.

Starky Flies LLC

06/01/2026

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05/10/2026

04/28/2026

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