MEXICO – When teenage Joshua MacDonald saw the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, he decided the hurricane victims needed all the help they could get. He hasn’t seen anyone do it the way he proposes – by making and selling fishing flies.
He hopes to raise $1,000 by creating, with the assistance of Readfield fly-tier Selene Dumaine, show flies named for this year’s three devastating hurricanes in the South: Katrina, Ophelia and Rita.
Fly-tying is something the 15-year-old has done for five years. It’s something he loves.
“You can create so many things, show flies, nymphs, streamers, wet and dry flies,” he said.
He was only 10 when he first saw an expert fly-tier creating a work of art at L.L. Bean’s.
“I saw him fly-tying. He helped me get started. I picked up on it and I loved it,” he said.
Since then, he has developed a real appreciation for Carrie Stevens, a well-known fly-tier from Rangeley who was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has re-created many of the flies Stevens designed.
He started taking lessons about a year ago from Dumaine. They collaborated on the three show flies created for the fund-raiser:
• Katrina: MacDonald designed the blue, purple and black “Katrina” fly. Those colors, he said, were the colors of that severe storm.
• Ophelia: Its lighter blue colors symbolize the less severe storm that hit the Carolinas, he said. It was designed by Dumaine.
• Rita: The two worked together to create the green and purple Rita streamer fly.
“It was powerful, but faster than the others,” he said of the choice to use a streamer design.
Besides the flies, MacDonald is building the dark brown frames that display the set of three flies.
So far, he has sold only one set, to a lawyer in New Jersey who is hanging it in his office because the three flies are special editions. Joshua is asking a minimum of $75 for the set.
He has a Web site (macsflytying.com) where people can order the hurricane set. The site shows the framed special edition set, which is signed by MacDonald and Dumaine.
MacDonald has his own small business making a variety of flies, including some that are centerpieces in clear Christmas ornaments, and he writes about his hobby, or conducts interviews with other fly-tiers for Fly Tyer magazine.
MacDonald, a native of Mexico, is home-schooled by his mother and father, William and Tammy MacDonald, and his older sister, Beth.
He already knows what he wants to do when he finishes school. He wants to major in business in college, then go to work for an outdoor sports company like Orvis.
Meanwhile, as his Web site notes, he not only enjoys tying flies. “I love to fish with my flies on Maine’s rivers, ponds and lakes,” he wrote in his company profile.
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