My name is Donald Corey and I am the owner of Annika Rod and Fly located in beautiful sunny “downtown” Holden, Maine. I took my first fly tying class in 1976. It was run by our local Trout Unlimited chapter (Sunkhaze). I had the good fortune of having some fantastic early fly tying mentors. Ed Reif, Joe Bertolaccini, and Fran Montville. These men certainly influenced my tying in those early year.
I did a little fly fishing at that time and caught my first fish on a fly, a Landlocked Salmon, on a size 6 Black Ghost that I tied at that class. It was caught on Grand Lake Stream. I took several years off and rekindled my fly tying interest in the mid 1990’s, again with the TU class, this time as a “helper”.
It was also at this time that I developed an interested in building my own fly rods. My first rod was a 9’ 6 wt Diamondback blank that I built on my dining room table using a cardboard box for a wrapping stand. I applied the finish on my kitchen counter (sorry Diane) while watching a Dale Clemens VCR tape that I rented.
Annika Rod and Fly was born in March of 2000. It is named after our 2 daughters, ANNa and erIKA. ARF started as a way to help underwrite my fly tying/rod building purchases, but over the years it has become a fairly busy part-time operation. I have plans this spring (2011) to “kick it up a notch”, so stay tuned for more information.
I teach fly tying classes through the Penobscot Fly Fishers, Bangor Adult Education and at ARF. I also teach rod building classes through Bangor Adult Ed, at ARF as well as at alternative locations. It has been my good fortune to have folks build close to 100 rods in the last 10 years!
I have a great group of friends that share my passion for fly fishing, fly tying and rod building. We enjoy quality time at the Dry Fly Clubhouse in my basement tying flies, building rods, lying, and watching fish “porn”. When the weather gets nice, we spend some time on the water casting a fly to hungry fish.
Hope to see you in the shop or on the water soon!
I enjoy fly fishing for ANYTHING. I troll streamers in the Spring and squeeze in a trout/salmon outing whenever possible. My passion in the summer is “spanking” smallmouth bass on the Penobscot River. There isn’t anything quite like having a Penobscot “Smallie” bust the surface to devour a popper.
I have always tried to provide as much information as possible to friends/customers so that they can make an informed purchase. There are no secrets here (or not many, lol), I want folks to have a good experience and hopefully we will develop a good, long lasting relationship.
I am very fortunate to have the support of my loving wife of 30+ years. She continues to support my endeavors and bakes the best damn cookies for fly tying classes.
Tight lines,
Don