Our Story
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Welcome...
My name is B. George Hammond, I am a United States Army Veteran, a licensed Fly Fishing Instructor, Guide, and owner of Custom-Tied Flies and Guide Service and Virtual Fly Shop. When I was 11 I went to winter camp with Boy Scout Troop 55 from Hollidaysburg, PA. One of our Assistant Scout Masters was a Fly Fisherman. That winter at camp, he brought his travel fly tying kit and showed me how to tie a blue quill. I was hooked. I came home from camp and told my parents all about this and in January, for my 12th birthday, they bought me a starter fly tying kit. I tied and tied until I ran out of hooks, then went to K-Mart and bought more hooks. When I ran out of stuff to tie with, I got fur off of the cat and the dog. I had a blast. That year for Easter, my parents gave my younger Brother and me Fly Rods. That spring, we started pitching bugs. We were amazed watching the life cycle of the insects in the creek. We caught insects and brought them home. I tied flies that looked like those insects, and we caught loads of fish. Once we grew up, my brother and I both went off to branches of the service. He to the US Air Force and I to the US Army. Wherever we went, we took our gear. After our tours were up, we settled back in PA. He in the central part of the state where we grew up fishing Canoe Creek, Yellow Creek, Spring Creek, and Penn's Creek and I in the south-central part, where my wife, Sharon, and I lived for the next 15 years, in Chambersburg. I guided folks in Franklin, Fulton, Cumberland, and Adams counties. I was also a Naturalist at Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve and very involved with Scouting. While working there I had the opportunity to work with all age groups, sharing fly tying and fly fishing most weekends. Each year when summer camp time came around, I spent time counselling "Fly-Fishing Merit Badge." Sharon and I have moved to Leland, North Carolina to start a new chapter in our lives. We have begun fishing the salt and the local ponds. Salt water has brought some interesting new challenges and some extremely large fish. As have the local ponds where 2 Lb spotted bass, 5 Lb Large Mouth Bass, and 2 Lb bream (blue gills and other panfish) are not uncommon. 
When Sharon and I first started dating, I taught her how to tie flies and fly fish so she could share in my passion. She suggested that we share this sport with others, so we created Custom-Tied Flies and Guide Service in 2003. That wasn't what we wanted though. It wasn't enough to just guide people that already knew how to fly fish. We wanted to teach people that didn't. We made a change and introduced our School of Fly Fishing in 2010.
I have been tying and selling flies for over 40 years and teaching professionally for 25. Fishing in the salt has brought 2 new product lines, Saltwater and George's Jigs which have been added to the line up as of the summer of 2018. In 2020 we added Ice Fishing Jigs and in 2024 we added the Mini Jig section to the George's Jigs page. 
The mission of the Custom-Tied School of Fly Fishing is to teach the skills of Fly Fishing to anyone that has an interest in learning. This is a new skill that will take time to do well. When you were first taught how to read, write, or do math, the teacher explained the concept then gave you homework for you to practice and get good at it. This is no different.
There are a few myths that surround this great sport. The first is that Fly Fishing is hard. This is absolutely not true. Practice is required to be come good; however, the physics behind casting are simple and relatively easy to understand and harness. In fact, you have most likely experienced them and don't realize it. Another myth is that it is expensive, again, not true. I grant that this is a subjective statement, however, a new fly angler that doesn't mind getting their feet wet can be outfitted for less than $100.00. If you have an interest in trying out the sport and don't want to spend the money to get outfitted just to find out that you don't like it, have no fear, we have loaner equipment. The goal of fly-fishing is to trick the fish into eating the fly. Fish are like 2-year-old children, if it looks like food, and sometimes if it doesn't, they put it in their mouth. That's where the color, size, and behavior factors come in. Trout fishing is done in some of the most breath-taking landscapes in the world. The sound of the water, the wind in the trees, and the wildlife have a soothing and calming effect. Now that we also have ponds near our new home, I've noticed that I have the same feeling pitching bugs in a pond as I do in a trout stream. We also have the Ocean, and saltwater influenced rivers and marshes all over the southern coastal area to play in. There are fish everywhere you look down here. I'm very excited. Thank you again for stopping by, please stay as long as you like and enjoy yourself. If you like what you see here, drop us a note. Go to the front page and go to the contact box at the bottom.
If you would like more information about the school, click the red button. -Tight lines and screaming reels. George and Sharon Hammond 
The entire time that Sharon and I lived in PA we were very involved with the Boy Scouts. We taught Fly-Tying and Fly-Fishing to kids from 7-18 at camp and sometimes at their meetings, it was such a blast. It has been such a blessing to have this experience to share. I hope that you will allow me to share with you. -Customtyer
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Most times you can spot a fly fisher by the bugs on his hat.
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Wild Brook Trout, Conococheague Creek, PA
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Only in the Big Spring Creek, Newburg, PA will you find a dancing brown trout.
Jan 2010
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(717) 977-8804 customtyer@custom-tied.com