We were saddened today to learn that Anthony “Tony” Spezio, one of the most celebrated fly tiers in the country, and a good friend to many tiers in the Gulf Coast Council, has passed away after a prolonged illness. He was 86.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Tony bought his first bamboo fly rod in 1944 and taught himself to rewrap rods. In 1945, he started tying flies. After school, he entered the Air Force and began a lifelong love of piloting and even building small airplances. With that and other life circumstances, fly fishing came to a halt until the late 1950s. At which time, he began teaching tying classes at a department store in New Jersey. In 1990, Tony attended a rod makers gathering in Pennsylvania and soon began making bamboo rods instead of just rewrapping them.
Chili Pepper fly
After moving to the White River in Arkansas, his passion for fly tying took to a new level. As a tier, Tony created such patterns as the Spezio Frog, Chili Pepper, Knit Piken Mayfly and many others. He served on the pro staff of Dyna King, Gudebrod, Conrach and more. Several books and magazine articles have been published containing his flies. In 2007, he was honored as “Fly Tyer of the Year” by the FFI Southern Council. Then in 2011, he was awarded the Buz Buszek Memorial Award by Fly Fishers International, the highest distinction in all of fly tying. It recognizes significant contributions to the art of fly tying, though skills, innovation, teaching, and publication.
As a rodmaker, he continued to excel. He became very active in the Southern Rodmakers Gathering annual event in Mountain Home, Arkansas. He was also known as an innovator – his drain tube design and mortising setup became very popular. Occasionally at one of the FFI Southern Council Expo events, he’d pull me over to show me his latest bamboo creation and some of the steps he did to make this rod better than his last one. Much like his tying, Tony was all about the small details when it came to making rods.
As talented as he was, Tony was also very generous. Each year, he would donate several items to the FFI Southern Council Expo event raffle and auction, as well as flies to the Expo Youth fishing event.
Tony was very active on the internet and various tying and rod building forums. Many of his posts are still available to us, and can serve as a source for insight. He will be greatly missed.
