How Many American Fly Tyers Are Trying to Make It a Career?

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INTRODUCTION

Fly tying has historically existed on the periphery of the fly fishing economy—essential, artistic, and deeply personal, but rarely viewed as a viable livelihood. In recent years, the expansion of online commerce, content platforms, and DIY entrepreneurship has led more Americans to consider whether fly tying could become more than a craft—something closer to a career.

This report seeks to answer two related questions:

1. How many American fly tyers are actively trying to turn fly tying into a career?

2. How many more would attempt it if barriers like education, cost, and visibility weren’t so high?

DEFINING THE SCOPE

For this analysis, we define "trying to make it a career" as individuals who have taken one or more of the following steps with fly tying:

• Selling tied flies or fly-tying goods on platforms like Etsy or Shopify

• Registering a business or LLC related to fly tying

• Regularly producing monetizable tying content on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube

• Paying to attend expos as a featured tier or vendor

• Actively applying to pro staff programs or affiliate partnerships

We also acknowledge the existence of a wider informal population: those who aspire to monetize tying, but face prohibitive barriers (cost, skill, access to customers, lack of mentorship).

PART I: INDICATORS OF ACTIVE EFFORT

A. Etsy & E-commerce Data

• A search of U.S.-based Etsy stores (2024) using fly tying keywords yields ~1,100 storefronts, with roughly 400–500 focused primarily on selling tied flies.

B. Business Registrations

• NAICS code analysis (114119: Other Fishing Activities, and 339920: Sporting and Athletic Goods Manufacturing) indicates over 220 business filings in 2023 explicitly referencing fly tying.

C. Fly Tying Expos & Conventions

• Across major U.S. expos (Wasatch, Midwest, International Fly Tying Symposium, etc.), 300+ unique tyers have exhibited in the past year. Many are vendors or small business owners, not just demonstrators.

  

  Estimated lower bound of active pursuit: ~1,000–1,250 individuals nationwide

These are individuals who have moved past the hobby threshold and are actively engaging in revenue-generating or promotional efforts.

PART II: THE ASPIRATIONAL TIER POPULATION

While formal indicators point to a 1,000–1,250 person active base, that number fails to capture a key reality: there is a much larger group of fly tyers who would attempt to build a business—if it weren’t so difficult to break in.

This segment includes:

• Young anglers or students with tying skill but no customer access

• Tyers producing flies for local guides or informal barter economies

• Rural or underserved community members with fly tying talent and no distribution network

• Highly skilled hobbyists who lack education in pricing, business registration, or brand development

We used indirect metrics to estimate the potential scale of this aspirational group:

1. Skill-Interest Overlap

• Our previous report estimated that 12% of U.S. fly fishers tie their own flies.

• With ~7 million fly fishers nationwide (source: Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, 2023), that yields ~840,000 American fly tyers.

2. Market Participation Desire

• A 2022 report from Etsy found that 39% of handmade product sellers joined the platform to supplement income from a personal skill or hobby (Etsy Seller Census 2022).

• Applying a conservative 5–10% entrepreneurial interest rate to the ~840,000 U.S. tyers suggests 42,000 to 84,000 individuals may be interested in turning tying into a paid pursuit—if barriers were reduced.

3. Barriers to Entry

Top reported challenges from aspiring fly-tying entrepreneurs:

• Lack of access to wholesale materials and affordable tools

• Little guidance on pricing, branding, and market outreach

• Limited visibility from major fly shops or gear companies

• Difficulty building credibility without expos or social proof

CONCLUSION

While approximately 1,000–1,250 Americans are actively trying to turn fly tying into a business or career, the number of aspiring career tyers is substantially larger.

Our model suggests that as many as **40,000 **fly tyers in the U.S. would enter the space if they had:

• Better mentorship

• Lower startup costs

• Clearer pathways to visibility and retail access

The real question isn’t whether 1000-1250 tyers are trying—it’s how many could be, if the fly fishing world had a lower gate.

SOURCES

• Etsy U.S. Fly Tying Storefronts (2024 Search Sampling)

• U.S. Small Business Administration NAICS Filings (114119 & 339920), 2023

• Midwest Fly Fishing Expo, International Fly Tying Symposium rosters (2023–2024)

• Etsy Seller Census 2022

• Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) Special Report on Fishing Participation, 2023