Timo Tuuha


Hello. My name is Timo Tuuha. I was born in Salla (well actually in Kemijarvi because we don’t have a real hospital in Salla) at Christmas Eve in 1989. I have also lived here my whole life. Salla is a little village north from Arctic Circle. We have lots of great forests, wilderness and wild streams here so it’s not a surprise that I have been fishing and hunting since I learned to walk. At the moment I’m studying in Salla high school and after that I will go to a college to southern Finland.

So I have been fishing practically my whole life. At first I was fishing with long rod and worms in smaller streams for trout (that is kind of a traditional style of fishing in Lapland among local fishermen. Even though that is kind of an illegal method to catch a fish). Around 2003 I became interested in fly-fishing and I bought my first set. Year after that I started tying flies and since then I have only fished with flies tied by myself. I have learned fly tying completely on my own. Well of course I have to say TAOFT and few other sites have been great help to me. There are also many tiers I admire and have been inspired by. Aarne Karjala for instance has been the most inspiring tier for my realistic tying.

Nowadays I tie pretty much all kinds of flies. I like very much tying realistic fishing flies for trout and grayling. In fishing I usually prefer imitation flies instead attractors. There are of course some exceptions. Lately I have tied some salmon flies, mostly for my next summer salmon trip to northern Norway. I have tied some salmon flies in frames also. Unfortunately it has been over half year since I tied my last super realistic pattern. I wish I had more time for tying…

I have not participated in any tying contests expect some TAOFT’s contests. Actually I came in shared second place in one contest and I have to say I’m really proud of that. I really do not prefer competing. That's because few years ago I used to race in alpine skiing. However I felt competing as a really uncomfortable thing to me so I quit racing and now I’m just free riding (By the way we have a quite awesome skiing resort in Finland, at least compared to other Finnish resorts). I want to enjoy all things I’m doing and I can’t do that if I have to compete with someone.

For so long I have fished only trout and grayling in Finland, mostly in river Nuortti, Varrio, Naruska and Tuntsa. Also I have made some trips to famous trout streams river Oulanka and river Kitka in Kuusamo. By the way almost all of these rivers have natural fish stock that, I think, is rather rare in Finland. Like I said I’m planning a salmon trip to Norway for next summer. My military service delayed so I have a whole summer just for fishing. I hope I get as many fishing days as possible. And I hope you do too.

Oh, and because I just turned 18 and I don’t even have a driver’s licence yet, I have been travelling and fishing with my dad. He is a rather keen fisherman too. After I changed traditional fishing for fly-fishing he changed too because I caught almost allways more and bigger fish with fly than he did with worms.

-Timo Tuuha-

Scorpion

Mayfly

Date: 4.1.2007

Caddis Pupa

Caddis Adult

Caddis

Lady Caroline

Emerger

Golden Biatch