Tom Mocilac is a genuine old fart, retired from state service, and has worked as a National Park Ranger in Yellowstone National Park. He started fly fishing in 1969 and started tying flies in 1973. He is a member of Trout Unlimited and Fly Fishers International.
Tom ties about 2-3 thousand flies per year and donates them for free to various non-profits such as CFWEP fly-fishing summer camp, Montana Trout Unlimited kid’s camp, Casting for Recovery, Reel Recovery, MayFly Project, Tie-a-Thon, and others. He spends Monday afternoons in Anaconda tying flies with a bunch of grumpy old men. At 75 years old, he is usually the second youngest of the group.
Tom will be joined by friend Patti Bartlett, an educator with over 20 years of teaching experience. Specializing in math and science, Patti uses that experience to provide place based learning in all subject matters to students of the Blackfoot Watershed. By focusing on experiential learning, Patti has garnered some recognition for her Outdoor Classroom along the banks of Morrell Creek. This is a two and one half acre outdoor classroom with a restored stream, planted with native vegetation and 15+ years of stream side and fish monitoring. She has also received a Wetland Society Award (trumpeter swan reintroduction), Environmental Education Award, DEQ Environmental Grant Award, and was featured in a statewide publication for the Wings Over Water Osprey program. Most recently, Patti and her students were featured in a short film by MT FWP because of the science curriculum she wrote. Her program highlighted different types of levers (fly rods), stages of complete and incomplete metamorphosis (demonstrated with tying flies), water quality work, and ended with the students fishing with the flies they tied. When Patti is not at work, she might be found doing volunteer work for the Salmonfly Project, CfR, the Mayfly Project, the Blackfoot Challenge, or getting a line wet.
This year, as part of their contribution to this year’s Family Area, Tom and Patti will lead a fly-tying activity designed for middle and high school students.
