Romain Dieul is passionate about fly fishing, which he particularly enjoys out at sea. He took the courageous step of quitting his job as a leisure center leader to set up his own fly-tying and online sales business. What's more, this extra-terrestrial is a true artist, offering particularly successful paintings on the theme of fishing and fish. His taste for quality is evident in all his products.
After meeting Romain at the water's edge, I ordered some sea teasers and flies from his store. I then discovered his other hidden talents and invited Romain to answer a few questions.
Fishing.news :
Hello Romain, could you briefly introduce yourself?
Romain Dieul (RD):
Hi Guillaume,
I've been a recreational angler and artist for many years now, and now a professional fly tyer. I have launched my own online store: rdartandflies.com just over a year ago.
I must say that I've been mulling over this idea for several years, and with the encouragement of my family and friends, I've finally decided to take the plunge. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them, because without them, I probably wouldn't have come up with this project.
RD Art & Flies is the fusion of two of my great passions: my artistic world and the creation of artificial flies designed primarily for sea fly fishing, two passions that have been with me for many years. I've also been drawing since I was very young, and with the discovery of fly-fishing several years ago, I also discovered another art form in fly-tying, notably realistic patterns.
My idea was to be able to offer customers an original store combining these 2 worlds, enabling them to discover my various artistic creations based on different themes: Fish Art, black and white, color... And to acquire high-quality reproductions of some of my works. More recently, I've also been offering paintings on wood representing various species of fish, and in particular on driftwood that I collect from the foreshore.
The site also includes a blog section where you can follow the site's news, with articles on new fly models, my new artwork, fishing reports and product tests...
It's been a great adventure and I really enjoy sharing and developing the store, as well as delivering the best possible service to my customers.
Fishing.news :
How did you discover fishing? Did you go straight to fly fishing or did you start with other techniques?
RD :
I didn't start fly fishing straight away. I discovered fishing with my father when I was 6, on the beaches of Val de Saire, in the Cotentin region where I live. My father bought me a light kit and I caught my first fish (old ones) with a rig consisting of an olive sinker and a small raglou, memories engraved in my mind. The years went by and I rediscovered fishing at the age of 17, with my friend Florian Boudeau who introduced me to sea lure fishing, which I practised exclusively for many years and still do from time to time. I was immediately hooked and the fishing bug hasn't left me since. As for fly fishing, I discovered it a few years later, again through my friend Florian, with whom I've been fishing at sea for many years. He wrote fishing articles for a magazine and knew Philippe Dolivet, a fishing guide in Brittany and one of the pioneers of fly-fishing in France.
After following Philippe on a report aboard his Carolina Skiff, Florian was more enthusiastic than ever about this type of fishing, so he took up sea fly fishing and introduced me to the practice. I was immediately enthusiastic about this "unusual" technique, and once I'd got past the stage of learning how to cast, I set about using my fly rod to track down a large number of Channel coast species such as horse mackerel, pollack, sea bass... Whether from shore, boat or kayak. I've been fly fishing for fifteen years now.
I then met my friend Flavien Malemprée, with whom I worked on his book : Le Bar à la Mouche . Flavien has also taught me a lot about sea fly fishing, and more specifically sea bass, in terms of understanding fish behavior, approaches, reading positions... We regularly stalk this fish together, whether from the shore or on his Carolina Skiff.
Fishing.news :
Can you tell us more about your store, which specializes in custom fly-tying?
RD :
I wanted to offer a selection of quality artificial flies, assembled by myself and designed for fly-fishing bass and other marine species on our coasts. I make it a point of honor to offer customers models that I use myself when stalking these species.
The store features flies for surface fishing, streamers, realistic shrimp and crab imitations... New fly models will be added, as well as an "exotic" category with flies for marine species from all 4 corners of the globe.
I also offer "specialized" kits, i.e. kits comprising a fly box and a selection of models adapted to the fishing of different species. I currently have a kit for sea bass, as well as for pollack fishing, and other kits are planned to follow (for example: kits for mackerel/chinch, for tuna...).
I also sometimes respond to customer needs by making specific orders for fishing trips. For example, I made streamers for peacock bass for a customer going to Brazil, or a selection of flies for flats for a customer on a fishing trip to Venezuela earlier this year. I was also able to customize some of my models with specific hooks for a customer fly-fishing for bluefin tuna on our coast.
Fishing.news :
To move away from fly fishing, if I want to make customized teasers to look for sea bass or other fish in the sea, can you meet my request? For example, shrimps or smelts...
RD :
Yes, of course, just contact me via the store's contact form, and I'll look into the possibilities. I already have a few streamer models on the store that can be used as teasers, but I can also make "custom" ones, allowing the customer to adapt the teasers to the fishing areas and species targeted (e.g. choice of hook, color, type and size of imitation...).
Fishing.news :
Do you have any development ideas, for example in soft lure design?
RD :
I do have some development ideas and a few prototypes in the pipeline, notably for crustacean imitations (green crabs, galathea...) for sight-seeing bass fly fishing. I'm always trying to innovate, improve existing rigs or create new variants. It's this perpetual research aspect that I really appreciate in fly tying.
I don't plan to design lures, but maybe one day "casting flies" so that lure anglers can use imitations that come close to a fly. In any case, I haven't ruled out this possibility.
Fishing.news :
If your products are of such high quality, it's because you seem to have the artistic touch. Tell us a little about your paintings. Do you offer custom-made paintings for your customers?
RD :
I currently offer various types of creations. Customers can purchase high-quality reproductions of some of my paintings or drawings, particularly those related to fishing and marine or freshwater species. Each work is limited to 100 reproductions, numbered and delivered with a certificate of authenticity. I work with a professional printer to offer the best possible quality, and each reproduction is available in different formats to suit the needs of each customer.
Recently, I've also started offering representations of various species of fish on wood, either on pine shelves or on driftwood planks that I collect from the Cotentin coast. This allows customers to acquire a unique work to decorate their space with one of their favorite species.
I'm also happy to make custom paintings or drawings. As for special orders for flies, you can contact me via the store's contact form.
Fishing.news :
Thank you for your time and enjoy the season.
RD :
Thanks to you Guillaume and have a good season too. For those of you who want to keep up to date with my online store, I'm also present on social networks.
