Bulletin Photo by Frank Wallis Mekinzie Hada, 10, of Yellville, gets some tips on technique from artist, author and fly-tying legend Royce Dam, 79. Dam, of Wisconsin, a flytyer for half a century, has received many of the sport's top awards including the Federation of Fly Fishers "Buz" Buszek Memorial Fly-Tying Award. Bulletin Photo by Frank Wallis Anna Zillman, 14, of Cologne, Germany, creator of the Pink Panther, will demostrate fly-tying at the Sowbug Roundup today.

The hoary-headed legends of fly fishing sat shoulder-to-shoulder with the young whippersnappers Friday at the Mountain Home Ramada Inn sharing the secrets of fly fishing and the baits that catch fish.

The event is the seventh annual North Arkansas Flyfishers Sowbug Roundup.

For a $5 admission fee, Anna Zillman of Cologne, Germany, will demonstrate today how to recreate her bait, a doll fly called the Pink Panther.

Zillman turns 14 years old today. She is the daughter of Rene and Klara Zillman. Her father is a professional flytyer.

For Zillman, the Roundup and other fly craft events is about the craft.

"It's fun. It's interesting and it's complicated," said Zillman. She has tied flies since the age of 11.

For Mekinzie Hada, 10, fly tying is more about the fish the baits catch. The daughter of Duane and Marlene Hada of Yellville, Hada said she tied her first fly at the age of three. She admits it was likely a mass of all the colors she liked at the time. Today, she's a handy tier of the Caddis and the San Juan worms.

Laboring over a tiny hook in the tying vise, Hada said she fishes frequently and ties flies for the fun of it and for fishing. She recalled her first major catch -- a 6-pound brown trout in the Dry Run Creek branch to the North Fork of the White River. It was springtime and she was 4 years old when she hooked the lunker.

"The fish would start to pull me in and my dad would pull me back. Then it would pull me in, and he would pull me back again," she said.

The war continued like that for 30 minutes.

"He said 'give it slack, give it slack' and I played it, and played it until we got it in," said Hada. "It was really hard on me, though. I was sore in my arms after that."

Last year she caught another 6-pounder. This time the event was caught on tape by a cameraman filming a documentary for Arkansas Educational Television Network.

Father and daughter differ on the bait used to catch the first fish. He says it was a San Juan Worm. She says he was rigging her up to fish a San Juan Worm when she flipped a bare hook into the stream and the big one nailed it.

Pat Smith, an organizer of the event, said flytyers of all ages and skill levels are participating in activities that continue today. The states of Maine, Florida, Washington and 20 states in between are represented at the event.

In addition to continuing fly-tying demonstrations, Smith said today's activities will include five expert programs. The program titles, times and presenters, include: