Board Members

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 ATLANTA, GA

Debra, who grew up in New Orleans, was exposed to fishing at an early age but it wasn’t until she took a class with Georgia Women Fly Fishers (GWFF) that she touched her first fly rod and became hooked. Debra is treasurer of GWFF and past membership chair of the Atlanta Fly Fishing Club (AFFC). She is also past Treasurer of the Southeastern Council. Debra learned she had achieved real success in fly fishing after compleing a day on the water without catching a fish, she remarked what a great day it was on the water.  The President of GWFF remarked that she had reached enlightenment.  Debra agrees.

Debra considers herself the luckiest bad fly fisherperson on the planet. Her luck includes big red fish and black drum in South Louisiana; tarpon and bones in Cuba and Belize; and Silver Salmon, grayling, trout, dolly varden, arctic char in Alaska. One of the reasons Debra loves fishing is because fish don’t live in ugly places. She enjoys traveling to add species to her catch list.

Debra believes that a regional organization like the Southeastern Council can provide anglers in big cities and small towns with a variety of opportunities and hopes to help develop these opportunities in the Southeast. 

 LEXINGTON, NC

Anthony served as the Fly Fishers International-Southeastern Council President from 2009-2012.  In the past he has served the FFF (now FFI)-SEC on the board of directors, as show fly tying chairman, program show director and festival show chairman.  Anthony has taught many fly tying seminars and demonstrated fly tying at many fly fishing shows across the US and Canada.  He is a professional speaker, tier and fly tying instructor. He has served as president, vice-president, fly tying instructor, Boy Scouts Merit Badge Coordinator and program chairman for his home fly fishing club, the Nat Greene Fly Fishers (TU/FFF affiliate) in Greensboro, NC. 

Anthony has been nationally recognized for his spun deer-hair bass flies, smallmouth bass nymphs (the Hellcraw), saltwater streamers and especially his unique soft-bodied foam poppers, divers and sliders. In 2004 he was a featured fly tier on the Outdoor Life Network’s Fly Fish TV Magazine television program.  Fly Tyer Magazine has published five of Anthony’s tying articles on his unique flies, including the Hipps Soft-Bodied popper line of flies.   Anthony is proud to be a contributing author for Bob Clouser’s outstanding book, “Fly Fishing for Smallmouth in Rivers and Streams”.  In July 2016 Anthony was a co-host, with the legendary Bill Spicer, of “The New Fly Fisher TV Magazine” fly fishing video, “Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass at Waterfalls Lodge” in Spanish, Ontario.

GREENVILLE, SC 

James Wallner is committed to making FFI’s mission – to preserve the legacy of fly fishing for all fish in all waters – a reality for southeastern anglers. Born and raised in Georgia, he currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with his wife, two children, and golden retriever. James is a senior fellow at the R Street Institute in Washington, D.C. He also teaches in the Department of Political Science at Clemson University. But James is happiest when fishing for trout, bass, and bluegill in the Carolina mountains, or redfish and the occasional tarpon on the coast. When he can’t do either one, he practices casting on his front lawn. James believes that the southeast’s rivers, streams, lakes, and salt marshes are one of fly fishing’s biggest secrets. And he is excited about the opportunity to help its anglers – and future anglers – access the networks and resources they need to hone their craft and conserve their waters.

CUMMING, GA

 I started fly fishing at age 12 and began tying by repairing flies and popping bugs at age 14. There was very little information available growing up in North Carolina. My first “Kit” was a Hank Roberts Fly Tying Kit with every color feather one could imagine except for those you needed. The vise was a stamped metal affair with a butterfly nut to secure the hook.

I'm a Life Member of FFI, current member of the FFI-FTG and on the Board of Governors for the FTG.  Past president of the Atlanta Fly Fishing Club and past president of the Southeastern Council Federation of Fly Fishers.  Past member Board of Directors for Southeastern Council FFI, past Vice Chair Board of Governors for the FFI FTG, and on the Board of Directors for Project Healing Waters – Atlanta.  I recently retired as the project lead for Fly Tying to our wounded vets and have worked on improving, modifying and adding tools to the Evergreen Hand for use by combat wounded vets. I am a current Georgia representative on the Board of Directors for the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians in Bryson City, North Carolina.

I have been a Demonstration Tyer at regional, national FFI and other events. I teach fly tying on a regular basis.

 ROME, GA 

Cathy Valancius is a fly angler living in Rome, Georgia.  At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, like many, she bought a fly rod and started teaching herself to fish.  Over the past few years she has found a genuine passion for fly fishing, fly tying and stream conservation. She embodies the "All Fish, All Waters" motto of FFi, as you will often find her on some trickle of water pulling out little native bass or brookies with dry flies.

Currently, she is treasurer of Trout Unlimited - Coosa Valley Chapter, a water quality monitor for Science on the Fly, and is the Ghillie for Georgia Women Fly Fishers.  

It was an issue of Fly Fisherman magazine, back in 1978 than first got Kathleen interested in our noble endeavor. The gorgeous cover shot of an angler standing hip-deep in a stream among colorful autumn leaves pulled her into the publication to find out more. After a few casting and fly tying lessons, she was soon following in the footsteps of that angler, as well as the writers in that issue – Art Flick, Ernie Schwiebert, and John Merwin, among others – pursuing the elusive trout. Her job took her to various parts of the country, and she was able to fish the waters in California, Oregon, Montana, Maine, and Virginia, as well as her native Texas. 

Sadly, Kathleen’s career in transportation drew her to focus more and more time dealing with engineers, and less on communing with fish. Yet, much of that career dealt with conservation-related matters: protecting waterways and natural habitat in highway construction areas, promoting the use of “critter crossings” to allow

wildlife migration to flow over or under highways, the use of alternate transportation fuels, and recycling of motor oil, tires, and batteries. In the mid-1980s, she chaired a newly formed Environment Section of the Public Relations Society of America, the largest professional communication association in the world. 

After retiring from the Federal Highway Administration, Kathleen moved to North Carolina to work on a writing project. Here, Kathleen’s love of flyfishing has come back to life and she found an unanticipated benefit of the move: the Old North State’s many hidden mountain streams and rivers...and the fish that live there. 

Just for fun, Kathleen located and purchased a copy of that now almost fifty-year-old issue of Fly Fisherman magazine. The cover is as beautiful as ever, but inside was an ironic twist: One of the articles outlined an effort to defeat a huge dam project along Maine’s St. John River. Conservationists across the country – doubtless including FFI members -- joined that fight to stop the project and protect the river’s native trout

habitat. Ironic because today, Kathleen finds herself a part of FFI’s Conservation

Committee, the group that frequently joins with other concerned outdoors

organizations to do battle against similar projects in order to protect rivers, lakes

and streams. As they say, what goes around comes around.

CULLMAN, AL

 Jeff was born and raised in North Alabama and has been fly fishing since 1978. He resides in Cullman, Alabama.

After 43 years of fly fishing, he still learns something new each trip to the water. 

A trained software engineer, who often states he works to buy fly rods. Most of his time is spent either at the fly bench or on the water. 

He enjoys fly tying and is a member of the FFI fly tying group. After several years as a member of FFI, he decided he wanted to take on more to further the sport of fly fishing and help grow the FFI in the Southeast. 

He’s a beekeeper, published author, and an avid observer of nature.

HUNTSVILLE, AL

 Ralph Shuey is a 30+ year member of Fly Fishers International and has been active in both the Southeastern and the Southern Councils and chapters (TVFF & NAFF), Administrator for the Classic Fly Rod Forum, founder of the Bamboo Bash (20+ years), active supporter of Casting for Recovery and Veterans activities.  Ralphs has fifty plus years of international fishing experience in both salt and freshwater fisheries and is a frequent supporter of fly tying events. Ralph has fished all over the world including the US, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. He is a retired Rocket Scientist with experience in multi-million dollar programs, conference organization, international program cooperation, and domestic inter-personal as well as international skills.  Ralph’s  wife is also an experienced fly fisher and contributor to women’s activity in the sport.  As an ordained clergy person she has a deep interest in the spiritual aspects of the craft and its potential for healing.  They both share an enthusiasm for involving the young in this potentially life-long endeavor. 

An avid fisherman since childhood, Paul began tying flies when he was about 10, but he didn't start fishing with them until many years later.  Today, he ties flies from a size 24 midge pupa for the tailwaters, to a size 2 Alaskabou for Alaskan salmon, and everything in between.  Raised on the traditional patterns espoused by Ray Bergman, though, his passion is for the traditional Catskill dries, classic wets, and the feather wing streamers that graced the fly boxes of fishermen in the 1950's and '60's.  Whatever he happens to be tying, though, Paul will always be happy to digress into his favorite Appalachian or Southern tailwater patterns.

Paul is a lifetime member of the Ffi, and a member of the FFi Fly Tying Group.  He gives frequent fly tying demonstrations for various local organizations, and is often seen at regional fly fishing shows promoting youth fly tying, and membership in the FFi.

NC

 Alisa has been fishing for as long as she can remember and began fly-fishing around nine years ago. While attending a conference in Breckenridge, CO, she joined friends on a guided fly-fishing trip and developed a lot of interest in the sport. Her great-uncle discovered her interest and gave her a two-week intensive fly-fishing course in fly-casting, fly-tying, and rod building. She has been obsessed ever since and has fly-fished in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and now, North Carolina and Virginia. 

Alisa received her BS and MS degrees in natural resource and environmental management, and has focused her career on wildlife education and conservation. She has been working for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission as an education specialist at the John E. Pechmann Fishing Education Center since July 2021 where she teaches subjects in conventional fishing, fly-fishing, and aquatic conservation. Alisa has a passion for and is working toward increasing women’s participation in fishing and creating a supportive community of women anglers.  

Tucker, GA

 Circe Tsui grew up fishing in Hong Kong, but didn’t start fly fishing until she joined the Georgia Women Fly Fishers over 10 years ago. She loves travel and has fly fished in many bucket-list destinations, such as New Zealand, Chile, Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Mexico, and the Bahamas. When closer to home, she mostly spends her weekends euro nymphing for trout and casting poppers for bass in GA, NC and TN.  When she’s out of town, however, you may find her hunting for permit, bone, tarpon and snook on the flats of Belize—one of her favorite spots. 

She ties her own flies, for both fresh and saltwater fly-fishing.  She is the program coordinator of the Georgia Women Fly Fishers and has been a featured speaker for the United Women On the Fly on the topic of saltwater fly fishing.