My fly tying journey started over forty years ago tying trout flies when my college roomate introduced me to tying and fishing the rivers of the Northwest United States.
My interest in insects led me to a short stint at oregon state school of entomology which proved very useful to my tying and fishing. I changed direction in my education to pursue a career in Dentistry which put my fishing on the back burner. After dental school and wanting to catch larger fish I started to tie hairwing steelhead flies . I would always want to change them to my liking as well as the fishes. In the middle eighties I started to take a liking to warm saltwater flyfishing devloping my Dr Rockbottom fly which is responsible for many Trevally IGFA world records. In the nineties, I continued to pursue my saltwater quarry on both coasts of Mexico. I continued my passion for steelhead by heading north every fall since 1990 for the largest of the this species on the planet. Not happy with the flies I was using, not necessarily pretty but effective. I decided to join The Northwest Atlantic Salmon Fly Guild. I had dabled with the salmon fly tying in the early 1980’s but did not have the time or money for all the materials. I was fortunate enough to now learn from fellow members and guests. Harry Lemire, Mike Radencich, Marvin Nolte, Dave McNeese, Tony Smith, John Olschewsky and many others. In 2006 I gave The Irish Fly tying contest a try. got a tenth Place and was exstatic. So I tried other contests and did very well over the past five years. winner Fly tyer of the Year twice by the Flyting forum, Fly Anglers Online , FQSA International Fly Tying Competion and being awarded the Master Tyer designation, and Overall 2nd Place in the coveted Irish International Fly tying competion the past two years.The past couple of years I’ve been tying at several fly fairs including the OregonNw Expo, Washington Conclave, The National FFF, The British Fly FairInternational and The Irish Fly Fair . In summary my passion is designing creative salmon flies and also applying salmon fly designs and construction in creating elegant steelhead flies that will turn tails.