Megan Brocco is the club’s newest member and eldest daughter of Steve Brocco. Her love of fishing started when she was a little girl. She spent many hours in her father’s fly shop playing on float tubes, pulling out spools of brightly colored thread, and picking out her favorite fishing flies. Then Megan’s parents built two large, stream-feed ponds stocked with thousands of rainbow trout fry. She spent many hours digging up worms and making rods with long sticks, fly line and occasionally using one of her father’s salmon fly hooks so she could go fishing in her backyard. It did not take more than a moment to get a bite and she probably spent more time getting trout off the line and worms on the hook than she did fishing. Luckily, fishing this way gave her instant gratification and proved to be incredibly fun. It wasn’t until nine years later that Megan learned how frustrating “real” fishing could be.

Megan’s interest in fly-fishing started in 2002 when a seat opened in Glenn Wilson’s drift boat. Worried about bringing his teenage daughter down the Beaverhead River, Steve made sure Megan was well equipped and taught her the basics. Megan started by building a Sage blank rod, custom tapering the grip on the handle and wrapping the guides on with her favorite color thread. Steve carefully checked everything she did and if it wasn’t done just right, he told Megan to undo it and start over, words that have followed her into fly tying. Steve taught her how to cast in their backyard and she perfected her casting technique on Lake Sammamish with the guidance of John Olson. After tying a box full of Copper Johns and other nymphs, Megan was ready to go! However, fishing big rivers in Montana did not go as easily as she expected. Megan slipped and fell into the freezing river just below Clark Canyon Dam not even an hour into the first day and spent the first two days of the trip without a single bite. On the third day, Megan spent hours casting downstream from her feet and was rejoiced to catch her first fish only to find she caught a bottom feeding whitefish. Things took a sharp turn in her favor after spending a few hours one-on-one with Glenn Wilson and learning tricks from the master fly fisherman. On the last day of the trip, Megan caught more trout than her Dad and Wilson combined. She has been fly-fishing ever since.

Although Megan tied a handful of flies throughout her life, she did not take fly-tying seriously until she moved back to Seattle from New York and began attending NWASFG meetings with her Dad. For years Megan made a game of picking her favorite fly from fly plates Steve frames for his fly-fishing groups. This game got her well acquainted with local tyers, patterns and styles. She is a fan of the Traherne Series, Harry Lemire flies, polar bear fur, and cotinga feathers. After spending many years looking at stunning Atlantic salmon and steelhead flies, Megan decided to learn the craft. Byron Bjerke helped her tie her first fly and Rocky Hammond took Megan under his wing in 2011 getting her off to a running start. A few months later, she attended a weekend salmon fly class taught my Mike Radencich and was proud to keep pace with seasoned tyers. Megan is quickly learning how to pilfer her Dad’s materials and enjoys learning different techniques from members of the club. As soon as she thinks she is one step ahead, someone surprises her with a new trick.

Named after Megan Boyd, Megan was born in Seattle, Washington to Steve and Jill Brocco. She received her B.S. in Engineering from Columbia University in 2008. After working in NYC as an Investment Banking Analyst at BNP Paribas and an Engineer at H2M, she decided to follow her heart and pursue a career in medicine. Megan currently lives in Fall City, WA and is applying to medical school. She enjoys boating, hiking, skiing, wakesurifing, paddleboarding, gardening and loves to cook for family and friends. Megan also loves unexpected invitations to go fishing.