I started fly fishing with cork poppers for largemouth bass in 1958 and this lead me to become interested in tying flies by 1962.  I was fortunate enough to meet a real professional, who was a world class rod maker and fly tier by the name of Donn Robb of Ligonier, PA.  He showed me how to tie flies professionally.  His clientele were some of the wealthiest people in the country.  I tied flies professionally for about 30 years and sold flies to fly shops and individuals in PA, as well as in Minnesota.

While growing up, I also liked to hunt small game and upland birds and ran a trap line after school for money and trapped fox, raccoon, mink and muskrat. Luckily, all of the skins, with feathers or hair, could be used to support my fly tying habit.  Even today, I still bring home several ring-neck pheasant and Hungarian partridge skins salted down from my yearly trip to hunt upland birds in North Dakota.

My dad was a very good fly fisherman, who grew up in Wisconsin before WW II, and encouraged me and my younger sister at a young age to give it a try.

Fly tying has always been a great hobby for me. I find it a great way to relax. When I went to college and studied to become a lab biologist. I took as many classes in freshwater biology, entomology, ichthyology, limnology and invertebrate zoology as I could, to assist in the fly fishing /fly tying that I love so much. I have just finished reading the great two volume set of Nymphs by the late Ernie Schweibert. He did a terrific job. Lots of great patterns to tie and terrific stories to read and enjoy.

I have lived the last 40 years in Minnesota. What a great state if you want to fly fish. Southeast Minnesota has great stream trout fishing. The Mississippi, St.Croix, Rum and Snake are chock full of walleye, smallmouth bass and muskie. All which will take a fly that is properly presented. The BWCA is also is a great place to fly fish in with its many beautiful lakes and Minnesota is also not too far from the great trout fly-fishing rivers of the west like the Yellowstone, Madison, Snake ,Green and Big Horn, just to name several of my favorites.

My favorite summer fly-fishing pastime is to use my 14 foot Jon boat with a 15 hp outboard to fish the Mississippi River in pursuit of smallmouth bass. I fish the Mississippi River from here in the twin cities, where I live, up north to Brainerd (about 120 miles of river). I usually rig two rods for bass (7 wt), one to fish a diver or other top water flies and one for nymphs and other underwater flies. I also carry a 9 or 10 weight rod rigged up for river muskie. A short wire leader is a necessity for these toothy devils. I fish a lot after dusk on the Mississippi River. This can be very dangerous if you don’t know how to swim or can’t handle a small boat expertly, but pays huge dividends with some very nice fly fishing. The Mississippi river now has some tremendous hatches of mayflies and caddis flies as well as, dobsonflies.

I was lucky enough in the late 1980’s to tie up some saltwater flies for several fly fishing tape engineers at the 3M Company. They took me under their wing and took me to the Florida Keys and introduced me to tarpon fishing with a fly rod. Wow, what a thrill to hook a 5 to 8 foot silver king on a fly that you tied and presented properly. I try to get down to the Keys in May, every other year or so to chase the big ones.

I have been very fortunate and lucky to meet quite a few very nice people along the way while fly tying and fly fishing in the USA.  Tight lines to all.