Fred is a professional fly tier living in York, PA.  He's been tying and fly fishing for over 50 years.  His mentor was the late Russ Mowry (below is an introduction to Russ).

Fred restricts tying for himself, friends, and family now that he is a "retired old fart."  Most of his dry flies are of the burnt wing, spent wing, and parachute style.  Although better at nymph fishing, he loves to entice trout up to a dry fly. 

Fred actively supports a number of PA Trout Unlimited Chapters.  He put together slide shows from trips to Yellowstone Country, New York's Salmon River, and New Zealand's North Island, and presents the slide shows to conservation and fishing groups, charging only travel expenses.  He's a social person who enjoys meeting and talking with fly fishermen. 

Pictured to the right is Fred with two Cohos, 16.5 and 14.5 pounds, that he caught in New York's Salmon River in September 1999.  He said the big ones double that size and are available in October.  He fishes the river several times each year.

I have fished with Fred on more than one occasion and admit he out-fished me every time with his Green Weenie.  He felt sorry for me so gave me one of his flies.  I still failed to produce even close to the amount he was bringing to hand.  It wasn't until a few weeks later, in my home wild trout water, that I gave the Green Weenie another try.  I know that water, as Fred knew his Pennsylvania water, but the Weenie did not do well.  Suddenly, I realized Fred almost constant flicked his rod while mending the line.  So, I gave it a try and discovered it was the secrete.  It improved my success a lot but needed to work on getting the right flicking action if I wanted to compete with Fred on my next trip to Pennsylvania.  I concentrated on a dead drift before and could sometimes see the trout approach, take a quick look, and leave.  The constant flicking of the rod caused the Weenie to frequently move slightly enough to encourage the trout to take the fly.  Check out his Green Weenie and give it a try.  I found it to work best in moderate runs.

Fred is a very good woodworker as well as angler and tier.  He makes things from nets to shadow boxes.  I have one of his boxes on my den wall displaying flies and you can see his net in the picture with one of his trout. 

Russ Mowry (1927-1997)

An innovative fly tier from Western PA was associated with many of the well-known fly tiers and authors of the past 30 years.  He often was a guest tier at the Seven Springs Fly Tiers Symposium in Somerset, PA, and other similar events.  His trademark flies were spent wing parachutes using burned wings though he was just as skilled in tying the Catskill style dry flies.  Collaborating with another Westmoreland tier, Ken Igo, he developed the Green Weenie, a fly that continues to grow in popularity.  For many years after his retirement from the Latrobe Steel Company, Russ owned and operated Mowry’s Fly Box, in Latrobe, PA, dealing solely in flies, fly tying materials, and fly fishing equipment.

One of the founding members of the Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited, he held many offices in that organization.  A year prior to his death, he was presented that organization’s Silver Trout Award for outstanding service and for giving unstintingly of his time and effort in working for the betterment of the organization and improvement of the Loyalhanna watershed.  He was a member of Spruce Creek Rod and Gun, Slate Run Fly Fishers, and a founding member and driving force behind a special Westmoreland County group of fly fishermen, known as Afloat.

Russ was a pleasant mannered individual who always had a smile on his face.  He lived by the old adage that it was better to say nothing if you were unable to say anything good about a person.

Russ was brother in law, buddy, friend, fishing companion, and mentor to Fred, teaching him to tie flies and fly fish more than 50 years ago.  Russ always joked (?) that when he married Fred’s sister, he didn’t know until the ceremony was over that Fred went along with the deal.