My favourite rivers are in northern Italy, Austria and Slovenia. In the beginning I tied only trout flies for the small rivers near Rimini. After a while I began tying grayling flies for the big rivers in the north. In 1986 I started fishing and tying deer flies and streamers for black bass.

My introduction to the Classic Salmon Fly was in 1995 and it turned my life as a fly tier upsidedown. I've always been interested in tying unusual and difficult flies and when I saw the "fully dressed" salmon fly in Judith Dunham's book, The Atlantic Salmon Fly, I was fascinated with the complexity and the splendour of these real "works of art". To gather information about the beginnings of these new and to me fantastic flies I bought some of the old classic writings of William Blacker, George M. Kelson, Francis Francis and John J. Hardy to learn all I could about the Classic Salmon Fly. Nevertheless, I didn't disregarded the current writtings to help me understand today's evolution of "fully dressed" salmon fly.

A large thank you goes out to my friend and mentor Claudio D'Angelo who didn't hesitate to share his knowledge and expertise with me. Generally I enjoy tying the classic flies of the Victorian Age respecting their original dressing exactly. Some of the past tiers I like include the creations of George M. Kelson for their beauty and for the complexity or the wings. I think John Traherne's flies are absolutely insuperable for their splendor and magnificence. Of today's tiers I admire the fully dressed flies of Paul Schmookler, Michael D. Radencich, Charlie Chute and Bob Veverka.

I participated in the 1997 Mustad Scandinavian Open in Norway where I won the Gold medal in the Open category, (deer flies and others flies) and in 2001 I won the Gold metal in the Dry Fly category. In 1999 I won the Bronze medal in the Fully Dressed Salmon Fly catagory with my entry of the McIntyre. I am a contributor to the beautiful Italian fly fishing review the Sedge & Mayfly. In 2002 I participated in some meetings of the Nautic Show where I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Helm. Since he had seen an enlarged photo of a fully dressed salmon fly I tied for the Sedge & Mayfly magazine he wanted to meet and congratulate me in person.

Another great milestone in my tying career will come to pass in the Autumn issue of the Art of Angling Journal, published by Paul Schmookler & Ingrid Sils. This issue will feature some of my deer flies. In a future issue Paul will include other flies I have tied such as my Classic Salmon flies, hair wing Salmon flies, super-realistic flies, nynphs, dry flies and sea flies.

Tying Salmon Fly is my greatest passion because I think they are the most beautiful and complicated of flies to dress. The colors, the proportions and the harmony of the feathers dressed with maniacal precision give an unspeakable satisfaction to the tier. Looking at the writiong of some of the most famous tiers of the Victorian Age makes us understand how much love is necessary to undertake this difficult yet rewarding art form.

Untill now I've never fished for Salmon and perhaps I'll never have the chance but the classic salmon fly fascinates me as a thing of beauty. I'll continue to tie classic salmon flies for the simple pleasures it gives me just to look at them. I hope to make others aware of and appreciate the classic salmon fly as an expression of the art of fly fishing. Above all fly fishing and tying are two of the satisfing things in my life that permit me to escape and dream when I create my little works of art at the vice or chase the wild fish in the clear waters near where I live.

Thank You,

Fabrizio Gajardoni