My early formative years were spent in western Oregon in the very-very small town of Gates. I learned to love fishing and the outdoors from my father who was an avid fly fisherman. Most of my early fishing was on the Santiam River with trips to the Metolius, McKenzie and many lakes. Later during high school we relocated to Bend Oregon where I fished the Deschutes River, Crooked River, Fall River and most of the lakes in the area. In 1951 I spent the summer as a boat guide on Yellowstone Lake spending most of my free time fishing the Yellowstone River and many of the lakes and rivers nearby of which I have forgotten most of their names.

I started tying flies probably about 40 years ago teaching myself as I went along. I purchased the book "Fishing Flies and Fly Tying" by the renowned fly tyer William F. Blades. I still have this book with all of its notes, marked pages, and stains. Later I purchased Dr. Ernest G. Schwieburt's "Matching the Hatch" tying every fly listed and in many cases 3 or 4 of a pattern. Of course I have many other books on fly tying and patterns but I consider these 2 as treasures.

In 1990 I entered the Mid-Atlantic Fly Tying Classic in 5 categories, dry, wet, nymph, streamer and salmon flies. I was a finalist in 2 categories, wet fly with a Professor and streamer with a Black Nose Dace. Circumstances prevented me from going to the tie off with 2 other finalists. This has been my only claim to fame but did increase my confidence.

Throughout the years I admired the classic salmon fly in all it's many colors and the history behind these flies. Two years ago I retired and started the journey pursuing the classic salmon fly. It has also been and continues to be a challenge in finding the correct hook(iron), good Spanish gut, matching feathers for full feather wings, silk flosses in just the right color or shade, the right tinsel for the body I am tying and everything else that goes into the perfect fly which never quite meets my (our) demands, but I (we) love every minute of it. At this point my tying preferance is to design and dress full feather wing salmon flies and create my own recipes, however, I still do the Traditionals from time to time. Two books that have aided me in this are "Tying the Classic Salmon Fly" by Michael D. Radencich and Paul Jorgensens' "Salmon Flies'.

Most of my tying is during the late fall and during the winter. One of my goals is to take some classic salmon fly tying lessons in the future. For those with questions, advice, comments or just want to chat my e-mail is renblondie@aol.com.

Thanks,