Growing up in Evergreen, Colorado, the son of parents who made their careers in the Forest Service and Wildlife Biology, I was raised to have a deep respect and appreciation for our natural world. Weekends spent camping and fishing from a canoe with my father and brother were commonplace for summer weekends throughout my youth. Although fishing in my younger years consisted of fishing for trout in Colorado’s lakes and reservoirs using conventional tackle, I always was intrigued by the art of fly fishing watching my father fish during the few occasions he got to when his 3 kids weren’t begging him to take them out on the canoe for the fifth time that day.

My formal introduction to fly fishing didn’t occur until my early 20s when I attended a multiday fly fishing 101 class with my mother at the Blue Quill Angler in Evergreen, Colorado, a shop I would later find employment through. I was hooked from that point on and found myself on the river with my wife, dog, and 2 best friends every chance I could get. Fly fishing nourished some of the deepest friendships I have today and has given me many of my fondest life memories. It is likely for those reasons that I started tying, to stay connected to those moments when I was off the water. It can also be argued that giving friends hundred's of flies requesting feedback as a form of payment can be an easy way of keeping fishy friends close as well…

As many have said before, fly tying has its therapeutic qualities. It has become a part of my daily routine. Even as much of my time on the water has been replaced with raising my 2-year-old son, I still somehow find time to keep my daily tying routing in place and look forward for the opportunity to share this passion with him someday.