2018 Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo

I just returned from the 2018 Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo in Boise, ID. This was my 5th year tying at the Boise Expo.

I decided to tie my RiverKeeper Stonefly Nymph and the Callibaetis Hatchmaster on Friday.

On Saturday, I only tyed the second session and demonstrated my RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple.

One of my RiverKeeper Flies subscribers was in Boise and asked me to demonstrate the Sparkle Dun. I’ve tyed that fly at multiple Expos, but it continues to be a crowd favorite. I’m certainly not the only one to tie the Sparkle Dun, but I put my own twist on the fly and demonstrate a couple different techniques to create a sparse, slim profile which I believe makes this fly very effective.

My friend Chris Williams was tying as well. He’s a terrific tyer, an innovator of many creative flies, and is on the Whiting Farms pro staff.

I met Chris Williams at my first Boise Expo several years ago. We had a great time catching up and even shared a beer…

As always, thanks to Gretchen and Al Beatty, owners of BT’s Fly Fishing for hosting Sherry Steele and me again this year. Both are terrific fly tyers, willing to share many fly tying techniques developed over the years. They are the authors of many fly fishing and fly tying books.

If you are like me, you’d recognize their names as icons in the fly fishing world. I’d read about them in the major fly fishing and tying magazines for years. In fact, both were honored with the Fly Tyer magazine 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award.

I was able to spend a day with them before the Expo. Al encouraged me a few years ago to post better photos you see on RiverKeeper Flies. I took his advice and ended up purchasing a Nikon camera and lenses for my close-up photography. In addition, I purchased an Olympus TG-4 that I carry on almost every fishing trip (unless I forget it!). I’ve been able to capture some great images with both these cameras.

I had a couple of technical questions in hopes of improving some images. I learned again from Al…thanks!

Later in the day, Gretchen joined us as we talked about my Throw Back Thursday Fly posts. I asked if they had more flies to share on my website and I ended up with a box of LaFontaine flies they tied for their book entitled LaFontaine’s Legacy.

They have decided to continue writing books, but using the e-book format. Here are links to several of their great books, which I highly recommend.

In addition, Al has entered the Youtube world recently. Here is an example of Al in action as he teaches fly tying techniques on his channel.

Gretchen learned to tie flies from her Dad, “Dub” Evans. We pulled out a box full of memories. You’ll be seeing a few images in the future of these treasures. Here is a picture of the treadle fly tying machine he used along with his spools of tying thread and silk floss.

Here are a couple other pictures of a bouquet of flies, along with hooks with leaders attached.

You’ll be seeing more pictures in the near future from my fun- filled day.

Lastly, here are a couple posts from previous years where I rote about the Expo:

Goodbye Boise (2016)

Winter Fly Tying and Fly Fishing Shows (2015)

Enjoy…go fish!