I had a terrific time at the 2019 Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo last weekend in Boise, ID. It was my 7th year tying flies at the Expo and I always enjoy seeing the friends I’ve made in previous years.

Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo Flies | www.johnkreft.com

On Friday afternoon, I decided to demonstrate a variant of the Braided Butt Damsel.

Braided Butt Damsel Variant | www.johnkreft.com

And Saturday found me tying Beetle Bailey and a Green Drake CDC Loop Wing Emerger.

Beetle Bailey | www.johnkreft.com
Beetle Bailey
Greed Drake Loop Wing Emerger | www.johnkreft.com
Green Drake CDC Loop Wing Emerger

I was able to catch up with my friend Chris Williams. He’s a terrific tyer, an innovator of many creative flies, and is on the Whiting Farms pro staff.

Chris Williams in Boise 2019 | www.johnkreft.com
Chris Williams

For some reason, Chris felt the need to torment me a little as he brought out a few Whiting Farms capes and saddles for us to drool over.

Whiting Hackle | www.johnkreft.com

As always, thanks to Gretchen and Al Beatty for hosting me. 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. They’ve recently entered the realm of Kindle books. You might have seen some of the links to their books in a Throw Back Thursday Fly post recently. Be sure to stop and see them tie flies at the 2019 Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo in Albany, Oregon on March 8 & 9, 2019.

Al and Gretchen Beatty in Boise 2019 | www.johnkreft.com
Al & Gretchen Beatty

Gretchen knows I enjoy pie, so she baked a fresh lemon meringue pie. It only seemed appropriate to decorate it!

Flies on Pie | www.johnkreft.com

It was a fun way to celebrate our fly tying.

Royal Wulff on Pie | www.johnkreft.com

Thanks to my RiverKeeper Flies readers who stopped by my tying table and said “hi”. I enjoyed meeting them and finding out what they enjoy about my website.

So until next year…

John Kreft in Boise 2019 | www.johnkreft.com

Enjoy…go fish!

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2 Comments

  1. Hi John,
    I always enjoy seeing and talking with you! And this was a fun read! Look forward to visiting more in Albany and maybe even sharing a barley pop!?
    Cheers until we meet again!
    Chris

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