This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Borden Special.
This sea-run cutthroat fly was created by Bob Borden in the 1960’s for the Alsea River, OR. Bob started Hareline Dubbing in Monroe, Oregon. Hareline is a wholesale provider of fly tying materials. You’ve probably used some of their fly tying materials.
I tied and fished this fly for sea-run cutthroat on the Alsea and Siletz rivers in the 1980’s. It caught fish!
I remember going to my first NW Fly Tying Expo in Eugene, OR and I sat in front of Bob as he tied this fly. Little did I know at that time Bob had been selected as the 1997 Stan Walters Memorial Fly Tyer of the Year.
The Borden Special was selected as the Show fly for the 2015 NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo in Albany, Oregon. It was the first year I served as Expo Chair.
Bob tied the fly in the picture above and it was prominently displayed in the poster plate as well as inspiration for an artist to capture for the show pin.
Tradition has it that fly tyers on the Expo Committee tie the Show fly each year. These flies supported Bob’s original Borden Special in a poster plate which was auctioned off at the Expo to benefit education and conservation programs of the Oregon Council – Fly Fishers International.
The next NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo will be on March 9 – 10, 2018. The 2018 Show fly is the Royal Wulff, a recent Throw Back Thursday Fly. As the most recent Stan Walters Memorial Fly Tyer of the Year, I was honored to tie this fly for the NW Expo.
Be sure to check out the latest information about this year’s Expo at the NWExpo.com website or the active Facebook page (click the photo below and you’ll go the the Facebook page).
Enjoy…go fish!
