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    Our beginning started with luck, and that combined with hard work and some financial hardships, including the near loss of our first endeavor, almost ended it all. Larry and Ellen Stanley, my partners, and I had graduated from Cottage Grove High School in Oregon. Larry and I were average students, but Ellen was much more intelligent. This still stood to be true, regardless of the fact that she came with us on our seemingly mad journey to pioneer a fishing lodge, somewhere in the wilds of British Columbia. The idea of us owning a fishing lodge dated back...

The anticipation gives you chills. Eyes affixed to a strumming rod tip, telegraphing a staccato tap ...tap...tap...tap, telling the terminal gear's position as it slips downstream through choice holding water. A sudden stop, a slight pull followed by an instinctive hookset transforms "bottom" into fiery life, all before a taken breath. With shaking legs and racing pulse you try to match each acrobatic, flash-quick move. The fish is tiring, he's yours, two-plus feet of gunmetal blue, mercury silver and stark white slides into the shallows. A single sea lice clinging to its underside, signaling mere hours from sea. Briefly admired,...

The Pacific Northwest Coast is one of the most environmentally protected coastlines  in the world.  Oregon has the most widely accessible beaches; Long Beach in Washington is also a great spot, and is arguably the longest drivable beach in the world. These beaches, and more than 400 bays and estuaries, offer some of the most fertile clamming beds in North America. The most popular clam by far is the Pacific Northwest Razor Clam and I believe it is one of our region’s best-kept secrets. Abalone is delicious, but it sells for up to $125 a pound. Harvesting is very difficult,...

When the idea for this book was first discussed it was our intention simply to publish an omnibus edition of the catalogue sections of my previous volumes Shrimp & Spey Flies for Salmon, Hairwing & Tube Flies for Salmon and Featherwing & Hackle Flies for Salmon. This would provide a quick, easy and comprehensive catalogue of patterns for those anglers and flydressers who required it without having to take on board the more general observations about patterns found within the text of the earlier books. As the discussions progressed it became clear that there were some limitations to this idea....