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About Me
Nordic Way Tube Flies

A little about myself

I grew up in Northern New Jersey when it was still rural in many areas offering many opportunities to flyfish. My tying started about in the late 1940's when materials were a catch it yourself endevor, no one being available to teach me tying I learned my craft in a vacuum developing a very personal style. After a three year stint in the Army ending in 1956 my tying stopped for a while to raise a family and persue a career as an airline mechanic. About 20 years ago I went back to tying this time trying tube flies, a concept which intrigued me although there was little or no written material on the subject ( again tying in a vacuum which developed the philosophy I work under today ). In June of 1995 I retired from the airline industry, moved to Missouri to persue a full time custom tying career.

My Tying Philosophy

Let's face facts, fishing trips are expensive, some up to $10,000 for a premier Atlantic salmon fishery. Certainly if you pay a lot of money for a once in a life time trip you dont want to go with flies that are inadaquite to the job, either wrong or of poor quality. To make it simple I use three words to describe my products, correct and absolute quality. Only the finest materials ,much of which is imported from England, are used in the construction of my flies. I've had several customers tell me,"I've lost flies but never broke any yet", which is exactly the idea I had in mind when I started tying. If you are looking for the best flies to fish Alaska , Russia, or in fact any place you think you might want to try and use tube flies, contact me and I'll let you know if what I have or can tie be of use on your next trip

My sole employee, namely me

Although It's true I'm the only one who ties my flies there are several people around the World who contribute to my efforts to supply the finest tube flies available For Alaska and Russia. These people test my flies under the worst possible conditions and aren't the least bit afraid to let me know if a fly is really good or isn't worth money a client would have to spend on it. These are the people who make the flies you buy current and proficient at catching fish. In 2002 I started co-authoring a new tube fly book with Mark Mandell who wrote the first edition with Les Johnson, we expect publication in 2004.
Bob Kenly

Me at my tying table

At my tying table either thinking or taking a nap.

catch.jpg
Silver salmon 13 1/2 pounds, Kuskokwim River, AK