The Flies of Andrew Marshall

I was introduced to the flies of Andrew Marshall through the glowing praise of his friend, contributing fly tyer, Monte Smith. Monte was so impressed with Mr. Marshall's work, he decided to tie and present a unique set of original Steelhead flies developed by him called the Deschutes River Dee Series (which see). This was Monte's tribute to Andrew and an invitation for him to tie as a contributor for Salmonfly.Net. I have spoken to Andrew several times since then via email and phone and have learned that he is a special individual as well as a talented fly tyer. Please read on to hear what Andrew says about his flies and the craft and don't forget to look at his flies.

I was born in 1964, in a British Army Hospital in Germany. I have been traveling pretty much ever since. My fishing career started at age 8 with a 10-inch cutthroat trout lofted into a patch of stinging nettles as I tried to set the hook. The tackle I was using at the time was a curved stick, a length of 10lb test line tied to the end of it, a rusty hook and a worm. The place was Bear Creek, Issaquah, Washington. It was here I really began exploring the aquatic environment, studying the habits of fish and insects and seeing how they interacted.

My first fly was tied on a bait hook, at roughly age 10, and consisted of gray mallard feathers, tied in, bunch style, for wings, and body, similar to a crane-fly pattern. I knew I was onto something, though, when my friend saw it, commented on how nice it would work, and promptly stole it. It worked too as far as I knew. I had been collecting feathers of all kinds since before I can remember, and around this same time, began to put hooks into them, using sewing thread, and tying in hand. All self taught, figuring things out as I went along to produce wet flies along the lines of soft hackles and crane flies.

Classic Dees

Sea-Run Cutthroat Series