My interest in tying Atlantic Salmon Flies began when I was about 14, when I purchased a copy of J. Edson Leonard’s Flies. The chapter on them and the plates in that book and Harry Darbee’s Black Dose in McClane’s Standard Fishing Encyclopedia absolutely captivated me. I had to tie those flies, and I still have some of those crude early attempts. I soon met a person who would become a lifelong friend and mentor: Wayne Luallen. His skills and aesthetic sensibility with these flies influenced me tremendously. When Poul Jorgenson wrote his book Salmon Flies, the feverish explosion of interest in these astonishing flies was on its way. The overwhelming interest in them as objects of art, combined with my love for contemporary art and architecture compelled me to take a slightly different course. I had to square my admiration for tyers such as Syd Glasso, Bob Veverka, Mark Kirchner, and many others, with my love for Thelonious Monk, Andy Warhol, John Knight, Rudolph Schindler and the like. I find comfort in this struggle.