About the Author

James St. Claire

James is a Winemaker Monday â Thursday, and a Fly-Fishing Guide and Instructor for Redâs Fly Shop Friday â Sunday. He is a father of a two sons, both of whom love to be on the water with their dad. His wife Colleen likes to be on the water with the family, but so far fly-fishing is an observational sport for her.

Many of you might recognize James from working at Creekside Angling in Issaquah, WA before attending Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. He graduated with a B.S. in Biology and after working several years with Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Fisheries Technician, he did a 180 and attended Washington State University to pursue his M.S. degree in Viticulture and Enology. After WSU, James was able to re-locate to Yakima, WA, where he can pursue and enjoy all of his passions: Family, Fly-Fishing, and Wine. Not bad James, not bad.

Magic Skwala Dry Fly Pattern

March 5, 2015

Joe prompted me to share this fly recipe last year as my first blog post (I had mixed feelings about this!) along with tying instructions for my favorite Skwala dry fly.

I currently guide on the weekends for Red?s Fly Shop and it never fails that Joe will come by and swipe 2-3 of these flies off my hat, visor, or kit bag or anywhere else he can pilfer them. I think he manages to find some that I don?t even know about! The dirty rat started asking me about them the other day which then reminded me to get tying haha. I will be keeping this fresh batch under lock and key. Also, I have a few variants of this pattern as well that I will share in the coming weeks!

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Ha! I think he was eyeing the ones I had tied up for Wednesdays float too!
Wow. Brilliant recipes and flies!