Harry Lemire, a member of the North West Atlantic Salmon Fly Guild is a legend in the Salmon Fly arena and has been for many years. Harry is one of the few who practices this craft (art) without the aid of a vice and as a result his flies duplicate quite closely the epitome of what they are supposed to look like. Harr, pictured below was kind enough to supply his own biographical information, seen below:



"About me?  I was born in Woonsocket Rhode Island. At the age of 6, I started showing a lot of interest in fishing gear.---especially Bass flies, crappie flies, Trout flies ---you name it .And at that age I was fishing with anyone who would take me or would go with me on our bikes. I fished within 10 miles of Woonsocket in ponds and streams for whatever would bite. I caught a lot of fish ---to the point where my mother and sisters told me not to bring any more of them dammed fish home unless they told me to.

As time went by I went fishing more, tied better flies and caught more fish.

I joined the Air Force at age 18 and enjoyed my four year tour of duty, at the end of that four years I was stationed on Cape Cod where I met my wife Marlene who was stationed there with me. She was from Wenatchee, Washington. When we finished our tour of duty we planned to live in upstate New York where I had a job waiting for me. But before settling down we planned to visit Marlene's parents in Wenatchee for a month or so. Well, when we got Washington I found that there were deer and elk running all over the place and they had what they called winter lakes as well as summer lakes. You could fish the year round, and in these lakes the fish stared at 17 inches.

And that there was Steelhead in a river that ran right through town and salmon returned to it every summer and fall.

Well, with all this Hunting and Fishing going on I had to rethink my plans.  So with a new plan and a job with the Boeing Company which located me on the west side of the Cascade Mountains where all the rivers run to the ocean and where all the salmon and steelhead come from. Not to mention the summer and winter lakes of eastern Washington. I decided that this was where I really where I really belonged.

With Steelhead becoming my real passion for the last 50 years I have fished many rivers in Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and California.

I've caught Steelhead up to 34 pounds on a skating fly and up to 23 pounds on a dry fly. My life I would say has been good.

After tying thousands of trout and steelhead flies ,fly tying had become pretty mundane  for me. Until the Christmas of 1990 when my wife Marlene gave me the book "How To Dress Salmon Flies" by Dr. T E Pryce-Tannatt. The book fascinated me.  Just to think that was how fishermen and gillies used to tie them before vises were invented.

So I gave it a try. I found it very possible, practical and rewarding. From that day to this I've never used a vice when tying classic patterns and see no reason to.

Harry Lemire."

Click on the thumbnails below to see larger images of Harry's flies.