North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine September 2018 | Page 4

contributors Tyler Balich Tyler Balich grew up in Anchorage, Alaska where, naturally, he learned to hunt and fish. He moved to north Idaho 23 years ago and now manages North 40 Fly Shop in Coeur d’ Alene. When not wandering the mountains for elk, or wading rivers for trout, he spends his time with his wife and two children. Bruce Berry Bruce Berry started fishing very young with his father and grandfathers mainly for local Bass and Pan fish. The passion set in at the age of thirteen with a Christmas present of a fly tying vise and deluxe tying kit. Bruce ended up tying commercially by age fourteen through High School and College for Pacific Fly Works, Kaufmann’s, and The Fly Fisher’s Place. He followed in the footsteps of every die hard fisherman: at twelve wrecking fly lines in the street after school, at thirteen wanting to catch a fish with a fly, which turned into wanting to catch a bigger fish, a fish in the Wind River Range, a fish in the salt, a fish on a swung fly, a fish on a skater and so on! Now Bruce spends most of his time on the water either stalking trout or swinging steelhead flies. Between trips he ties flies and lies to friends and family about the size of the fish he catches. Bruce now works in the fly fishing industry full time as the North American distributor for Pro Sportfisher, representative and product design for Beulah Fly rods and reps for Hatch Outdoors, Montana Fly Company and TroutHunter Leader and Tippet. George Cook George Cook is a longtime rep for Sage, Rio and Redington, among other brands, and has managed some of the finest stillwaters in eastern Washington for a few decades. He is a fishing and hunting machine, toiling for anadromous fish wherever they swim and hunting antlered game from northern Alaska to Mexico. When he’s not catching-and-releasing or straight out killing, you might find him leading spey claves in Idaho and Oregon, or rapping about his favorite subjects to friends and strangers alike. 4