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.
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