What's In Your Fly Box? Craig Mathews

Craig Mathews is one of those guys who seems to have done it all. Formerly sheriff of West Yellowstone, Montana, he started his fly shop, Blue Ribbon Flies, there in the early 1980s. Then he and Yvon Chouinard teamed up to form 1% For The Planet, which organizes conservation donations by member businesses. Meanwhile he wrote a few books and produced a few videos on fly fishing Yellowstone Park and the Madison. And oh yeah, he authored a bunch of important fly patterns for both trout and saltwater fishing.
Given Mathews’s energy, we had no idea what we would discover in his personal fly box. But here’s what we found: Flies that are tied in 2 minutes but that can be made only from materials locked in his fly shop freezer. PMD nymphs that float six inches below the surface. And the signature of a custom fly box builder who lives in a teepee and charges hundreds of dollars for a single creation.
See Craig Mathews’s personal fly selection.