Mike Cline - Bozeman, Montana

How You Got Started

I Learned to tie at the age of 14 in 1962 from a Pasadena Casting Club sponsored beginners fly tying class. Learned how to cast a fly rod from the same folks.  Got my first real fly rod—Fenwick FF70 in 1970 after returning from Vietnam.  Started in regularly tying and fishing my own flies plying the waters of Eastern Washington in the early 1970s.  Multiple USAF tours at McChord AFB in Tacoma, Malmstrom AFB, Montana, Alaska and in Central Alabama provided unique opportunities to tie flies for all sorts of target species, especially in places like Yellowstone.  Got to spend over ten years overseas in the Philippines, England, Germany and Turkey, occasionally breaking out the fly rod and generating a few flies for local targets.  Got my first real taste of inshore saltwater fly fishing and Minnesota/Canada smallmouth/pike fishing during my last few years in the service.  Spent first 12 years of retirement in Central Alabama and fly tying helped tackle bass and other warm water targets.  Routine trips to the Gulf for some inshore saltwater fly fishing got me going big time on saltwater patterns.  Moving to Bozeman in 2008, I reunited with many great streams I visited during my service years.  Fly tying is now part of the daily routine and just about any pattern is on the table with the exception of fancy salmon and steelhead flies.

Favorite Pattern To Tie: 

Although I tie just about any kind of relevant pattern, my favorite streamer is a Pine Squirrel Bugger on FH 811.  My favorite dry fly is a toss up between Moose Humpies or some manner of parachute on FH 419.  When it comes to saltwater patterns, Dancing Deceivers on FH 801/802P are the go to pattern for inshore targets.

Favorite Species & Waters

Target Species: It is hard to beat the Brown, Cutthroat and Rainbow trout waters of SW Montana and Yellowstone National Park

My favorite inshore saltwater targets are Speckled Trout and Snook in the Tampa Bay region. 

Fly Tying Style & Specialties

Most certainly my fly tying skills have evolved and improved over the decades.  New techniques and materials are incorporated easily.  A Florida guide I fished with had a mantra that encapsulates my style:

A fly has to be easy to tie.

A fly has to catch fish.

A fly has to be durable.

Why You Trust Firehole:

I met Joe Mathis in Bozeman when he started Firehole Outdoors and wrote about him in Fly Tyer Magazine.  As the hook models he designed expanded my stock of FH models expanded and the patterns tied on them saw more and more use on the water.  I had always encouraged Joe to produce a good saltwater barbless hook and when the 801P, 802P and 803P models came out, they proved themselves in the salt on the inshore flats of Tampa and Sarasota Bay.  When I am on one of Montana’s famous trout streams, I am fishing a Firehole Stick because they work.  I had always encouraged Joe to produce a good saltwater barbless hook and when the 801P, 802P and 803P models came out, they proved themselves in the salt on the inshore flats of Tampa and Sarasota Bay.  When I am on one of Montana’s famous trout streams, I am fishing a Firehole Stick because they work.