The Honest Flies of Bob Borden Monroe, Oregon — Humble Giant of Pacific Northwest Fly Tying: Volume 10 In The Honest Flies Series Paperback – March 16, 2026

While fly tyers all over the world use products sold by the industry giant Hareline Dubbin, few realize that Bob Borden started this respected company by dying rabbit fur in a pot on his kitchen stove. I’ve known Bob as a friend before Hareline grew first into a nationwide, then into a worldwide enterprise. The man hasn’t changed one iota in the years since. He’s still just Bob, my friend, great fly tyer, materials expert, and talented angler.Whether sitting side-by-side on a log beside the Elk River Lagoon—or across a Formica table in Port Orford’s Crazy Norwegian, you wouldn’t guess that this self-educated man was the fellow who built Hareline Dubbin. Starting out dying rabbit fur on his wife Nelda’s kitchen stove—he created one of the most respected fly-tying material wholesalers in the world.Bob and I have known each other for something like forty years. Others who have known Bob even better and longer than I do are quick to agree— he’s someone that they’re proud to have as a friend in their boat. Bob’s humble character and his relationships with these lifelong friends places him on par with the genuinely talented and respected people featured in the Honest Flies books.Without trying, Bob has helped all of us who tie flies and flyfish.I asked bob to help me produce this book by writing all the essays that would be needed to tell his story.Fortunately for our fly tying community, Bob agreed to help, and recorded the essays you will read here, no small feat for a man who doesn’t use a computer, like our friends Stan Davis, Jeff Hunter, and others, who have all shared their story in volumes before him.Enjoy Bob’s memories about growing up in Siletz, starting out fishing for six-inch trout in tiny creeks, graduating to fishing for fifty-pound Chinook in the Rogue. This book can’t relate every aspect of Bob’s life. But his stories prove that he’s “one of us,” an ordinary man who worked hard, tied great flies, and loves to fish.Bob is a talented tyer with an expert’s knowledge about tying materials. He’s graded and dyed more feathers and hair of all kinds than will pass through most fly shops in decades. Bob’s hands-on experience with natural and synthetic tying materials is only matched by a handful of people worldwide.This book presents Bob's essays—recorded in his own words—along with a photo-journal of well over a hundred flies he’s tied in the last 25 years. The flies you’ll see are focused either on trout in Oregon’s high lakes or South Coast Chinook. Bob’s essays are accompanied by an assortment of his family photos, and his fishing friends contributed a few fishing photos too.Here's a short quote from Bob about one of his memories of fly fishing for Chinook down at Clay Banks, on the Rogue River, back before the run went down and the pool washed out.“This was a beautiful morning at Clay Banks, and I was anchored with a few friends. I was probably fishing a 30 foot, Type 3 Sink shooting head, with 10-pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon leader. The mail boat slowed to pass. People were smiling and waving while taking pictures of us. Sometimes, the mail-boat would stir up the school and a few would grab a fly. The tourists loved seeing us fight a big Chinook.”Bob and I invite you to enjoy the essays and fly images that follow .... so let's get busy and start turning the pages! Read more