Sherry Steele: Thinking out of the box and on the fly

Roger May will be traveling once a year for four years for Rotary International to Tanzania, Africa for HIV orphan relief. What important thing does he need for his trip? The Mrs. Simpson fly.

The fly, the brochure says, was named after Mrs. Wallis Simpson - a fly for which the trout, like King Edward VIII, will give up their kingdom. Seeing Sherry Steele, expert fly tyer, at Camp Sherman's Bamboo Rod Fair last weekend, he passed on his urgent need.

Steele got to work.

Steele started fly fishing and tying seven years ago. Her skill is in duplicating historical flies of the classic Atlantic Salmon flies from the 1800s. They originated in Scotland and were originally created for lords. Tyers competed to dress the flies. Today clubs and guilds meet all over the world to tie these historic works of art.

People select flies from books on the Atlantic Salmon and she makes them to order, framed or unframed.

Teaching kids the old skills is an important mission of fly tyers. Steele had the weekend at the Bamboo Fair to inspire the kids and hopes someday to teach in Sisters. She offers a beginning fly tying class at COCC fall quarter which generally becomes an intermediate class for winter quarter for the continuing students.

Steele hangs her hat at Sisters' own The Fly Fisher's Place on Main Avenue and sports the title of fly tying manager. Owner Jeff Perin has been her mentor since 2001. He sold Steele her first fly rod and vice. She and Eric, her husband of 25 years, learned fly fishing through the guides at the shop. Eric leaves the fly tying to his wife.

Like many an avid fly tyer, Steele travels to Salem once a month to tie flies at the Creek Side Fly Shop on Salmon Fly Saturdays. Creek Side is a popular source of fly tying supplies for Central Oregon. A lot of the materials are from exotic birds that are extinct.

The Salmon Fly Tyers generally work on the same project. In December the Salem group will be tying a recent commission of Steele's.

Steele was honored while she was at the Bamboo Rod Fair by being asked to join the Northwest Atlantic Salmon Fly Guild. The guild's mission is to promote and preserve the art of tying and fishing classic flies for sea run fish.

She fishes with Wild Women of the Water, a group of women who are also members of Central Oregon Fly Fishers.

Steele is the fly tying coordinator for COF. The group has a winter fly tying series. Steele teaches half the classes and coordinates and organizes the rest. She is also the VP of Communications for the Oregon Council of Federation of Fly Fishers. She is on the board and writes four newsletters a year.

Merriam Webster will have to create a new definition for the word "retired." While she "retired" from her job as a computer tech and desktop support person at Lawrence Livermore Labs, she didn't stop there. She maintains her own computer service from her home office called Steele Computer Services.

Multi-talented, she has also taught kids horseback riding in Sisters for a summer.

Her motto is "thinking out of the box and on the fly." Steele urges people who are creative to take up fly tying.

"When you do, your creativity booms," she said.