From Umpqua:
Umpqua Feather Merchants is please to announce that renowned fly tyer/designer Ken Morrish has joined Umpqua’s team of Royalty Tyers. Ken is a fourth generation fly fisher who has guided throughout Alaska, Oregon, and California, he has taught hundreds of students the fundamentals of the sport, managed fly shops, consulted with leading fly rod manufacturers and designed an extensive line of popular fly patterns, including Morrish’s Mouse, Morrish’s Hopper, the Anato-may, the Iron Sally, and the Pom Skater.
“I am extremely excited to be working with Umpqua Feather Merchants. They have always been the benchmark for innovative design and quality workmanship and I am honored to be part of their team. Together I think we will bring a lot of great new products to the fly fishing world.”
—Ken Morrish
“Umpqua is thrilled to have such a talented and renowned designer joining our team of royalty tyers. Ken brings his incredible creativity, extensive angling experience and colorful, charismatic personality to an already impressive list of Umpqua royalty designers. He and his diverse, highly effective patterns will surely play a significant role in furthering Umpqua’s 40+ year history of cutting edge innovation in the fly fishing industry.”
—Jeff Fryhover, President & CEO, Umpqua Feather Merchants
In addition to his creative fly designing acumen, Morrish is an accomplished writer and photographer whose work has appeared in Patagonia, Outside, Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod and Reel, Northwest Fly Fishing, Wild Steelhead and Salmon, and other popular publications. In addition to all this, Morrish co-owns a highly successful fly-fishing destination travel service, Fly Water Travel, LLC, with Brian Gies, and serves as its Chief Operating Officer, primary photographer, and catalog copywriter.
Umpqua Feather Merchants late founder, Dennis Black, established the first royalty tyer/designer program in 1972 — a program that rewards fly tyers for their creativity on many levels, and inspires innovation and creativity among the fly designing world. Today, Umpqua has more than 150 talented designers in its royalty program, and introduces an average of over 100 new fly patterns per year to its extensive catalog of flies. In addition to being the world’s largest producer of quality hand-tied flies, Umpqua offers retailers a diverse and award-winning selection of fly-fishing accessories, leader and tippet, packs/bags/vests, hooks, and fly tying tools and materials. (www.umpqua.com)
