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​Robert Smith is the author of the critically acclaimed "The North Country Fly: Yorkshire's Soft Hackle Tradition" and has a heritage and knowledge in the field of dressing traditional soft-hackled wet flies that is second to none. His writing and fly-tying has been featured in several worldwide publications including Fly Fishing & Fly Tying, Trout & Salmon and the Fly Dressers Guild's own Flydresser magazine. Rob grew up in a Yorkshire Dales fly-fishing family and started fishing and fly-tying from an early age. He was given his first serious introduction to fly-tying over forty years ago when a schoolmaster gave him an old fly-tying kit as a school prize. Since then he has fished and tied flies all over the world, including demonstrating at many international fairs and exhibitions. Rob is proud to have dressed many traditional North Country patterns featuring authentic and vintage materials, which now feature in several museum collections both in the UK and abroad.
A keen student of fly-fishing history, Rob still revels in the thrill of fishing his favourite patterns on the same beats as fished by T. E. Pritt, Edmonds & Lee, and is proud to be a member of several of the north's oldest and most exclusive angling clubs.

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