I grew up with a fly rod in one hand and a block of wood in the other.

My dad took me up the small streams of the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park. The Spotted Bear River was the water I loved most. He was also the one who taught me to work wood. Those two things have stayed with me ever since.

I still fish every chance I get, mostly on the North Fork of the Flathead and the Thompson River with my family, and I’m teaching my 8-year-old son to fly fish. I tie my own flies and build fly rods as a hobby. One day I realized I wanted a fly box that was made by hand — something I could hand down to him. So I made one.

Now I make them for other anglers too. Each box is solid hardwood — cherry, curly maple, walnut, or white oak — lined with cork on both sides, and engraved and finished by hand in my shop in the Flathead Valley, Montana. Cherry warms to a deeper red as it ages. Curly maple catches the light and the figure moves. Walnut is dark and rich. White oak is tough, tight-grained, and honey-toned. Every box is designed, built, engraved, and finished here, one at a time. I send a proof before any custom engraving, so it’s right before it’s burned in.

Most days in the shop still go to custom cabinets and furniture with my partner, John Ramsay. The fly boxes are the work I make to hand down.

Built in the Flathead. Fished hard. Handed down.

— Gregg

Reach me at gregg@mvworksllc.com or 406-471-3528.

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