The Avid Angler Staff

Nathan Keen is one of the owners of the shop and the store manager. He has been fly fishing and tying since 1988 and has fished extensively throughout the Northwest and British Columbia. He has also fished in Montana for trout, Cape Cod and the Northeast for Striped Bass, Belize, the Bahamas, Ascension Bay and the Florida Keys for Bonefish and Baja for Roosterfish and Dorado. After a career shift from the accounting world, he spent two summers running the Orvis Cape Cod Saltwater Fly Fishing School, before joining The Avid Angler. He teaches the following classes: Steelhead Fly Fishing, Steelhead Fly Tying, Tying Puget Sound Flatwings, Spey Casting and the Puget Sound Saltwater classes. On his day off, he can generally be found swinging flies for steelhead or plying a local beach for cutthroat and salmon.

Brita Fordice is a native to Washington state and has been fly fishing since she was eight years old. She has fished in Idaho, Washington and Alaska for both trout and salmon. After 2 ½ years in Idaho and 1 year in Alaska, she has settled down in her home state and fishes local waters intensely. She ties her own flies and enjoys fishing local lakes and the beaches in the north sound. Brita works full-time at the shop Sunday through Thursday.

Ryan Smith, originally hails from Oregon, has lived in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Since the age of 13, after a tug from a large Henry’s Fork rainbow, he has been succumbing to his own fishing addiction. After college in Colorado, he wound up in Northern Montana and has worked, fished and skied his way back to the West Coast. Most recently, Ryan left Ketchum, Idaho after guiding for a local outfitter. Ryan guides full time with Emerald Water Anglers, a local guide service here in Seattle. He has guided on the Sauk, Skykomish, Snoqualmie, Cowlitz, Yakima and in Puget Sound. Ryan works on Saturday in the shop so stop by and introduce yourself. He teaches the Trout Rivers, Trout Tactics class. Ryan is a certified casting instructor through the Federation of Fly Fishing's Certified Casting Program.

Mike Scott has retired from a 33-year career at the Bechtel Corporation which specializes in construction engineering. He was a member of the project management team. Mike brings a wealth of flyfishing experience from around the country and the world. He has spent considerable time fishing in the Bahamas, Belize, the Florida Keys, the Texas Coast and trout fisheries like the San Juan in New Mexico. Mike is just as happy to be catching 6"-8" brookies as he is slugging it out with Tarpon in the Keys. Mike works part-time in the store on a weekly basis and teaches some of our Introduction to Fly Fishing classes.

Joel Oerter grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he learned to fish on the waters of the South Platte and the Blue. Going to college in New York state afforded him the opportunity to explore creeks around Syracuse, and his summers were spent guiding on a small ranch on the Rio Grande near Durango. After teaching English in Normandy and waiting tables on the French Riviera, Joel moved to the Pacific Northwest in pursuit of the good life (and learning to catch steelhead!). When not working part-time in the shop or at REI, Joel is combing local beaches for sea-run cutts, practicing his double-handed casts, or composing a philosophical treatise on the merits of fish on the fly (and steelhead!). Stop by and introduce yourself to Joel. He teaches some of our Introduction to Fly Fishing classes.

Mike Benbow is one of the owners of the shop and has been fly fishing since he moved to Washington in 1978. He fishes for just about anything and ties his own flies. Steelhead are his favorite fish, but Mike also enjoys seeking out less popular fish such as grayling and northern pike and loves fishing for what the seasons give him in the Northwest. Mike teaches our Introduction to Fly Tying class and occasionally works in the shop on the weekends.

Jason Harmon, born in Arkansas and raised in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains, Jason taught himself to fly fish for smallmouth bass and rainbow trout as a teenager. He spent the next two decades prowling the famous White River tail waters in Arkansas and Missouri, home to numerous world record fish, and learned to tie flies specific to those waters. Along the way, Jason fished from Maine to Hawaii, Montana to Mexico, and nearly anywhere between where fish will take well-flung fly. Jason moved to the Northwest mid-2006 and spends time learning local rivers and lakes when he’s not working in the shop. Stop by anytime and share a fish story with Jason, or he may have a tale of his own to tell!