I have been fly tying for over 25 years. I most enjoy tying historic streamers from the Rangeley region of Maine (USA). Of special interest are the unnamed and other lesser-known fly patterns of Carrie G. Stevens, the well-known Maine streamer tyer of the early 20th century.

My fly-tying journey began in about 1998, initially just creating flies needed for fishing. I became fascinated by the beauty of Carrie Stevens style streamers in about 2006, no doubt influenced by the publication of Carrie G. Stevens Maker of Rangeley Favorite Trout and Salmon Flies by Graydon and Leslie Hilyard, and Forgotten Flies by Paul Schmookler and Ingrid Sils. I developed my streamer tying skill studying under Mike Martinek, among others. In addition, several old-school social media sites provided me a rich interactive learning environment for tying streamers and classic Atlantic Salmon flies. By 2013, I began my quest to identify the unnamed and unusual streamer patterns of Carrie Stevens. My website www.petersimonsonflydresser.com contains a library of about 190 unnamed, unknown, and unusual streamer patterns of Carrie G. Stevens, each accompanied by my rendition of the pattern.

I have tied at the 2025 and 2026 British Fly Fair International show, at the International Fly Tying Symposium and The Fly Fishing Show for the past 15 years, at the 2023 and 2026 Sowbug Roundup, and at the 2024 and 2025 Northwest Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo, as well as at smaller shows and at museum events. In addition to my web site, my work appears in several magazines, books and other websites.

I am a retired signal processing systems engineer, and when I’m not tying, I enjoy fly-fishing, kayaking, and hiking. A favorite is fishing for brook trout and big land-locked salmon from pocket water and deep pools in the upper Connecticut River of New Hampshire and from the Rangeley region of Maine. My wife Lynne and I have two grown sons, and we live in New Hampshire, where we have been pouring money into a small farmhouse for over 40 years.