My name is Dylan Gonzales. I’m from Los Lunas, New Mexico. I am small town raised and proud to be that way. At a young age, my dad Eli introduced me to fly fishing on the San Juan River and after a few hookups, I myself was hooked. Shortly after, my dad had shown me how to tie flies, we started with the basics such as a Grifths Gnat and a Pheasant Tail Nymph, I would tie a dozen or so and cut them off with a blade to retie them until I was able to manipulate the material well enough to make them all consistent and neatly tied.
I began to fish and catch trout stocked in the ditches along the Rio Grande. Developing styles and patterns to fish that had seen me the day before, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of fooling these fish with ideas that I had created from flipping rocks or digging through vegetation for insects. As I previously stated, I grew up fishing the San Juan River in Northern New Mexico, so a quick glance at my patterns or a look into my boxes, you'll see that my patterns are typically based to fish it. However, I tie many different styles from Euro-Nymphs to Catskill Dries, to size 30 Midges. I am an Electrician by trade so my time on the water is fairly limited. Tying flies and visualizing the runs I plan on fishing them in is my connection back to the water. I look forward to sharing my flies as I progress in fly tying, being a voice for the younger generation of tyers, and helping youth get on the vise and out on the water. I am very honored to be considered a Signature Fly Designer and extremely proud to be apart of Team Umpqua.