ANACORTES — On the west side of the living room of Bob and Carol Fairey’s Anacortes home is a large desk covered with tiny tools, spools of thread, hooks, glue and a chunk of styrofoam.

To the right of the desk is a table stacked with plastic containers — each carefully labeled with its contents.

“I don’t have a man cave,” Bob Fairey said. “So it all just came out here.”

Protruding from the chunk of styrofoam are a half dozen absolutely stunning Atlantic salmon flies tied by none other than Fairey himself.

The 84-year-old has been a member of the Fidalgo Fly Fishers since 2005.

The view out the large living room windows of the Faireys’ home high above the Anacortes Ferry Terminal is of the San Juan Islands.

It’s a setting that drew the Faireys to Anacortes in 2003 after having lived in California for 63 years.

The Faireys have long had a love of fishing, whether it be in fresh water or salt water. They have fished in New Zealand, the Bahamas, Belize, Mexico, Montana and British Columbia.

“We have fished all over the world,” Bob Fairey said. “It was a great ride.”

He described fly fishing as truly being his passion, right up there with playing the piano.

“I studied at the business school of Cal Berkeley,” he said. “I put myself through there by playing jazz piano after serving in the Coast Guard.”

Recent health issues, however, have curtailed the Faireys’ fishing excursions.

But while the neuropathy in his legs has limited his ability to fish, it has done little to dampen a passion he had since boyhood, and that’s tying flies.

Countless hours have been spent tying flies ranging from the tiny (size 22) Utah Killer, which is a sowbug imitator for Fairey’s son and grandsons to use on Utah’s Provo River, to the large and flashy Loreto Dorado sardine imitator.

In 2022, Fairey took up tying Atlantic salmon flies. He has relied on YouTube videos for instruction.

Fairey admits his tying of Atlantic salmon flies is a work in progress.

“This is not like tying a Royal Coachman or a Grey Wolf,” he said. “Those are easy.”

Fairey can literally mass produce those common trout flies. And he does, keeping his family in flies.

He said with Atlantic salmon flies, you have to look at the hook and decide how many different colors and how many different segments you are going to need. It can take him three or four hours to tie one.

“This is truly a product since I was 12 years old,” Fairey said of tying flies. “But I got into the Atlantic salmon flies because it was something totally different. It’s challenging and it’s stimulating.

“With these flies, you can see the color. It’s more of an art form than anything. Most of these never get in the water. They hang on the wall.”

On the wall of his den is a shadow box created by Ferndale’s Scott Christenen containing 10 of Fairey’s most prized Atlantic salmon flies.

Fairey continues to hone his craft. If a fly doesn’t meet his standards, he returning it to a bare hook to begin the process over.

“I have ended up butchering (Atlantic salmon) flies like crazy,” he said of when he first started. “I’m a type A personality and I used to get really ticked off. But I learned through it all about having patience. If you are going to do this sort of thing, you better do it because you enjoy it or it’s going to become stressful and self-defeating.”

Flies can be made of rather exotic materials that can cost a small fortune. But Fairey says he likes to rely on what he can purchase at local shops.

But not always. He does splurge at times through contacts made over the years for such materials as golden pheasant.

“Those feathers go into a lot of these flies,” Fairey said. “I enjoy tying with some of the more hard-to-get materials and I am glad to have those.”

Fairey said those who are among the best at tying flies get big money for them.

“They tie one and sell it for $800,” he said. “The reason it’s worth so much money is because it’s one of a kind and it has been created by a true artist. They get big prices for them and then when they die, just like famous paintings, the price really goes crazy.”

For him, however, it’s about taking it slow and enjoying the process.

“It’s a good way for me to pass the time and not waste it since I really can’t go anywhere,” Fairey said. “It’s my way of keeping in touch with something I love to do.”