Meet the River City Fly Shop Team:

Don Nelson:
Don grew up riding the Union Pacific rails between Portland and Pocatello ID with his grandfather, a UP conductor.  "Mike's" ample time off was well spent by taking Donnie fishing from Wyoming to Utah/Idaho to the west coast rivers.   Forty plus years ago Don asked a co-worker to go fishing for the day.  The first four or five times together were fishing which turned into marriage, three kids, 7 grandkids and a cat.  Don got some catch here!  In the early 90's Don learned to tie flies and was severely bitten by the fly fishing bug.

In 1999 he sold his big ol' empty (of children) house and opened his store.  River City was an instant success partly because all the old friends came to hang out and chat.  The new friends who followed came to learn to tie or cast or just to hang out at the table and have meant the store's continuing success.  Pete, Ralph and Tim make things easy with their vast knowledge of fishing and their super friendliness.

River City is a dream come true where work is fun and fishing can be an everyday affair -- even if you're just talking about it!!!

Pete Priepke:
I was born in The Dalles, Oregon and caught my first fish when I was five years old. Since that moment I have been a fishing "junkie" unable to reform. Most of my adult life was spent in two major cities: Seattle and Chicago. In Illinois I satisfied my fishing addiction by pursuing trout in the Wisconsin spring creeks along with smallmouth bass anywhere I could find them. While in Seattle I spent every free moment pursuing trout, salmon and steelhead. It was there that I fell in love with searun cutthroat and fly fishing. For over thirty years, fly fishing for these mysterious and beautiful fish has remained my primary passion.

In 1999 I retired and escaped the "corporate grind." I moved to the Portland area, and started hanging out at the River City Fly shop. When it became apparent to Don that he couldn't get rid of me, he put me to work. It has been a dream job come true. I consider River City to be a fly shop version of "Cheers." It is a place where fisherman of all types can come and meet. We try very hard to make it a "community" and not just another retail store. Come and see us. We love to talk about fishing and we learn something every day from our customers. Hopefully they learn something from us too.

Ralph Brooks:
Ralph's been fly fishing and fly tying since he was 14.  In recent years he's taken up rod building.  Raised in Kansas his "home" waters were once in the Missouri Ozarks and the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and South Dakota.  Six years ago he finagled a transfer to Oregon so he could fish on a more regular basis.  While most of his time is spent on Oregon and Washington waters, he still manages to escape to Alaska or points east on a fairly regular basis.  When he's not fishing or hanging around the fly shop he's working as an environmental scientist for a engineering firm that designs and builds power generation facilities across the US.  The full-time job has allowed him to fish all over the States as well as overseas.

Tim Ganley:
Originally from the east coast, as a youngster, Tim started fly fishing in the Catskills and the Adirondacks.  During the summer, when he wasn't out trout fishing the beautiful rivers of New York State, you could most likely find him perched in an old soda fountain booth located in the front of the mom & pop fly shop in the town of Delhi.  Tim loved sitting around listening to the "old guys" trading fishing stories.

Tim moved out west to Oregon in the spring of 1972 where he discovered steelhead and never returned to the east.

These days, when he is not out chasing fish, you'll most likely find him here at the fly shop.  Tim provides casting instructions and helps Pete, Ralph, and Don with shop chores.  In between all this, he may be spotted sitting around the table trading fish stories with the guys at the shop.  It seems that after fifty years not much has really changed!  Life is good!

Kevin Erickson:
Kevin W. Erickson has been an active fly fishing and fly tying devotee for over 30 years. He has been a well known and respected full-time professional in the fly fishing business for over 25 years including working the last 15 years plus at Kaufmann’s Streamborn, Inc. He is now proud to be invited to join the team at River City Fly Shop as their resident Fly Casting Instructor at large. His favorite specialty during his long career has been developing and teaching classes and schools in fly casting fly tying and fly fishing. He has taught literally thousands of students and has a well-deserved reputation as an expert in the sport and an extremely patient and thorough instructor. Come meet him for the first time or say hello again to your old friend and advance your casting skills YEARS in the process!