A.K. Best

Archie Kenneth Best (February 26, 1933 – August 20, 2025) was an American production fly tyer, fly fisher, and angling writer. He was born in 1933 in Iowa and lived in Colorado until his death in 2025. He wrote for angling magazines like Fly Rod and Reel, Fly Fisherman, and Mid-Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide, and published several books on fly tying and fishing. His flies were sold in stores nationwide, as well as from online vendors. Best traveled to speak about fly tying at angling clubs nationwide.

Before he started writing, Best played the saxophone with a small band. Jazz musician Woody Herman invited Best to play with his big band, but Best had just been drafted into the U.S. Army and couldn't join. After serving, Best attended Drake University for a Master's degree in music education. In Michigan is where he "discovered brook trout, which changed my life." As he couldn't afford to buy flies, he learned to make them. His flies were contracted by large firms like the Orvis Company, the Urban Angler shop in Manhattan, and international supplier Umpqua Feather Merchants from Colorado. Best's dry flies were also sold nationwide by the thousands. The nickname comes from Best's affinity for using dry flies while fishing. Gierach encouraged Best to start writing and wrote several of the introductions to his books.

Best's manuscript materials, published articles, memorabilia, flies, and business correspondence ranging from 1983 to 2015 can be found in the Montana State University Archives and Special Collections. There is also an interview with Best included in the collection regarding his life as a fly fisher and fly tyer, as a part of the Angling Oral History Project.

Best died from an aortic aneurysm in Boulder, Colorado, on August 20, 2025, at the age of 92. These articles were placed near an advert for the flies, which could be bought from Orvis. Correspondence from Orvis fly buyers and Best note that these articles helped sell more flies. The Orvis Company continues to reference Best's fly tying methods in instructional videos.

Fly tying career Eleven flies tied by Best, from his collection at the Montana State University Archives and Special Collections. Best started selling flies to shops in the early sixties when he lived in Michigan. He made several display cases of his flies and would take them with him every time he went trout fishing. Along the way, he'd stop at gas stations or fly shops to see if they were running low on any patterns. He wrote in a document given to the MSU Archives and Special Collections, "If they were I would go back to my car and bring in the display cases and tell the owner that I noticed they were out of size 16 Adams (for example) and ask if they would like to place an order. It worked nearly every time and I garnered several regular accounts."

Best opened his fly shop, A.K.'s Fly Shop, in 1972 after spending 25 years working as a teacher and owning a fly tackle shop. At this time, his shop tied 72,000 flies per year. By the time Best wrote his first book in 1989, he had already been tying flies for 25 years, professionally for ten.

Best became a regular columnist for the magazine Mid-Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide in 1995. His monthly column "From the Vise" gave detailed instructions for creating a specific fly. One of Best's most used strategies for creating fly patterns is to stare at the water and watch insects float by. He also regularly carries a camera and notebook with him while fishing to record insects. Even when not production tying, Best tied over 6,500 flies each year.

Publications Production Fly Tying (1989) Dying and Bleaching Natural Fly Tying Materials (1993) A.K.'s Fly Box (1996) The Best Flies of A.K. Best (1999) Advanced Fly Tying (2001) Dying and Bleaching Natural Fly Tying Materials (second edition) (2004) Fly Fishing with A.K. (2005) Fly Tying with A.K. (2008)