Matt Klara is originally from Rome, NY, USA. He was introduced to fly fishing by his parents around age 5 and began his fishing career on the banks of the famed Battenkill and Madison Rivers over 25 years ago. Matt spent his summers fishing, and later guiding, throughout southwest Montana and Yellowstone National Park while he earned degrees in civil and mechanical engineering. In 2006, always looking for new water to explore, Matt moved from Bozeman, MT to Portland, OR where he is searching for steelhead. He is presently employed as a water resources engineering consultant specializing in river and wetland restoration work. Matt has pursued over 50 different species of fish with a fly, ranging from trout, bass, carp, and walleye to bonefish, tarpon, snook, and sting rays. His understanding of trout and steelhead are keen, and every year it seems like Matt comes up with new patterns and techniques to fool anything that swims. He enjoys most types of fishing, and often looks to conventional tackle anglers for inspiration when developing new presentation techniques and fly patterns. He is an obsessive experimenter and an innovative fly tier and angler, which often allows him to catch fish when others do not. He casts with his mouth open and has hairy legs, but the fish don't seem to mind as far as we can tell.
Matt and Paul met in West Yellowstone, Montana through their mutual friend and casting fanatic Justin Spence. They forged a friendship fishing together in Montana and then traveling through western Canada in search of bull trout. On that trip, over several Canadian beers, it was decided that Matt would write for Sexyloops. That was before Paul got banned from the US for winning the Ennis casting title 2 years in a row..