The story in today's episode is pretty bizarre.

Why would a phenom fly tire who fly fisherman magazine call one of the great fly tires,

commits a felony robbery to steal almost 300 rare birds?

And this gets even more bizarre as we find out how today's guests avoids jail time after committing a felony robbery. And today you're

going to find out the why behind the feather thief and the crazy characters that make up

this real life thrower. This is the Webfly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel

to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip,

and what you can do to get back to fish species we all love.

How's it going?

This is Dave.

We've got Kirk Wallace Johnson on the podcast today, author of the Feather Thief and one of the greatest books that you likely will read this year if you're new to it.

We find out about the Victorian salmon flies, this classic fly tying forum and the

members who purchased some of these stolen goods. We get in some of that background. We find out about

Edwin's diagnosis with Asperger's and how that actually changes this whole dynamic in the book

here today. We find out how Sasha Baron Cohen's cousin was actually the man behind this diagnosis.

Another interesting spin.

And it's just one bizarre turn after another.

Definitely conservation.

We talk about, you know, pretty much everything around the salmon flies that we talk about here today.

Plus, you're going to find out

why this feather thief and the person behind the heist is now covering Metallica, Master of Puppets

albums on his flute, and why he's not tying flies in the public anymore. Respect. Here he is,

...