Fly Fishing, the Best Way to Fish.
About 10 years ago I learned to fly fish and haven’t looked back since. One of my best friends invited me to a cookout at a place only referred to as “the barn” where her now husband gave me a 30 second fly fishing lesson. That 30 seconds has been the basis for the majority of vacations I’ve planned and taken since. As a kid I bass fished with my dad quite a bit and always had a blast, and I still grab the conventional setup on occasion, but fly fishing just has so much more to offer. Be it the incredible community, the many lessons and skills to learn, the spectacular places the sport has taken me, or the undeniable beauty of the trout we all chase, it’s a feeling that can’t be beat.
A cold and rainy evening on The Swift - Christmas Eve 2015
Fly fishing for me has always been my sort of, happy place. I can hit the water and forget about everything, just enjoy life for a bit and take in all the views around me. I’ve been extremely fortunate with all the places I’ve had the opportunity to fish, places like; the Madison and the Gallatin in Montana, the Caney Fork and the Little river(one of my all time favorites) in Tennessee, the Swift(where I learned to fish) in Massachusetts, the South Platte and Gunnison in Colorado, to name a few favorites. For me it’s about getting away from it all, I rarely check my phone or even have service while out there. Some of the best places I’ve fished required hours of hiking and even a handful of overnight backpacking trips to access, but those have been the absolute best. The spots listed above have plenty of access within a few minutes of the car, but the best sections I’ve found involve hiking a few miles from the trailhead.
My first ever backpack fly fishing trip near Franconia Notch New Hampshire, 5 days of peak bagging and fishing.
One of the better trips was in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana. I set out for a day of hiking but knew there were potential fishing opportunities, so I brought an ultralight setup with me just in case. I had my trusty REI Flash 18 with some snacks, extra clothes, emergency supplies, and my truck fishing setup which you can read about it here. I learned a lot on that trip, mainly that it's much better to carry a bunch of a few patterns than a few of a bunch of patterns. I now basically carry 3-4 different patterns depending on where I'm fishing. I very quickly blew through my stash of Utah Killer Bugs and in addition to losing my confidence, struggled to find another pattern that worked as well. So now, you’ll never find me without some balloon caddis, copper and peacock brassies, a dozen or more killer bugs, and some sort of zebra midge.
Tying up some Balloon Caddis back in the day.
Right about the time I started fly fishing I started tying my own flies and admittedly, I enjoy that a bit more at times. I even had the opportunity to sell flies to a handful of shops around Denver for a while, but haven’t sold them in ages and am very slowly getting back to that. It started as a way to fund my travels in addition to bettering myself as a tyer, but has been more of just a hobby in recent years.
A solid day of Pigsticker tying!
Fly tying is just as much an escape from reality as fishing, I love to sit at the vise and top off the boxes or knock out a few orders. Preferably the bigger orders, the largest so far being 1,500 flies, 300 each of 5 different patterns. It’s so satisfying to see them all piling up, and running that last inch of thread through the bobbin seems like such a huge accomplishment! Even tying for my own personal stash is great, trying random new things that I don’t often do for sale flies or adding new tying skills to the ole tool box. I even bring along a small tying kit on longer trips, sometimes I want something slightly different than what I brought, and in the unfortunate event of bad weather I’ll have a great way to occupy my time. All in all I really enjoy tying, especially with my line of work keeping me from fishing as much as I’d like, it’s great to sit down at the vise even if I only have a few minutes.