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943 | Traditional Wet Fly Fishing Secrets from Davy Wotton

In this episode, Davy Wotton discusses why many anglers are missing fish before their flies even land. While most anglers focus on casting farther, Davy argues that shorter, more controlled casts in traditional wet fly fishing often result in better presentations and more fish caught.

Davy details his “clockface” method for fishing wet flies and explains how to effectively fish upstream, across, and downstream on the swing. He also compares traditional winged wet flies with North Country soft hackles—both of which are commonly used in traditional wet fly fishing systems. Additionally, he shares specific fly patterns that anglers can start using right away.

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(The full episode transcript is at the bottom of this blogpost) 👇🏻

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Davy Wotton on Traditional Wet Fly Fishing
Photo via https://www.davywottonflyfishing.com/galleries

Show Notes with Davy Wotton on Traditional Wet Fly Fishing

Davy Wotton is a respected fly fishing guide, author, and instructor known for his expertise in traditional wet fly fishing and wet fly presentation techniques. Originally from Wales, United Kingdom, he has spent decades teaching anglers and refining traditional wet fly fishing methods for both rivers and still waters.

Davy is widely recognized for helping preserve and modernize classic wet fly approaches, making traditional wet fly fishing practical and highly effective for today’s anglers.

Better Presentation and Natural Drifts on Traditional Wet Fly Fsihing

[00:02:03] Davy explains why presentation matters more than simply covering water. In traditional wet fly fishing, success often comes from matching the natural drift of insects rather than forcing long casts or rushing the presentation.

[00:12:59] He also breaks down his clockface method, focusing on fishing between 12:30 and 2:30 for the most effective upstream presentation. Davy shares why anglers often miss fish by fishing too fast, reacting too quickly to strikes, or repeatedly casting over the same water instead of moving downstream and covering new water.

You can watch the video of Fishing Wet Flies in the “Traditional Style” with Davy Wotton here.

Davy Wotton’s Traditional Wet Fly Approach

Davy explains that traditional wet fly fishing is built around presenting flies in a way that closely matches how natural insects move in the water. Rather than relying on long casts or fast retrieves, he focuses on controlled presentations, proper drift, and understanding how fish react to different fly movements.

Covering Water with the Clockface Method

Davy explains how to systematically cover water when practicing traditional wet fly fishing with wet flies upstream. Instead of making long casts right away, he starts with short presentations close to the bank and gradually increases distance while maintaining a natural drift.

This method is especially effective in traditional wet fly fishing because it ensures every section of water is covered without spooking fish.

Winged Wet Flies vs North Country Soft Hackles

Davy breaks down the difference between traditional winged wet flies and North Country soft hackles within traditional wet fly fishing systems.

Traditional winged wet flies use more structured patterns that can imitate insects or act as attractors, while North Country soft hackles are sparsely dressed flies designed to move naturally in the current.

[39:03] He explains that soft hackles often perform best in traditional wet fly fishing when fished upstream, where the current activates the fibers naturally. Traditional winged wet flies can also be fished upstream effectively, offering more versatility depending on conditions and fish behavior.

The Right Rod for Wet Fly Fishing

I also wanted to ask Davy on gear, especially the rods he likes for fishing wet flies. Davy’s answer was pretty simple:

“the right rod makes controlling your flies and making slower, more open casts a whole lot easier.”

A few of the rods and setups we talked about:

  • Medium-action rods with a soft tip
  • Euro nymphing rods, which Davy says work surprisingly well for wet flies
  • 10-foot to 10’6″ rods as his preferred all-around length
  • 11-foot rods for even more line control
  • The APGA Prestige X rod series that Davy helped design
  • Rods from Hardy, Orvis, and Sage that he also enjoys fishing

One of the biggest takeaways here is that wet fly fishing isn’t about casting as far as possible. It’s about line control, natural presentations, and using a rod that helps you slow everything down.

Davy shared a piece of advice from John Hazel: “make the right cast the first time. A good presentation sets up everything that follows, and it’s something every angler can continue to work on.”

John Hazel at the Deschutes River Fly Shop a Deschutes
Photo by Mark B. Gibson of Columbia Gorge News

You can check John Hazel of Swing the Fly Shop here.

Choosing the Right Rod for Wet Fly Fishing

[00:58:13- 01:11]When I asked Davy about rods, he emphasized that rod action and line control matter more than casting distance. He would prefer longer, medium-action rods with soft tips, including Euro nymphing rods, 10- to 11-foot rods, and the APGA Prestige X series he helped design. He also mentioned rods from Hardy, Orvis, and Sage. If you’re wondering how the right rod can improve your wet fly presentation, Davy now shares plenty of practical insights in this episode.

Why Stealth Matters More Than You Think

[01:11] One of the most interesting parts of this conversation was hearing Davy explain how often anglers spook fish without realizing it. From fly line splash and rod shadows to poor presentations, small mistakes can make fish aware of your presence long before they see your fly.

[01:30] We also get into leader design, why Davy avoids loop-to-loop connections, and how a simple, streamlined setup can improve presentations. If you’ve ever watched fish refuse your flies and wondered why, this section of the episode offers some eye-opening insights that could change the way you approach the water.

Controlling the Swing and Hooking More Fish

One thing that really stood out to me with Davy was how many fish we lose simply because we react too fast to the take. In this episode, he shares a few simple adjustments from slowing the swing to adding a little slack that can help you hook and land more fish, and honestly, it might change the way you fish wet flies.

Muddler Daddy used best for Traditional Fly Fishing as per Davy
Muddler Daddy used best for Traditional Fly Fishing as per Davy photo via https://bannvalley.net/products/muddler-silver-daddy

Davy on traditional wet fly fishing
Davy showing off his catch of the day using his traditional wet fly fishing method.

If you want to connect with Davy or learn more, here’s where to find him:

Website: https://www.davywottonflyfishing.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.wotton.16/

Email: davyfly@ozarkmountains.com

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Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
00;00;01;29 – 00;00;28;11 Dave The biggest wet, fly mistake has nothing to do with the flies. It happens after the cast, and according to Davie Walton, is the reason many anglers missed fish. Lose fish or never get the take in the first place. Today debut Walton returns on the podcast. He’s going to break down the finer points of traditional wet fly fishing. We get into presentation land control, fly selection, leader design, casting and why the way your fly moves to the water often matters more than the pattern you tie in your leader. 00;00;28;18 – 00;00;44;28 Dave This is the Wet by 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 give back to the fish species. We all love. In this episode, Dave is going to break down the Clockface method and how he uses this to fish upstream. 00;00;45;02 – 00;01;04;14 Dave To fish whet flies effectively. We’re going to talk about fishing upstream, fishing across, fishing down on the swing. We can find out about the difference between traditional winged wet flies and the North country soft tackles. We’re going to talk about flies in the flies. You need to get started today. And also how to control, drag and maintain proper fly separation. 00;01;04;14 – 00;01;21;23 Dave That’s a big one we use in a team of flies. We’re going to describe that two, three, four and maybe even five flies or more. And the casting mistakes that lead to constant tangles and what you can do to change that. We’ve got some good stuff going. We’re also going to be talking about a potential trip with TV and a boot camp. 00;01;21;23 – 00;01;30;20 Dave So if you want to check in with him, you can go to https://www.davywottonflyfishing.com/ right now. Here he is, Davy Watton. How you do, Davy? 00;01;31;03 – 00;01;34;02 Davy I’m doing fine. It’s great to be back with you again. 00;01;34;12 – 00;01;49;05 Dave Yeah, this is exciting. We’ve we’ve recently, you know, we always have people asking about fly fishing and, you know, I’ve had some people in our group asking about that again. And you’ve been on the podcast. We have some links in the show notes. We did some great episodes in the past. We’ll have links so people can check that out. 00;01;49;05 – 00;02;02;19 Dave But today I think we’re going to take it back and maybe take it up a level, you know, start with the basics, but get into some higher level stuff here. On what fly fishing. But maybe first off, before we get there, give us an update. What’s been going on with you the last three years? Anything new out there in your neck of the woods? 00;02;03;01 – 00;02;39;14 Davy Well, as you well know, you know, I go to and have the fly fishing schools here on the way. We were primarily here in Arkansas. But of course, I get booked to go around the country and do programs. And a lot of the requests are related to the understanding of fly fishing. And as you know, and most others probably do, that originates from the United Kingdom pretty much, you know, And so there’s a lot of product discussions here, you know, with the different groups that are on Facebook related to fly fishing or fishing type of spiders and this, that and the other. 00;02;39;14 – 00;03;04;24 Davy And I can only just say that, you know, there’s a significant greater interest today than there certainly was a few years ago. One reason for one reason or the other. And I think that’s more obviously too, related to the social media that’s in our boat. People are aware of it and have an interest in it and whatever it is related to the timing of the specific flight patterns or the techniques information. 00;03;05;16 – 00;03;19;25 Davy But I still think that in respect of everything else, you know, that is still somewhat a little not quite understood here. You know, in America what that’s all about in that sense of the word, as far as the way I can explain it. 00;03;20;07 – 00;03;39;09 Dave Yeah. So people don’t quite get the wet fly. I mean, I think that some people, you know, there’s probably confusion on, you know, swinging wet flies or, you know, different styles of life. Maybe you can. How would you explain that to somebody who’s listening now, who’s new to it? What would be your how would you describe you know, what you do with wet fly fishing versus, say, other types of what? 00;03;39;09 – 00;03;39;27 Dave Fly fishing? 00;03;40;08 – 00;04;12;25 Davy Okay, so let me put it in this respect. So what fly fishing by definition of how it is understood from the countries of my origin, Obviously being United Kingdom is the definitive style of fishing which generally relates to the fishing of usually motorboat flies, two, three, four and sometimes even more than that which refused historically, in the past, I wouldn’t suggest you go much more for incidentally, but that relates to the different kind of water. 00;04;12;25 – 00;04;28;25 Davy So you have to look at our fishing, which is a specific technique used on Stillwater’s more than anything else, where you would fish flies in front of a drifting boat downwind and draw those flies back to you relative depth and speed depending on the prevailing conditions. 00;04;29;02 – 00;04;33;01 Dave That’s right. That’s what’s like the drogue using the drogue anchor system. Right? You’re drifting. 00;04;33;15 – 00;05;08;23 Davy Okay, So you mentioned that. So a drug is really a means that can slow your boat down on that downstream drift. But you only use that in in situations where your boat is moving so fast that you can’t really cover the line back toward you and push those flows in an appropriate manner. Let’s put it like that. And so what I’m trying to say is that just for example, you can still 30, 35 feet of line in front of you in a boat you scripted down so fast you can scrape those flies back fast enough to contain or maintain, shall we say, control of those flows. 00;05;09;00 – 00;05;29;28 Davy So the drogue would slow you down and you don’t necessarily need that if you go to a fairly low window or a light bridge, you don’t need that. So in that respect, as far as looks efficient, objectively what you are doing, you are showing the team of flies downwind to fish that are generally moving up towards you. Okay? 00;05;30;08 – 00;05;54;10 Davy Now if you are fishing rivers, streams or creeks, call it what you will. There would be a difference to fishing saying, you know, it’s fairly small creek with shallow river water where upstream techniques are the most appropriate way to fish where it flies. Let me just say this to you also. You know, when I was first teaching my great friend Dave Whitlock went fly fishing. 00;05;54;24 – 00;06;24;13 Davy He could never understand why I would tell him there’s a difference between. But we considered to be a fly to his way to think. And it was a stunt fly regardless of what it was. Okay. And I told him, I said, Hey, Dave, you know, for us guys in the UK where fly fishing relates to specific type of fly, I typically, whatever it may be, a wing work fly or whatever it is, you know, as opposed to just a fly by definition. 00;06;24;25 – 00;06;53;17 Davy Oh yeah. He says, what I don’t quite understand now. I said, No, because you weren’t. You know, obviously brought up an environment where for hundreds of years that’s the terminology of it, you know, this traditional bat fly fishing. So that said, typically, let me put this in this perspective. The nature of the particular water that you are fishing as a relationship to the technique that is most appropriate for that particular type of water. 00;06;54;03 – 00;07;20;28 Davy So if you are fishing a far shallow, rocky stream refugee water system, which is kind of typically in the North Country area, the best approach is to present those flows upstream. It’s fish, those kind of flies downstream. Well, guess what? That generally is small boys. That’s right. Yes. The flies moves so fast, whereas fish in those water environments are typically looking for whatever’s coming toward them above them. 00;07;21;01 – 00;07;45;27 Davy And so if you flies are presented above that fish and they come down toward the fish, that’s more natural trout. The fish would say, I’m not afraid or your artificial. Now, if you take a big river like where I work here. So the prevailing conditions are very much again related to the best approach so far as fishing by definition, what flies. 00;07;46;09 – 00;08;16;06 Davy So when we are very shallow water generations, which is what we define here as minimum flow, upstream presentations can be the most efficient, an effective way to catch those fish in the prevailing water that you’re fishing, i.e. fairly shallow, fast Rocky River process. On the other hand, when we have high water situations, you don’t have that kind of water, obviously, because the higher levels of water just eliminate that kind of water. 00;08;16;24 – 00;08;41;18 Davy So your approach then would be different. And depending when you are drift fishing in a boat or your weight fishing, which may I have some limitations based on the levels of water upstream fishing, the point that drift mode still can be very, very productive. On the other hand, you may well find that occurs more across stream and downstream is more effective. 00;08;42;06 – 00;08;50;01 Davy And so depth and speed of water as a relationship to the best approach, regardless of whatever water, fishing, fishing. 00;08;50;01 – 00;09;09;24 Dave Right. So what you’re saying is the wet fly fishing is more about the flies are a really important part of this. Like if you’re using a certain type of fly, whether that’s a soft tackle or a wing, the wet fly that determines whether you’re wet fly fishing, is that more important to the flies or fishing versus say, I don’t know any other parts of the process? 00;09;09;24 – 00;09;36;00 Davy Okay. That is very big question. The first thing that I personally take into consideration, obviously, is there any activity in other words, other folks about on or near the surface of the water? And if there are I know some of interest from fish, then it is more appropriate to use flies that have in some cases, but not always some representation to that species. 00;09;36;26 – 00;09;59;04 Davy And if you have fish that are fisheries seeing on or near the surface, it doesn’t matter really, you know what that fish in on emerges, dries or spent or whatever the case may be. It is more appropriate, in my opinion, to fisheries flows more upstream and in a dead mode, because that’s the way the fish expect to see those flies. 00;09;59;26 – 00;10;21;19 Davy Naturally, if you catch the cross stream, a new fish flies across and back towards you. You’re moving flies at a speed that is totally unrelated to the natural insects that those fish are feeding on. Now, I’m not saying it won’t catch fish because as we all know, I don’t matter what you chuck that river or whatever at some point of time to catch fish. 00;10;22;06 – 00;10;46;09 Davy But there’s a there’s a logical basic approach that would generally catch you more fish and get more interest from those fish. So if you fish more than upstream, that drift mode, so to speak, know what I’m talking about? It says if you assume if you look directly upstream that to be 12:00. Okay. And we take what we call relative degrees of angle like paging Fantail. 00;10;46;16 – 00;11;17;29 Davy So like 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 directly across stream, I would want to fish my flies in that region of between, say, 1232 to 30. That gives me the best presentation so far as they drift in. Those flies are concerned. If, of course, you control the drift and those flies appropriate to what is likely to be seen by fish with the natural insect, if you fish more across stream, you’re inducing fish to chase or flies. 00;11;18;08 – 00;11;43;20 Davy And that’s very different. No, I’m not saying that you won’t catch fish by doing that because you will bite. You will also lessen the chances of catching more fish. And the reason being is because and this is a very common mistake that I see often with the students, the reaction to failing to take is a very different one to visually seeing it. 00;11;43;21 – 00;12;07;08 Davy And that’s so important in right fly fishing. If you react to, shall we say, feel in a tight beard. So you would lose a lot of fish because your tight lining those flies to those fish. Whereas if you can fish across and down with the more slack in approach, the fish can take that fly and not feel instant resistance. 00;12;07;08 – 00;12;27;16 Davy And that gives you a better option to simply just raise the road and set the hook and that fish and it don’t get off. Not only that, if you have a habit of stripping the place too fast, you get a lot of chases. In other words, facial trace. And it don’t take long before a couple of facial whatever in that area. 00;12;27;22 – 00;12;52;03 Davy They ignore you because they’ve seen you do that two or three times, whichever the case may be. So in order to improve your odds, you’ve got to move. So you make three or four cars, so to speak. You walk downstream another three or four yards and you do the same thing again. In other words, you don’t continuously keep fishing and pounding over the same section of water because ultimately, why is fish up? 00;12;52;21 – 00;12;59;15 Davy And it’s what I call Dave, the heron stance. In other words, I’ve watched people do that for an hour. 00;12;59;26 – 00;13;01;10 Dave All right. In the same spot. 00;13;01;18 – 00;13;02;16 Davy Yeah. Yeah. 00;13;02;26 – 00;13;19;12 Dave You want to move? You want to cover the water, like, systematically. How would you break that out? Let’s just take it to that. That riffle, that kind of faster water. How do you how do you break that down? Do you break that down into little you know, meter sections and try to cover everything there? How do you know where not to cast when you’re fishing? 00;13;19;12 – 00;13;49;14 Davy RIFFLE okay. The answer to that one, it saves both the pole observation. That’s the most important thing when you’re fishing more. And then upstream mode that may or may not be a hatch doesn’t make a lot of difference for fishing in fairly shallow water like that. My main water up to possibly about two feet in depth. You know very well that those fish are going to be facing upstream and they’re going to be looking for whatever boats or whatever is going to be moved down toward them. 00;13;50;02 – 00;14;14;03 Davy You then have to develop the the knowledge and the skill just to read water. You know, how water structure moves around structure, which gives you the indication of the best possible where those fish are likely to be. It’s not really just a question of checking the flies upstream and downstream and open efficient areas sees them. There’s a lot more to that. 00;14;14;03 – 00;14;41;05 Davy You know, and it’s based on experience for anything. So the easiest answer to give you is this Under those circumstances, you’re going to be progressing upstream, you know, walking downstream. And the thing that you must always consider is this, as you well know, many, many cases, fish are a lot closer to that bank. They think they are they’re not out there ten, 20, 30, 43 or more. 00;14;41;05 – 00;15;02;02 Davy A lot of fish are very, very close to the banks. So therefore, your most logical approach is to fish water close to yourself, which of course is going to be upstream anyway if you’re fly presentation as opposed to casting whatever line four line you think you need to think there’s what you’re going to do is line fish. 00;15;02;15 – 00;15;13;01 Dave So how far when you’re when you’re let’s just say you’re on that roof all you’re casting upstream, what’s your typical distance of your cast as you’re working your way? And and are you then working your way upstream as you go? 00;15;13;13 – 00;15;36;09 Davy Absolutely. Let me tell you, first and foremost, I use fairly long lead systems, you know, way more than ten for because I want the flies on the surface of the water, a no fly line. That’s interesting. So I try to explain this to people in this respect. So if you were fishing dry flies, you visually see a fish come to the surface to take the flies. 00;15;36;09 – 00;16;03;08 Davy But when you’re efficient, subsurface flies, you don’t. So your reactions are related to something visual, i.e. you see some disturbance in the surface of the water. You see your line momentarily stop. There’s various things that you should have focused an observation to tell you that a fish is take your flies. But going back to the approach which is generally done upstream, showed you fish close water first. 00;16;03;08 – 00;16;23;00 Davy So assuming we’re looking directly upstream and also we have to consider, are you fishing off the bank or you in the water? See what I’m saying? Yeah. So you can actually be a certain distance in the water where you can fish both left side and right side of your position because you’re that far out in the stream. But you might not be able to do that. 00;16;23;00 – 00;16;52;08 Davy You may be restricted to fishing off the bank. Therefore, what I said a little earlier on, if you assume 12 is the more direct upstream position from where you are, you do not want to cast your flies directly straight upstream, regardless of whether you’re on the bank or in the river. And the reason for it is this If you do that, then if you’re fishing a team of flies, they cannot all be visually seen by those fish. 00;16;52;20 – 00;17;31;12 Davy So therefore your cost angle should be and assuming where looking upstream left side, you make a presentation at least 1230 if not 1:00 So when the flies track downstream, they’re at relative distances from each other. In other words, if we use in a system where I flies, just faced about 25 inches to 30 inches, which ideally they should be, they for a fish, a relative position can be maybe looking at the top, drop a fly, come in or make drop of fly or the tail fly coming within that margin of six feet if all of me. 00;17;31;18 – 00;17;32;23 Dave Yeah I get makes sense. 00;17;33;03 – 00;18;02;15 Davy Okay. And that’s that’s very important because you’ve got to cover the water in such a way as that you’re positioning your flies in a manner whereby fish at different positions, easily able to see them in a few course more directly upstream. That’s not the case because the flies track back down to one through three. So if you were to rig up a system with three dry flies, that’s the easiest way to explain it. 00;18;02;29 – 00;18;22;28 Davy And you catch those three dry air flies directly upstream where they’re all going to come. But downstream in a line, Right. Whereas if you relatively change the angle more to 1:00 or thereabouts, then those flies are spaced apart, but they efficient at different ranges from each other as they track downstream. 00;18;24;26 – 00;18;42;01 Dave Pescatore on the Fly offers a full range of fly fishing gear for any angler at any budget with premium rise delivered directly to you, The RG six is the most packable high performance fly right on the market, performing like a four piece ride, but with unmatched portability in six pieces. And you can get 10% off your next order. 00;18;42;01 – 00;19;18;22 Dave Right now if you use the code wet fly swinging at pesky door on the fly ecom never fly without your G six Discover the El Rey series and more at Pescatore on the fly dotcom experience the waters of Bristol Bay at Togiak River Lodge, where fly fishing meets Alaska’s rugged beauty. This is the place to complete the Alaska Grand Slam with all five salmon species, rainbow trout, arctic char and more, Where each day offers a new Alaskan adventure, you can visit Togiak Lodge scheme right now to start planning your Bristol Bay experience with Togiak River Lodge. 00;19;18;22 – 00;19;37;06 Dave Well, this is really good to clarify that because I think like I was out fishing this weekend and I was fishing the the salmon fly hatch, you know, and I had a I had a big giant, giant chubby Chernobyl on. And then on the drop or off that about three feet, I had like a Euro nymph. So I was kind of a and what I was doing was catching I was finding these seams and I was casting directly upstream. 00;19;37;13 – 00;19;52;02 Dave I had these spots where I was kind of thinking, okay, that’s where the nice fish would be. And I was casting right up into that seam and it was kind of coming straight back to me almost. So I was stripping it in like towards me as it came. So in it worked. I definitely got some nice fish. But what you’re saying is you don’t want to do that. 00;19;52;02 – 00;19;58;00 Dave That’s not something you don’t want to like have it straight up above you and stripping it as you come. You want to have it more at an angle at your 1:00. 00;19;58;09 – 00;20;27;23 Davy Okay. So right, what you were doing is a very different thing as opposed to, say, fish in three soft tackles, which everyplace maybe those flies, you typically don’t straight back towards you. I’m not saying that sometimes they won’t catch a fish because I know it does, but typically, oh, manner of presentation is to fish. Those flies do not upstream they drift mode, which is pretty much related to the natural stream drift as a fish would see a natural insect coming down towards it. 00;20;27;29 – 00;20;55;16 Davy Okay. And that requires a lot of road control as well as your left hand. And that’s so important to as far as the tightening sufficient is concerned. So my general approach would be to work my way upstream in what we call Paging Fantail and other words, I make my first presentation fairly close in that say with the the tail fry, probably not much more than about 815 feet away from it. 00;20;55;29 – 00;20;59;01 Dave Okay. And your leaders, 10 to 15 feet long, typically. 00;20;59;21 – 00;21;01;25 Davy More like 12 to 15 feet. 12 to. 00;21;01;26 – 00;21;02;14 Dave 15. Okay. 00;21;03;02 – 00;21;25;18 Davy Now, if we’ve made our initial presentation, shall we say the degree of angle of at, say, 1:00 and we tracked those flies back to a position more or less just to the right side of us. We pick that up, we make that presentation again. So we’ve covered that section of water. Then what we do without moving upstream, we increase the distance. 00;21;25;18 – 00;21;56;14 Davy So we take off two or three yards alone and we make that presentation initially again at say, a 1:00 position. We’re now tracking those flies at a greater distance than what we did in the first place. That then requires control of your line. Guess what? You get drag and you fly as gate drag downstream. So objectively you’re going to have to make some control of your line five folks, You have managed to maintain those flies tracking without drag. 00;21;57;20 – 00;22;16;25 Davy Okay, so we don’t get no response. Then what we do, we increase the distance again, so we make the initial presentation and gain the degree of angle of 1:00, but we now exceed in the distance. So what you are in effect doing is, is progressively covering water in different segments. 00;22;17;08 – 00;22;27;02 Dave Yeah. So you’re starting out at 15 feet if you don’t get anything and then you cast out another five feet, now you’re at 20 feet and then you’re at 25, that sort of thing, until you get out to a certain length. 00;22;27;17 – 00;22;28;16 Davy That’s correct. 00;22;28;28 – 00;22;29;21 Dave Yeah. Okay. 00;22;30;03 – 00;22;54;08 Davy So if you wish to draw on a piece of paper, figuratively speaking, shall we say, I’m I’m standing on the bank and I’m looking at and if you draw a clock face like 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, then if you’re in the same position and you directly cast a line at 1:00 position, you’re gradually increase distance as you cause upstream. 00;22;55;00 – 00;23;23;29 Davy And so you bring your flies back down stream more and that they drift mode to about 3:00 and then you proceed again doing the same thing. In other words, you start short line increase, increase, increase. If you and I see people do this all the time, the first thing they got to do is rip off line and start checking out 2530 feet line well before you line fish renew and your flies. 00;23;24;19 – 00;23;53;02 Davy And the other thing that’s really, really important is that those flies track downstream, separated. In other words, when you make that presentation, the tail fly is the furthest fly away. And the mate dropper is between it and course and the top drop or flight. So what I’m trying to impress upon people is there has to be a visual separation of those flies as you track those. 00;23;53;02 – 00;24;11;14 Davy Right. That drift from upstream to an across stream presentation. If you do not control your fly fly and you let drag on the line to interfere with that, it will directly pull those flies back downstream in a direct line facing upstream. And that’s not what you need to do. 00;24;11;24 – 00;24;13;13 Dave No. You want a dead drift? 00;24;13;26 – 00;24;50;00 Davy Yes. And I think one of the more difficult things for for persons to get is that is to maintain the drift that those flies separated. So if we have having our flights separate by 25 to 30 inch margins, then they’ve got 50 to 60 inches of separate. And that’s the important thing. And tell you an interesting thing about that is that you will often find at times if you have three different flight patterns, that is one particular flight that those fish hit. 00;24;50;23 – 00;25;10;09 Davy Whether or not they see the other two flies, I can argue whether they do or they don’t. I think that a lot of that is related to the level of that that those fish are up. So, you know, if that close to the bottom feeder water or that just a little subsurface, which is the case by the, you know, more shallow zone. 00;25;10;24 – 00;25;39;15 Davy My view about that is this if you’re fishing for shallow drift water upstream, it’s one fly that they’re likely to say a note or three, let’s put it like that because of the manner of those flows come down to the fish. So that’s always fascinated me about that. You know, why do fish do that? But they do. There’s one particular fly they can do, and it may well be the fly that’s on your top drop or the fly that’s close to you. 00;25;39;15 – 00;26;03;21 Davy It may well be the metro, but it may be the tail fly. But you’ll often find in many cases that is the case, that they choose to take one of those flies. And whether it is because they’re line that there’s fish or lying there, it’s the fly they see first, or they just ignore the others. That’s it’s very hard to know because you can’t get them to give you an answer why they did that. 00;26;03;27 – 00;26;22;02 Dave No, no. Yeah, that’s right. Okay. And you mentioned so let’s just take it to the hatch versus no hatch. So if you come to a river to say we’re on the white or any river around the country and you’re fish whet wet flies and there’s nothing going on, you know, you’re out there, maybe it’s, I don’t know, midday or something, but there’s no bugs. 00;26;22;09 – 00;26;29;06 Dave Describe that. How are you fishing that differently than if you like? What would you be putting on? Do you have a set of flies? Like if there’s nothing going on? 00;26;29;19 – 00;26;55;02 Davy That’s a good question. So there are a lot of things that have a relationship to that. If that’s why I couldn’t explain it. So water temperature is a big related factor to that, because as we know, water temperature is very much related to hatches, both the first sink. So if we take the early and our river is a little different because, you know, being a tail, water is more of a concern. 00;26;55;02 – 00;27;29;00 Davy The first water pipe was concerned. So if you had fish, you’d say some of the kind of award boaters that you fish out there in use during the early months of the year that water is cold, right? Whereas I don’t have that. So therefore, you know that fish are not really look at maybe you get some blue we don’t have planters or midges or something like that, you know, but if you have no obvious knowledge or something is telling you, you know, this is what the fish are interested in, you can use flies that would promote interest, in other words. 00;27;29;17 – 00;27;56;18 Davy And that’s also a kind of a question where you would go with that. So is your choice going to be, for example, North Country So self cycle flies, which are consistently good fish catching flies or under pretty much any city station? Or are you going to choose to use when wet flies? I can only tell you that, you know, from my own point of view, it’s 60 years or more of experience doing that. 00;27;57;02 – 00;28;24;17 Davy If somebody was to generally ask me a question, well, what three fries or four flies should, I could give them an answer to that. That I would suspect those flies under the prevailing conditions based on. I had the knowledge of the kind of water they were fishing, what might work. So, for example, you’d have flies, which would have not necessarily insect related, but would have more say, attractiveness to them. 00;28;24;17 – 00;28;30;19 Davy So a typical example would be when we assume we were still fishing upstream, right? Yeah. 00;28;30;25 – 00;28;31;04 Dave Yeah. 00;28;31;10 – 00;28;54;04 Davy Okay. So classic traditional, soft. I flies. I know a lot of people like a partridge in orange and I guess it’s ironically enough, it’s not a fly that’s on my top ten list, I can tell you that. So I would use flies that have more bulkiness to them. So for example, like a partridge in has zero to me. 00;28;54;04 – 00;29;17;28 Davy I think that’s absolutely one of the best flies that’s out there. I might use a fly that is, they may leave of, say, a beetle pattern like a black and peacock spider or something like that, you know. But I might also incorporate on that team of flies a fly like, for example, a Silver Impact or Awakenings. Fancy because they’re attractive flies, you know, because for one reason or the other. 00;29;18;15 – 00;29;34;00 Dave You just reminded me because the episode we did and we’ll have a link in the show notes this December 20. It’s amazing it was been that long, but we did an episode in 2020 December, episode 174, and in that episode we have a list. We put actually put top 20 flies from Davey. 00;29;34;00 – 00;29;34;29 Davy Oh, yeah, that’s right. 00;29;34;29 – 00;29;50;10 Dave Yeah, yeah. So we have 20. So I’m going to we’ll have a link to that. But you know, I think we put in, I’m not sure if this is exactly the top, but you had the march brown winged or soft tackle. The hairs are wing, the black gnat, the blue done da Cahill led coachman, coachman like Cahill paddy. 00;29;50;16 – 00;30;00;27 Dave So I’m not sure. And we talked about a whole list of those. The Alexander in there. Now, is that list still do you think that’s a good solid all around list or there some other ones we should be thrown to That. 00;30;01;12 – 00;30;20;20 Davy Is again with reference. Yes, I if you wish to ask me this question by choice for what I use. So if you’re relating that more to what we call the soft called spider fly patterns, I could give you ten flies. That would be pretty much, I guarantee you, in any river, one or more of those flies will catch you fish. 00;30;21;08 – 00;30;49;29 Davy On the other hand, if you wanted to relate that more to the traditional way it flies. And incidentally, that’s another factor which is little and just not so understood here is that and we already just discussed, say, a while back the tradition or traditional that flies insofar as we understand it in UK essentially winged where it flies and they could be attractive flies or deceive or flies or whatever. 00;30;49;29 – 00;31;09;05 Davy So if we look at, for example, the butcher, I mean that’s definitely an attractive fly. There is nothing in a river that looks like a butcher. It’s a silver bodied fly with a Black Hawk, and it uses the blue colored feathers of the top of an allowed wing and a red tail. 00;31;09;14 – 00;31;17;17 Dave Okay. And red tell it’s got the blue wing, it’s got the silver body and the red tail. So that’s that’s an attractive pattern with a wing. 00;31;18;02 – 00;31;20;27 Davy And we would define that as a traditional white fly. 00;31;21;10 – 00;31;31;23 Dave Right. And that’s a traditional UFO because it has mainly because it has a wing. Like I always think of it, I’m pretty basic, but I always go back to the winged you know, we mentioned the coachmen, you know, the style. It’s like a duck. We Oh. 00;31;31;23 – 00;31;32;09 Davy Yeah, yeah. 00;31;32;09 – 00;31;41;01 Dave And so you’re saying traditional wet flies have they have the wings and now is North Country style. How is that different than the traditional winged wet flies? 00;31;41;06 – 00;32;12;05 Davy Okay, that’s an interesting question. So right now there’s a significant amount of interest on the groups on Facebook related to the North Country style. I that are flies that have their so-called, you know, origination in that particular geographical part of the United Kingdom. And there’s a lot of history related to that. There’s no question of a doubt that there is and there are many, many variations of those flies and that some of which also sport wings. 00;32;12;05 – 00;32;33;25 Davy But I don’t I try to confuse you other listeners, but, you know, as far as, you know, ringway flies are concerned, many of those would be termed as flies that are used more so in lots of fashion or lakes or stillwater’s, I suppose. But let me just say this from a personal point of view. They’re as good as effective. 00;32;33;25 – 00;32;57;06 Davy Fishing flies on rivers of creeks and streams. Let’s put it like that. So let me give you a really good classic, typical example of that. The standard in Victor, the Silver Victor is a version of it is a hell of a damn good fly to use in a situation, particularly, for example, when kites are hatching that is ahead of a good flight. 00;32;57;22 – 00;33;24;07 Davy Then of course you’ve got flies that are more, shall we say, caricatures of naturals. In other words, you take, say, for example, a much brown, a right wing great front or wing has air, for example. There all flies that have certain intrinsic values to promote fish, to take them, let’s put it like that. Whereas in the North Country style flies, there are so many variations. 00;33;24;15 – 00;33;32;04 Davy I imagine a lot of people obviously are familiar with The Partridge in Orange, and they are familiar with, say, like the snipe from purple. Okay. 00;33;32;14 – 00;33;36;29 Dave So that’s a North country. So the partridge in Orange is a North Country style fry. 00;33;37;00 – 00;33;37;13 Davy Yes. 00;33;37;20 – 00;33;38;13 Dave Yeah. Okay. 00;33;38;26 – 00;33;43;20 Davy And like I said, you know, a snipe from purple is another classic snipe. 00;33;43;29 – 00;34;00;25 Dave Okay, So that makes sense. So it’s basically and I know there’s probably some variation in overlap, but for the most part, the winged whet flies, you know, traditional wet flies are they have the wing, the North country style are more the parts of Georgia where it’s just like the I call tackles you know just the soft tackle flies. 00;34;01;12 – 00;34;28;12 Davy Let me tell you this. You know soft serve type or so some people referred to, they’re more spider flies. Okay, So let me just say this. If you have an interest or understand the historical aspects of it and you look at how flies were tied back there in the 17, 1800s, they’re pretty heavily shackled flies, whereas most people look, oh, a spider fly is very sparsely wound, tackled. 00;34;28;12 – 00;34;47;29 Davy Right. And both have their place. So my view about that is this based on thousands of years of experiences that the more sparsely heckled flies. I by definition, because the more spiders are, the more suitable for us to use more So in upstream, they drift. 00;34;48;11 – 00;34;49;15 Dave Oh, okay. 00;34;49;22 – 00;35;14;25 Davy As opposed to across and down because you have a fly that may be have one turn or tackle. I mean, there’s graves small amount of echo fiber on that fly. If you fish that fly like that downstream and across and I ain’t Tony won’t catch fishes sometimes but it’s a different presentation of that fly and same boat of fish, and that’s really what matters. 00;35;15;03 – 00;35;39;24 Davy Whereas if you fish fry upstream, then the natural movement of water will animate those hackles where we presume across and downstream we pull them back or against current. Well, guess what? Those echo fibers are pretty much going to shut down close to the fryer, the body, and it’s kind of like pulling upstream a nip, if that’s the way to explain. 00;35;39;24 – 00;35;40;20 Davy That would, too. 00;35;40;20 – 00;35;41;02 Dave Okay. 00;35;41;14 – 00;36;10;03 Davy All right. So Wing where it flies almost certainly can be extreme. Many effective fish that drift upstream. And some of those I just mentioned to you that, you know, typically emerge brown or wing bent heads there and or an Invicta flies like that in relatively small sizes and that’s another thing the size of the fly I use it based on the prevailing conditions at that time. 00;36;11;00 – 00;36;32;14 Davy In other words, if you fish flies that are too large or too big, you may have very negative results from it for one reason or other. So as we know, you know, the natural insects that fish feed on in our river systems are relatively small by comparison. And that’s obviously you’re dealing with something like a stone flies or whatever. 00;36;32;14 – 00;36;58;12 Davy But for the most part of it, most natural fry is fish, see? And that could include crustaceans too. You know, big Scuds or so bugs are somewhere in a ballpark or in a regular hook size, I bet a size 14, if not smaller. You know, I’ll give you a typical example. This last week or so here, there was some really good surface activity of the trail here feeding. 00;36;58;27 – 00;37;30;05 Davy And mostly they were feeding on midges and small species of carriers and ants. There was a good fall of ants and the way that I was able to get the customers to catch those fish were size 18 flies. So if circle flies to six X incidentally, and that’s another thing of consideration, Dave, is that the diameter of the line that you’re using by definition X factor, whatever, can make a big, big difference. 00;37;30;06 – 00;37;30;20 Dave You can. 00;37;31;13 – 00;37;36;17 Davy Well, yeah, no, I knew that so far. We used our name fishing is concerned too. 00;37;36;22 – 00;37;39;12 Dave Yeah. Yeah. We were using five X on that day. 00;37;39;27 – 00;37;49;15 Davy Yeah. There you go. I mean, and as you well know, in this river system, you can often encounter some pretty bloody big fish because the whale is known for. 00;37;50;16 – 00;37;55;04 Dave Where it is. Could you, if you got into a big fish, can you land a big fish on that. 00;37;55;04 – 00;38;32;08 Davy Six X Depends on the anglers ability. Absolutely, yes. Assuming that the rods in an integral part of what five feet to, you know, and then if you have a very stiff action rod and you’re used in six X, Well yeah, I don’t take too much for your bus to mouth, but if you use that a much softer action rod where you’ve got the flexibility to absorb the shock of the fish moving around or whatever, and you play the the out so that you have seen around here up to 86 seven £8 co on six day flowing. 00;38;32;18 – 00;38;51;03 Dave Yeah that’s it. Okay this is great. So I think going back to what you said, so I think we’re getting the picture here a little bit. So the you got the different soft tackles but you also have how you tie them, whether they’re tied sparsely or heavy. And there’s certain situations where, you know, you might want to fish like you’re talking about upstream and a cross sort of thing. 00;38;51;03 – 00;39;03;28 Dave Now talk about this. When are you ever fishing downstream in a across, you know, like casting out or letting this kind of go down if there’s no if it’s swinging, but down across and then down below, you are is there any water types where you’re fishing like that. 00;39;03;28 – 00;39;27;27 Davy Oh, yeah, absolutely. Of course. I mean, the initial question was obviously approached with an upstream method, which I had a choice is my way to go, assuming the water conditions allow me to fish that way. And of course, on the downstream presentation. Well of course your what you’re basically doing as as we well know is you’re swimming or fly if that’s the term you want to use. 00;39;28;07 – 00;39;54;06 Davy But essentially what you’re doing, you’re presenting your flies across a wide stretch of water from the initial point of time where you made that presentation and you’re bringing them back to it downstream on the hanging angle and there’s no doubt that fish will trace flies. They knew all end up probably hook and some doing that. But unless you really do that in a more controlled manner, you will lose a lot of fish. 00;39;54;10 – 00;40;15;15 Davy And that’s a common thing that questions. I get, you know, an email response. You know, I’m fishing downstream and I and I had about seven or eight fish and I lost everyone. And I know the reason why they are is because first and foremost, they’re reacting to visual relief. I’m sorry, they’re acting to fill in the take of the fish. 00;40;15;15 – 00;40;19;25 Davy And guess what your natural instinct is when you do that, you’re going to raise that rod, right? 00;40;19;25 – 00;40;20;21 Dave Yeah. Set the hook. 00;40;20;26 – 00;40;30;04 Davy Yeah. And so basically pulling the fly straight out of that fish’s mouth. So you’ve got a limited amount of penetration of the hook and whatever, you lose the. 00;40;30;08 – 00;40;44;22 Dave Right. That’s a good point. You know, and again, I’m not you’re the master on the wet fly today, which is over time. But I’ve done a lot of steelhead fishing, which is a lot of the wet fly swinging right swing flies. And the thing you know about steelhead is you don’t set the hook for the most part. You let this thing swing. 00;40;44;22 – 00;40;50;21 Dave And if the fish take, they take it. Is that kind of the same thing with what you’re talking about, how you would do it with wet flies, with how you do it. 00;40;50;27 – 00;41;13;04 Davy All right. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, it’s the same as for, you know, I’ve got a lot of landings, seven in my life as well. I’m fortunate. No, here in Arkansas, but in the rivers back home. And the last thing you ever do is react to the fact that you failed that take or that fish. You have to give that fish some time to turn on that fly, Right. 00;41;13;05 – 00;41;20;05 Davy And then you just raise the road and tighten up the boat. And that’s the same as wet fly fishing. No different. 00;41;20;17 – 00;41;31;23 Dave Cool. Okay, so we got that. So in is that across the board where fly, whether you’re fishing upstream or across or down, is it always the same there. You always want to do that type of you’re not trout setting ever. 00;41;32;05 – 00;41;43;09 Davy So when you’re fishing upstream, remember this as soon as the fish takes to fly, it’s going to feel resistance. But the fly is being pulled back toward the fish’s mouth, right? 00;41;43;18 – 00;41;44;14 Dave Yeah, it’s setting it. 00;41;44;23 – 00;42;06;14 Davy And so in that situation, as soon as you say an indication of the fact that the fish just taking the fly and it could be just a surface disturbance and a lot of people know that. Oh yeah, But oftentimes the fish is your fly bait. You don’t necessarily see any indication by the line stop in a way to the case. 00;42;06;14 – 00;42;27;21 Davy May be that’s real quick they’ve been known faded the water so the faster the speed of the water is the more if you like to put it take indication is seen because as soon as the fish take the fly, boom, there’s resistance and you see your line stop or whatever the case may be. And as simply all you do is you just raise that rod. 00;42;28;11 – 00;42;54;01 Davy And if the water is much, much slower, then again, it has to be a visual indication that the fish has taken the fly. And that’s where intense focus is so important. And it’s very much the same kind of scenario is when you’re, you know, fishing. You have to focus on a point where you can visually know a fish is taking your fly and then you raise the rod and it’s more or less the same thing. 00;42;54;22 – 00;43;19;04 Davy And I think that based on the thousands of hours I’ve watched people do it, no, teach them to do it. They don’t see it because that is and I try to explain to them, if you had a dry fly on the surface, you would instantly see the fact that they had fish rows and took your dry fly. Well, you’re not fishing to dry fly your fish in a the subsurface. 00;43;19;04 – 00;43;42;05 Davy So your indication is based on what should the furthest visible point you can of your line or leaders. Just a more than anything else. And that’s that’s the only indication you’re going to get that I will admit they are sometimes you know particularly with larger brown trout, they will take that fly. I never move away with it really, really fast. 00;43;42;05 – 00;44;18;26 Davy It doesn’t matter what they you know, they move out to the right or left or actually move upstream and you can not really not know that a fish took that fly. That’s right. Explain it to you. Now, regarding across and downstream, once again, we’re dealing with the situation looking at the clock face. So if we make an initial presentation, say, about 230 thereabouts, we can by means of line control, did drift those flies for quite a considerable amount of time at a distance away from us which is more across stream. 00;44;18;28 – 00;44;41;20 Davy And the day we did data on weight for efficient techniques, it will show how that’s done and it requires an upstream end of the line to create what is by definition, L-shape, if that’s the way to explain to you. So we’re kind of constant across stream. We presented our flies, but what’s going to happen if we don’t do anything? 00;44;41;20 – 00;45;02;24 Davy Because what can’t interface with the drag on your flow line and all of a sudden your fly is they speed up and you start getting pulled downstream in a straight line as opposed to fish in a cross stream one, two, three separate, and they drift it down. So we have to make an upstream presentation to create what we call the L-shape. 00;45;02;24 – 00;45;34;07 Davy So the further part of your L-shape is your your class, the flow is incidentally, that’s the term we used and you can surprise. That’s a team of flies. There’s not the physical aspect of the flight cast in that sense. So you’ve made the initial presentation upstream. Instead of you have done that, you throw an upstream mend. If that’s explained one to I knew then track that with your rod downstream and allowing those flies to drift. 00;45;34;08 – 00;46;03;11 Davy No that comes obviously a certain point based on the length of line that you’ve got out that your flies will start to swing. In other words, the flies start to swing and move downstream. Now what you must do then is to control those flies across stream. And you do that by bringing the rod. Assuming we’re on this side of the river, you’re bringing the rod to the right, and that allows your flows to track across the stream once again separated. 00;46;03;29 – 00;46;26;06 Davy Now we can slow that down so we can make another across stream bend that slows the drift of those flows down and you can keep doing that and actually fish very, very slowly as opposed to them just getting dragged away. Dams in their cross stream really, really fast. And that also is another aspect of efficiencies. First hook sameness, concern. 00;46;26;23 – 00;46;46;12 Davy I never fish or tight line, if that’s the way to explain it. In other words, I don’t have a direct link. So for example, you were fish in a worry about that, right? And you strip, in fact your fish in a tight line and then work five fish and that’s the last thing you want to do. You always want to have kind of slack line. 00;46;47;18 – 00;47;07;04 Davy It’s what we call the angle of hang of the red tape to the surface roll with your line and kind of like what you would discussed in there regarding fishing for steelhead. You know, you’re generally not fishing the direct high tide line, so to speak. So the advantage of it is, of course, that a fish can take the fly. 00;47;07;18 – 00;47;37;09 Davy You should be able to see the movement of the line as the fish has taken the fly and then all you’ve got to do is just raise the rod and you should have your fish firmly hooked. Whereas no, no, you never point your roadtrip at the like never. Because if you do that, you’re tight lining, okay? Because you don’t have any slack line or what we call triangle of hanging from the road tip to the surface of the water. 00;47;37;22 – 00;48;06;11 Davy That’s important. The only thing I can tell you further about that is that a lot of it is inexperience, you know, knew exactly how to fish the pace of the flies to induce a fish to take them. If you fish them too first. Yeah, you may. I’m not saying you might not catch swordfish or so, but you will also reduce the chances of catching more because you get fish chase that follow you across stream and then back off. 00;48;06;26 – 00;48;33;20 Davy Okay, So the more you can fish those flies in a controlled manner. I know what I define more as an animated manner. The more likely you are to induce fish to take your flies. And obviously what may or cross in downstream mode progression is generally downstream. And so what you should be doing, Dave, is this you should never really fish over same water three or four times. 00;48;34;05 – 00;48;56;27 Davy So if we assume, for example, just assume this just sticks to the extent of a tail fly is 20 feet below us. You’ve already fished the water from where you’re standing across and back towards you in that first 20 feet. Well, there’s no point in continuing fish in net again, because you already did it. So what you do is you progress downstream. 00;48;57;14 – 00;49;17;14 Davy So you’re presenting your flows to those fish in a section of water. They have not previously seen them. That’s the trick to it. So a couple of yards probably is not going to make any significant difference. It’s more than that. You just have to keep working your way down. And it is the same when you fishing for steelhead and salmon. 00;49;17;22 – 00;49;19;27 Davy You tell your flies to new fish. 00;49;20;08 – 00;49;30;18 Dave Yeah, you’re covered in the water. How do you describe your the setting up the leader with the flies? And when do you when do you choose to do two versus three versus four flies? 00;49;30;18 – 00;49;38;16 Davy Well, okay. When I was obviously in my homeland. So then why was there no you know, would be typical. We would fish for flies. 00;49;38;28 – 00;49;54;06 Dave And that makes sense because for flies it just seems like, well, you just cover in more of the hatch or the bugs. Right. You got a bunch that maybe describe that of those four flies back when you’re fishing the traditional you know, what were those flies? Were they all different types or describe that a little bit. 00;49;54;13 – 00;50;15;18 Davy Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Let me explain this before you go any further. First and foremost, in Water river systems back in the United Kingdom, we’re only fishing for brown trout. The rainbow trout are not stocked in the rivers there. There’s one exception up there in a particular area where there are some rainbow trout that actually spawn in that particular river. 00;50;15;18 – 00;50;42;19 Davy But that’s just one exceptional case. So for the most part you are fishing waters that are containing indigenous brown trout, sea run browns. I see trout and salmon and grayling. They’re the four major species you catch in waterways over there. But so far as the trout fishing is concerned, yes, pretty much your fishing for brown trout and you’re not fishing for rainbows. 00;50;43;00 – 00;51;09;03 Davy So the number of fish per month is generally significantly less than, say, for example, my river here or for that matter, anywhere else for rainbow trout intensively stock. And the reason why I generally don’t fish for flies here, I can tell you is this is because you can believe this or play this note, but there are be times you hook free of damn rainbow trout at the same time. 00;51;09;10 – 00;51;10;01 Dave Oh wow. 00;51;10;16 – 00;51;22;01 Davy And sometimes for That’s crazy. I know. And so, in fact, at times I will actually even go back down to two flights instead of three. Right. Be honest about it. 00;51;22;08 – 00;51;22;22 Dave Yeah. 00;51;23;02 – 00;51;44;10 Davy The thing about it is this is why use fruit flies and there’s different discussions and arguments about that. You know, is it beneficial or it’s not? Well, there are times, to be honest about it. Even in upstream fish now, only fish one fly. And there are reasons why I would do that. First and foremost, I can be extremely accurate in my place. 00;51;44;11 – 00;52;04;04 Davy My my flies. It needs to go in the evening. If I’ve got three flies, I can position those fly as where I want them. So if I want my meat drop a fly to be at a certain place, I can present it. So it’s set by eighth place. But there are times when a single fly is actually a little more preferred to be honest about it. 00;52;04;24 – 00;52;06;11 Davy For one reason or the other. 00;52;06;28 – 00;52;12;28 Dave It seems to me like one thing would be to the single fly would be not getting tangled up. Right? And not having then. 00;52;13;12 – 00;52;34;02 Davy Where I go to rid of a very different thing here, I would tell you, no, I know. That’s another thing. I get a lot of email correspondence or people call me, Oh, you know, I tried this wet fly fishing stuff and I keep getting tangled. Well, the main reason for it, period. End of story, is casting. 00;52;34;11 – 00;52;41;11 Dave Yeah, it’s casting. You’re not good enough at your casting because if if you’re doing a decent cast, you shouldn’t be getting tangled with two flies or three flies. 00;52;41;28 – 00;53;10;04 Davy Correct. And so if you are consistently getting tangled, which of course is obviously extremely frustrating because you’re spending half your day untangling in retirement or whatever, you are not fishing, okay, because you’ve got that issue going on with you. So you’ve got two choices, but the one is you go back to square one and learn to try to perfect your position skills a bit better. 00;53;10;25 – 00;53;38;25 Davy What I do know is that, you know, when you have a customer or whatever fish for a lot of years and they develop these inherent bad votes, it’s almost impossible to eradicate them as much as you try to tell them what they’re doing wrong and what they need to correct it. Yeah, they may try to attempt to get it right there and then but I guarantee you they will revert back to the bad habits that they previously thought. 00;53;38;25 – 00;54;06;16 Davy It’s very, very difficult to eliminate that. So you have a couple of choices. One is you well, let’s go back some first and foremost the rod. All right. So for this style of fishing, you certainly do not want a fast action rod. That’s the first thing. The ideal rod is what we consider to be a good mate. Flex action with a soft tip to it, in other words. 00;54;06;27 – 00;54;26;06 Davy And there’s lots of reasons for that. David. And the primary one is that it facilitates generally a better, slower casting stroke that’s so important. You know, fishing three or four flies, you need a much wider open loop on the casts, either on your back to your forward curve. 00;54;26;16 – 00;54;31;29 Dave So you’re not casting like that tight loop the super tight fast. No. Oh, all right. Yeah. Gotcha. 00;54;32;11 – 00;54;43;26 Davy Any flies should land on that surface of the water. Like fizzle down. There should be no just surface to surface disturbance when those flows land. 00;54;43;26 – 00;55;05;12 Dave Check out Jackson Hole Fly company today. Premium fly gear straight to your door without the premium price Jackson Hole fly company designs and builds their own fly rods, reels, flies and gear delivering quality you can trust at prices that let you fish more and spend less. Whether you’re picking up a fly rod for the first time or guiding every day, they’ve got what you need. 00;55;05;24 – 00;55;29;10 Dave Check them out. Right now. That’s Jackson Hole Flight Company Dotcom. Jackson Hole. Flight Company. Dotcom. Let onto Mark Lodge, give you the Montana fly fishing experience. You deserve the gin clear waters of the Missouri River, offer a world class experience with one of the finest rainbow trout and brown trout fisheries in the world. Whether you’re a seasoned angler or new to the sport, their family of guides will tailor a trip just for you. 00;55;29;11 – 00;55;42;25 Dave You can head over to onto Mark Lodge, XCOM to Fish, one of the great trout streams in the country. Are you fishing it like you’d be fishing like a dry, almost like a dry fly. Right? You want to land it soft so it doesn’t even. 00;55;42;29 – 00;56;08;28 Davy Yeah. Ironically, you just said that, which is just what I was going to say. So as a good exercise for any of the listeners here is this tie on three dry flies as you would make up a white flag cast or system. And I want you to present those dry flies in a manner as you would or should be cast in three right place. 00;56;09;19 – 00;56;34;27 Davy So if you are ending up pangolin, then you sure as hell will tangle up fishing. We whiteflies that’s it. And that’s is incidentally is also a really good lesson or instruction to learn insofar as upstream fishing is concerned. Fish three dry flies not necessarily big flows, you know, maybe a size 14 or something like that. And then they can be simple. 00;56;34;27 – 00;57;01;15 Davy Just tackle flies wherever and present those flies in an upstream mode of presentation without a obviously tangling them. But you can watch how those flies track a drip and that is more or less the same principle of how you control your fly as if you were fishing subset of fish flies you cannot see. And that’s another scenario that would also relate more so to fishing across stream. 00;57;02;02 – 00;57;25;06 Davy And I really put a dead drift mode to start with an impatient watch. Those flies are your flies skated really, really fast on the surface. When you control the flies coming back toward you or are you controlling your flow aligned in such a way that obviously the flies are moving across, but they’re not really dragging in other ways. 00;57;25;19 – 00;57;29;28 Davy Great. And that big skating surface disturbance, right? 00;57;29;29 – 00;57;37;05 Dave Yeah. Yeah. You don’t want it to skate. You don’t want to you’re not skating fly or you want it to dead drift and just dead drift down. 00;57;37;18 – 00;58;00;28 Davy Yes. Without adverse drag. And oftentimes, like we’ve already discussed, you know, you get interested in the fish, but if you have the swinging way too fast, you’ll get a lot of takes, But you won’t get hooked fish. You’ll get that pluck. Oh, yeah, Yeah. Well, you know, the fish trap apply. How the hell did I not? It hooked well, because instantly the fish cried. 00;58;00;28 – 00;58;13;10 Davy They filled out resistance, man. Spit it out. So going back to the issues of the casting process. Yes. The rod you use is important, in my opinion. Yeah. 00;58;13;10 – 00;58;21;26 Dave And what rods do you like? I’m just curious on your rods. Do you have a certain type of rod that’s that medium soft tip action, like a brand or type? 00;58;22;03 – 00;58;27;02 Davy Oh, yeah. You know, there’s a lot of damn good product out there to it. 00;58;27;04 – 00;58;42;06 Dave Yeah, we just set up so with a guest this week and he was saying, you know, there’s not a bad rod out there, right. They’re all pretty good these days, right. But there are differences in action, right? There’s really super fast action. There’s slow action. So there is a big difference in the action and how soft the tip is, though. 00;58;42;21 – 00;59;05;06 Davy 100%. Yes. There’s no question without the action of the road you use has to be related to the technique of fishing that you’re using at time of provisions. No, I know you know, as you well know, a used stone in fishing. Now, today, it’s pretty much obviously longer rods and like action rods, whatever they be, you know, 3 to 3 weeks reach each other, the occasional bait. 00;59;05;15 – 00;59;14;10 Dave Right. And soft tips. Right. And soft tips. And I don’t know how you the. Yeah, I’m not sure you know how a euro sniffing rod would be different from the rods that you like to use for wet flies. 00;59;14;19 – 00;59;24;09 Davy Yeah, cause I’ve got €8 rods as well myself. And actually, they they work pretty damn good for fishing. More rupturing most with fed websites, no doubt. 00;59;24;10 – 00;59;29;15 Dave Better with those euro rods that you have be considered a medium action with a soft tip. 00;59;29;28 – 00;59;52;26 Davy Oh yeah, that of course. But the slower action of the rod generally will force you to make a slower casting stroke. That’s the thing. Where’s the fast action road? That’s not the case. So that’s once again is an important thing. The road action itself has to allow you to make slow open loop casting. Sharp. 00;59;53;04 – 00;59;54;20 Dave Yeah, which is what you want. 00;59;55;00 – 01;00;11;16 Davy 100%. The next thing, aside from an ability to to to catch well which is causing you tangles is how you make your systems up in other words, but section the system to these sections of your flies. 01;00;11;24 – 01;00;15;09 Dave Oh right. Yeah. The transfer of energy that’s a big part of this on your leader. 01;00;15;19 – 01;00;39;16 Davy Absolutely is the transmission. So let me just say about flow lines the first thing before we get to that. So hundred percent, my preference is to use double take of flow line profiles and a lot of reasons for that. First and foremost, you know, in my early days after the use of Silk Lines, you know, double type of lines were really popular, you know. 01;00;39;28 – 01;00;47;02 Dave Yeah, they were, Yeah. In the eighties, right. The eighties then at some point wait for just took over But double tapers were very common back in the day. 01;00;47;15 – 01;01;24;08 Davy Yeah. Now I see that call in they’re just reintroducing a new date line Now let me tell you the advantages or against the advantages for the use of a double tape, a line generally speaking, or a long belly, if that’s the way train, what is that overall turnover, A better presentation values. The disadvantages of a way forward line is essentially that you’ve got a heavy section of line forward and it’s more difficult to control your trips with that adverse drive with a way forward line than it is to double taper line, right? 01;01;24;08 – 01;01;34;04 Davy Not only than a d t line. You you can pick up a hell of a length, longer length of line without having to recover line back towards you. 01;01;34;11 – 01;01;40;19 Dave Yeah. It’s easier, guys. The more you think about it, the more you realize the double taper line has a lot of advantages for trout fishing. 01;01;40;27 – 01;02;04;09 Davy Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, certainly for dry fly fishing and what we’re talking about here, weight flights and techniques and even for that matter, nutrition techniques, you know what I’m saying? And I think that, you know, for a lot of people, whether they like to admit it or not, the fact that they’ve got a heavier weight section of weight forward line enables them to cast a little easier. 01;02;04;19 – 01;02;21;25 Dave Right. Going back to the steelhead analogy in the spey, it’s the same thing. It’s like, you know, back in the day, everybody had long Bowie lines. That’s all there were. You had to be a great caster as soon as they started their on these things down to super short. Skagit cast for you know these spare rods for now anybody can pick up speed casting in a day. 01;02;22;04 – 01;02;23;15 Davy Oh my. Yeah. Yeah I know. 01;02;23;21 – 01;02;33;27 Dave Right. It’s almost the same with with the weight for like the weight for line. If you’re a brand new caster, it’s probably going to make it easier for you to to pick it up. Well, I don’t know if it’s better, but that’s probably true, right? 01;02;34;15 – 01;02;43;25 Davy Insofar as the general definition of casting, it’s easier for a person because whether the weight forward line relative ranges is a double taper. 01;02;43;25 – 01;02;45;07 Dave Right? That’s it. 01;02;45;24 – 01;03;08;23 Davy You know, and when you think about it, you know, generally when you’re wet, broke, fishing techniques, whatever, unless you’re on a like where you can, you may be casting a considerable distance on a river system. You generally don’t need great distance, but what you need is the best controller line that you can have that’s so important, how you control the flies and animate them. 01;03;08;23 – 01;03;13;02 Davy So 100% double four lines, in my opinion. 01;03;13;10 – 01;03;29;11 Dave But no, it makes sense. That’s more because you’re you’re talking about controlling the fly line, right? That’s like and the fly and everything. And some of these things, like if you’re just swing flies, you don’t have to have a lot of control. You’re just letting it swing down, but you’re with wet flies. You really need to make sure you’re getting a dead drift. 01;03;29;11 – 01;03;33;15 Dave You’re not getting drag, and a double taper just gives you more control over that system. 01;03;33;24 – 01;03;52;10 Davy Absolutely. It yes, It’s easier to mend the line with the thicker diameter line closer to you than it is a thin piece of running line. I can tell you what you’re trying control the forward weight section of that line and drift below slides in a better and appropriate manner, no doubt about it. 01;03;52;22 – 01;04;05;19 Dave Right. Okay. So this is good. We got some big so the double taper, we’re going to have to buy a new flat line now. That’s okay, though. We let we like, get new lines and then talk about the rod. What is do you have a rod Like a like what is the rod? Do you have. Some older rods, newer rods. 01;04;05;19 – 01;04;15;05 Dave What’s the brand like you might want to go get. Yeah. So maybe want to go get a rod right now. That’s a good rod for wet fly fishing that has that soft mid-section. What would that be? What would be one? 01;04;15;22 – 01;04;40;27 Davy Okay, well, I actually designed a rod with this. No big company in the United Kingdom and the rod I work with them to do the day we want and wait lightning rod, so to speak. That’s a good general purpose rod for poor wet fly fishing. But the upper class of their rods, which is known as the prestige of excess, there is that ten foot and 11 foot rod. 01;04;41;10 – 01;05;02;24 Davy In my opinion, the superb rod. But then I have to, you know, I kind of argue that, you know, I have some beautiful Hardi rods, I’ve got some nice oil based rods and I’ve got some nice sage rods. But I think with all due respect, you know, the broad is an integral part of, of you, you know, particularly with that style of fishing. 01;05;03;04 – 01;05;27;04 Davy It has to be, you know, it’s hard to explain that one. But you know what that road enables you to do. And I think it’s not so much confidence in that respect to the word is simply that that it’s like everything else. Dave, You know, we used our new fishing. What you find a rod that really suits, shows your style and technique of fishing and you stick with it. 01;05;27;08 – 01;05;50;13 Davy And I think that’s the same with the wet fly rod too, because once again, you know, I get the customers that commonly know what. I’ve only got this rod. Well, yeah, they say we’ve got a five foot ten, ten foot rod, but it’s a very fast action rod, and they very soon learn that by using a rod that I would get them to use as opposed to the one that they use. 01;05;50;13 – 01;06;10;10 Davy And those are very they difference in support what they can or they can do with their own. But and that’s not to say, you know, you can’t use that road to catch fish. I’m not this arguing about that. What I’m saying is that you have the right rod that’s appropriate for the style and technique fishing that you wish to do. 01;06;10;19 – 01;06;11;26 Davy It makes a difference. 01;06;12;07 – 01;06;21;26 Dave Yeah, it does now. And I’m looking at some of these A.P. rods. There’s a bunch of them on here. The And then what would be the length? What’s your length? The rod you like and wait for fish and maybe your home water or just in general. 01;06;22;14 – 01;06;25;00 Davy What minimum time? Four or ten for six. 01;06;25;02 – 01;06;27;25 Dave Yeah. So you like the ten foot, Ten foot six weights. A good rod. 01;06;28;02 – 01;06;28;24 Davy All right. Length. 01;06;29;03 – 01;06;33;03 Dave Yes. Okay. Or ten, six. Right. So you use a long. Yeah. Or ten foot. Six inch. 01;06;33;15 – 01;06;35;14 Davy Yeah. And 11 further times. 01;06;35;21 – 01;06;36;28 Dave Oh good. Okay. Yeah. 01;06;37;14 – 01;07;00;29 Davy And the thing about it is this the techniques of fishing, this style require a length of rod. I’m not saying you can’t catch your fish using a eight foot six or a nine foot rod, but the longer the rod, the more line control you have and the more control you have over those flies. So you can eliminate last line on the water types. 01;07;01;14 – 01;07;31;27 Davy And more importantly, is that the combination of the effectively fishing flies, be they upstream slightly across or downstream, is relative to a length of rod, weight of line and control of your left hand of that line. So there are certainly covers or retrieves that we defined as them on how you control that line with both your right in your left hand. 01;07;32;07 – 01;07;58;16 Davy So for example, let me give you the scenario. So if we cast upstream, say, somewhere between the one, 2 to 3 position and we have a long, long rod, we can keep a lesser amount of flow alone off the surface of the water. But not only that, it’s easier to control those flows in that data tape mode. If you try to do that with a short road, it’s not as easy. 01;07;58;16 – 01;08;13;01 Davy Like as you got more far along on the water in front of you, okay, or slightly across from you. So the lengths the rod will make, you know, historically ago they use rods up to 15, 16 feet. 01;08;13;05 – 01;08;20;25 Dave Oh, wow. So they did so back in the in the UK in the old days they would have long rods for trout fishing for this style of wet flies. 01;08;21;08 – 01;08;22;14 Davy Yes, absolutely. 01;08;22;21 – 01;08;25;26 Dave Oh, that’s cool. I two handed rods. Were these like double handed rods? 01;08;26;07 – 01;08;29;11 Davy No. Single handed. 01;08;29;11 – 01;08;32;29 Dave That would be hard to hold a 15 foot or 14 foot single hand rod out there. 01;08;33;12 – 01;08;42;23 Davy But you’ve got to remember that I will tell you from experience that there is a lot of weight toward Rod like that because they they were made from different combinations of different woods. 01;08;43;02 – 01;08;48;20 Dave Right? Yeah, I was back before we had like graphite and graphene and all this other light stuff, right? Super light stuff. 01;08;49;03 – 01;09;06;17 Davy That’s made a hell of a difference, I can assure you. And you know yourself, if you a year old new fish, I mean, you’ve got a long arm holding out a rod. You know, if you had a lot of weight, you wouldn’t be doing that for very long because they you know, it’s an it’s the same, you know, really with the fly fishing. 01;09;06;29 – 01;09;28;06 Dave And I’m starting to hear, you know, what it sounds to me like and this might be off a little bit, but it sounds like the wet fly fishing is is almost a combination of of dry fly fishing in your own right, because the dry flight, you’re trying to do the same thing. You’re trying to dead drift like you would a dry fly but you’re using a long rod and techniques kind of like your own huffing right where you’re trying light leaders and all that stuff is that makes sense. 01;09;28;06 – 01;09;31;26 Dave Is that kind of a combination of the two? The dry is in some extent. 01;09;32;07 – 01;09;56;22 Davy You’re kind of more or less fly about that when you know, when you think about it in this respect. So for example, dry fly fishing demands essentially that the flies track downstream in a mode which as close as possible to a natural fly. Then when you use stone in fishing, as is called today, which is for my case, is not the new because we were doing that years before it ever go across there. 01;09;56;22 – 01;10;36;13 Davy But essentially what you’re doing, you’re tracking your flies in a manner where you can as close as possible, represent your artificial in the same of fishes, the natural. Okay. And so what you said, those kind of about close way of thinking of it if that in that respect to the word insofar as a flies concern is certainly more than upstream that drift or cross stream that drift mode, whichever the case may be, that you were doing the same thing, you want those flows to be present, need to the face of that fish in a manner which they seemed to be of a more natural approach of a natural in, say, coming down toward them. 01;10;36;13 – 01;11;03;21 Davy And that’s that’s very true insofar as the cross so downstream. Well you know there are very few insects if at all that swim across stream pace like that. Maybe there are few bugs that do it. You know, for example, dams or fly nymphs, you know, they swim across stream pretty bloody quick, you know, And, you know, you get situations, for example, where you get boats wind down the water, you know, a big upstream window, something. 01;11;04;05 – 01;11;17;21 Davy And this is hatching, well, guess what? You know, they get subjected to how the wind moves them in that respect. Word and I’ve seen fish really can come out and slash their side of whack. You know it hit them like that. 01;11;17;25 – 01;11;31;07 Dave Right. What if you’re in a situation where you’re we’ve been talking a lot about riffles and maybe glides and stuff. What if you’re in a pool like, almost like a slow moving pool? How would you you know, is that fish a lot different than what we talked about today? 01;11;31;19 – 01;12;08;27 Davy Oh, yeah. You know, I always look at it in. This respect, regardless, is that I need to put myself in a position first and foremost, the fish don’t know I’m there. So if you are a fish in a fairly slow section of shallow water, they are taught that the fish are in the left side directly of, you know, you, that you create issues in that water, whether it’s by standing in the water, you know, you you create pressure waves that go downstream and a cross stream and fish senses become aware of it. 01;12;09;10 – 01;12;45;14 Davy You know, your fly line hit the surface of the water verge so many different that can spook space. And whatever the case may be, though, my objective is always to be in a position where whatever I am doing, I’m less likely to make fish aware of the fact that I am there. And so in extreme circumstances, such as what you’ve just suggested, I may use an exceptionally long meter system, 15 feet or more, maybe 18 feet wide, because I want the furthest, most visible distance of flies from that fly light or any other thing they may say. 01;12;45;14 – 01;13;06;14 Davy Even your rod movement can create a shadow in that water based on certain atmospheric things like that. And, you know, it goes. I wonder. I notice fish. Sure, I can see them, but I can’t catch them. Well, yeah, it’s not always the fly. That’s the reason why you’re not catching the fish in most cases. A lot of the reasons I see what you’re doing. 01;13;06;23 – 01;13;13;28 Davy In other words, the fish have become aware of the fact that you are. That they knew when the only person has been there to catch it’s. 01;13;14;17 – 01;13;21;28 Dave Yeah. How long is that take? What if surveys fish of that water before you? How long does it take before that nice big fish out there is settle down and ready to go. 01;13;21;28 – 01;13;31;07 Davy Oh I can’t really answer that question because I’ve gone to sections of water that somebody beat up before I go fire. Right. 01;13;31;16 – 01;13;33;24 Dave Yeah. And you’ve got fish right behind them. 01;13;34;04 – 01;13;54;12 Davy Yes. Because my approach is different to what they would do doing, you know, they slash and crash the water and rip the flow off the surface of the water. The cask goes down in a jumbo bloody mess that the end of it, which are the case may be, Well you know what you going to make fish wise up to the fact that you are there very, very quickly you know. 01;13;54;12 – 01;14;20;08 Davy And so those fish, even though they’ve wised up to what the person prior to you is, weighs them up to, there’s no look into fade, you know, unless they really, really spoke to a friend’s boat. If you thereafter present flies in such a manner that you’re not going to make them aware of the fact of your presence, there’s a very good chance you will catch those fish. 01;14;20;08 – 01;14;28;05 Davy So I discussed, you know, choice approach. We show the case may be choice, supply lines and later systems. 01;14;28;10 – 01;14;33;08 Dave Yeah. And leaders that’s the last that’s the big expert right. The leaders are pretty important to this this system. 01;14;33;20 – 01;14;56;01 Davy For many, many reasons. First and foremost, we’re aware of it. I know in some states you can’t use free flies. For example, in Montana, you and I find that’s an on ridiculous, stupid rule. But I think the reason they have that is so people can’t use treble hooks all by one hook, you know, in three separated flies on single hooks. 01;14;56;14 – 01;15;27;17 Davy Well, whatever, you know. Okay. So you have two choices. I always learn to build my latest systems historically, you know, going back there in the in the 1960s, the way I did it, and we use maximum a line at that time to do that. And now my choice is use amnesia, because I really like that. So the important thing is that you have a really good transition from the flow line to the section that said I absolutely dislike loop connections. 01;15;27;21 – 01;15;29;08 Dave Okay, so no loops. 01;15;29;08 – 01;15;48;13 Davy No, I don’t like the hinge point. And not only that, you know, a lot of techniques, the junction of those two loops creates wake on the surface, the water. And that’s the last thing you really want because once again you’re likely to wise fish up of your presence what you’re doing. So we don’t want that. 01;15;48;23 – 01;15;52;28 Dave Okay, So just use a nail. Not what do you use to tie your leader on to your five line? 01;15;53;10 – 01;16;13;17 Davy No, I don’t use a now note. I use that they call it by different names of like a snood. Now, essentially all you do is you hold your S.O., your data against your fly line. You take three or four turns over the fly line. And in between loop and you pull those loop turnovers closer together, tighten them up and that’s it. 01;16;13;17 – 01;16;16;23 Davy Done. I’m doing my hand in like a minute real fast. 01;16;16;27 – 01;16;20;03 Dave Oh, really? What is that one called? What? What’s the. It’s got a few different names. 01;16;20;09 – 01;16;23;09 Davy It’s name Node by different names. You know, like. 01;16;23;22 – 01;16;26;14 Dave This isn’t the Davenport, right. This isn’t the Davenport though. 01;16;26;14 – 01;16;36;29 Davy No, no, no. That’s a connection from the from the your ticket database. Are you familiar with what they call Spader and hoax? In other words, the hook that has no eyes? 01;16;37;04 – 01;16;39;15 Dave Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s no. I write exactly. 01;16;39;29 – 01;16;57;02 Davy The same note you use for it. In other words, you hold the line in going to shrink the hook to form a turn round loop and. Then you take your line over the hook. And in between that piece of line that you’ve got laid along the side of the hook, three or 4.0. 01;16;57;02 – 01;16;58;10 Dave Is it called a snell knot. 01;16;58;16 – 01;17;00;18 Davy Yeah. That’s another name for it. Yeah. 01;17;00;19 – 01;17;03;22 Dave Yeah. And he’ll tell the Snell not. Yeah. Okay. 01;17;03;27 – 01;17;13;13 Davy That it’s a very, very small. No connection. It takes a little practice for people to get to know how to do it. But I can do that my hands and really fast. 01;17;13;20 – 01;17;26;19 Dave Well, throw a video in the show notes so people can take a look at the Snell. Not so that’s good. So basically you minimize the knots in on your leader. Talk about that. What is the diameter of the butt you’re using for your amnesia? What size or diameter. 01;17;26;19 – 01;17;56;01 Davy Okay, so I work on this basic principle three to the three foot, two foot, one foot or 1 to 2 foot. So on a typical, say, four weight line oh five, wait for that better. I’m going to use approximately about a £20 of three foot. Then I’m going to use about a two foot section of 15, and then I’m going to add to that about another one or two feet of ten or £12 break and strain amnesia. 01;17;56;01 – 01;18;18;01 Davy To that I get my leader. And the thing in in most situations where what fly fishing is concerned is that you use the same diameter of line throughout the entire system. So if I’m going to fish, for example, five eggs, I’m going to run off the end of the section I about two foot, maybe a little more than that. 01;18;18;20 – 01;18;47;14 Davy And that would be a position generally of my first drop. I may go to three on that, but I’m just going to give him the general assumption of that. From there on, you want a minimum of 25 to 30 inches based part of the knot connection. So in other words, top dropper, minimum 25 inches from eight to the next connection line, a middle dropper. 01;18;48;03 – 01;19;02;09 Davy And believe me, Dave, I’ve I’ve used every damned connection you can think of so far as droppers. And I will still go back to this that a three or four turn so does not grow cannot be beaten. 01;19;02;16 – 01;19;07;27 Dave Yeah. Surgeons. That’s pretty, boss. It’s easy right? It’s easier than everything and it works and it’s strong and it’s. Yeah. 01;19;08;13 – 01;19;10;16 Davy If you tie it correctly. Yeah. 01;19;11;00 – 01;19;18;03 Dave And then you tie the tag in. When you tie you use the tag in for your flight, for your job to use the one going up or down. Which one are you using. 01;19;18;13 – 01;19;19;12 Davy Never above. 01;19;19;21 – 01;19;21;18 Dave Never about. So it’s the one going down. Okay. 01;19;22;00 – 01;19;47;11 Davy So let me explain this one so the listeners can understand this. So if, for example, when we came off the boat section, just say we came up, there was £6 line and we added to that £5 line and our dropper would be the £6 line because it is the lower drop. I’m sorry the lower tag after a stroke just now is tied for of me. 01;19;47;19 – 01;19;56;04 Dave Oh I see. Yeah. Is that maybe a lower one. Right. So it’s partly because of the angle of it, but it’s also the size of the damage you get the smaller diameter for your fly. 01;19;56;20 – 01;20;11;22 Davy Well, let me just put it this way. If you tie a surgeon’s knot and you got two tags, if you pull on the upper tag, you are pulling really seriously against that. Not if you put it on the lower tag. You’re pulling it away from the knot. 01;20;11;22 – 01;20;18;25 Dave Okay. So it’s so it’s actually stronger to to use the lower 100%. Okay. So there you go. So that’s a big part of it. 01;20;19;07 – 01;20;26;20 Davy Let me ask you this and our viewers tying the connection, say, for a drop from when you were you knew fishing. What would you know what you used to do that. 01;20;27;00 – 01;20;41;13 Dave For the dropper? Well, I’m a totally different style. I’m like a blood knot guy, so I know the surgeon. But I need to revamp my whole system to do this. And I’m not sure. And I don’t I don’t do much zero anything either. I usually yeah, I’m kind of a blood knot. Yeah. I don’t even know what I would use for. 01;20;41;13 – 01;20;54;19 Dave I’ve done traditional like in the past I used to do, I don’t know what even they call it, but my dropper would be I would do a dropper not off the knot but off create a dropper loop. Right. Do I can’t hear what you call that, but I would create a drop her off of the leader itself. 01;20;54;28 – 01;21;03;16 Davy Okay, let me just say this. The last thing you want to do when you’re fishing droppers like that is overcomplicated system, right? 01;21;03;16 – 01;21;07;14 Dave And the knots, Right. The less knots you have, the better it is. The fish aren’t disturbed. It’s better all. 01;21;07;14 – 01;21;19;28 Davy Around. And. Yeah, well, that I. You’re less likely to break off too, you know so blood now it’s in my opinion and I don’t get me wrong you know I used to tie those things, but I to me they’re a pain in the ass. 01;21;19;29 – 01;21;25;09 Dave Yeah, they’re harder. Harder to tie. They are. They are they as strong as the surgeon’s not or similar? 01;21;25;22 – 01;21;33;18 Davy You know, I’ve been asked that question lots of times before, and I can honestly say whether or the other is I, to be honest about it. 01;21;33;25 – 01;21;50;08 Dave I know I’ve caught £20 steelhead before or not even not quite 25, but big fish on you know, with blood knots, you know, same thing I use maxima blood knots, you know, £8, £12. Right. So I feel like they’re strong. But again, it’s depending on how you tie it. Right. If you don’t tie it right. 01;21;50;20 – 01;21;56;29 Davy The thing about this, Dave, is that if you’re fishing for fish like steelhead, you’re not using five eggs line. 01;21;57;09 – 01;21;58;23 Dave No, you’re not going. 01;21;58;24 – 01;22;07;17 Davy That’s the thing. Know so blood not so easy to tie in heavier diameter line than they are in, you know, five or six. Six. 01;22;07;18 – 01;22;22;16 Dave Yeah. Okay. Well well, tell me this before you take it out of here in a little bit. The the LiDAR system I got from the star. So you got the line, you tie the knot, you got the three for the £20, two for the 15, you know, one foot of 10 to £12. Then from that, what are you taking from there. 01;22;22;16 – 01;22;26;27 Dave What’s the first thing down to your first dropper. Is that What would that be. How long would that be. 01;22;27;08 – 01;22;29;08 Davy About 18 inches to two faith. 01;22;29;17 – 01;22;36;27 Dave Okay. 18 to 2. Yep. And then And then after that, then you’re going 25 inches between each year flies until you get to your minimum. 01;22;36;27 – 01;22;38;14 Davy Don’t get closer than that. 01;22;38;14 – 01;22;40;19 Dave Oh, minimum. Right. So what would be the maximum. 01;22;41;01 – 01;22;44;21 Davy Oh, I’ve used separations in the past up to about four feet. 01;22;45;00 – 01;22;46;24 Dave Oh, wow. Okay. I see. A lot bigger. 01;22;47;05 – 01;23;14;29 Davy Yes, but tell me that is only the case if I’m fishing more upstream techniques as opposed to across in downstream techniques. In other words, upstream to accommodate more, they drift techniques. So the next thing, assuming you’ve did that, what I’ve just suggested is that are you going to animate your fries? What I mean by that is are you going to create some movement to the flies other than a jet mode? 01;23;14;29 – 01;23;40;28 Davy Well, let me tell you, in order for you to effectively do that, your upper drop has to be for significant length. And the longer that dropper is, the more efficient you can work or top drop a fly. So what you have to remember or take into consideration is as you raise that rod, you draw those flies up to or near the surface of the water. 01;23;41;23 – 01;24;07;10 Davy And if you have a very short dropper, you have no choice but to track the line that’s above that dropper on the surface of the on or below the drop. Incidentally, on the surface of the water, if your dropper tag is too short. In other words, if you’ve only got like, say, three or four inches, it’s not long enough if that tag is No. 01;24;07;18 – 01;24;31;20 Davy 6 to 8 inches, you can keep that fly visual to the surface with that no on above or below it on the surface. So the length of the dropper tag is very important insofar as how you can animate that top drop the fly and by virtue of the animation, what you are doing is creating an inducement to those fish. 01;24;32;01 – 01;24;52;08 Davy So for example, if we wanted to kind of imitate sight, for example, I used a cat as fly as an example they movement or that carries fly and it could be a nova positive female. You know, I think as they typically they move upstream and they do that instantly. But nevertheless they’re on and off the surface of the water. 01;24;52;09 – 01;25;26;24 Davy Right. And as we know, oftentimes that to promote a fish to come out of whack and here you’ve got that big splash. And sometimes I’ve seen them actually grab those flies when they’re actually in the air above the surface of the water to come out to get them. And what you’re aiming to do is is to imitate that in the manner in which you do It is, of course, to have that fly in a position where on a longer drop or length you can animate that fly and that requires control of your right hand in your left hand, and you pretty much get that fly to dance on the surface. 01;25;26;24 – 01;25;38;20 Davy Some people call it dabbling. There’s lots of analogies you can use for it, but essentially what you are doing, you are imitating as close as you can. How the fish see that natural swell? 01;25;38;28 – 01;25;44;16 Dave How are you doing with your rod? Or are you just kind of jigging your rod like up and down a little bit? How would you describe that. 01;25;44;16 – 01;26;10;00 Davy Yes or no? It’s hard to explain this one, too. So let me just explain it this way. So, for example, a line is in front of us on the surface of the water, and our road is that our parts, many say about a ten foot. And the big mistake people make, incidentally, is that they bring that rod too far back then if you bring the rod too far back, you’ve got nothing left with the right to work with it because you’re too far back. 01;26;10;13 – 01;26;31;17 Davy So just assume that we’ve got that rod at about a 1010 foot six. A scoop may attempt have passed in position and everything, So no, no straight line. No. If we take our left and and we print them out as close to our butt ring and we pull that left hand down without moving our right hand with a rod, what are we doing? 01;26;32;10 – 01;26;35;11 Davy We’ve drawn the line and it flies back towards us. Right? 01;26;35;19 – 01;26;39;01 Dave Right. Yeah. You’re kind of stripping. So you’re saying you’re stripping a little bit or. 01;26;39;09 – 01;27;04;02 Davy No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Stripping it. No. Well, how narrow that. About a 10:30 position. Okay. We get the flow line with our left hand roughly where the third section is and we draw that line slowly. What you then do is what you draw the flies back towards you. But if you do it at the right place, you will cause that top drop of fly to come to the surface. 01;27;04;02 – 01;27;29;14 Davy They move on that surface as you’re coming back towards your base. What I’m trying to explain to you, if you incorporate that with your right hand movement, in other words, there’s just say we start the rod and say 9:00 and we do the same thing. We greatly moving the rod up and drawing down with the left hand, accelerate the movement of the line and the flies coming back towards us. 01;27;29;17 – 01;27;52;23 Davy Right? And so the the skill of the is is to maintain and it takes a lot of practice to do it to maintain that fly. The top drop applies working in the meniscus in the surface, oil on and off without any line above it or below it, visual to the fish because it’s not on the surface. The water. 01;27;53;11 – 01;28;21;25 Davy If you drag that fly back and you don’t have animated of that drop, guess what? You create a lot of surface disturbance from the line that’s above it and below it. If you do it skillfully, you can animate the second or the mid drop a fly by the same means. So we’ve reached the point where our top drop from fly is no whatever, a foot or two feet above the surface of the water. 01;28;21;25 – 01;28;26;04 Davy But we now animating by the same means our mid drop of fly. 01;28;26;11 – 01;28;29;04 Dave So you’re animating both those flies at the same time. 01;28;29;14 – 01;28;31;01 Davy No one out the other. 01;28;31;01 – 01;28;33;17 Dave Okay, so you do the top one, then you go to the other one. 01;28;34;00 – 01;28;56;03 Davy Yes. Because the separation of distance from the top drops to the middle drop of fly is very, very difficult to get Both of those two flies doing the same thing. You can only do one at a time. And once again, the length of the drop on your middle dropper standard fly is the same. You don’t want short dropper lengths. 01;28;56;19 – 01;29;00;22 Davy The longer the drop, the length that you can handle, the better. 01;29;00;22 – 01;29;10;03 Dave I think what dropper is one thing I wonder about is if they get too long, does it ever start getting wrapped around your leader? Or how long would be too long for a dropper tag? 01;29;10;03 – 01;29;38;17 Davy Okay, so the definition of the term, the catch the flies is the section of line from your section, so to speak, of the three flies. That’s code terminology, as we call it, a class, two flies, so to speak. Or you can call it your team of flies, whichever you want. All right. So the question you just asked, once again, we go back to your casting skills where. 01;29;39;02 – 01;29;40;00 Dave It’s back to the cast. 01;29;40;00 – 01;30;05;28 Davy Yeah, right. The long tail, the drop is you have the more like me, you get tangles. Now there’s a difference in as far as the tangles is concerned, just because that fly is somewhat twisted around the line. In other words, it’s not noted. Don’t worry about that too much because for the most, when those flies land on the water, the physical weight of the flies will actually drop down. 01;30;06;06 – 01;30;17;27 Davy And that doesn’t happen. However If you are one of those that throw your flies out and they land in the jumbled mess. Well, because the first thing you do right. Yeah. 01;30;18;00 – 01;30;19;08 Dave Is fix your nest. 01;30;19;08 – 01;30;21;22 Davy You probably. Yeah, you’re probably screwed up. 01;30;22;01 – 01;30;32;09 Dave That’s what John was saying. The Hazel, he we were talking about steelhead fishing, but it’s the same thing. He said, You know what? If you have two men just to fix your line, you know, you’re probably not doing a good cast, you know? 01;30;32;11 – 01;30;32;25 Davy Yeah, Yeah. 01;30;33;06 – 01;30;43;04 Dave Right. You need to make the good cast, and then you, man, you men, depending on what you need to do, right, You want the cast to lay out there perfectly so. So I think we could all work on our cast, Right? That’s something we could all practice. 01;30;43;20 – 01;30;44;24 Davy Who said that to you? 01;30;45;00 – 01;30;49;21 Dave John Hazel at the Deschutes River. Fly Shop a Deschutes. He’s The Deschutes Angler. 01;30;49;28 – 01;30;58;12 Davy I would agree 100% with that. If you don’t make the first course the right one, you’ve got a problem because you’ve got to you’ve got to correct what you the mistake you’re made. 01;30;58;17 – 01;31;11;29 Dave Yeah. You don’t want to start with having to correct your cast before you even start fishing the fire. Right. You want to be able to make the cast as you want to make it. So. So it’s the same thing here. You what you’re saying is you if you make a good cast, those team of flies are going to drop down perfectly into the water. 01;31;12;07 – 01;31;42;08 Davy If you do it perfectly, 100%, perfectly. Everything should lay out in it and you should see those flies. Clap the water, pop top up. One, two, three. If you don’t see that happening, I’m not saying it’s screwed up, but the chances are it is. And so obviously you’ve got to bring everything back and check it. So I do know that one of the questions I get out of frequent is, Oh yeah, well, my flies tangled around the leader. 01;31;42;17 – 01;32;08;21 Davy Well, by what definition are they tangled? Are they not made up or whatever? Yeah, of course that’s a problem. But just because the line is slightly twisted around, don’t worry about that, You know, because under normal circumstances, your flies will swim. And even when you are retrieving the flies back, you’re animated in that top dropper. I can tell you now that generally speaking, it’s not so much an issue. 01;32;09;08 – 01;32;19;29 Davy You can jiggle your rod tape to some extent and shake it and come off. But don’t worry about that too much. If they know it up or whatever. Yeah, okay. That’s the point. 01;32;20;09 – 01;32;26;00 Dave And what’s your longest length of leader of your tag? Do you put on the dropper do you think. What’s your typical. 01;32;26;13 – 01;32;29;29 Davy Are you are saying the length of the types I use for my droppers. 01;32;29;29 – 01;32;30;27 Dave Yeah. Yeah. 01;32;31;05 – 01;32;35;04 Davy Okay. So minimum usually for the top dropper is going to be six inches. 01;32;35;16 – 01;32;36;14 Dave Okay. And then what’s. 01;32;37;13 – 01;32;40;09 Davy Oh, I’ve gone up to a 12 foot before now. 01;32;40;16 – 01;32;42;10 Dave A foot. So 6 to 12 inches. Okay. 01;32;42;26 – 01;33;16;01 Davy There’s certain techniques that I would deploy based on how I see those fish reacting. You know, sometimes fish I give you an example. The first time I ever showed dive weight, low weight fried fish, and because it fascinated them, you know, how you could fish with three or four flies like that and the way we were on the river, I knew that where I was, that there was some chances of some pretty decent brown trout in that area. 01;33;16;01 – 01;33;37;29 Davy And I told Dave, I said, you know, I do not want anything other than that, Floyd, to be seen by those fish because I didn’t want to disturb the surface for my the other. So it was a short line cast and we’ve just the neatest system. In other words, the flies no no fly alone and I a fly which is one of my patterns coated mostly daddy on the top dropper. 01;33;38;17 – 01;34;12;15 Davy And it’s a fly that makes a lot of good disturbance the surface movement you know, which is often the main to get Fish’s attention. They see that surface movement and I’m not joking. I was about six foot away when I was about to draw that fly off the water, but I tracked it across the surface and this brown trout, it was over £6 come out, hit that, fly, and he couldn’t believe that a fish like that would come up and take a fly like that back close to the shore. 01;34;13;15 – 01;34;27;19 Davy And Davis said, You know better than that because you know that you know where those brown trout are concerned. They’re very different to Rainbow trout in the way they react is not really going about that, in my opinion. 01;34;27;29 – 01;34;32;06 Dave Right. They’re more aggressive. Are they more aggressive in general? More predatory. 01;34;32;25 – 01;34;51;29 Davy They’ve got that instinct, too. But I think that they’re more I had to explain that one to. I think that they’re more tuned in to seeing how natural insects move in water. And, you know, when you track a fly like that across the stream is something of a brown job. Mo, you get his attention, You know what I’m saying? 01;34;52;02 – 01;35;19;23 Davy Yeah. And so that fish just came out that close. What black fly And what he couldn’t believe was that a fish of that size would come out and take a small fly like that that close to the shoreline, even though we were stood there. And the reason being was like what it saw. But you know what? That fish was so damn focused on that fly, it pretty much ignored us got. 01;35;20;05 – 01;35;22;26 Dave And the mother daddy is like a what is it? 01;35;23;02 – 01;35;27;03 Davy It’s like it’s a fly that really kind of imitates a crane. Fly? 01;35;27;10 – 01;35;37;07 Dave Yeah, it can fly. It’s got long. It’s got like deer. It’s muddled right? It’s got a cut hair head and then it’s got some deer hair and it’s got long, long legs kind of come back. 01;35;37;17 – 01;35;43;29 Davy Yeah, it’s absolutely one of my top flies to. Attract fish and get them to table. 01;35;44;11 – 01;35;49;25 Dave I mean, it looks like an amazing fly. So that’s a fly that you use as more of an attractor. How would you typically fish that fly? 01;35;50;16 – 01;36;16;22 Davy You can use the word attractor if you like, but I do know for thousands of fish I’ve caught with that fly that the animation of that fly just has an intrinsic value to get a fish’s attention. Obviously, I don’t know if a fish seems oh yeah, that’s a crazy frightened fly or whatever, but termination thing also, you could do exactly the same thing if you use the now. 01;36;16;22 – 01;36;38;23 Davy Okay is in other words, we are not used in introduced a wing went fly or soft tack or use in an elk carries and you can animate that fly through and on through the surface boom like you would that a day because once again you’re used to the fly that’s got some intrinsic value to the fish is perception of being a natural insect. 01;36;39;11 – 01;36;59;01 Davy And by virtue of the marriage that you present in fish, it, there’s just something about the way that you do that that gets a fish’s attention to me. Brown trout. So now I was going to mention this too, that so far as upstream fish and kind of right to make that top drop of fry coming back towards you. 01;36;59;01 – 01;37;31;15 Davy Absolutely. You can. If you’ve got really good control of rod line and arm movement. So by raising the rod and once again using your left hand to draw the line, you can actually bring that fly to the surface and track it back. And don’t forget, we’re not fishing directly upstream of us with fish, you know, are relatively we can track that flow back and that can be an exceptionally good way to induce fish to take your fly, even though that fly is upstream of you or not, across or down, so to speak. 01;37;32;01 – 01;37;55;04 Davy And so there are a lot of techniques, more so than people really realize that I’m fishing. That flies across as a downstream swing, but they require more scale and technique to get them to work for you. And that and that’s you got to put the time in. And I think for the most part you’ve got to be taught and shown how to do it well. 01;37;55;04 – 01;38;10;22 Dave And that’s why I’m glad you went to that, because I feel like, you know, these podcasts are always amazing, you know, And I think we took a really good dive into today. But the next step really is, you know, the next step is to get out with you on the water. You know, I feel like doing and you do have some schools and stuff maybe as we take it out of here. 01;38;10;22 – 01;38;17;24 Dave Talk about that. Where can people where do you have gone? Can people track you down? Can they actually get on the water with you? Describe your program a little bit. 01;38;18;09 – 01;38;47;04 Davy Yes. So if any person wants to come in, learn more about the skills of website vision. Yeah. So, I mean, they’re most welcome to get in touch with me. But what I will say is that one day is not good enough because most people have got other, you know, issues. Suppose they’ve been one of them. And, and to be honest about it, Dave, I would say that is the number one issue that’s problematical more than anything else. 01;38;47;04 – 01;38;48;23 Davy Totally. Yeah, absolutely. 01;38;49;06 – 01;39;02;08 Dave Yeah. How many days is the would you recommend is like would three days be enough to come down there and do it. Yeah. Let’s say we were putting together a school with you, you know, and we were going to bring some listeners down. Do you think three days on the water would be good? 01;39;02;27 – 01;39;20;07 Davy Yes. And so my customers, they come for longer periods and that the one thing, as you well know here I have to deal with a tale water and so that at times can preclude great fishing accessibility because of the high water situation. 01;39;20;20 – 01;39;24;12 Dave How do you do that when you can’t wade fish? Do you have a boat or do you do this off the bank? 01;39;24;12 – 01;39;44;00 Davy Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, of course so what I did when I first came here, you know, other than a few people I knew to swim some stuff I was or whatever I thought how, you know, I have to kind of adapt techniques here where it’s wet fly fishing, so to speak. Fishing. Whenever a team of flies can be practiced from a drifting boat. 01;39;44;23 – 01;40;09;06 Davy And it didn’t take me long to figure out how to do it, to be perfectly honest about it. So really what you’re doing is, is, is that you obviously downstream drift fishing and the speed and pace of the water is somewhat relative to it. But nevertheless, what you’re doing essentially is you’re still fishing a team of flies. But obviously when you’re drift fishing, you you’re not fishing upstream. 01;40;09;06 – 01;40;38;05 Davy So you’re fishing techniques which are more across and back towards you more than anything else. So typically, Dave, what we’re doing is we’re casting to the bank and working out flows back across stream towards us. And so in that respect, based on depth and speed of water, I know I will be honest about it. You know, if we’ve got exceptionally high water and it’s really ripping down through there, God knows what you know, it does make life difficult for fishing, but it’s going to take place. 01;40;38;05 – 01;40;50;01 Davy I’m not saying you can’t catch fish doing it, but it’s if it’s a day where you want to, you know, probably catch more fish, then the odds of that technique working that remote, so to speak. 01;40;50;01 – 01;40;53;26 Dave So what type of boat are we using here? What’s the boat that you’re out in? 01;40;54;12 – 01;40;59;19 Davy Oh, it typical White River boats we use, they’re they’re on or on 21 foot six months. 01;40;59;24 – 01;41;12;07 Dave Yeah. So you use in the typical White River. So. So that’s the boat that we’ve heard about those before. This is the white riverboat, the long boat. You’re so you basically are you doing a mix of like half your time on the boat, half walk and wait. 01;41;12;21 – 01;41;42;23 Davy Yes. If I’ve got the right white border conditions, I use that boat, obviously, to access places where you can’t obviously won’t get access to it. So you get to places where pretty much you might be by yourself all day because it’s strange enough, the access, you know, so far as walking Wade here is even though you’ve got 100 miles of river on this river of few and far between, and most of those generally relate to where the public up this boat ramps are or somewhere within that region. 01;41;42;23 – 01;42;06;09 Davy You can walk maybe upstream or downstream to some extent, but there’s a hell of a lot of areas in that river, you know, around islands or whatever the case may be, that in order to access those, you would need a boat to do that, so to speak. So in the case of the drift fishing, I use primarily three lines and let me just say this to that. 01;42;07;06 – 01;42;16;05 Davy The second most important line, anybody that enters into the world of, you know, fishing web is that you must own is an intermediate. 01;42;17;01 – 01;42;17;19 Dave Intermediate. 01;42;18;01 – 01;42;38;12 Davy That that’s a line that sinks that roughly one or two inches per. Okay. There are some occasional times I might use a stroke section sink tip that can be very effective. And there is another line that’s actually in between the dry line and the intermediate, which called a hollow line hover. 01;42;38;12 – 01;42;38;26 Dave Right. 01;42;39;05 – 01;42;43;18 Davy And that’s a line which has to be more developed for Stillwater fishing. 01;42;43;28 – 01;42;56;02 Dave Yeah. And that’s what comes back. I know Phil Roy, he’s done a recent podcast where he, he talks a lot about these same lines, the hover, the intermediate, the dry line. Those are really good still. But so what you’re saying is these are also good river lines to use. 01;42;56;11 – 01;43;24;19 Davy Oh, yeah. Let me tell you the two most important lines that you should have a a double type of floater, an intermediate and the intermediate line. Of course, it generally is more for a cross and downstream technique where you want to be deeper in the water. There may be some situations I know you might find this strange to believe it, but I’ve actually used intermediate lines for upstream fishing as well, particularly. 01;43;24;19 – 01;43;45;09 Davy Wait, I got really adverse wind conditions, you know, the physical way, a boat line in itself, you know, it can hold my fly is better in the drift and I have little more control in that sense word but they’re the two most important lines and you want ideally a intermediate we kind of go on flow means they’re the two most important lines. 01;43;45;25 – 01;44;22;18 Davy The only thing is for the intermediate. To the best of my knowledge, you cannot get that line in a date profile, but you’re most likely across and down. That’s not so much the issue, but they’re the two most important that you need. And so but going back to what we were talking about a little earlier and, you know choices apply some is the other so the way I would kind of put it is this is that if you’re fishing more in an upstream dead drift mode where you’re not so much an animate in the flow is because something typically do more across to slightly downstream. 01;44;23;11 – 01;44;52;13 Davy You want fairly sparse flows that no heavy flows. Let’s put it like that because you’re trying to really imitate, you know, natural food sources in the river, which are relatively small. So flies like we’ve already talked about. They, you know, whether you use a snow table, which is a great thing to use in blowing dolly pouches. Incidentally, I know a lot of people like the partridge, you know, and strange enough note, one of my favorite phrase, but, you know, it’s called flies, you know. 01;44;52;21 – 01;44;53;15 Dave Yeah. Sparse. 01;44;53;25 – 01;44;54;09 Davy Yeah. 01;44;54;17 – 01;45;02;22 Dave That’s cool. Yeah, I think the sparse I love we covered that section earlier about that because I think that’s a big part of it, right? The how heavily are you dressing the flies is a big part. 01;45;03;02 – 01;45;21;14 Davy Yes. Because I think they they animate better in the water. I mean, I think that’s so important, you know, and bugs don’t come downstream in a direct straight line. I mean, that’s a fact. You know, the underwater movements in the in the current seems to jet over structure. They move those around you know so. 01;45;21;14 – 01;45;26;29 Dave And they’re swimming, too. Right. And they’re getting tumbled down and swimming and they’re always moving. They’re never like in a straight line. 01;45;27;10 – 01;45;53;24 Davy Yeah. You particularly when you’ve got, you know, insects out there emerging regardless of whether cats or mayflies or betas, whatever the case, they’re moving in such a way. Is that a the current is moving downstream, but they’re also ascending near to the surface as they do that, you know, so and so fish naturally see those bugs, you know, And, you know, a lot of times we well know, you know, they’re more inclined to take the emergence approach to the surface flights, particularly in really big hatches. 01;45;53;24 – 01;46;24;06 Davy You know, what do you want to keep coming up and wasting their time grabbing something off the surface? They can stay somewhere in that water column and grab them as they’re coming down towards them, natural insects. And really you’re trying to imitate similarly the same thing when. You’re fishing your wet flies upstream, particularly as far suppose subtitles. Now insofar as downstream fishing is concerned you can use off tackles, don’t get me wrong, but you sure as hell are native fishermen, no matter where they’re not being dragged. 01;46;24;08 – 01;46;47;29 Davy You know, they’re. They’re more, you know, subject, even though you obviously get a progression where you you can’t fish further down than your line extension is allowing you to do it. Believe it or not, if you really do it correctly, you can actually animate those flies, even though this may be slightly moving across toward you by maintain your line in different ways to slow that drag on, that drift down. 01;46;48;00 – 01;47;15;11 Davy That’s that’s very, very important. And eventually you get to a position where your flies are obviously directly downstream on what we call the tangle. And oftentimes when they reaches that point, all of a sudden whack the fish hits you. So inevitably, what they have done they followed those flies and tracked them across stream. And all of a sudden there they see those flies just hanging downstream, wiggling around. 01;47;15;11 – 01;47;33;20 Davy In that time, and they come out and work it, you know, And you always want to be prepared for that because sometimes that can be a pretty bloody good fish that does that, you know? And so that’s what we call the dangle once again. Once again, you have to control yourself. Not right. 01;47;33;26 – 01;47;36;26 Dave WAKEHAM Yeah, that’s the dangle that’s the dangle. 01;47;37;08 – 01;47;46;22 Davy So I always keep I always keep a flat select section of line below my index finger, which is holding the line against my guard. Oh you. 01;47;46;22 – 01;47;49;00 Dave Do. So you keep, you have a little loop in there. 01;47;49;13 – 01;47;49;26 Davy Yes. 01;47;50;12 – 01;48;09;01 Dave This is really interesting because this goes back to again, there’s a lot of similarities with steelhead, Atlantic salmon. There’s a big debate in steelhead fishing especially. Do you hold a loop or do you not hold a loop? Right. You just keep it tight. And I’ve always been a loop. My dad taught me to hold a loop for steelhead, always have a loop, and I feel like it gives you a little like a shock loop right before they hook up. 01;48;09;01 – 01;48;12;18 Dave Describe. Describe why you hold a loop there under percent. 01;48;13;06 – 01;48;15;05 Davy That’s exactly the reason why. 01;48;15;05 – 01;48;15;26 Dave Same reason. 01;48;16;04 – 01;48;40;26 Davy Yes. So when the fish types that fly, I see that draw that line and I can just let that line just generally release onto my index finger. And then I just experience of course, I just know what point of time just to clamp that line to the board and just literally Hogan Rod and because that fish is turning away from you, inevitably hook yourself. 01;48;41;14 – 01;49;02;02 Davy That’s what it amounts to as opposed to just setting a record. But yeah, I see people do that drive, fly fishing, you know, things like I know a fish on a dry fly downstream, absolutely nothing wrong with it can be the most deadly way to catch a fish on a draw. There’s no argument about that. But guess what? 01;49;02;22 – 01;49;11;28 Davy You can’t have a direct pipeline. You’ve got to allow that fish to take that fly in its mouth before you turn. Yeah. 01;49;12;08 – 01;49;31;00 Dave Yeah. This is great. Well, David, this has been awesome. I feel like we got to definitely follow up with you here. And I think that I think the next step might be a maybe either a boot camp or on water, you know, in person. So I think today we all leave it here and we’ll definitely send everybody out to Davey What and fly fishing dot com if they want to connect in and yeah let’s keep in touch here. 01;49;31;00 – 01;49;35;25 Dave Maybe we could talk about putting together a trip and get some people down way, you know, in the coming years. Does that sound like a plan? 01;49;36;09 – 01;49;46;15 Davy Fantastic. Yes. And if any of the listeners want to get in contact with me, I spent probably half my day back. Right. And responses back to the great book. 01;49;46;25 – 01;49;50;22 Dave So they can track you down on Facebook, right? They can track you down there on Facebook as well. 01;49;51;03 – 01;50;08;14 Davy Yeah. Just go to my website and email me or something, you know, because, you know, really what we’re kind of covering here in our discussion today is just a really good overall picture of what fly fishing. I don’t have to tell you, there’s a lot more to it than that, you know? 01;50;08;25 – 01;50;23;15 Dave Well, that’s what’s great. I feel like any great podcast that we do it actually a lot of new questions or more questions that we need to answer, right? That’s the great thing about this is that there’s plenty we need to follow up with. So so until the next one. Davie, thanks for your time and be in touch. 01;50;23;28 – 01;50;28;00 Davy Thank you, Dave. I enjoyed it very much. 01;50;28;00 – 01;50;49;14 Dave A big thank you to Davy for doing another episode on this podcast. I hope you enjoyed that one. If you get a chance, please follow Davey, check in with him on Facebook. Let him know you heard this podcast and go to Dave. What and fly fishing icon as always, we got some good stuff going this week, the Stillwater School with Phil Roy in the in Henry’s Lake is open right now. 01;50;49;14 – 01;51;08;15 Dave If you want to get support you can go to RFI swing dot com slash Stillwater School sign up there and we’ll follow up with you on details like, you know, on availability. This is a big one. We’re going with one of the best out there, the Stillwater School. Henry’s Lake doesn’t get any better than that. We’re also going to have Darren Huntsman on this year and at the Lodge and the crew, it’s going to be a great trip if you’re interested. 01;51;08;15 – 01;51;25;02 Dave If you ever thought about Up and you’re Stillwater game, now’s the time to get on it. All right. This week we’ve got water master. If you’re interested, Watercraft, we’ve got a boat that’s been doing great things for years. We’ll talk about the water master this week with Rick, and I’m going to leave it there because we got to get on to the next one. 01;51;25;02 – 01;51;42;12 Dave Got a big episode with Will. I’m going to be working on here coming up next. So I appreciate you for stopping in today. And I just want to say, I hope you have a great a great morning. Afternoon. If it’s evening late in the night, early in the morning, mid afternoon. I appreciate you for stopping in and I hope to see you on the next episode. 01;51;42;12 – 01;52;00;05 Dave We’ll talk to you then. Thanks for listening to the wet fly Swing fly fishing show for notes and links from this episode, visit Wet Fly, Swing, Dotcom you.
Davy Showing off the trout he caught using his traditional wet fly swing approach.
Davy Showing off the trout he caught using his traditional wet fly swing approach.

Conclusion with Davy on Traditional Wet Fly Fishing

Davy highlighted that successful wet fly fishing is less about the fly pattern and more about presentation, line control, and covering water effectively. By making a few adjustments to your technique, you can increase your chances of getting more takes and landing more fish.

What’s one wet fly technique from this episode you’ll try on your next day on the water?

     

942 | Steelhead Migration and Satellite Tagging with Matt Thornton from The Wilderness Calling

steelhead migration

Episode Show Notes

Matt Thornton is a guide, conservation advocate, and founder of The Wilderness Calling. His nonprofit is using satellite telemetry technology to track steelhead migration after they leave freshwater and enter the ocean.

The goal is simple but ambitious: build a clearer picture of steelhead migration routes and gather data that could help inform future conservation efforts throughout the Pacific Coast.


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steelhead migration

Show Notes with Matt Thornton on Steelhead Migration

About Matt Thornton

Matt Thornton is an Oregon-based fly fishing guide, conservation advocate, musician, and founder of Wilderness Calling.

After years of guiding in Alaska and throughout the Pacific Northwest, Matt launched Wilderness Calling to support steelhead migration research through satellite telemetry. His goal is to bring anglers, scientists, and conservation supporters together to better understand what happens to steelhead after they leave freshwater.

His work combines guided fishing, nonprofit leadership, scientific collaboration, and community involvement around one of the biggest mysteries in fly fishing.

How Wilderness Calling Started

The idea behind Wilderness Calling came from conversations Matt had while guiding in Alaska. Many of his clients were successful business owners looking for meaningful conservation projects where their support could make a direct impact.

At the same time, Matt had connections with fisheries biologists working on emerging telemetry technology. When he learned that satellite tags originally developed for sharks and tuna had become small enough for steelhead, he realized there was an opportunity to answer questions anglers have been asking for decades.

Key takeaway:

  • Steelhead ocean migration remains one of the least understood parts of their lifecycle
  • New satellite technology is making ocean tracking possible
  • Wilderness Calling was created to help fund and support that research
steelhead migration

Tracking Steelhead in the Ocean with Satellite Tags

The tags record depth, temperature, speed, acceleration, light levels, and location data while the fish is in saltwater. Once a programmed time period ends, the tag releases from the fish, floats to the surface, and transmits the collected data through satellites.

The process is complex and expensive. Each satellite tag costs approximately $5,000, which is one reason so little steelhead migration work has been completed to date.

The tags record:

  • Water depth
  • Temperature
  • Swimming speed
  • Light levels
  • Acceleration
  • Location data

One of the first tagged fish from Oregon traveled roughly 300 miles after leaving the Nehalem River, providing an early glimpse into migration behavior.

steelhead migration

Building a Steelhead Migration Map

Matt’s long-term vision is to help create a complete migration map for West Coast steelhead populations.

As more fish are tagged, researchers may eventually identify consistent travel corridors in the ocean. Those corridors could support future acoustic receiver networks that would dramatically reduce tracking costs and increase the amount of available data.

The project is still in its early stages, but Matt believes the next three to five years could provide the foundation for a much better understanding of where steelhead spend their time once they leave freshwater.

Project goals:

  • Track migration routes throughout the Pacific
  • Identify common travel corridors
  • Support future acoustic monitoring systems
  • Improve conservation planning

Funding Conservation Through Fishing Trips

One of the most interesting aspects of the project is how fishing trips help support the research.

Matt offers guided steelhead trips where anglers may have the opportunity to participate directly in tagging efforts. If a fish is successfully tagged, participating anglers receive credit in the scientific work associated with the project.

For many guests, it creates a deeper connection to the fish and the research itself.

Conservation fishing opportunities include:

  • Guided steelhead trips
  • Tagging participation
  • Scientific project involvement
  • Direct support of migration research

Lessons from a Great Oregon Steelhead Season

Matt described this past season as one of the best winter steelhead years he has experienced on the Oregon Coast. While conditions certainly helped, he emphasized that success often comes from understanding how fish move through different river systems and adapting daily based on water levels, clarity, and weather conditions. Rather than committing to one river, Matt evaluates conditions each morning before deciding where to fish.

Factors he watches daily:

  • River levels
  • Water clarity
  • Weather systems
  • Fish movement
  • Fishing pressure

Covering Water Versus Fishing the Fly

One of the most valuable conversations in the episode focused on Spey fishing strategy. Matt believes many anglers overthink the process. While presentation matters, the biggest factor is often simply putting the fly in front of enough fish.

At the same time, he stressed the importance of staying engaged throughout the swing. Small adjustments in pace, angle, and presentation can make a difference, especially when working through prime holding water.

Matt’s approach:

  • Stay engaged with every cast
  • Visualize the entire run before fishing it
  • Focus on efficient presentation
  • Cover water thoroughly
  • Slow down in the most productive zones

Alaska, Spey Fishing, and Crystal Creek Lodge

Matt spends his summers guiding in Alaska at Crystal Creek Lodge, where guests target rainbow trout, salmon, and a variety of other species throughout Bristol Bay.

When he’s not chasing big rainbows, he continues looking for opportunities to swing flies for salmon and steelhead. Even after years of guiding, Spey fishing remains one of the parts of fly fishing he enjoys most.

The Struggle Is Reel Podcast and Life Beyond Fishing

Outside of guiding and conservation work, Matt co-hosts The Struggle Is Reel Podcast alongside Eric Leininger and Zach Carothers.

The show blends fishing, outdoor culture, and plenty of humor while giving listeners an honest look at life inside the fly fishing world.


You can find Matt on Instagram @the_wilderness_calling.

Visit their website at thewildernesscalling.org.

steelhead migration

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Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 942 Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: The biggest mystery in steelhead fishing isn’t how to catch them, it’s where they eventually disappear to. Today, we’re going beyond the river into the part of the journey nobody really sees. We’re talking steelhead migration, satellite tagging, Alaska guiding. And what happens after these fish leave the freshwater. We all know this is the Wet Fly 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 give back to the fish species we all love. Matt Thornton is here from the wilderness calling a guide and outfitter around the country. He’s building something that’s starting to answer one of the biggest unknowns in fly fishing, where steelhead actually go once they hit the ocean. Today, we’re going to find out what it takes to tag steelhead with satellite receivers and how that all works. What early tagging data is starting to reveal about steelhead migration, and how his guide trips are being used to fund this research. Plus, we’re going to get into a little fishing. The difference between covering water and actually fishing your fly. Plus, Matt is going to talk about how he approaches steelhead on the swing and what you need to pay attention to. All right, here we go. Matt Thornton you can support him. Get a guide trip. Find out all the information right now at the wilderness calling dot org. Here he is, Matt Thornton. How are you doing, Matt? 00:01:16 Matt: Hey. Good. How are you, Dave? 00:01:18 Dave: Great, great, great. This is this is going to be a fun one. I always love these episodes where we have a ton to talk about. You’ve got a, a nonprofit that’s super interesting where you’re tracking steelhead migrations. I don’t even know all the details. We’re going to talk about that. This thing that sounds like it’s taking over, you know, maybe your, your life and you also are a guide. We’re going to talk about that a little bit for steelhead. It sounds like Alaska, all the good stuff. But take us back real quick. Let’s go right into the wilderness calling. How did this idea come to you? Because I know for me, I always think about steelhead. That’s one of the questions that come up. You know, you’re fishing and you’re like, okay, we know these salmon are kind of going out here, but the steelhead feels like nobody really knows where they’re going. Is that was that kind of the the focus of this thing or talk about how it came to be? 00:02:02 Matt: The idea behind it really came from sitting in boats in Alaska with billionaires and millionaires and multi-millionaires, and hearing these guys be like, man, I own a bunch of businesses and I’m getting absolutely robbed this year. You know, there’s so much money I have to give to the government, and what a bummer that is and all this kind of stuff. And you know, my little my little hamster on the wheel started running and going like, man, like, what if you, uh, you know, helped to like allocate some of those funds towards fish and fisheries since, I mean, that’s a lot of what we do out there anyways, right? Is we introduce people to the place and the sport and they fall in love with it. And, you know, next thing you know, they’re spending more time out there and, and, you know, at the end of the day, more resources would be great, right? So that was inception. And then prior to that, I had dated a woman. I had moved to Alaska from from Portland, Oregon, here where I live. I had moved up there with a woman that became a fisheries biologist and, um, uh, got accepted to UAF. And so, like, we lived in Alaska for a couple years together. And, uh, that was where I met some of the guys who are like the postdoc, um, brains, uh, behind this project. And I called, you know, like, I’m like, oh, man, I really should get into conservation, right? I’ve got these like, you know, multi millionaire billionaire dudes with right way too much money being like, man, what am I going to do with all this cash? So the government doesn’t eat it? And I’m like, okay, so I call my buddy Kevin. I’m like, what are you guys, you know, Kevin Fraley’s awesome postdoc guy, fisheries biologist. I’m like, what are you guys working on? You know? And he’s like, oh, minnow traps and, um, you know, coverts and stuff like that. But the coolest thing that we’re working on is, uh, we took the tags that we’ve been putting on sharks and tuna for all these years, and we made them small enough that you could put them on anadromous fish. And, um, you know, you should check out my buddy Michael’s study, which I did. Michael Courtney is like the foremost telemetry science scientist in the world for freshwater fish. Um, and he did a study on the Seatuck River up in Alaska where he tagged, uh, sixty, I think it was like sixty three fish for a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. And like, when I saw that paper and what was possible, how you can like track ocean migration routes of spread, I was like, whoa. And like, and then you’re exactly right, Dave. You’re like, as an angler, you’re like, you know, I wonder where these suckers go when they go back out, right? You know. 00:04:36 Dave: Because that’s a part that’s a big part of it because you know, something’s going on, you know, ocean conditions changing and stuff like that. But there’s also fishing. You know, you look at the Chinook fishery, we’ve heard a lot about the the trawlers and stuff, but I mean, we’ve got protections on our waters. But when they get out to the ocean, right, there’s some stuff going on out there with harvesting that might, we might be able to make a change. Right? 00:04:55 Matt: Absolutely. And it’s I mean, it’s a I love that I’m a part of a community that’s so active in conservation. You know, that’s just who we are as anglers, right? It’s like built in and but there’s so much on, on, uh, freshwater, you know, and, and what’s happening here, like dams and stuff. I love the Kalama thing, you know, all this stuff. The Elwha was cool to watch, but, you know, there’s less of a spotlight. I’m not going to say no one because there’s some there’s some folks that have come before me that have put in some good groundwork here, but it’s less studied. 00:05:26 Dave: And that’s because because salmon are always, you know, Chinook is number one. You know, the salmon get the love because they’re the the big fish, right? Steelhead aren’t as as good of eating as Sam is that kind of why why it’s not hasn’t been studied as much. 00:05:40 Matt: Yeah. I mean, I really do think it comes down to commercial viability. Man. At the end of the day, unfortunately, it’s just like everything else that we touch. It’s like, can we sell it? Do we buy it? You know, because we tried actually like two years ago, we tried for a, we tried for a federal grant and we found out that steelhead are not a federally managed stock, and therefore we weren’t qualified for that, for that grant. I was like, what? They’re not like, no one in the federal government is managing this. Like no one cares. I’m like, no, man. Like, they don’t know. Yeah. 00:06:13 Dave: Unless it’s a ESA listed fish. They don’t really have. Yeah. Wow. So that’s it. So you guys got maybe describe, uh, you know, kind of and we’re going to get into some fishing too for people listening, you know, we’re going to definitely talk a little fishing. 00:06:25 Matt: Yeah. Well, we, we still love fishing. 00:06:28 Dave: Yeah, yeah. We’re going to talk about that. But tell us about the, uh, telemetry and stuff, how that works, how you track because kind of there’s a thing there, you know, you’ve got this thing that’s out there, how do you, you know, batteries and all this stuff describe that and what you’re doing, what the project is now, what it could be in five years. 00:06:43 Matt: It’s not easy. I, I’m one of these guys that just kind of does stuff and then later goes like, oh, yeah, right. 00:06:52 Dave: Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s just jump in. And then you realize, man, there’s actually, it’s like going to the moon. It’s like, oh, this is, this is not going to be easy. 00:06:58 Matt: Yeah. I mean, I literally learned sink or swim style. So that so that’s congruent with the rest of my life. And, uh, yeah, so it’s telemetry. Science is no joke, man. It’s really, it’s really difficult. So the way these tags work is that they record depth, temperature, speed, light, uh, acceleration and location. So I will like, I just put ten tags out this year, right? We have sixteen tags out total. We have, uh, the first tag that was ever, uh, deployed and successfully like recorded information in Oregon. And now actually we’ve got a couple of them. I just got, I’m getting, I’m getting data back right now. There’s a tag that’s sitting in the ocean. I’m not going to say where. Yeah. 00:07:44 Dave: Right. 00:07:45 Matt: But there’s one that’s transmitting to me right now. And so the way it works is I’ll catch a fish in um, in the, uh, river and we’ll put the tag on. It’s about a three minute process. If you’re, if you’re quick, you know, and um, once that tags on, it’s in sort of like sleep mode. And, uh, once the fish hits the salt water, it triggers like a countdown on that tag, um, for the burn pin to release. And when the burn pin releases, the tag floats to the surface and feeds me all that data. Does that make sense? 00:08:24 Dave: Yeah, yeah. Describe that again. So you put the tag in and once it hits salt. So the estuary once it hits the estuary because there’s some salt. Or is it a certain amount? 00:08:31 Matt: It’s a certain amount. So I had to take a salinity rating. 00:08:34 Dave: So you want it to go when it hits when it’s actually going out of the estuary into the ocean, kind of. Or when does it hit? 00:08:39 Matt: Yeah, yeah. You want it to turn on when it actually gets to the ocean. There’s a, I mean, basically, like we already know the freshwater roots of the steelhead, you know. So we don’t need any more data there. 00:08:51 Dave: Although we don’t know exactly kind of how long they’re staying or maybe. I mean, yeah, that’s the thing like fish and it kind of and some of these fish. Well, we can talk about that. But so it hits the salt water, you know, what’s going on and then what? And then you can track it from there to where it goes. 00:09:07 Matt: No, I wish it was live. I wish it was like, find my phone. That would be really cool. But it’s not. It starts recording when it hits the salt. And most of my texts are sixty, uh, to ninety to one hundred and twenty days are like most of the tags. Like I had, you know, uh, three at sixty three at ninety three at one twenty this year that like I programmed, um, the interval for how long it records. See, this does get real complicated real quick. Um, how much it records, uh, depends on how long you set it right. But eventually, uh, either the animal will get eaten, um, and the tag will float to the surface, or the countdown will end. Say it’s a sixty day tag and it hit the salt sixty days ago. Now the burn pin, which is kind of like a fusible link. Okay. Think of it like like a fuse that like, gets hot and burns out. And now the tag floats to the surface. The tag has an antenna on it. The antenna transmits to Argos satellite. And I start getting emails saying like, hey, I’m over here. And here’s the information that I recorded while I was going. 00:10:14 Dave: Right. So basically what you’re getting is when that tag floats up, I mean, the fish gets eaten. What if the fish doesn’t get eaten and comes back to spawn another year? 00:10:25 Matt: Then great. Then awesome. You know? 00:10:28 Dave: And are you able to track that? 00:10:29 Matt: No, because well, I mean, I did put a two hundred and forty day tag on this year. 00:10:36 Dave: But that’s the limit. That’s the challenge here is radio tags have a battery and there’s a limit on how long it can go. Right. Is that your biggest limiting factor for that. 00:10:45 Matt: That and just you can’t get the damn things to stay on a fish that long. 00:10:49 Dave: Oh, and where does it go on the fish? 00:10:51 Speaker 3: It goes on the dorsal. 00:10:52 Matt: Like around a little bit behind and below the dorsal. Um it weighs seven grams. It is two percent of the animal’s body weight, roughly two percent. 00:11:03 Dave: So it doesn’t affect it doesn’t make it a more of a easier for the predators to get. It’s not not doing any of that. 00:11:08 Speaker 4: I mean, I think. 00:11:10 Matt: It probably doesn’t help. Right? Yeah. Right. If you’re running away and even, you know, if I still have two percent of my, uh, body weight, you know, on me at night. 00:11:22 Dave: It’s like wearing those basketball heavy shoes. You know, when you’re trying to jump, you’re like, damn. You get used to it a little bit, right? 00:11:29 Matt: Right. Yeah. So so yeah, it probably doesn’t help them to have the pack on them. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think having this information for future generations is gonna be a big net positive. You know, and the fact that we don’t know is just mind boggling to me. I’m like, what? Like, we can, but we don’t, you know? 00:11:47 Dave: Yeah. We don’t. So out of the date and it sounds like it’s fairly new, but what have you seen? Like, where have these fish gone? Where are they heading? 00:11:53 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:11:54 Matt: So really not enough to like, I don’t have enough yet to like make any sort of, you know, statements about, about that. But I can tell you like, you know, if you look up, uh, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management study the seatuck. Uh, Michael Courtney study, you can see those fish traveling right along the Aleutian chain. And we already sort of knew that, like Alaska and Japan were kind of the two destinations where, um, we had like mark recapture stuff going on studies from like the eighties that where they just tried to like follow the fish around in ships and they put, um, you know, mark recapture tags on, on steelhead. And there was some, you know, kind of anecdotal evidence as to where they were headed. There just wasn’t any sort of exact migration routes. 00:12:41 Dave: Now, you guys are obviously early on in this. Where do you think this could go? As you look out, just maybe, you know, again, look at the ten year or more. You know, what would you love to see? What’s your vision here? 00:12:52 Matt: Okay, dude, this is this is cool. So what I’m learning about telemetry science is that, like, what we could do is build a map of the West Coast. Somebody tried this out of Monterey Bay aquarium out of California. And so they’ve got like, I think they put like six tags out. By the way, the tags are five grand a piece. Wow. They’re ungodly expensive. And it’s not, it’s not cheap to do this. So we, we could potentially have live real time data of where steelhead are going when they go in the ocean. We can right now only apply satellite tags, but we could apply acoustic radio tags if we knew where to put the radio towers. So if we get like a real consistent line where the fish are traveling, then we can throw radio towers in. Suddenly the tags are only two hundred bucks instead of five grand, right? 00:13:48 Dave: And just like they go through, you can see them going through the dams of the Columbia. It would be the same sort of thing. 00:13:52 Speaker 3: Exactly. 00:13:53 Matt: Yeah. Like every time it goes through it blips. Right. And then, you know, so yeah, that would be cool, I think, you know, but let’s right now, I just want to work on building the West Coast map. Michael’s doing Alaska and he started doing like Prince of Wales Island. And you know, he’s kind of he’s kind of migrating south. And then we’ve got this and we’d love to do Washington, you know, but I think it’s going to take us three to five years to get this study to where we’re like, okay, let’s, you know, we can sign off and say like, yeah, we now have a map of ocean migration routes. 00:14:26 Dave: That’s it. That’s awesome. And this is all the wilderness calling dot org is the place people can go. And what could people listening now, how could they help your, you know, your, what you have going here? 00:14:35 Matt: Oh man. Uh, so donate, you know, donate, donate, donate. five thousand dollars. A tag is not cheap. And then there’s a list of community needs on the website. I encourage everyone to watch our our short film that we put out. Sean Burke created a little short film about the origin story of the org. And then just getting involved, man, we’ve got monthly meetings and we’re always looking for new members and new volunteers. Um, we’ve got yeah, like I said, a list of community needs. That’s, that’s significant as, as you kind of get into the org building stuff, there’s a lot to do. So I need help. 00:15:14 Dave: Perfect. So we’ll send everybody out there to take a look and ask you questions on, on all that. And but yeah, let’s hear about on the guiding your, it sounds like you’re getting ready to head up to Alaska. That’s always a big place for us. We’re always thinking about what’s your program, I guess, and steelhead fishing. Is it over for you now on the coast? Maybe talk about that. Where are you fishing right now? And I’m not sure if you even have any openings for next year, but what’s that look like? 00:15:35 Matt: Yeah, man, I am sick of fishing. I hope I never go again. 00:15:41 Dave: Really? 00:15:42 Matt: No, no, but okay. But I did have, like, a rodeo of a of a season. I moved out to the north coast and lived on a river for for a few months. Um, which is great. You know, this is normal. This is par for the course for me. I’m, I’m, uh, twelve years into my career in Alaska, so, but I haven’t been doing steelhead as aggressively as, as this last year is really like when, um, the most bookings I’ve ever had. And, you know. 00:16:12 Dave: This episode is brought to you by AVC rig adventure vehicle concepts out of Colorado. These guys build next level adventure vans designed to help you explore farther and stay out longer. Are you dreaming of a full van build? Or maybe you just need the best aluminum cabinets and storage for your DIY rig? AVC rig makes it easy to turn your vehicle into the ultimate mobile base camp. You can check them out right now at ABC dot com, that’s a v c rig dot com. Trout Routes by Onyx is built for fly anglers who want better Intel without spending hours digging for the information. You’ll get access to public land maps, stream access points, regulations, and even road and trail maps all in one place. It’s become my go to app for scouting new trips. You can check them out right now. Go to fly dot com slash routes and download the app today. Now I’m looking at your website. People have to go here because the wilderness calling dot org, at least right now when we’re speaking, this might change, but you’ve got this video of two steelhead spawning. Yep. And they’re holding their and they’re just I mean just watching them. Right. I could just sit here for an hour just watching. 00:17:23 Matt: Isn’t it cool man. Yeah. 00:17:25 Dave: And now is that a is that a repeat? What what timeline is that repeating on? How long is that clip? 00:17:30 Matt: I think we’re about, uh, 40s or something like that. 00:17:34 Dave: It’s cool because you even see the the scrapes, you can see the air bubbles coming out of his breathing. You can see the scrapes of the the female. And then the female takes off and then the male takes off. Right. And then that’s it. Yeah. I mean, and oh, and then they come back and then and then it wraps around and there they are. That’s pretty sweet footage, man. 00:17:52 Matt: Yeah, yeah. So my friend writer likes to, uh, freshwater snorkel. So we went out to, uh, the coast there and. 00:17:59 Dave: Yeah. That’s great. Are you working with, uh, you’ve been in touch with John McMillan. No, no you haven’t. You should definitely connect with John. He is. John is the guy. He will be all over this stuff and really help you out. He’s, uh. 00:18:11 Matt: What are the chances of an introduction, Dave. 00:18:13 Dave: Oh, yeah. Yeah, one hundred percent. He’s he’s like, uh, you know, he was working with t u and, um, I’m drawing a blank on the conservation group he’s with now, but he’s, uh, just doing sweet work. He’s, but he, what got me thinking is that he does if you go to his Instagram and again, my old age has drawn a blank. I’ll get it here. I’ll have links to this. But he has videos. He’s a big snorkeler. He does freshwater snorkel all over the place and he’s got tons of video tons, but he’s just super cool, dude. So I’ll connect you with him. Definitely. 00:18:41 Matt: I would love that. You know, the speaking of like, kind of like fishing and the freshwater. So writer my, my bro that does the freshwater snorkel. Like, I mean, you swing flies, right? You know, like, and this is kind of the data where I’m like, okay, man, I think one in fifty for winners. 00:18:59 Dave: Oh, really? One in fifty. 00:19:00 Matt: Yeah, yeah. But I don’t know. But I know this. I’ve been out there with writer and like swung around and been like, dude, I’m on it. Like my cast is perfect today. I like know where these fish hold. I know each boulder in this run and I like put that fly where it needs to be to get bit. And I’m like, writer. There’s no, there’s nobody home today because I nailed it, you know, and then he’ll go and snorkel it and he’s got like the GoPro and he like ends up with a big smile on his face and shows me Eight fish. 00:19:33 Dave: Yeah. Eight fish. 00:19:34 Matt: Yeah. And I’m like, what? Dude, there’s eight in that run. Like they’re all in there. Just, you know, they see your fly and they’re like, nah, I think I’m good. 00:19:43 Dave: That makes total sense. That makes yeah, there’s so much there that like, yeah, well, I just found it too. And it’s John McMillan go to at rainforest underscore steel. 00:19:53 Matt: Okay, cool. 00:19:54 Dave: Yeah. So tech and then he’s also he’s with the conservation angler. 00:19:57 Matt: Oh, nice. Yeah man. They do great work. Yeah. 00:20:01 Dave: Yeah. And he’s, he’s definitely an all star. He’s, he’s got some good stuff. So cool. So that’s John. He’s been on the podcast to a number of times. We’ve talked to him on on stuff. So that would be good. But but yeah, so your program is so you’re out on kind of the northwest. Are there rivers that you’re fishing that are there people are knowing about? Is that something you could give a highlight or these kind of secret rivers you’re fishing out on the coast? 00:20:23 Speaker 4: I mean, I try not to. 00:20:24 Matt: Talk too much about them, but let’s just say like the North Coast territory and all the like, you know, the big ones that I’m cool with is like the Wilson and the Trask. Um, and then there’s like three other rivers in there that all go fish and, um, yeah, my deal with my, my guests when they come out is, you know, I’ll fish anywhere within two hours of Portland where I think will best catch a fish. So during steelhead season, I’m up at, you know, three thirty or four every morning. I’m looking at charts. Everybody wants to know where we’re going. And I refuse to tell them, you know. Right. 00:21:01 Dave: So you don’t tell them. So this is like like blindfold to get to the spot. Yeah. 00:21:05 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:21:05 Matt: That and I don’t know, man, I don’t know until maybe six, ten hours before we go because it’s like when, you know, I chased him by my like on my own for many, many years and like, I realized like, yeah, dude, it’s, it’s so conditions based and like, this is how I do it. I wake up that morning, I look at all the charts and I go to the best spot, you know, so when my clients come and they want to get one, I’m like, duh. I show up on the North coast and I’ll tell you, you know, like, I’ll send you a text. We’ll get up early, you know. 00:21:35 Dave: That’s cool. Yeah. So late in the season, is there anything you’re fishing? You know, right now it’s as we’re talking, it’s almost may. Are there any things on the coast you could fish, you know, because fish are obviously spawning in some areas. Is there still places where you can find fresh fish? 00:21:50 Speaker 4: Uh, Wilson’s. 00:21:51 Matt: Got a summer run. I’m kind of done, man. Like, even like mid April seems to be pushing it out there. So, but I, I fished up till like April twenty, I think twenty second was when I got the last tag on this year. I put in ten tags on fish in the, in the fresh water was like, that was a challenge, man. It was like one of the coolest things that I’ve done. And I, you know, the clients got a few of them, but we. 00:22:16 Dave: Oh, really? 00:22:17 Matt: Yeah, yeah. But we got to the end of the season and it was like, well, dude, we still got four tags. 00:22:23 Dave: Yeah. Well, so you got ten tags. And the interesting thing about this, it sounds like it would be really cool to be on a trip with you just to be able to tag, you know, a fish or have a chance to. Do you feel like that’s something you’re going to keep doing? Uh, you know, fishing for the tagging. 00:22:36 Matt: Yeah. So this was, you know, in a lot of ways, this is the, as guides, like, you know, we designed trips, right? And this was the coolest trip that I’ve ever designed. When you have to get government permission to like, do the, the trip, right. You know, you’ve reached the next, you know, you’re cutting red tape just to like accomplish the thing. Um, so yeah, and like the, you know, I guess the fly or the, the bait that I can dangle that, that other people can’t is that, you know, like, sure, you maybe have have traveled, you know, my guys from Alaska, it’s like they get to fish and do whatever they want. They can go wherever they want. You know, they got private jets and stuff like that, but most of them haven’t had their name included in a scientific paper. And they will if they come fishing with me and we catch the right fish and we’re able to tag it, they get credit for that, you know? 00:23:26 Dave: That’s awesome. So is that the it seems like yeah, that would be a cool way to do it is actually, you know, I think about it like you’re guiding, you know, you bring these guys on maybe who have some cash, they get to experience what you’re doing. And I’m guessing they would give more money to be like, hey, I’ve got, I’ve got a stake in this game now. I’m catching the fish. It’s tagged. It’s out there. I want, you know, I want this to succeed. Is that kind of your how you see it too? 00:23:48 Matt: Yeah. Yeah. That’s the vision and it’s worked a few times. It’s not exactly how it’s worked out. Like we ended up, you know, working with smaller clubs and stuff like that to get funded. But definitely there’s been a few like private donors that were. And it’s like, so all the fish are hens. We don’t tag bucks. Hens are more likely to, to head back out right after they’re done spawning. And so we’ll name them after like, uh, you know, the guy’s wife or something like that. 00:24:15 Dave: Oh really? 00:24:16 Matt: Yeah, yeah. So like, or like we had Fort George, uh, brewery sponsored a tag last year and we called the Kelt that was most successful. Georgette and made a little illustration of what happened with their fish that they were able to share. 00:24:30 Dave: Oh, cool. How was it successful? How was that one the most successful? 00:24:34 Matt: It just it made it thirty days in the saltwater and, uh, gave us the most data about the migration route, you know? 00:24:43 Dave: How far did the furthest one migrate? Did it go three hundred miles? Three hundred miles? So three hundred miles. This is the one coming out of Alaska or where was it coming from? 00:24:51 Speaker 5: It just we. 00:24:52 Matt: Tagged it on the Nehalem River and it went up near forks, Washington. 00:24:57 Dave: Oh, yeah. So it went up to forks. Yeah, yeah. There you go. So it’s heading north at least to the start of its journey. 00:25:03 Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah. Although I will say. 00:25:05 Matt: There’s been some other tags that we’ve put on that seem to like show them going left out of the rivers too and heading south. So you’re just like, it’s inconclusive as of yet. 00:25:15 Dave: Yeah. You hear some of this. We’ve done a few episodes on The rogue and you know, as the steelhead numbers have been up and down, you know, we’ve been kind of asking like, okay, how’s it going? It sounds like the rogue in that area down there has been a little more stable. Maybe. I’m not sure if that’s totally true, but it sounds like from the guys it has been. Do you feel like that whole area down south, Northern California is like totally different than the North coast up in Washington and everything where they’re going. 00:25:37 Matt: Uh, yeah, I do, I do, I have noticed that it seems like if they’re having a good year, we’re having a bad year and vice versa, you know, and so that’s one of the things that like we’re all super curious about. It’s like, oh, I wonder what’s going on in the ocean that’s making that happen. You know, is there a current or something like that? Because like, it seems pretty obvious to the guide community that that’s like a theme, right? Like, oh, South Coast is ripping this year. That means North Coast is going to be a little bit of a bummer, you know? Okay. 00:26:08 Dave: Yeah. 00:26:08 Matt: So yeah. And vice versa, you know, um, like I heard they had like a mediocre year this year where we just, we had them. 00:26:16 Dave: Did you, you had a good year this year. 00:26:18 Matt: Oh my God, man. It was, it was the best year I think I’ve ever seen out there. Dave. 00:26:24 Dave: No kidding. 00:26:24 Matt: Yeah, yeah, it was nuts, man. 00:26:26 Dave: Wow. Now, were the conditions good for. Is that part of it? 00:26:29 Speaker 6: Yeah. Conditions were decent. 00:26:31 Matt: Yeah. They were, they were pretty good. We had a good you know, we had good movement on water levels and good storms and stuff all year. I ended up canceling five days, I think, out of the season. But the rest of them, um, I fished and yeah, there was one good like blowout, you know, storm. And so yeah, it was lights out, man. And really like, yeah, like the, in the end of the season was so good, man. Like that, that last like two weeks or whatever. Once everybody left off for kings fishing. 00:27:03 Dave: Oh, is that what happens? 00:27:04 Matt: Oh my gosh. Yeah man. Like yeah, there’s like a certain time where it’s like the first Kings come in and then like everybody on the all the gear dudes just bail. We man the river. We got it, dude. We got the place to ourselves, you know. 00:27:18 Dave: Well aren’t the aren’t they with the gear isn’t like, for example, the Nehalem isn’t that mostly wild fish there? Or you get some hatchery fish there. 00:27:26 Matt: Yeah, yeah, the North Fork has the hatchery, but the main stem where I fish. But that doesn’t keep anybody. And dude, I gotta just put this out there right now. I’m not an anti gear dude. I think it’s rad that people go fishing. My whole mentality is like, hey man, they’re not doing meth. You know, like they’re not not like breaking into my house, you know, like, yeah, it’s a bummer to have have, you know, your your favorite run get bobber dogged, but it is what it is, man. I’m glad people are getting outside, you know? 00:27:59 Dave: So yeah, that makes sense. So that’s the program here. And then you’re heading up now. Do you go up to Alaska and have you been guiding. Where are you heading up to there. 00:28:07 Matt: Yes, sir. Uh, so it has been, uh, twelve years that I’ve been working up there. I worked on the iliamna side of things for a bunch of years, and then three years ago, I moved over to the knick knack area. And so I’m on the knick knack. I’m at Crystal Creek Lodge. It’s a fantastic program, super fun place to go fishing, you know, obscenely cost prohibitive to fish. 00:28:33 Dave: Yeah, it’s a lot. 00:28:34 Matt: At Crystal Creek. 00:28:35 Dave: Yeah. What’s it like? Is it closer to fifteen thousand dollars or closer to to ten? Is it in that range? 00:28:42 Matt: Uh, it’s twenty. It’s twenty grand a week right now. 00:28:44 Dave: Oh, wow. Twenty grand? 00:28:45 Matt: Yeah, yeah. So we got we got seven airplanes and we got probably thirty jet boats littered around. And like, you know, we just it’s like exceptional. Yeah. 00:28:56 Dave: And people are coming for the, the big rainbows for the most part. 00:28:59 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:28:59 Matt: But you know, we’ve got all the salmon and stuff too. Man, I’m actually getting excited. Um, you know, we do a lot of pro trolling out on the, on the Nasdaq. And when I’m not mousing for rainbows up the American, I go over to, to the NAC. It’s like if you can’t fly out and I like, you know, this year I went to the sportsman show and got all sorts of fun pro trolling stuff. I’m like, I’m getting into it, dude. Don’t tell anybody, you know? Right. 00:29:25 Dave: Yeah. You’re doing it. 00:29:26 Matt: Yeah. I even got one of those little cameras that, like, you can film the bite, right? Like it like. 00:29:30 Dave: Oh, right. 00:29:31 Matt: Goes on the line. And then. 00:29:33 Dave: Yeah, that would be cool to have on the end of a fly to see that. 00:29:36 Matt: They’re big cameras. I don’t know if we can make that happen, but yeah, we could try. 00:29:41 Dave: God that’s cool. So what about Chinook? Are there any Chinook fishing? Is that on up there? NAC. NAC yeah. So that’s not hasn’t been closed because we’ve heard about some of these Chinook closures down in Kenai and stuff. 00:29:52 Matt: Totally. Yeah. No, NAC is still open. Um, and the Noosh is, is like the other one that we fish a lot. And right outside my front door at Crystal Creek is a small creek. I’ll just not name it. But, um, but there’s a little creek that you can go up and swing flies on and it’s, it’s awesome. It’s a super fun place to go fishing. So I’m excited about that. I’m, I’m like eight years in on the spey rod, I guess nine years now. And it’s still it’s still like my my fun time, you know, and like. 00:30:23 Dave: You still learning. 00:30:24 Matt: Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent man. Yeah. I think every time I go fishing, I’m still learning, you know? But learning to teach it too has been interesting and fun, you know? So I’m looking forward to getting back up there and, and trying to talk clients into learning Spey and taking them out and swinging up. And, you know, it’s a blast. 00:30:42 Dave: Going for it. Well, when you’re down in on the coast, back to the kind of the lower forty eight on the swing and talk about that. What is the the program you’re doing there, you guys, it sounds like you’re fishing up through mid-April. Are you guys fishing? Maybe describe the what you’re using rods and kind of gear lines this year? Typical stuff. I guess it depends on flow a little bit. 00:31:01 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, it sort of depends on flow. 00:31:02 Matt: But I think you can get away with, um, you know, ten feet of T11 and Skagit line for like most things, you know, um, my, my go to rod is a, uh, thirteen three Bula G2 platinum. I became a Bula pro after the first time I fished that rod and like, have just been like, super into it ever since. It’s a great teaching rod because it’s a little bit slower. It’s still a quick rod, but it’s got some finesse. And like, you know, I just feel like the level of feedback that I can get and my clients can get from it. Like if you, you know, think about making a wrong cast it, the tip wiggles, you know, how those things feel, you know, so yeah, so, but like, you know, when I’m fishing out there, I, I mostly kind of focus on like, okay, where do we think there’s a fish today? And how are we going to show that fly to that fish, you know, and sure, there’s some like, you know, you can get kind of precise about how you’re going to show the fly to the fish. But mostly it’s just like, let’s get the fly in front of the fish and then let’s cover what like the Nehalem, uh, is one of those rivers That’s got so much good water, so much good fishy water. Like the traffic is a little different, right? Like Trask has these little funnels and I can like show up and be like, yeah, man. Like there’s a ten by ten square where like, I’m almost certain there’s a steelhead, you know? 00:32:30 Dave: Yeah. But it’s different. It’s not like a big, big, long run. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:32:36 Matt: And the halem, I’m just like, okay, like yard it out there, man, and start stepping, you know, because yeah, we’re just the name of the game today is cover water and, uh, you know, let’s, let’s find one. Right? 00:32:48 Dave: So that’s right. So you’re pretty much just getting on the they’re just. Yeah. Fishing, swinging flies. Get your tip pretty standard what you’re doing there and, and just casting step and swing it any what’s it like, you know, down there, like any little micro tips you would throw in there when people are swinging, I feel like sometimes you get stuck in this thing of just, you know, swinging the same thing without fishing the fly. What are you telling your clients if they’re in that zone? 00:33:11 Matt: Oh, yeah. man. I mean, in some ways it can be kind of good, right? To just shut the brain off. And just because I think with swinging, I think a lot of us overthink it, you know, and it’s just like, it’s a pretty simple game, you know, like, yeah, I mean, you learn that trout fishing, it’s like, oh, you swung a soft tackle and it worked. And like, now you kind of got, you’ve got some feedback, right? So but with winter steelhead, it’s definitely different, you know, trying to get that fly to slow down enough to make a fish move. And I think really like, for me, it comes down to like every little situation is different. Um, let’s stay engaged and try to, yeah, just try to be fishing that fly to a fish all day. I’m just using my imagination all day, man. 00:34:00 Dave: Stonefly nets, builds handcrafted landing nets that are as tough as they are beautiful. They’re shaped, sanded, and finished by hand from premium hardwoods. You’ll feel the difference the moment you land your first fish light in the hands, strong at the hoop and made by someone who knows what it means to earn your trust. You can head over to Stonefly Nets dot com right now and see what they’ve got in the shop today. That’s Stonefly nets dot com. When it comes to high quality flies that truly elevate your fly fishing game, drift hook dot com is the trusted source you need. I’ve been using drift hooks expertly selected flies for a while now, and they never disappoint. Plus, they stand behind their products with a money back guarantee. Are you ready to upgrade your fly box? Head over to Drift Hook dot com today and use the code swing at checkout to get fifteen percent off your first order. That’s drift hook. D r I f t h o o k dot com. Don’t miss out. Are you mixing like being. I think like you got this big run. You know, it’s one hundred yards long and you’re like, all right, I’m gonna start at the top. I’m gonna fish down, you know? But within it you could mend upstream. You can mend down. You can maybe as it goes into the current right. make it speed up. Those are little mini adjustments you could do. Do you think that’s a good thing to be mixing up or just would it be better just in that whole run? Just stay with that same swing. 00:35:19 Matt: Anything that keeps you casting, right? But in my mind, there is a pace. There’s like a, like a cadence to the swing that gets bit. There’s like a certain pace. It’s somewhere between walking and jogging. There’s a swing, there’s like a pull on my line that I can feel. And I feel like if you do this enough, all of us that do this enough, you can feel it, right? You step into that section of the run and you’re like, okay, like I was maybe going to get bit up. Like if it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna be now, you know, and you take your, you know, whatever, two, three steps. And, you know, I tend to slow down a little bit in those really kind of juicy zones. And, uh, yeah, I don’t know. In the best of all worlds, I’ve got two of the best runs on the Nehalem right in my backyard. 00:36:09 Dave: So you live up there too? This is the place you’re at now? 00:36:12 Matt: Yep. Yeah. Which is also kind of forming into a lodge that we can we can use to come. In fact, I’d love to have you out, man. I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you should come. You should come fish. 00:36:23 Dave: Yeah, we’ll definitely, definitely put this together. 00:36:26 Matt: Yeah, yeah. So you know. Yeah. Not to not to divert from from the fish talk. Right. 00:36:32 Dave: Well I think there’s a chance. I think obviously, you know, there’s probably some people listening that would love to help with the non-profit, you know, maybe getting them out on the river. And I know obviously steelhead and swing and flies, people are interested in learning about that. So this is great. 00:36:45 Matt: Yeah, yeah. No, this is like a perfect opportunity to and you get to marry like a meaningful act of like doing conservation work with, with fishing. Right? So, but yeah, I try to envision especially particularly those two runs that are in the backyard all like fall asleep thinking about how can I swing that perfectly, you know, and at what level, you know. So in a lot of ways, Spey fishing for me is about doing something, this one thing really, really, really well. And you know, there’s, there’s layers to that onion. And one of those layers is, you know, you ask like, do you men, do you, you know, fly first? Um, you know, all that kind of stuff. Like that’s, I love the idea of like sitting in the morning and visualizing before I step in to the water, the whole dance all the way through the run, every cast, what angle it needs to be to be the most efficient to get that fly fishing as soon as possible. Yeah, man, I live and die for that, right? 00:37:50 Dave: Yeah. There’s the whole there’s that whole thing on that river. Is there a flow? What’s too low of a flow to. Actually, I’m not sure if you’re floating it, but if you were going to float it, I mean, you can get down can you can float that pretty low because it’s big, right? 00:38:02 Matt: Yeah, totally. Yeah. It’s one of those ones where it’s just like if everything’s gone low and clear, then, um. Then stay out of my river. No. Yeah. 00:38:11 Dave: That’s right. It’s still, it’s still fishing, but. 00:38:14 Matt: It’s definitely one of those places that you, you know, a lot of people go as things tend to get low and clear and yeah, I say, you know, three and a half at three and a half feet like you probably, I mean, but you can just keep, you know, it’s that’s anybody anybody’s call. 00:38:29 Dave: And you’re do you do a raft or you float in a raft or drift boat. 00:38:32 Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got one of those net slipstreams. It’s awesome man. 00:38:35 Dave: That’s awesome. God that’s great. Yeah. It’s, uh, the raft. I’m, I’m actually in the market for a raft right now, and, um, there’s a lot of options, you know? I mean, the last raft I had, it’s like, okay, there’s, there’s a ton of options. And I’m like, man, I’m not quite sure. You know, I’m testing out some. But yeah, the interest, it’s hard to go wrong with them. I mean, they’ve been in the game so long, they’ve got just tons, right. Tons of great stuff. 00:38:56 Matt: Do you fish out of the boat? 00:38:58 Dave: Um typically no. Typically this would be more of a like a, the most. Well, it’d probably be if I got it, I’d do a little more fishing out of the boat. But no, not. I’d be thinking this would be more like a Deschutes multi-day. Like have the kids. The kids, you know, and the wife could take, you know, the gear boat down, right? Teach the kids how to run the boat, that sort of thing. 00:39:17 Speaker 8: Dude. That’s awesome. 00:39:18 Matt: I’m stoked for you for that, man. Are you guys. You think you’re gonna do like Trout Creek to to hair foam or something like that? Or are you going to do the white horse and all that business? 00:39:28 Dave: Yeah, yeah. That’s the thing we’re definitely that is on the the next thing is to get the white horse. That would be my ultimate when I the day that I see, you know, one of my daughters rowing through white horse, I’ll be happy dude. 00:39:40 Speaker 8: Yeah, totally. 00:39:41 Dave: That’ll be a happy day for me. 00:39:43 Matt: That’s amazing man. That’s so cool. Yeah. Um, you know, I, I got a lot of friends that like have families and like homes and stuff like that. And they’ll, they’ll like, hit me up and be like, man, like, look at you with your, you know, you’re in a bush plane and you’re like flying around like, I’m so jealous. Like I have to be in this office or whatever. Dude. It’s the opposite for me. I’m jealous of guys like you that, like, put in the work and have like an awesome, you know, a family and, and are able to like experience that whole thing. So that’s cool, man. I hope, I hope that’s a, what do you, when do you think they’re going to be ready for it? 00:40:18 Dave: Well, it’s, it’s interesting. It’s an interesting question because I remember when I grew up, it was totally different. And I grew up with, you know, a dad who I learned I was down the river when I was five. I was literally going, I remember the rapids as a kid being like, oh my God, I’m scared. I don’t want to go through that rapid. And my dad was like, all right, get in. We’re going. 00:40:36 Speaker 8: Yeah. 00:40:37 Dave: You know what I mean? Yeah. And then I was rowing the boat when I was twelve. I was rowing the boat down the river, you know what I mean? And my brother, that was the funny thing. So I always go back to my brother because my older, older brother went through Whitehorse the first time. This is a crazy story for me. But he was thirteen when he took my uncle through Whitehorse. 00:40:55 Matt: Nice man. 00:40:56 Dave: Right? And I’m like, my daughter right now is almost fourteen, so she’s not even close to that level. But sure, you know, the days were different, but I. But I feel like, you know, it’s just it’s everybody’s got a different thing. But I think that, you know, you plant the seed with the kids and then they, they might forget about it. But I think eventually they remember and they probably. 00:41:14 Matt: Do they enjoy it or is it like, oh, dad wants us to go fishing again? 00:41:17 Dave: Oh, no, no, they’re they’re, they’re not like the hardcore anglers, you know, but they can cast and they can do it. They’re more like just the outdoor stuff. They love the river trips. 00:41:26 Matt: General outdoor. Yeah. Love. That’s awesome. 00:41:30 Dave: Totally. No, I mean, I think we’re all in it for the same, you know, the same game. And I feel like the grass is always greener as part of the thing, right? You’re like, okay, I’ve got this. And I’m like, oh man, I want to be just living up in Alaska. You know what I mean? Because, because what you’re doing is, man, I mean, think of that man. You know, most people, a lot of people don’t have twenty K for a trip and you’re just doing that. That’s your daily, right? You’re up there. 00:41:51 Matt: Yeah, totally. No, I definitely, in a lot of ways fell ass backwards into a really gorgeous life and lifestyle, you know, when, when like billionaire kids are like, you know, you hear from them being like, yeah, man, I did it wrong. Like, I should have been a guide, you know? 00:42:10 Dave: Right. 00:42:11 Matt: Like, okay, my quality of life is pretty good. Yeah. 00:42:15 Dave: Like, yeah. That’s it. Well, you know, again, it’s money is life is short. And, you know, you got one time to do it and like, hey, you could be a billionaire, but when you die, that money is not, it doesn’t matter. 00:42:26 Matt: Totally, totally. Yeah. The experience is really valuable. I’m pretty sure I would be doing the same thing that I’m doing now if I had a trillion dollars. 00:42:36 Dave: This is awesome. Well, tell me this. I want to hear because obviously we’re on a podcast here. You are in a podcast too. You’re part of this podcast. The struggle is real. Talk about this because it feels like what we’re doing now is kind of what you guys do. But talk about this podcast, how did this come to be and who are? And we’ve had Eric on, he’s been on in the bucket or in the bucket series that we have going. But talk about what this is. 00:42:56 Matt: Yeah. So it’s, it’s a fish and efficient podcast that’s not really about I mean, I wouldn’t say it’s not about fishing, but it’s not about fishing that much. It’s a it’s us goofing off and chatting. And, um, it’s the realest of the real. It’s a lot of like, uh, what’d you throw a temper tantrum about this week? You know, tends to be the topic of conversation, but in a fun and funny way. And it’s with Eric Linenger and Zach Carruthers, and we’re starting to kind of branch out and do guest. Um, the inception of it was from Eric who did, uh, Friday night flies from northwest fly fishing outfitters for a long time. Man. I think he was like nine years of, of Friday night flies like never. I never had a Friday night, you know, because he was, he was busy doing F and F, which was, dude, I, I don’t know if you, I’m sure you tuned into like, those things are awesome, you know? Um, so he did that and then it was like, okay, I’m kind of like, I want my Fridays back, but I’m not done talking about fish and fishing. And so here we are with the struggle is real and it’s like it’s one of the highlights of my. I drove back from the coast like probably ten times this year to do the pod. 00:44:07 Dave: To do it. 00:44:08 Matt: Yeah. Because it’s that much fun. Do you need to be back to Portland for anything? No, but I do need to go like I do want to go hang with the boys. 00:44:15 Dave: That’s cool. So you would go in go in just to do the podcast for the most part. 00:44:19 Matt: Oh yeah man. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I. 00:44:21 Dave: Would. 00:44:22 Matt: Do some other stuff while I was around Costco and stuff like that. But yeah, it was a lot about joking around with the boys. Early morning. Yeah. 00:44:30 Dave: Yeah. How many like when did this, uh, how many episodes do you have out there and how often do you do it? 00:44:35 Speaker 9: I think we’re on. 00:44:35 Matt: Episode twenty nine, you know, and, uh, yeah, we’re looking forward to doing more. 00:44:40 Dave: Yeah. Do you do it every, every when does it go live? 00:44:43 Speaker 9: It should be like a weekly. 00:44:45 Matt: We’re we’re trying, you know, it’s what you want to balance. You don’t want it to become a job. Job. I’m sure you identify with this, Dave. Yeah. Yeah man. It’s enjoyable. But you know, it can also be kind of a lot. So we’re trying to just kind of like, you know, keep an even one a week pace and, and, and keep it fun too, you know. 00:45:04 Dave: That’s right. Where would we go to, to find it right now? I guess just the struggle is real. 00:45:09 Speaker 9: Yeah. 00:45:09 Matt: The struggle is real. R e e l um, on Spotify, Apple Music. If you go to our Instagram too, it’s like t s I r or something like that. 00:45:18 Dave: So there you go. So the struggle is real r e e two e is not so real. Yeah, real. There you go. So cool. Yeah. You guys got some? Yeah, definitely some, uh, some good content here. And it looks like you’re popping out regular episodes. So this is good. So we’ll definitely follow that podcast and have a listen here. Well, tell me this as we, you know, start to think about taking out of here a little bit. What’s the, you know, what you have going, what do you want to leave people with today? You know, just we talked about the nonprofit, you know, we talked about some next steps. What have we missed today? 00:45:48 Matt: Uh, the big thing, Dave, is like, if you want to do conservation and fly fishing. There’s a couple things. One, I want you to everybody to know that I’m just some dude, you know, like I am a high school dropout. Yeah. You know, I, I started working construction when I was fifteen, and I’ve been able to cobble this thing together. We raised forty grand last year, man. We’ve so far put sixteen satellite tags, the most anybody’s ever put on on steelhead in Oregon. We’ve been the most successful. I’m just some dude that like really cares about the subject. And, and so yeah, I want, I want people to kind of take away for them to be like, yeah, I can also do that, you know, and yeah, please, please hit up my website. Please reach out to me. I want to plug you in. Um, there is a lot to do, you know, if you want to book me and come fishing or Zach, Zach or others is also on my board and a trained tech. Um, so you could book Zach or me this year and that’ll, that would be super helpful that would, you know, give us another opportunity to go fishing, pay our bills. No one’s getting paid from the wilderness dot org, you know. So in order for us to stay alive, book us. Let’s go swing up a steelhead. Let’s put a tag on it. Let’s discover ocean migration routes. We’re going to start like on February. Probably February first this year. And I’ll have um, an opportunity to sign up for week long’s that have there’s a chef Shannon Feltus will support that. Um, so you could just come out and just, you know, plug and play. It’s make it easy, like come out for a week, you know, go fishing, um, hang with Zach and me and catch fish and get fed and, you know, have a good time with it. 00:47:34 Dave: That’s awesome. Yeah. So you got this full thing. We mentioned it before the wilderness calling dot org or dot com. Either of those places. 00:47:42 Speaker 9: Yep, yep. Either one. 00:47:43 Matt: Just reach out, man. I, you know, people are going to email me and I’m going to go like, yeah, let’s get on a phone call. You know, that’s usually how I’m, I’m a big audio guy, you know. 00:47:53 Dave: Oh, you are, you’re big. Yeah. You want to talk to somebody? 00:47:55 Matt: Yeah, man. I want to get a feel for him and stuff like that. Yeah. So. 00:47:59 Dave: Yeah. Good. And Zach, we’ve mentioned on in the bucket they talked about that but he Portugal the man which was a is it Grammy. Grammy Award winning. 00:48:07 Matt: Uh yeah. Grammy Award winning band. He was in another band called anatomy of a ghost that my bands used to play with. 00:48:14 Dave: Okay, so you were in a band, too? 00:48:15 Speaker 10: Oh, yeah. 00:48:16 Matt: Yeah, man, I’ve been. 00:48:17 Dave: Playing. 00:48:17 Matt: For twenty five years. Yeah. Same thing with, uh, the, uh, biologists that wrote all our project proposal for, um, for the wilderness colonies and this band called, uh, the builders and the butchers, which is prolific and like their tours in Europe here in a couple. 00:48:30 Dave: Really? 00:48:31 Matt: Yeah, man. So it’s like we’re all, we’re all musicians. And I think that’s part of like, what allowed us enough time to be able to like, do something like this. 00:48:40 Dave: God that’s crazy. What was your, um, what did you play? 00:48:43 Speaker 10: Uh, I play bass. 00:48:44 Matt: Yeah. And, um, you know, just been in like punk and hardcore bands for, for like twenty five years. Yeah. 00:48:50 Dave: There you go. Yeah, punk. The more I’m learning about music, mostly just from talking to people through here, it feels like punk is something I missed out on. I should be listening to more because it sounds like it’s a pretty cool genre. 00:49:01 Matt: It’s not too late, Dave. 00:49:03 Dave: It’s not too late. 00:49:04 Matt: I got a show at High Limit Room on May twenty sixth. 00:49:08 Dave: Oh, really? 00:49:08 Matt: Come on out, my friends will give you a black eye. It’ll be a blast. 00:49:12 Dave: Oh, good. Good. So, May twenty six. All right. Good. This is in Portland. 00:49:16 Matt: Yeah. 00:49:17 Dave: Nice. All right. Good. That’s awesome. Yeah, I think that. So you’re still going. So you’re still in the band. You’re still guiding. You still got the you got all this going. 00:49:23 Matt: Oh, yeah man. Yeah. I juggle things. Like I said, I, I tend to just bite off more than I can chew and then chew it. Yeah. 00:49:30 Dave: That’s perfect. Good. Well, well, like we said, well, we kind of touched on a few of these items today. We’ll send everybody out to the wilderness calling dot org if they want to connect on trips or really just help you out with your program here at the nonprofit. Um, but yeah, man, this has been great. I really appreciate the time and definitely looking forward to getting on the water someday with you. And we’ll be in touch. 00:49:49 Matt: Would love that, Dave. Thanks. 00:49:51 Dave: All right. If you get a chance. Uh, your call to action today. Check in with Matt Thornton, the wilderness calling dot org, and definitely check in with him on trips if you want to support this great program he has going. Understanding where fish are going is critical to making sure they come back and survive. So we can all experience more of that amazing chrome action on the water. If you want to check in with us anytime, Wet Fly Swing Pro is usually the best place if you want to join a community there that’s thriving, that’s building trips together, that’s answering questions, that’s holding you accountable to make sure you experience your best trip this year. Check in with Wet Fly Swing Pro that’s wet fly swing dot com slash pro. Sign up there and I’ll let you know when we open this thing up for our next cohort, which we’re going to be doing soon. You can check in with me anytime. Also, Dave at webplace dot com would love to hear from you if you’re new to the show or if you haven’t chatted for a while, send me an email Dave at web dot com. Always love getting feedback and listening to new hearing from new listeners or people I haven’t talked to in a while. All right. That’s all I have for you. I hope you enjoyed that one. We are going strong here all summer long, so if you get a chance, definitely check in on the next episode. Hope you’re having a good day and hope you have a great afternoon evening. And if it’s morning, if it’s early in the morning, maybe it’s late in the morning and you’re just sitting there enjoying a cup of coffee, listening to this episode, thinking about what you can do to give back to steelhead. You just heard one thing today. Right now you can find out more information, hit that right now and and check in with us. Thanks for your support. We’ll see you on that next episode and we’ll talk to you. Have a good day. 00:51:24 Speaker 11: Thanks for listening to the Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Show. For notes and links from this episode, visit Wet Fly swing dot com.


Conclusion with Matt Thornton on Steelhead Migration

The more we learn about steelhead migration, the more important this work becomes. Matt Thornton and the team at Wilderness Calling are helping push that understanding forward one tagged fish at a time.

Whether you support the research, book a trip, or simply follow the project, this episode is a reminder that anglers can play an important role in conservation while doing what they love most.

     

How to Plan the Perfect Montana Fly Fishing Trip with Kathryn Bartlett of Gallatin River Lodge

Episode Show Notes

A successful Montana fly fishing trip isn’t just about choosing the right river—it’s about building the right experience. Kathryn Bartlett, General Manager at Gallatin River Lodge, shares how thoughtful planning, flexible scheduling, great guides, and a comfortable home base can transform a fishing vacation into something much bigger. For anglers looking to explore Montana’s legendary waters while still enjoying everything the region has to offer, Gallatin River Lodge provides a unique starting point.

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(The full episode transcript is at the bottom of this blogpost) 👇🏻

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Why the Best Montana Fly Fishing Trips Start Months Before You Arrive

(21:25) Kathryn’s biggest piece of advice is simple: don’t wait. Many anglers focus on booking flights and accommodations first, only to discover later that guide calendars are already full. Since guides can only take one boat per day and prime dates disappear quickly, planning ahead can make the difference between getting your dream trip and settling for what’s left. The good news? Even a few months of lead time can open up plenty of opportunities if you’re flexible.

The Secret Isn’t Choosing a River—It’s Letting Conditions Decide

(10:32) Most anglers arrive in Montana with famous names like the Madison, Yellowstone, or Gallatin already on their bucket list. But Kathryn explains that one of Gallatin River Lodge’s biggest advantages is flexibility. Instead of locking guests into a single fishery, guides can choose the river that’s fishing best on a given day. Water conditions, weather, runoff, and temperatures all play a role, and being willing to adapt often leads to a much better experience on the water.

More Than a Fishing Lodge

(14:00) Gallatin River Lodge was originally built around fly fishing, but over time it evolved into something broader. Today, it’s common to find anglers swapping stories about trout on the Yellowstone while couples celebrate anniversaries nearby or families visit Bozeman for college tours. Kathryn shares the story behind the lodge, including its fly fishing roots and how the property has remained true to its original purpose while welcoming a much wider range of guests.

Why Yellowstone National Park Should Be Part of Your Trip

(31:11) For many visitors, Montana starts with fishing. But Kathryn believes Yellowstone National Park deserves a place on every itinerary. Located within reach of both the north and west entrances, the lodge provides a convenient home base for exploring one of America’s most iconic landscapes. Whether guests choose a guided tour, a self-guided drive, or even a fishing trip inside the park, Yellowstone adds another dimension to a Montana adventure that extends beyond trout streams.

The Montana Mistake First-Time Visitors Always Make

(39:01) Montana looks manageable on a map—until you start driving. Kathryn laughs about how many visitors underestimate the size of Big Sky Country and try to squeeze too much into a short trip. Glacier National Park may look nearby, but it’s still hours away. The lesson is to leave room for flexibility, build extra time into your itinerary, and embrace the slower pace that makes Montana special in the first place.

Come for the Fishing, Stay for Everything Else

(34:23) Fly fishing may be the reason many guests arrive, but it’s often not the only highlight they remember. Kathryn shares some of her favorite Montana experiences outside of fishing, including alpine lake hikes, Yellowstone adventures, breweries, horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and local attractions around Bozeman. Her philosophy is simple: come for the fishing, but leave enough room in the schedule to discover everything else Montana has to offer.


Resources Noted in the Show

Follow Gallatin River Lodge on Instagram 👉 @gallatinriverlodge
Visit their website at GRLodge.com

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Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
00;00;02;01 – 00;00;25;18 Dave A solid trip means things went fine. A great trip happens when a few key decisions actually line up. Today we’re laying out that step by step. What actually goes into building a fly fishing trip where the days feel right, the water lines up and you’re not figuring it out as you go. I’ve got Katharine Bartlett from the Gallatin River Lodge on the podcast today, and we’re walking through what it really looks like to plan a montana fishing trip. 00;00;25;27 – 00;00;39;24 Dave From the first call all the way to the last evening back at the lodge. This is the Wi-Fi 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 give back the fish species. We all love. 00;00;40;04 – 00;00;57;13 Dave Catherine Bartlett is here and we’re going to find out what a full day looks like when it’s all down in from the early start to the post fishing reset. We’re going to find out how to match the right guide to your experience level and avoid a lot of guessing and some of the small planning decisions that can actually change the entire trip. 00;00;57;26 – 00;01;18;01 Dave Plus, we’re going to find out how to build a trip that mixes fishing. We’ll talk about the different rivers in this area Yellowstone, the Madison and everything Montana has to offer. On top of that. This is the Montana checklist you’re looking for. Let’s find out how to do it. Here she is, Catherine Bartlett. You can find her at G r Lodge Tor.com. 00;01;19;11 – 00;01;20;03 Dave How are you doing, Catherine? 00;01;20;12 – 00;01;22;17 Kathryn Bartlett Doing great, Dave. Thanks so much for having me. 00;01;22;24 – 00;01;37;02 Dave Yeah. Yeah. This is going to be a fun one. I think that you’re definitely in a place. The Gallatin River Lodge. You guys are, you know, obviously the Gallatin River. You’re right in the heart of Montana and some of the most famous water. So we’re going to hear it talk about that and maybe help somebody put together a trip this year. 00;01;37;02 – 00;01;51;26 Dave I think you also have, you know, at the Lodge a little bit different take on how you do it. So this is going to be exciting to kind of build out a trip, Roy, today. But but before we get there, maybe take us back on your background. How long have you been connected to the lodge there and kind of how did you get into it all? 00;01;52;12 – 00;02;30;13 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, so I’m the general manager of the lodge. I oversee both the lodging side, our restaurants, and then just the property itself. We’ve got about 20 acres tucked back by the Gallatin River outside of Bozeman, and I’ve known about the Lodge for a long time. I used to dine in our restaurant just as a guest. Christmas Eve was like always the place to have a beautiful holiday meal and then started on staff here about I’m going in my fourth year, so I really have kind of seen the property and the the lodge from both sides that as a guest and also from behind the scenes. 00;02;30;26 – 00;02;44;16 Dave That’s amazing. I love that. Yeah, I think having those places so you’re there and like holidays or whatever, go out and you’re on the the river when you’re at the lodge. So you have 20 acres so you can go out, the river’s there and people can actually fish. Or what does that look like for the fishing. 00;02;44;23 – 00;03;07;12 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. So we are located, I would say near the Gallatin River. You can see the tree line and where the river kind of snakes through our neighbors property. So we we don’t have direct property access, waterfront access, but we do have public fishing access on the Gallatin that’s just up our dirt road right there, right there about 5 minutes. 00;03;07;12 – 00;03;26;17 Kathryn Bartlett And then we work with a neighbor of ours who does have access. If you’re interested in walk wading, our section of the Gallatin, which tends to be very shallow, is not and not a real great float section. But if you’re going to go with a guide, we can get you on our particular private section of the Gallatin. 00;03;26;28 – 00;03;44;20 Dave A Cool. Yeah, we’re all talk about that. We’re going to have some more podcasts on kind of some of your guides and how that works, but I think it’s really great. I mean, you’re right there, obviously in the heart. And I think today we’re also going to announce we’ve got a kind of discount code swing ten. Yeah. Where people can get 10% off if they want to book. 00;03;44;21 – 00;03;56;27 Dave And we’re going to talk about that. I think we’re going to kind of build out, you know, a trip here, you know, because I think a lot of people are wanting to go to Montana. I mean, we talk to them all around the country, you know, really all around the world. You know, people are interested because it’s kind of that place. 00;03;57;09 – 00;04;12;09 Dave Yeah. And so we got an opportunity there and we could talk more about what this looks like. So maybe just start there. If somebody’s coming in, I’m picturing somebody who maybe is out there for not just a day or two. They’re out there for a while and they’re stopping by. Who are the folks that are coming in through your lodges? 00;04;12;09 – 00;04;15;03 Dave It just it’s not just fly fishing, folks. I’m guessing. 00;04;15;18 – 00;04;39;04 Kathryn Bartlett It’s not. But we do have a good majority of people that come through to fly fish. And I think you said it really right. There’s so much to explore in and around us that it’s you know, of course, we love the one night stays. But to really get the most out of your trip and exploring this section of Western Montana and the most out of your fishing trip, it’s best to allow, you know, three or four or more days. 00;04;39;14 – 00;05;00;20 Kathryn Bartlett And that’s just to get you on the rivers that are fishing the best given the conditions each day, which can change drastically. You know, yesterday we had a beautiful spring, spring day. And then this morning I woke up to eight inches of snow in my backyard. So crazy things can fluctuate drastically around here. And that’s just kind of the mountain west and we’re all used to it. 00;05;00;20 – 00;05;19;00 Kathryn Bartlett But, you know, that applies to fishing conditions. And it’s peak season for fly fishing out here is the summertime. But those that know I think know that it that’s probably not even the best time to fish it’s it’s better to come maybe in that pre runoff section which you’ll do about next month in May or even come into the fall. 00;05;19;00 – 00;05;43;03 Kathryn Bartlett Our falls are getting longer out here in Montana and we love fall fishing trips. The waters in air a little cooler. You don’t run into any huge our closures or low water levels that kind of limit your where you can fish. And so while my fishing guides will always tell me they will take anybody any time of year, even if there’s snow on the ground, they love to get out there no matter what we you know, if you want to. 00;05;43;16 – 00;05;54;26 Kathryn Bartlett The insider personal opinion is the best time to fish is early spring. Well, I guess it’ll be late spring for most of the world. And then the fall time is really beautiful. 00;05;55;11 – 00;06;10;25 Dave That’s right. Yeah. And then eventually somewhere and whenever that is, when the winter starts, things start getting a little colder. And I’m sure there’s still some people fishing out there during the winter months when you get some nice days. But are you booking throughout the whole year? If somebody came in in January, we used to have availability there. 00;06;10;25 – 00;06;31;13 Kathryn Bartlett We would, yes. The lodges open all year round as well as our fishing guides are taking people fishing all year round if there’s interest, especially like winter, like we just had that was so mild, we barely had any snow. Our temperatures stayed very manageable and none of those super frigid -20 degree weeks. And so there was a lot of good winter fishing. 00;06;31;13 – 00;06;36;27 Kathryn Bartlett I would, you know, drive by the rivers and see people in there. So it’s definitely doable at any time of year. 00;06;37;07 – 00;06;49;20 Dave Yeah. And I think we’re going to have Ryan Kurt is going to be on he’s one of your guys maybe talk about that. Who are some of the guys? If we were coming in there, let’s just say it was going to be a fall trip and we were talking to you right now, like putting something together. What would that look like? 00;06;49;20 – 00;06;53;20 Dave Would you connect us with a couple of guides or. Yeah, describe that. 00;06;54;00 – 00;07;12;04 Kathryn Bartlett So fishing is booked directly through the guides in their availability and their calendar, but we definitely connect you with the right guide for you, Whether you are an experienced angler looking for something more technical or you’re novice and you just you want to do it as part of your vacation and you want to have some fun, Those options are there. 00;07;12;04 – 00;07;35;24 Kathryn Bartlett Some people are really into float trips. That’s, you know, our rivers out here are super wide. So floating the Yellowstone in the Madison is the other way to do it. You can certainly float sections of the Gallatin as well, but a lot of that is more weight walk. So we kind of talk to you in terms of what style of trip you’re looking for, and then we connect you with our very short list of guides that we’ve been using for 20 years. 00;07;36;06 – 00;07;54;12 Kathryn Bartlett And so, you know, one of those guys, his name is Ryan, and he has his outfitters license and really holds the hand of the fly for sure. Who’s looking to come out here in terms of getting them set up with the right fishing licenses and gear. And you’ll pick up and drop off points and shuttling the raft and all of that is taken care of for you. 00;07;54;12 – 00;08;03;23 Kathryn Bartlett So you just have to say, hey, I want to go fly fishing. And then we put it put the puzzle pieces together to make that happen for you in a very seamless way. 00;08;04;09 – 00;08;21;09 Dave Yeah. And is it at the Lodge? Is it kind of a describe the differences between maybe what you do in some other places, you know, inclusivity or, you know, what you offer there? If we were coming in, let’s say we were going to be there for three days in the fall, we’re going to we want to fish maybe three days with some guys and then do a few days on our own. 00;08;21;18 – 00;08;28;01 Dave Yeah. What would that look like if we were talking to you? What would we get there? You know, the night before, talk about food and kind of all that stuff. 00;08;28;13 – 00;08;45;15 Kathryn Bartlett Absolutely. So, I mean, just from the get go, we offer airport shuttle. We but we’re not that far, which is really nice are one of our biggest amenities is the proximity we have to Bozeman and so you don’t have to go far after traveling to to either get on the water or to find your accommodations. 00;08;45;22 – 00;08;47;10 Dave How far is it from Bozeman? 00;08;47;12 – 00;08;49;07 Kathryn Bartlett We’re about 10 minutes from the airport. 00;08;49;08 – 00;08;50;29 Dave Oh, that’s amazing. Wow. 00;08;50;29 – 00;08;56;21 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. And 15 minutes from Bozeman 22, like the real heart of downtown. 00;08;56;21 – 00;09;00;14 Dave You’re still in Montana. This is not this is not New Yorker, California, right? 00;09;00;22 – 00;09;07;13 Kathryn Bartlett Absolutely. Yeah, we’re going to. But we’re going to pick you up in our King Ranch Ford F-150 truck and bring you out to the lodge. 00;09;07;17 – 00;09;08;00 Dave Nice. 00;09;08;06 – 00;09;27;09 Kathryn Bartlett We’ve got plenty of space for all of your gear, and then we’re going to get you settled into your room. I definitely would arrive the night before fishing trips generally start our days. Fishing start pretty early, so we want to get you in and settle and get everything sorted out and start you off with a fantastic meal. That’s one of our biggest draws. 00;09;27;09 – 00;10;04;23 Kathryn Bartlett We have a very amazing culinary team and executive chef that is classically trained but delivers a really fun kind of fusion of Mountain West with his southern heritage. So we have a great restaurant that’s very approachable. Highlights The best that our local farmers and ranchers and waters have to offer. And we have an award winning wine list, and we’d love to open a beautiful bottle of wine and have you all take in a sunset and really kind of settle into all that Montana has to offer from a very visual, beautiful, relaxing point of view. 00;10;05;06 – 00;10;12;01 Dave That’s amazing. And then and then we’re getting ready to go the next day, meeting the guides at the lodge there and then head out. 00;10;12;11 – 00;10;32;10 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, the guides will come directly here to the lodge and load you up. They’ll take care of lunch. We’ve got a continental breakfast for fisheries. That is a great option that’s delivered to your room the night before. So that is available for everyone that stays in the lodge if they’re interested in that. And then you get to take our fishing. 00;10;32;10 – 00;10;55;05 Kathryn Bartlett And it is really kind of a day of surprises because until you connect with the guide and he kind of meets you and again talk through what you’re looking for, some of that happens offline in messaging back and forth. But prior to arrival. But you don’t necessarily know you’re going to see Yellowstone until you’re going to head that direction that day, unless you know you want to fish that no matter what. 00;10;55;05 – 00;11;05;12 Dave So right. Unless you’re thinking like, hey, I I’ve always wanted to fish the Madison River, right? And so then they can probably make that happen. But but other than that, it’s going to be on conditions, right? Whatever. River fish fishing the best. 00;11;05;18 – 00;11;25;24 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. And that’s something I think that’s really unique for us. And other lodges are kind of confined to fishing. Maybe just the stretch of water that they have or that they’re they’re only on one river or one location. And so we offer a lot of flexibility. And we understand that like the most important part is experience from start to finish. 00;11;25;24 – 00;11;40;22 Kathryn Bartlett And we want to make sure that that experience is is what you you know, what you’ve gotten to do and it’s what you’re looking for. We want you to be successful. Fishing is fishing, not catching. So it’s not always a guarantee, but we want to make sure that we set you up for success in the best way possible. 00;11;41;03 – 00;11;56;04 Dave And so you have a little it sounds like a mix of you’ve got breakfast and I’m guessing the lunches are probably covered by the guide. Do people also I know I hear from listeners sometimes where they’re thinking, oh man, they’re not too concerned with all the amenities, right? They just want a place to stay. Do you offer that? 00;11;56;04 – 00;12;01;12 Dave Is that something where people could just get a place or is dinner always covered and breakfast kind of always covered as part of this? 00;12;01;28 – 00;12;26;06 Kathryn Bartlett No, the answer your question is yes, we do offer that. So we have kind of two main styles of of room types. Essentially, we have our our standard rooms that are really designed for the person that’s not going to spend a lot of time in their room at the lodge. They’re a little bit smaller in square footage. They have all of the comforts of home, you know that you want very comfortable bed, nicely appointed bathrooms and upgraded or remodeled spaces. 00;12;26;15 – 00;12;35;00 Kathryn Bartlett But it’s they’re not going to be your amenity focused stay rooms. Those are great for people that are doing you know the all day fishing trips and they just need a great place to land. 00;12;35;06 – 00;12;46;01 Dave Yeah I can imagine if it was like, you know, somebody here that maybe they had a little camper or something. They were doing a lot of road tripping, but maybe they wanted to get a, a nice bed or, you know, for a couple of nights. Right. A little break in between their big trip. 00;12;46;04 – 00;13;05;24 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, absolutely. A little bit of R&R having been on the road or certainly our second style room is what we call our main lodge suites. They’re going to be our main building and they are a little bit bigger. They have a few more amenities in room. They’re great for the couple that’s here to stay. They offer kind of the best of both worlds of the lodge. 00;13;06;07 – 00;13;25;03 Kathryn Bartlett And, you know, our clientele and our guests that come through are very diverse. We are not just a fishing hut for the guys trip to come out and fish, but we’re a great place for couples to come in and either fish together or one person is fishing. The other person staying back that day, having a little rest and recharge day. 00;13;25;14 – 00;13;45;03 Kathryn Bartlett You know, we cater to groups, so but in a way that everyone should have their own space at the end of the day, we’re not a bunkhouse, but we definitely have entertained many fly fishing groups to come in and it’s a great place. Everything has everyone has their own space, but it’s still elevated and approachable and people can have a really good time. 00;13;45;15 – 00;14;00;07 Dave That’s cool. What is the. So we kind of got a good start here, I think, on you know, what you offer, what this experience is going to be like. Do you know a little bit Can you take us back on the history of the lodge? Is it, you know, who founded it more as a lodge or what? You got a little background there? 00;14;00;15 – 00;14;25;21 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. So the land was originally built in 1999. It has been was originally built for an outfitter and him and his wife started their outfitting guiding business and they were just looking and bringing their clients in, having them stay, taking them on trips out of the lodge. And it was really built. The foundation of the lodge was built around fly fishing trips and what that would look like. 00;14;25;21 – 00;14;32;21 Kathryn Bartlett I think the joke is that he wanted a place where his wife would want to go on his fishing trips with him. 00;14;32;25 – 00;14;33;10 Dave He had, yeah. 00;14;33;24 – 00;14;58;21 Kathryn Bartlett So he built a great restaurant and a lodge that was very comfortable. And then just through the years of running, that is more of a seasonal business. And unfortunately, he passed away suddenly. And so his widow decided to sell the business to our current ownership. So we’re privately owned and current ownership just has this desire to keep it a very authentic, true to form. 00;14;59;00 – 00;15;16;08 Kathryn Bartlett Lodge We have expanded, you know, post-COVID world a little bit to cater to not just fly fishers. So, you know, you could be at the bar and sitting down and talking about the rainbow trout you pulled out of the Yellowstone and the next to you there could be a local couple in it, you know, dining for their 50th wedding anniversary. 00;15;16;08 – 00;15;30;17 Kathryn Bartlett And on the other side of you is a father and son, and they’re out looking at MSU for college tours. So there is a vast variety of people that come through, which is kind of fun. I think that the more people you meet when you travel, the better your experience. 00;15;30;17 – 00;15;49;06 Dave Yeah, I agree. I agree. I think that’s just adds a little bit more to the experience. You know, it’s not we’re we’re not all here just for fly fishing. Right. I think that’s obviously a big part of what a lot of us are coming for. But but yeah, there’s a lot more. And it looks like even at the I’m just looking at your website, there’s some great video there and you have the the logo. 00;15;49;06 – 00;15;53;15 Dave The logo is good to describe that it was that is that a logo and your logo or. 00;15;53;24 – 00;16;31;19 Kathryn Bartlett Our cowboy fish is is beloved he doesn’t have a name although we always joke that we should name him. I don’t have a lot of history on that. It is it’s been the logo of the Lodge since its inception and so we have always had that cowboy riding, riding the fish, but we think he’s pretty fun and kind of really embodies where we are in Montana in the best of those kind of worlds, that western Wild West kind of bronco, Western style, but incorporating the fly fishing, which is is such a big thing out here in western Montana. 00;16;32;01 – 00;16;47;17 Dave Yeah, it is. Yeah. That’s it’s definitely, definitely a big hub. You see lots of boats driving around the town and what is Bozeman? So you’re right there. You must spend some time in Bozeman. How has that been? Have you been there for a while? Have you seen the the changes in that town over time? 00;16;47;27 – 00;17;11;03 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, I don’t think I’ve been here a while, although I’m going on seven years in Montana, but even in my that’s a relatively short amount of time. Bozeman has, you know, experienced so much growth and a lot of it is really good. A lot of it is really needed. And town is definitely growing towards the lodge. So it’s filling in the farms and things like that are filling in a little bit around us. 00;17;11;03 – 00;17;32;02 Kathryn Bartlett But we are we’re protected by conservation easements and some other land. I, I guess grants and some things that are in protected wildlife zones. So while Bozeman is expanding, we have the gem of a spot to be like, Well, ours is never going to change. Our view is not the the way the river flows through. 00;17;32;08 – 00;17;37;29 Dave You’re not going to have a bunch of new skyscrapers on the river or even probably near in the floodplain. I’m guessing. 00;17;38;11 – 00;17;57;28 Kathryn Bartlett We’re not. No. Which is pretty special. And I think that the growth is bringing a lot of like new people to experience Montana, a lot of new fly fishing, people that are interested in the sport or the pastime. We do see a lot of novices come through the lodge because it is a great place to get your feet wet with it. 00;17;58;08 – 00;18;14;24 Kathryn Bartlett Staying in Lodge doesn’t take a commitment to fly fishing in a way that like a fish camp would. And with our proximity to Bozeman, you can still like, you know, you can still go into town for dinner, you can still go explore downtown Bozeman and see the shops and that kind of thing. And so it’s a really comprehensive trip. 00;18;15;10 – 00;18;24;12 Dave So tell me and there is a new I’ve been hearing about a new show, I guess it’s a TV show or is it the Madison? Isn’t there a new show that’s being heard about this? 00;18;24;12 – 00;18;40;04 Kathryn Bartlett I have not watched it yet, but yeah, it’s they were shooting it here and they’re doing some B-roll shooting in town and nearby last summer. And so I’ve not had a chance to see the pilot. Have you watched it? 00;18;40;09 – 00;18;56;08 Dave No, but I’m it’s on the list because I’ve been hearing a little bit more about it. We always go back, you know, a river runs through it. Was this the most famous flatfish right back in God? It’s amazing. 93, right? Many, many years ago. But it had a huge impact. And I’m starting to hear some people maybe talking a little about their thinking. 00;18;56;08 – 00;19;09;06 Dave This show might also. So I’m going to have to watch it because it sounds like it’s got a lot of fly fishing in it potentially. But yeah, I haven’t really seen the I don’t know if it’s had I don’t think it’s had the big impact, like a river runs through it quite yet. 00;19;09;20 – 00;19;33;06 Kathryn Bartlett Certainly I think that we’ll see how it if it takes off. We definitely felt a little bit of a bump from Taylor Sheridan’s the Yellowstone show. Everyone knows that one and how we we get calls sometimes. It’s pretty funny. People are like, Oh, I want to come out. We haven’t gotten a call like this in a while, but when it was at its peak, it was like, I want to come out and see the the Yellowstone Ranch from the show. 00;19;33;07 – 00;19;54;11 Kathryn Bartlett And, you know, people call in wondering how far that is from the lodge. And I think that that actual ranch was in like Utah somewhere, so. Oh, it is. Yeah. Oh, right. It was always really funny. But I hope that that show does well. I think that it, you know, it’ll Taylor Sheridan is a great storyteller and there is something very therapeutic about fly fishing and I’m just about being on a river. 00;19;54;24 – 00;20;11;16 Kathryn Bartlett I think that everyone would agree that there’s there’s a peace and serenity to be found when you’re when you’re doing that and you’re near the water. And it’s a special kind of activity to be so in tune in so close to to nature that I think people really enjoy. 00;20;11;27 – 00;20;26;01 Dave Yeah, yeah. I think what I love here and I’ve done so many of these podcasts is there’s just a lot of different levels. You know, there’s different levels of, you know, from, like you said, somebody just starting, there’s somebody who’s been doing it a while and then maybe they take a deep dive into a specific type of fishing, right? 00;20;26;02 – 00;20;42;15 Dave Fly fishing. Maybe. Maybe they’re into understanding all the bug hatches and they’re getting really nerdy and you could take it as deep as you want. Or you can stay on the surface and just go fishing. You know, like we talked to a while back is pretty awesome. I always love to highlight some of our past episodes. The Fonz, Henry Winkler, back in again. 00;20;42;16 – 00;21;01;26 Dave You know, dating myself back in the eighties, you know, the Happy Days TV show. Well, he you know, the Fonz is is a big fly angler, but he only fishes like once or twice a year. And so I feel like there’s some of these people out there that are just, you know, that’s all they have time for, you know, But they still love it probably just as much as, you know, any of us, you know, getting out and they get one shot. 00;21;01;26 – 00;21;16;25 Dave So so I kind of want to talk about that. You know, today as we think about organizing a trip. Right. I want to maybe help somebody line something out. So if we kind of take this idea of maybe I’m sitting here with, you know, a couple of people are thinking about putting the trip together, what’s the first step there? 00;21;16;25 – 00;21;25;14 Dave You’re telling somebody to to get ready for this? You know, I guess I guess you have timing. What’s your advice? If somebody calls up and says, I want to I’m heading out to Montana, where do I start? 00;21;25;27 – 00;21;46;21 Kathryn Bartlett Absolutely. My advice would be to to get on it early. Don’t wait. If you’re interested in fishing and come to mind for that, I would say don’t wait, get it on the books and then let the puzzle pieces kind of fall into place as you get closer. That being said, we’re a small lodge, which makes us great and makes us intimate and cozy, but we do fill up. 00;21;47;25 – 00;22;07;29 Kathryn Bartlett And so we’re looking at really great occupancy going into the summer, which is going to make for a great a great time. But not only do hotels and accommodations fill up, but fly fishing guides. They can only take one boat a day and there’s only so many. And so if you’re interested in booking with a guide, that’s step two. 00;22;07;29 – 00;22;28;07 Kathryn Bartlett So once you get your accommodations, that will get you, you know, connected in with your guide as quickly as possible. We want to get on his calendar and make sure that your your boat is reserved. And then from there, we kind of look at what other activities you want to do and you know, how many days you have and how many days you want to spend fishing. 00;22;28;17 – 00;22;39;01 Kathryn Bartlett And if you want all those days to be the same, or if you want to vary them, and we work with you and your guide with that. And then from that point, you’re you’re sitting pretty. Pretty. 00;22;39;07 – 00;22;55;24 Dave Yeah. Those are the big things that you’re looking at. Let’s just say, you know, as we’re talking here, May is right around the corner, but let’s just say next year, you know, you’re planning your trip about a year out. You know, you say it’s for the summer. You know, it could be again, I think if regardless, they could still call you, check with you U.S. on availability. 00;22;55;24 – 00;23;01;07 Dave Right. But as far as planning, probably a year is a good chunk of time to be thinking out. 00;23;01;07 – 00;23;18;26 Kathryn Bartlett A year is plenty. I mean, I think six months is great, too. Okay. Six months. Yes. Even if you’re in the saying I mean, we’re in it’s a mid April right now. I just spoke with Ryan the other day and he’s got availability still in July and August. So this year is not totally out. Okay. It’s more limited. 00;23;18;26 – 00;23;36;04 Kathryn Bartlett You don’t have your choice of all the dates. Right. They’re certainly available. You can figure something on to do that fall fishing is because of its popularity is actually a little bit more booked in the end of the summer right now. So if you want that peak fall time, maybe maybe you look at next next fall. But yeah, definitely. 00;23;36;08 – 00;23;52;01 Kathryn Bartlett It’s always great to give us a call and you’ll find availability. Pricing is usually better upfront for like booking trips a year out too. So you definitely do save a little bit in your accommodations and in your fly fishing trips. 00;23;52;14 – 00;24;08;17 Dave That’s it. Okay. So if we were coming in, you know, I can imagine let’s just think we were coming through. Maybe we’re heading out this summer and we kind of had a trip we were planning on, you know, doing that stop in there. We could probably, you know, just check in and say, first off, hey, what do you have for availability, timing, and then talk about the guides. 00;24;08;17 – 00;24;24;14 Dave And then if there was something open, you can maybe lock that in and then build a program around that. What would let’s just say we did lock in. Maybe Ryan had a couple of days there in July and we found a couple of days there. So, you know, like you said, come in the night before. What does it look like? 00;24;24;14 – 00;24;34;14 Dave Take us to that. That night, that first night, If we’re getting there, let’s say we’re in one of those rooms, Your standard room. And is that something where you could also get dinner there? Is that something where it’s kind of just the room? 00;24;35;00 – 00;25;00;19 Kathryn Bartlett No. So a restaurant is open and available. It is your your choice. So dinner is not included in the room. So you have the option. We’re all about giving people options. So love it. Make it, make the trip what you want it to be. And we do have an all inclusive option where you can book in and then all your food and beverage, including house wine and beer, is included in that price point. 00;25;00;19 – 00;25;19;14 Kathryn Bartlett So it kind of makes it one less thing you have to worry about. And our friend, our staff can can work you through those different rate options. Additionally, that information is always on our website, but if you are, you know, you want to get in, get to dinner, and then in the morning you’re going to had a 7 a.m., 6:37 a.m.. 00;25;19;14 – 00;25;41;10 Kathryn Bartlett You’re going to head out with your guide, be on the river, float the morning, get situated for lunch riverside do a little float and then probably making it back for happy hour. Honestly, our happy hour starts at three and we do a killer happy hour. And everybody loves that. That’ll really take you through your first day and then a really good night’s sleep. 00;25;41;10 – 00;26;02;26 Kathryn Bartlett The best part I hear this all the time from our guests are beds are phenomenal. We have the best comfiest beds, I think, of any hotel, super soft sheets, nice and medium firmness, not too hard not to squishy beds, but we get compliments all the time. And so you’re going to get a really good night’s sleep and then be well rested and well-fed to go out again the next day. 00;26;03;09 – 00;26;22;27 Dave Yeah, it’s it’s I think it is the little things. I think those little things make a big difference. So and I love the options. I think that that’s a big part of this because, again, there’s all sorts of different people, you know, out there and listening to this that are going to be like, Well, yeah, some of them want the four all inclusive, but then there might be somebody that’s like, Man, I just want to save a little bit money, you know, And I’ve got I can handle, you know, everything else. 00;26;22;27 – 00;26;28;19 Dave I just want a room. Yes, I am. But then they could also get a guide for a day or more if they wanted to, right? Yeah. Yeah. 00;26;28;19 – 00;26;48;24 Kathryn Bartlett So and other things that are happening like on property that are really special is we have a full casting pond, large casting pond on property is stocked. And so you are welcome to, you know, if you’re one of those fly fishing anglers that this is your, your one or two trips of the year, you got to get the rest off a little bit maybe. 00;26;48;24 – 00;27;10;23 Kathryn Bartlett So it’s a great way to start off. Maybe, you know, the day before or the morning of you can get out there, cast a little bit, get your flow, go in. We also just recently opened a dry sauna on property, so we have a little bit of that rest and relaxation and recuperate kind of atmosphere going on so you can start your day or end your day with a sauna. 00;27;11;02 – 00;27;14;18 Dave Well, one thing I saw was the massage, right? Is that part of you have that. 00;27;14;19 – 00;27;32;23 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. We offer on property massages. Those have to be booked at least 72 hours in advance to make sure we have the therapist availability. But those will take place in what we call our dry fly den. And it’s a great little fitness room. It’s got some workout equipment in there, but enough space to have a massage in there. 00;27;32;23 – 00;27;52;01 Kathryn Bartlett And then we kind of closed it off. You may get your private massage area when that’s booked and it has a killer view. This isn’t a dark room. This is a 180 degree of our back pasture floor to ceiling windows. It’s a great place to work out and get a massage so you could do both there. And our sauna looks at that as well. 00;27;52;01 – 00;28;04;19 Kathryn Bartlett So we really try to bring the outside into every experience. Here at the Lodge we are surrounded by beauty and we want to allow our guests every opportunity to see that. 00;28;04;19 – 00;28;10;27 Dave Yeah, you’re you’re in a cool place and what is in the casting pond. So that is just a pond and it has fish that you stock in there. 00;28;11;04 – 00;28;24;10 Kathryn Bartlett We do? Yep. Yep. It gets stocked with rainbow trout and all sizes and just we had a nice like springs the last couple of days and I had a little boy who’s 12 year old, he pulled out a little 11 inch trout out of. 00;28;24;10 – 00;28;25;04 Dave That nice. 00;28;25;14 – 00;28;36;24 Kathryn Bartlett Guy and so that was pretty great. I was glad that they survived the winter and they overwinter well. But yeah, so we have a great casting pond that’s fed off the galleys and river. So it is a natural pond. 00;28;37;05 – 00;28;51;28 Dave Okay, perfect. And what do you think? You know, as we’re building out this trip we were talking about, you know, in this example, you know, maybe somebody is coming through for a couple of nights. Maybe they just want to get the standing room, kind of have a couple of places to kind of hang over before their head and maybe, you know, east or west. 00;28;52;08 – 00;29;00;15 Dave But what are mistakes you see people making out there when they’re planning these trips? You know, anything come to mind that you hear a lot about or they you may have mentioned a couple of them. 00;29;00;22 – 00;29;22;07 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. No, I think that if you have any interest in fishing book, that when you book your rooms right. Same time because hitting up the front desk and being like, oh, we decided we wanted to fish today, is there a guide available? We don’t have guides on staff with us specifically, so we don’t necessarily have a guide that’s just hanging out in the lobby waiting for a trip that morning. 00;29;22;07 – 00;29;40;16 Kathryn Bartlett So I would say if you have any interest in fishing, whether you’ve seen it on a TV and you’re like, That looks fun, let’s try that, or that’s the purpose for your trip book that ahead of time. And then skipping out on our restaurant, I would say, is a big mistake. Our restaurant is fantastic. We’re one of the best restaurants in Bozeman. 00;29;40;29 – 00;29;52;00 Kathryn Bartlett Are we deliver super consistent service, really warm and hospitable, but our food is out of this world, so if you love food, you cannot miss our restaurant. 00;29;52;00 – 00;30;02;03 Dave We do. We do. And what is the if you had to say I’m sure there’s a lot of good on the menu, but what would be a couple popular or does it change? Is this something where this changes throughout the year? 00;30;02;10 – 00;30;27;28 Kathryn Bartlett It does seasonally change. We are gearing up for a switch over here, but some of my favorites is we have a sweet tea brined pork chop that is succulent and delicious. And we also do a shrimp and grits that is probably the best for immigrants I’ve ever had. Our chef does a amazing job with those. And then we love to feature local, local beef, Montana beef. 00;30;27;28 – 00;30;41;17 Kathryn Bartlett And so we have a fantastic Montana Wagyu New York right now that is melt in your mouth. Delicious. Wow. So those three, I think, are my my rotation. Those are not going to let you down in any way. 00;30;41;28 – 00;30;48;09 Dave Good. Wow. I mean, this is like I think just for the food, people could probably plan a trip here. It sounds like all three of those are awesome. 00;30;48;13 – 00;31;01;02 Kathryn Bartlett I think it would be totally worth it if the fishing gets blown out. You still won’t be disappointed because you’re getting no big deal. You’ve got a good, good restaurant, good bar. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s really where it’s at for me. 00;31;01;02 – 00;31;11;12 Dave What are other people other than the anglers coming through in there, you know, probably overlap. What are other people coming through or are there people just stop and I’m guessing just coming through right then they’ve heard about you or they want a good meal sort of thing. 00;31;11;19 – 00;31;31;23 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, absolutely. I think Yellowstone National Park is the other big biggest draw. We are equal distance from the north entrance and the west entrance to Yellowstone. So we are a great place to attack both or just like do the loop the day drive, loop through one entrance and out the other one. And so that’s kind of a not miss. 00;31;31;23 – 00;31;50;22 Kathryn Bartlett If you’re coming this way, there’s it’s worth spending a day and going into the park and you can do that on your own. A self-guided driving. We also work with a couple different tour companies that offer a guided trip in that direction, and that’s actually a really great option. I suggest for especially first time visitors to the park. 00;31;51;01 – 00;32;07;17 Kathryn Bartlett The park is massive. There’s so much to see and there’s not a bad way to do it. But it’s great to go with someone who’s a little bit more knowledgeable and you don’t have to drive and pay attention to the road. You can just look out the window at all there is to see. And that’s really the ticket. 00;32;07;17 – 00;32;16;03 Kathryn Bartlett There is. There’s a lot to see. So maximizing your time for a day in the park is a great option. And so definitely don’t miss that either. 00;32;16;15 – 00;32;29;18 Dave No, no, you’re right. I think when we did it last, we drove through and it’s just spectacular. I remember there is the bison. Yeah, I guess bison, buffalo. You know, they were I mean, some of those places are like right next to your your car, right? 00;32;29;18 – 00;32;45;08 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, They’re all snorting and hooting and hollering. Right. Right. Nice to your car and you can’t move. It’s a fun experience in itself. I definitely have a time or two where there’s a traffic incident involving a bison and you just got to wait it out because you can’t move that guy. 00;32;45;21 – 00;32;56;18 Dave Yeah, you don’t want to be the guy that’s like rushing and spinning. This tires around trying to, you know, it’s a you’re in a place that you should be relaxing, right? And just be like, yeah, a buffalo, you know, traffic jam is okay. 00;32;56;26 – 00;33;15;11 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. And I will say we do have trips that go fish in the park. That’s kind of its own thing. So it is it requires a special like outfitters license to guide people into the park and is some different things. So if you’re interested in fishing in the park definitely let your guide your guide when you get connected with them. 00;33;15;16 – 00;33;30;23 Kathryn Bartlett Know that ahead of time and they’ll kind of walk you through what that those steps look like. I know that some people think fishing in Yellowstone National Park is is its own destination, and it’s on goal of a trip. But you can certainly do that. And home base yourself out of the lodge, too. 00;33;31;03 – 00;33;52;09 Dave Yeah. Yeah, I can see this as we’re building this out. I think this is really cool because you got like you said, maybe you’re getting a few days with, you know, hitting the Madison, the Gallatin, you know, hitting those famous rivers. But then maybe, yeah, you spend a few days actually hit in the park and just, you know, either taking a tour, maybe you get a tour for a day and then maybe you drive on your own or maybe you fish in there, you get a guide for a day. 00;33;52;09 – 00;34;04;12 Dave I mean, this could easily be a cool, you know, hybrid, you know, week trip. You’re in there and then you’re doing some other stuff is do you find people or I guess there’s so much to do but that the other parks definitely should be on your bucket list, right? 00;34;04;18 – 00;34;06;00 Kathryn Bartlett Absolutely. 00;34;06;00 – 00;34;23;10 Dave Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, any other items, you know, as far as mistakes or things that people make out there, you mentioned book in the guide with the you know, with the trip together or what about just planning this if you’re planning you just mentioned one thing, Yellowstone National Park. Are there other things that we haven’t covered that people would be doing in that area? 00;34;23;29 – 00;34;54;09 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, the list is pretty long and it’s a little bit seasonal. So, you know, thinking about what is like primary fishing season and other things you can do, you know, Big Sky is 40, 45 minutes from us. There are too many to count hikes that you should do and see. You know hiking is a big thing. I my favorite thing is to hike to glacial lakes so There’s a there’s a lot of lake trail that’s pretty great it’s great for all levels of hiker and skill for a few hours. 00;34;54;16 – 00;35;13;17 Kathryn Bartlett I also really love Ferry Lake and heading up that direction those are all self-guided and you can just kind of get yourself to the trailhead and take off for the day. The lodge provides some outdoor equipment as part of your lodging fee, for instance, so you just check it out from the front desk. So if you need bare space, you need sunscreen. 00;35;13;17 – 00;35;33;23 Kathryn Bartlett If you need a daypack, if you need an ice chest or a water bottle, you know those kind of things we have for you and we invite you to just check them out from the front desk and use them while you’re here as part of part of a guest perk. So we don’t offer like specific fly fishing gear because that’s a big range of stuff. 00;35;33;23 – 00;36;01;12 Kathryn Bartlett But for the the other activities, we can help you out that you don’t have to pack as much. And yeah, in the summertime hiking I love downtown Bozeman is a great little college town. There’s some awesome breweries. There’s a couple really great distilleries that are that are around. If you want to do kind of a brewpub tour, I can set you off on on My favorites or anyone of any one of us on staff can give you that direction. 00;36;02;04 – 00;36;25;28 Kathryn Bartlett There’s a couple of state parks that I think are worth mentioning that are super fun to explore, like the Lewis and Clark Caverns. A lot of history, a lot of really unique geological features. They’re horseback riding, whitewater rafting, zip lining, those kind of activities are very popular as well. So we can, again from the Lodge, connect you with those outfitters and those guides and those people that are doing those activities on property. 00;36;25;28 – 00;36;29;15 Kathryn Bartlett We have a Frisbee golf course. So if you’re into that. 00;36;29;16 – 00;36;30;28 Dave Oh, wow. Frisbee golf. Yeah. 00;36;30;29 – 00;36;49;02 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah. You can throw a few discs in and do around and it’s a little three, three, three hole course. So nothing crazy but Gary to kind of stretch your legs in that way and see the lodge from a different angle out out in our property there’s just so much just it’s really fun. There’s a ton. Come to fish. 00;36;49;10 – 00;36;50;04 Kathryn Bartlett Stay for everything. 00;36;50;04 – 00;36;59;20 Dave Else. Exactly. Yeah. Come and fish and and what do you think when people get there? Do you think they’re our common expectations that people have that when they get there they kind of get flipped? 00;36;59;28 – 00;37;21;13 Kathryn Bartlett I think the biggest one is either and it’s either one or the other. Either people. I think you’ve forget how close you are to Bozeman when you’re here. And because, you know, we’re down a dirt farm road, our dirt road, there’s something magical that happens when you when you turn on a dirt road and it releases something in your mind that you’re like, Oh, cool, I’m I’m on vacation or I’m on a trip. 00;37;21;13 – 00;37;42;08 Kathryn Bartlett So that’s really special and a little bit to people. You know, we are, again, only 10 minutes from the airport or 15 minutes from Bozeman or very centrally located. So you can feel like you’ve gotten away without having to spend a ton of time getting away, which is really nice. And I think that we really do hospitality, right? 00;37;42;08 – 00;38;02;05 Kathryn Bartlett I mean, not to toot our own horn, but there’s a lot of change in growth in Bozeman. A lot of it’s coming really fast and quick. And so we’re kind of fighting against that and wanting to give people a really great experience that’s warm. We don’t like to say it. We want you to feel at home here because sometimes people’s homes are, you know, messy and chaotic and nobody knows they’re leaving their homes. 00;38;02;05 – 00;38;12;13 Kathryn Bartlett They want a break. But we definitely want to make sure that you have a great experience and that you leave feeling restored as part of part of our messaging and part of what we’re trying to accomplish here. 00;38;12;22 – 00;38;31;04 Dave Love it. But this is cool. And I’m guessing just from what I’m hearing, that probably people come in there and maybe their trip evolves a little bit over time. Do you I mean, obviously you’re setting if you’re fishing, you got these dates set in, but I’m guessing people might come there and learn about something. Like we said, if you didn’t know about the national park, that’s something you definitely want to add to your trip. 00;38;31;09 – 00;38;37;14 Dave Do you see kind of that? And do you get people that come through there and then come back, you know, in following years for different things? 00;38;38;00 – 00;39;01;22 Kathryn Bartlett Absolutely. We see all of that. I would say like keep your plans loose and a little, you know, structure and planning is good, but the weather really plays a factor. And what you’re able to do that day, you know, in the summer we get we’ll get that afternoon mountain thunderstorms that whip through sometimes. So be able to do to pivot a little bit with what you’re doing, have your list of things you want to do and definitely book a couple of things. 00;39;01;22 – 00;39;18;16 Kathryn Bartlett But also really leave yourself open to what the day has to bring. And then we get a lot of out in backers is what we call the people that are here for a couple of days at the start of their trip. Montana’s huge you ask like, what? What? The other thing people don’t realize is like rent a car. 00;39;18;16 – 00;39;19;07 Dave Yeah, it’s big. 00;39;19;08 – 00;39;39;23 Kathryn Bartlett It’s big is big. There is no public transportation, so you need wheels to get around and things are far from each other. And so, you know, we have people that pop up to Glacier. They’re they’re here to do like kind of the National Park tour and they’ll fish a couple of days here and there and then they’ll they’ll go to Glacier and that’s a six hour drive from us. 00;39;39;23 – 00;40;02;10 Kathryn Bartlett So they is at least, you know, half of your day or more. And so that realization is that Montana is huge. It’s the big Sky country for a reason. And we to make sure that people know that coming out. And so we recommend yep rent a car and definitely see all that you can see and then come back through and stay with us know on your last two nights as you’re flying out. 00;40;02;10 – 00;40;04;15 Kathryn Bartlett So that’s a great way to kind of do an out and back trip. 00;40;04;21 – 00;40;18;02 Dave Love that love. I know. And as you said, I was thinking about Mike in our in our community. I know I’ve talked to him before. He just did a trip out in the Midwest and he was thinking out there for a month or so, hunting and fishing. And he was talking about he was just describing how cool it was. 00;40;18;02 – 00;40;32;20 Dave I imagine that same thing in Montana, Right. Or you’re out there for a month just travel and maybe you got your camper. And like I said, you got a couple of nights you’re staying there. Maybe the start or the end. Yeah. And hunting is a big thing, too, right? Do you hear about hunters around? I know that’s a big thing in the area. 00;40;32;20 – 00;40;50;25 Kathryn Bartlett It is a big thing in Montana. Certainly it’s something that requires a little bit more knowhow and planning, but it is we don’t do any hunting trips out of the lodge that are guided. But certainly we’ve had actually a couple of people come through that were we’re here at the tail end or the start, what would be their hunting trip. 00;40;51;08 – 00;41;10;01 Kathryn Bartlett So it’s a great place to kind of land in Montana, us being so close to the airport. If you’re coming to western Montana through Bozeman for any reason, the Lodge is a great option too. If you need, you don’t stay at the airport hotel. Come stay with us. We’re just as close, honestly. And we have a better restaurant, a better bar and a better bed. 00;41;10;11 – 00;41;27;21 Dave There you go. I think that’s the that’s the take home message, because you fly around a lot and you’re like, okay, the airport hotels come up first. They’re right there and they’re I guess they’re easy, but they’re actually a lot of these places, they’re just as far I mean, when you land any of these big, bigger towns, I mean, you got to drive like 20 minutes just to get, you know, it’s a wave. 00;41;28;05 – 00;41;44;23 Dave So but what you’re saying is Montana, even though there’s a lot of growth, you’re still not that far from, like you said, from Bozeman, correct? Yeah. Everything else. Absolutely cool, right. Well, I think, you know, I got a couple of random ones. We’ll take it out of here in a little bit. But just wanted to check in with you and see if we missed anything else. 00;41;44;23 – 00;42;01;06 Dave You want to shed light? I know. Like we said, we’re going to have Ryan, I’m going to talk about the fishing. This is kind of just our intro to your program. We mentioned the discount code swing ten for 10% off. If people want to book in, does that include is that just for a night stay or what? What is that code? 00;42;01;12 – 00;42;18;00 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, So it’ll be just 10% off your accommodations, whether that’s one night to night, three nights, six nights. However many nights. So 10% off your total stay and that’ll get you started. And then from there we’ll, we’ll get you connected with the guides and the other activities that you want to do. 00;42;18;08 – 00;42;27;11 Dave Perfect. Okay, so we got that in. And like I said, Gallatin maybe gives head up again on your website and then kind of where you’re active out there on on social. 00;42;27;11 – 00;43;04;24 Kathryn Bartlett Absolutely. Our website is d r for Gallatin River g r Lodge accom. And we also on Instagram and, Facebook, that’s Gallatin River Lodge is our Instagram handle and that’s kind of our primary social. And then we do a newsletter and email the newsletter every month. We don’t spam you anything like that. So if you jump on to our website, you can give us your email and then you get the first first knowledge of any of packages we’re running for lodging, any things going on in the restaurant when we’ve got live music out here, you know, all the ins and out. 00;43;04;24 – 00;43;12;29 Kathryn Bartlett So if you want to base your trip around anything like that, we kind of give people a heads up on what’s coming. So it’s a great way to stay connected with us, too. 00;43;13;07 – 00;43;27;08 Dave That sounds perfect. Good. Well, a couple of random ones. We’ll get out here and so I always love we talk movies a little bit and all that. I love the kind of the media, the multimedia stuff. But there you listen to you more a podcast listener, more music. When you’re out there on the road. 00;43;27;24 – 00;43;35;13 Kathryn Bartlett I’m definitely more of a music listener, but I’m an album listener. I like to listen to an album from like the first song in order to last. Oh, you. 00;43;35;13 – 00;43;36;05 Dave Do? 00;43;36;05 – 00;43;40;12 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, I think that that’s that’s the way it was designed. So I’m going to listen to it that way. 00;43;40;21 – 00;43;44;25 Dave Do you listen on like a Spotify or how do you listen to your albums generally? 00;43;44;25 – 00;43;45;28 Kathryn Bartlett Spotify Yep. 00;43;46;07 – 00;43;58;14 Dave Yeah. And that’s a cool thing is Spotify. You can pretty much find a lot of that, right? So if you want to listen to an old you know, I was talking to my daughter the other day, it was the Beatles. She had this song I gave her on her phone there. It was like, okay, this is the Beatles. 00;43;58;14 – 00;44;08;18 Dave And she’s kind of learning about it, right? But, you know, I was like, Hey, that is part of the Sgt Pepper’s album, and that’s a whole experience. That’s kind of what you’re it sounds like you’re into like getting that whole, the whole experience. 00;44;08;27 – 00;44;29;17 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, I want, I want to feel what the artist intended us to feel from start to finish. When they assemble an album. I kind of like that traditional listening style. Of course I’m you know, I’ve got my favorites and my, my my favorite playlist it but for three long stands when I listening to something I kind of plug in my AirPods and go on that journey with them. 00;44;29;23 – 00;44;36;10 Dave Perfect. And what about movies? We mentioned Madison and then River runs through. Do you have are you much of a movie buff or. 00;44;36;19 – 00;44;56;25 Kathryn Bartlett I am not. I haven’t. You know, to be honest, I haven’t seen a movie in a while, but I have been rewatching Ted Lasso, I think Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso. It’s a soccer based comedy TV show. That’s hilarious. I’m actually going to the World Cup this summer. I’ve got a couple of tickets to check out. Where’s that. 00;44;56;25 – 00;44;57;01 Dave At? 00;44;57;24 – 00;45;14;09 Kathryn Bartlett So it’s in North America and Mexico and Canada. It’s a joint World Cup. Oh, nice. And that is I’m going to the game in L.A. and then the game in Vancouver. So pretty excited to see that. I’m huge soccer fan, so. Oh, good. Yeah, we’re getting ready for that this summer too. 00;45;14;14 – 00;45;16;23 Dave Did you play soccer throughout your life or. 00;45;16;24 – 00;45;21;00 Kathryn Bartlett I did, yeah. In all, since I was a tot all the way up through college. 00;45;21;01 – 00;45;23;27 Dave You did All through college. You played college soccer? 00;45;23;27 – 00;45;34;23 Kathryn Bartlett Yeah, I did. Just for the club team at my college. But my husband and I met at a tailgate for a U.S. game. So we have deep, deep roots and a love for U.S. soccer. 00;45;35;03 – 00;45;46;19 Dave Love it. Yeah. It seems like soccer is a it’s grown a lot, right over the years where I think it was kind of small back in the day. And now it’s it’s pretty big. I mean, a lot of there’s a lot of professional cities that have professional sports, right? 00;45;46;28 – 00;45;51;25 Kathryn Bartlett Absolutely. Yeah. None out here in Montana yet, though, which is a little bit of a dry zone, but that’s okay. 00;45;52;09 – 00;46;07;07 Dave That’s right. Yeah. Montana is its own thing, right? And that’s it. That’s what makes it great. So good. Okay, Catherine, I think we’ll leave it there for today. And like we said, we’ll be following up with some details on interest. But if anybody wants to connect with you, they can do that. J.R. Lodge, AECOM. And yeah, until we get on the next one. 00;46;07;08 – 00;46;09;00 Dave Appreciate your time and we’ll talk to you then. 00;46;09;11 – 00;46;12;07 Kathryn Bartlett Thanks so much, Dave. 00;46;12;07 – 00;46;32;21 Dave If this trip sounds good to you, you can head over to G R Lodge Dotcom right now and check in with Catherine. We mentioned that coupon code. If you want to get 10% off your next trip and everything you have going on and you’re planning, you can use that right now. That’s swing ten and and check in right there and you support this podcast by checking out and checking in with Catherine. 00;46;33;06 – 00;46;49;17 Dave If you want to take this further with us, you can go to I swing pro this the best place if you want to check in on trips and dial things in what play swing pro is the place to be. We’ve got stuff going on all year long and we’re excited to be doing more of this this year. If you want to connect with me, send me an email. 00;46;49;17 – 00;47;04;01 Dave Dave Our place of income. I always love to get feedback and input together. Episodes. If you have an episode topic or content, please do that right now. If I haven’t talked to you in a long time, that’s the best way to stay in touch. All right. I hope you enjoyed this one and I hope you’re having a good evening. 00;47;04;09 – 00;47;24;14 Dave Good morning or afternoon. And we will see you on the next episode. Have a good one. Thanks for listening to the Wet fly swing fly fishing show for notes and links from this episode, visit Wet fly, swing, Dotcom.

Conclusion

A successful Montana fly fishing trip isn’t just about choosing the right river—it’s about building the right experience. Kathryn Bartlett shares how thoughtful planning, flexible scheduling, great guides, and a comfortable home base can transform a fishing vacation into something much bigger. For anglers looking to explore Montana’s legendary waters while still enjoying everything the region has to offer, Gallatin River Lodge provides a unique starting point.

     

The Henry’s Lake Foundation and the Making of a World-Class Trout Fishery with Kevin Skenandore (Traveled #48)

What does it take to keep producing nine-pound trout year after year?

In this episode, we dig into the work happening behind the scenes at one of the most iconic stillwater fisheries in the West and learn how the Henry’s Lake Foundation is helping protect the future of this fishery.

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The Henry's Lake Foundation - Kevin Skenandore

Show Notes with Kevin Skenandore on The Henry’s Lake Foundation and the Making of a World-Class Trout Fishery

Kevin Skenandore joins me to talk about the recent turnaround in fishing at Henry’s Lake, the Foundation’s new Feed the Fish initiative, habitat restoration work on key tributaries, and the challenges that come with managing a shallow trout lake. We also get into Kevin’s favorite stillwater tactics, leech patterns, chironomid setups, and what anglers can expect if they’re planning a trip to Henry’s Lake.

The Henry's Lake Foundation

Inside the Henrys Lake Foundation

(02:00) After several challenging years, Henry’s Lake is having a surprisingly strong season. Kevin said the ice came off about four weeks earlier than normal, and fishing this spring has been “off the charts.” Many anglers told him they had their best Memorial Day weekend ever on the lake.

While several factors may be contributing to the improvement, Kevin pointed to the ongoing work of the Henrys Lake Foundation, a volunteer-run organization that has been helping protect and improve the fishery for more than 40 years.

The Henrys Lake Foundation works closely with Idaho Fish and Game on projects ranging from water quality monitoring to habitat restoration. Much of that work focuses on protecting the streams and spawning areas that help keep the fishery healthy for future generations.

Kevin Skenandore has been involved with the Henrys Lake Foundation since retiring and returning to Island Park.

The Feed the Fish Fundraiser

The Henry's Lake Foundation - Feed the Fish Fund Raiser

(03:17) One of the Henrys Lake Foundation’s biggest projects right now is the Feed the Fish program. Kevin and the Foundation are trying something new this year with their first-ever Feed the Fish golf tournament.

The event mixes golf with a little fly fishing fun, including games, prizes, and an auction packed with donated items from local supporters. According to Kevin, the community has really gotten behind it.

What started as a simple idea has turned into a successful fundraiser, with all proceeds going directly back into the Feed the Fish program and the future of the lake.

Tournament Highlights:

  • Four-person scramble format.
  • Fly fishing-themed games on many holes.
  • Casting and fly-target challenges.
  • Auction items including signed memorabilia from Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Jay Buhner.
  • Local business sponsorships throughout the Island Park community.

A Different Way to Stock Henry’s Lake

(07:49) The Henrys Lake Foundation is also testing a new way to stock fish in Henry’s Lake.

Instead of releasing tiny fry, they’re raising some fish to a larger size before putting them in the lake. Last fall, about 18,000 fish were released, followed by another 20,000 this spring.

Volunteers clipped fins before the release so anglers can report catches and help track how the fish are doing. Kevin said it’s been great to see so many people willing to pitch in and help protect the future of Henry’s Lake.

Fly Fishing at Henry’s Lake

The Henry's Lake Foundation

(16:31) Kevin spends part of his time with the Henrys Lake Foundation and part of it guiding with Henrys Lake Guide Service. The outfitter is Eagle Ridge Ranch, and they also guide on nearby Sheridan Lake.

Heading into the season, guide trips were a little slower than normal because Henrys Lake had been tough the last few years. But that has changed quickly. Kevin said that over the last couple of weeks, bookings have doubled and even tripled as more anglers hear how well the lake is fishing.

He also gave a shoutout to guide Darren Huntsman and recalled spending time on the water with Stillwater expert Phil Rowley and Mark Melnyk several years ago.

Lately, the action has been hard to beat. Small chironomids have been producing steady fish, while leeches have been effective on wind drifts along the north shore. Kevin said he recently landed two cutbows over nine pounds within twenty minutes, and another angler nearby landed one over eleven pounds.

According to Kevin, Henry’s Lake has really turned on this year.

Seasonal Hotspots, Caddis Hatches, and Giant Trout

(20:40) From June 20 through roughly July 20, Targhee Creek becomes one of the most productive locations on the lake. Large numbers of caddis emerge in the area, attracting both feeding trout and anglers. Fish often hold anywhere from 80 yards to several hundred yards away from the creek mouth.

Kevin’s favorite caddis-period fly is a sparse size 8 or 10 Renegade tied with peacock herl, red wire, and a single hackle. He refers to it as a “single-lash Renegade,” and it continues to produce year after year.

The lake also supports healthy populations of:

  • Leeches up to four inches long.
  • Scuds.
  • Chironomids.
  • Caddis.
  • Minnows and juvenile trout.

Water Quality, Future Challenges, and the Next Generation

(41:46) When I asked about the biggest challenge facing Henry’s Lake, Kevin quickly pointed to water quality. Dissolved oxygen levels, heavy snowpack over ice, summer water temperatures, and maintaining healthy tributary flows all play major roles in the fishery’s future.

The Foundation continues improving fish screens, removing old culverts, protecting spawning habitat, and maintaining fish passage throughout the watershed. These projects may not receive much attention from anglers, but they have a direct impact on trout survival and long-term fishery health.

Kevin also emphasized the need for younger volunteers. At age 70, he sees tremendous knowledge within the Foundation’s leadership, but he hopes more anglers in their 30s, 40s, and 50s will step forward to help continue the stewardship work that has protected Henry’s Lake for decades. Click here if you want to be a member.

Connect with Kevin and the Henry’s Lake Foundation

This episode is brought to you by Yellowstone Teton TerritoryMake sure to check them out when visiting Idaho.



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The Henry’s Lake Foundation Related Podcast Episodes

The Henry’s Lake Foundation Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 941 Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: A nine pound trout gets your attention. What it takes to keep producing them is the real story. Today we’re heading to one of the most iconic stillwaters in the West, where the fishing has taken a surprising turn this season, and where a group of dedicated volunteers is helping shape the future of the fishery. Our guest today is Kevin Schneider from the Henrys Lake Foundation. Kevin has spent decades fishing these waters and is now helping lead the conservation efforts that could impact the lake for years to come. This is the travel podcast series where we bring you the best places to fish in the West, and the stories of the people that made this region what it is today. In today’s episode, you’re going to hear about the Feed the Fish program that’s being introduced for larger juvenile trout to improve survival rates. What volunteers are doing behind the scenes to protect spawning habitat in incoming tributaries. You’re going to find out about the real impact of water temperature and oxygen levels and what they have on shallow trout lake waters. And also Kevin’s favorite leech Chironomid and Stillwater tactics for consistently finding fish. If you’re interested in Stillwater fishing, trout conversation, or planning your first trip to Henry’s Lake, this conversation is packed with practical insights and a few stories you won’t hear anywhere else. This episode is presented by Visit Idaho and Yellowstone Teton Territory, home to some of the diverse and wild trout waters of the West. All right, let’s get into it. Here he is, Kevin Skenandore. You can find him at Henry’s Lake Foundation dot org. How are you doing, Kevin? 00:01:27 Kevin: I’m doing great. Thank you. Thanks for having me. 00:01:29 Dave: Yeah, yeah. Thanks for coming on here today. We’re gonna do a good little background on a couple of things you got going big around the Henry’s Lake area is one is the foundation. You’re part of that group out there. We’re going to talk about that. You’re also you have a guiding operation. So we’re going to get an update on fishing because we’re going to be heading out there. We’re we’re planning a trip. We’re actually doing kind of a giveaway event this week. And then we’re going to be planning a trip to head out, but maybe just take us back first on. Yeah, maybe let’s just start with fishing. What’s been going on? How things been going this year so far? 00:02:00 Kevin: Well. Surprisingly great. Um, Henry’s lake, you know, as most stillwaters, they kind of are cyclic and they have it’s been tough the last three to four years. And this spring has been off the charts. I mean, it has really been good. Um, everybody I talked to, including the UPS man that just walked to my door a few minutes ago, told me probably had the best Memorial Day weekend he’d ever had. No kidding. Yeah. It’s gone from tough to I mean, this ice was off early. Ice was off in mid April. It was off, uh, four weeks earlier than normal. It’s now open year round the lake. So, um, you know, boats are out there in April and it’s kind of interesting because boat numbers are down, people numbers are down. Henry’s lake, but fishing is up and the word’s getting out because there were more boats and trailers. Um in the car lot there yesterday than there was probably any day of last year. It was, it was a tough year. 00:03:03 Dave: Wow. Well that’s great to hear that things are coming back. And maybe that will line up today with some of the chat we have on the Henry’s Lake Foundation. And maybe you could start us there on that, like maybe talk about your role there and how you connected with that group there. 00:03:17 Kevin: Yeah. For sure. Um, so when I retired in fifteen years ago and came back to Island Park, I’ve always had property here for forty years, forty five years came back and, um, I knew of the foundation I’d been to their dinners and their fundraisers and volunteered to be one of the directors for the foundation. And it’s really pretty incredible organization. I would say it’s one of the only truly volunteer organizations. Uh, we do have one person that we pay as a bookkeeper and record keeper, but all the work that’s done from that foundation, there are no salaried positions, and there are people that just put a ton of work into the lake and helping manage to the water quality, um, water sampling. And we’ve got some pretty neat initiatives going right now. I’ll talk a little bit about feed the fish. Um, I’m over a golf tournament this on June nineteenth and all the money that’s going to be raised from the Feed the Fish golf tournament is actually going into an initiative that we started a year ago, and we’ve actually got some, a couple of runs down in Ashton that were putting some fish in from the Henrys Lake that have been, uh, eggs have been stripped. They’ve been, um, pressurized. So they stay as a triploid. But, um, we’ve, instead of putting them in at such a small fry that like the state of Idaho does, we’ve partnered with the state of Idaho to basically manage these runs. And we put in about eighteen to nineteen thousand of these hybrid last year, and we put in twenty thousand on May fifth. So we’ve extended that period of time before entry into the water in hopes of really stabilizing the retention rate on these fish that are going into the lake. So it’s a great initiative. It’s, uh, been, uh, it hasn’t been an easy activity because you have to coordinate with folks. We had to hire a biologist. We had to meet all the standards that the state has, but they’ve been great to work with. And I think that’s another thing that’s kind of interesting, where you’re out and about. You fish different states, different areas, and there’s kind of an acrimonious relationship with the fish and game. But the Henry’s Lake Foundation has supported a whole host of different activities that the state of Idaho has got some funding on. We match some Maxam funding. Good example of that right now is going on at Howard Creek, um, where they’re putting up some jack fences to keep the cattle out of the, the creeks that come in a lot of riparian work over the last, I think the foundations actually existed about forty five years. They’ve done a lot of protection activities, uh, for all the waters that come in. There’s about twelve different creeks that, that are fairly substantial that feed Henry’s lake. And, uh, it’s pretty exciting to be a part of. Uh, I really enjoyed it. 00:06:25 Dave: Wow. Yeah. And the feed the fish is it looks like. So it’s a raffle fundraiser. Describe that how that works a little bit. And how would people get involved? 00:06:32 Kevin: Yeah. Well, um, we’ve still got room for one or two more teams. Um, on June nineteenth, the tournament, it’ll be a four man scramble. And basically what we’re going to do, we’ve got different activities that tie into fly fishing almost on every hole. We’ve got cornhole set up. If you put a fly through the cornhole, you win a prize. We’ve got different things that are related to fly fishing, and we’ve had really just a ton of interest. The local businesses have been very supportive of our activity. Uh, the foundation has a, um, an additional fundraiser happening the following week out to Meadowview on the night on the twenty sixth. But this is the first time we’ve hosted a golf tournament. And I’ve been in a men’s golf league on Wednesday mornings. And I said, let’s give it a try. So, uh, to this point, we’ve had a tremendous amount of interest. We’re having an auction. One of our friends from Montana that was a head trainer for the Mariners has donated a like a Ken Griffey signed bat. Oh, really? Martinez. Jay Buhner, we’ve got some really neat stuff to give away, and we’ve had a great interest in it. And so, yeah, this will be our first golf tournament and one hundred percent of the money that we raise goes directly to that initiative to feed the fish that we just completed this past about two or three weeks ago. 00:07:49 Dave: Right? And that initiative you just explained a little bit. Tell us again a little more detail. So basically the maybe talk about the current management of the lake and how this is a little bit different. Sounds like you’re adding some larger fish into the lake. 00:08:01 Kevin: Yeah, that’s that’s exactly it. Um, you know, it’s pretty amazing. But again, the Henry’s Lake Foundation was a part of, uh, about, I’m going to say twenty plus years ago where fish numbers were down, they had a couple of different issues. They’ve had some, um, water temperatures that got fairly high. Henry’s Lake, deepest part of that lake is only twenty two feet. Yeah. Most of that lake is ten feet. And so you’ve got some interesting situations to try and have a healthy fish population when if you get a couple of weeks during the summer, they get up over eighty. You can get water temperatures over seventy, um, and those types of things. But so when they really up the numbers of fish that they were putting in. Every year, up to one point two million, close to eight hundred thousand cuttings were put in two hundred thousand hybrid eighty thousand Brooks. That’s another thing that the foundation was really instrumental in is getting the brook trout into the lake. It’s a real special treat, you know, to catch a four to five pound brookie. And we’ve we’ve caught a number of them this spring. It’s been interesting. Last year I bet I didn’t get five to the boat all year. This year I’m averaging five to the boat per day. Not not the four or five pound class, but you know, a nice sixteen inch brookie. So when they’re putting all these fish in every year um they’re putting them in as fry. They’re very small and uh, just susceptible to a lot of things, you know. Um, so there’s several different studies out. There’s one on Strawberry Reservoir about, you know, uh, it just makes common sense the larger the fish that you put in. but there’s a lot of costs associated with getting those fish from fry to six to eight inches to have them juvenile fish. But we undertook that this past year. I really think that the state of Idaho is going to work with us. We may not have to operate that fish hatchery and Ashton this year, but hopefully we can get some runs by the fish hatchery to get an additional population that are going in as juveniles rather than fry. So, um, we’re kind of anxious to see what the results are. It’s interesting where they do these gill net surveys, and it’s fairly scientific. And the gill net numbers that they want per gill net is somewhere around eleven to twelve is their optimal amount. The last four years it’s been two two point nine three point five. This year I think it was three point nine this past spring. They haven’t officially announced the numbers on those. So when we saw the three point nine for this year, we were wondering if we were going to have another year like last year, that there were days that were incredible, but most days it was tough fishing. And here we are at three point nine on the gill net surveys. But yet we’re having some really good results. One of the things we did is we clipped the left front pectoral fish fin on the October release or late September release, and then I think we clipped the right pectoral fin on the right side so that when people catch these fish and they’re all hybrids, and when they catch these fish, we’re asking them to report back to us the weight, the size, the length, all that type of stuff, so that we can get some good data on that. 00:11:22 Dave: Mhm. Wow. So these fish that are going in as a little bit older, how many number, how many fish are going in the lake? 00:11:28 Kevin: Eighteen thousand went in last, uh, late September and twenty thousand went in on May five. 00:11:34 Dave: Oh, May five. Okay. 00:11:35 Kevin: And again, what’s really interesting and really for me, really exciting is, you know, we ask for people to come volunteer their time to clip the fins. And we get a lot of folks out there and it’s, uh, it really makes you feel good to see people invested in protecting those Henry’s lake waters and the fishery. 00:11:55 Dave: That’s cool. How do you guys do all the outreach? It seems like if it’s all volunteer based for the most part at the foundation, how are you guys getting all, you know, handling all the, uh, the tasks? 00:12:06 Kevin: Well, you know, we’ve got some really skilled and knowledgeable people in the foundation. Um, Damon Keen, who was the, uh, fish biologist for, I think, fourteen or fifteen years for the lake. Him and I are going to be co-presidents, uh, of the foundation starting this summer. Um, Richard Hodge is stepping down as president. I think he was there for twelve years. Incredible leader. Um, always looking to tap outside resources and for us to kind of supplement and support different activities from different foundations. Um, the one of the largest creeks that come into the lake is the Targhee Creek. And there’s just been a lot of work. And just recently, the fellow I’m going to say in the last five years has purchased that land. Um, in years past you’d have, uh, the creek that would flow into Henry’s lake. But sometimes if there were a period of time with no rain, um, runoff was low. Sometimes those creeks would get, uh, would be let water out for irrigation and you’d lose fish. But they’ve gone through and they’ve made those fish passages. They reinforced the areas where the fish can do their natural reproduction. And, uh, just a cooperative agreement between the landowner, the state of Idaho and us. Um, we’re really getting, we’re pretty excited about the number of fish we’re getting that are not coming from the hatchery, but are breeding themselves up on those spawning beds that are coming back into the lake. 00:13:44 Dave: MM. Wow. Gotcha. So Target Creek, that’s one of the big tributaries to the area. And and it sounds like. So over the years. So the the projects you described a few of them, but what are some of those projects that you guys have been working on? Has there been more raffle type stuff or more like on the ground restoration. 00:14:02 Kevin: On the ground restoration. You know, we, we have an annual, um, fundraiser that takes place the last Friday in June. And that’s one that we, uh, Meadowview does a big Dutch oven type thing and we have, um, several different auctions and raffles and things like that. So we raise money there, but we also have, um, lifetime memberships. We encourage people to become a lifetime member of the Henrys Lake Foundation. It’s a five hundred dollars fee. We give the folks that pay that we give them a fly rod and a Andrews Lake Foundation hat and shirt. And all those monies go towards these activities that we’re doing. And for example, I’ve mentioned real quickly the one on the Howard Creek of protecting that creek, the state of Idaho is getting, um, a pretty good little grant or cooperating with them will actually help in the management of the grant. At the same time, we’ll also, uh, provide some additional funding and resources to make sure that gets completed. So when we, uh, take a look at what we think are the, are the most bang for our buck, uh, where we can improve the fishery and maintain the quality of that lake. That’s what we’re looking at. We’ve had guys out there every day. For example, um, uh, Palmer was out there. One of the members, one of the foundation members was out there doing water sampling every day. And, you know, those things are cost prohibitive. If we were to pay somebody to do it. But he’s out there, rain or shine, getting water samples, get them sent down to Idaho, and then taking a look at what the oxygenation issues are for the lake and things like that. So I mean, it’s, that’s what’s exciting to, to be a part of that group that are so dedicated to the resource. 00:15:54 Dave: Today’s show is brought to you by Visit Idaho and Yellowstone Teton Territory, a place that should be on every angler’s list, from the Henrys Fork to the South Fork of the snake, and all the hidden creeks and alpine lakes in between. This region is built for fly fishers who like a little room to roam. You can head over to Wet Fly swing dot com right now for guides, lodges, and trip ideas to plan your next adventure. That’s Teton t e t o n. Wow. And so you spend a little bit of your time like, uh, with the foundation. And then the other chunk, it sounds like you’re doing some guiding. Uh, yeah. Talk about that program. 00:16:31 Kevin: Yeah. So we’re hinders like guide service. Uh, the outfitter is Eagle Ridge Ranch and we, uh, can put two boats on per day with Eagle Ridge Ranch. And we also work out to Sheridan Lake, which is a private lake, and we guide out there as well. But out to Henry’s, um, going into this particular year, um, I think because of the history of Henry’s being down a little bit, we didn’t have the numbers of guide trips that we normally have this time of year. But I’ll tell you, in the last two weeks, three weeks, the word’s out, you know, the fishing’s been good, been good publicity. And our numbers have just doubled, tripled in just the last fifteen days on the number of trips we’re going to have. Um, we’ve got some great folks I know that I think you’re, uh, visiting with Darren Huntsman. He’s he’s one of my top guys. Yep. Um, both Darren and I spent some time with Phil Rowley, who’s kind of the, the king of the hill as far as knowledge about Stillwater fishing. He’s been on my boat for a month and a month. A week? I got it. I would tell him it felt like a month, but. 00:17:38 Dave: Yeah, exactly. 00:17:39 Kevin: He was on it for a week. Him and Mark Melnick. And we had a we had a blast and we caught a lot of fish. That’s been five six years ago out to Henry’s. 00:17:45 Dave: Oh right. That was on the new fly. Fisher. 00:17:47 Kevin: Yeah. Yeah. 00:17:48 Dave: That’s right. That’s cool. Yeah. We’ll get a link to in the show notes so people can take a look at that video. 00:17:53 Kevin: Yeah. Very cool. Good people there. Um, so, uh, the, the lake, I, I had a couple of friends from Montana that I do some pheasant hunting with them and they’re not really fly fishermen. And I had them out two days ago and we were out for four hours. And I mean, it was bobber down the whole time. I mean, we were indicator fishing with just real small chironomids. And, uh, for whatever reason, that particular day, a purple head and, and a, and a purple thread. Chironomid those fish were just hammering it. And I was telling um, Kirby and, and I says, you’ll come back in a year. It’s not going to be this good. You’d come back any day of the year. It may not be this good. We just had an incredible day. Um, I was next to Conn Smith, uh, yesterday. You know, Conn no. Con, uh, was the head Utah State basketball coach years ago, and he’s got his own fishing. Uh, I think they they tie flies all over the world. I think his son’s taking over his business, but he was right next to us. And I’ll tell you, those two guys put their herd on the fish. We caught fish, but nothing like what they were doing. Uh, they’re just over a pot of fish. They’re doing really well, but, um, right now on the lake, uh, the the cliff lake, the cliffs have been just just been hot. It’s amazing. Three weeks ago in front of Bill from County, we’re throwing leeches and pounding fish and then also using a few chironomids. And then we went over by the, uh, the fish hatchery along that north shore and just doing a wind drift with leeches and, you know, having fish fishing that couldn’t get much better. And that day we were over by county, um, in twenty minutes. I mean, I caught almost, they looked identical. Um, one was nine and a quarter pound and then it was nine and three quarter pound. 00:19:48 Dave: No rainbow. 00:19:49 Kevin: No. Their cut bows. 00:19:51 Dave: Cut bows. 00:19:51 Kevin: No rainbows in. 00:19:53 Dave: Oh there’s no rainbows at all. They’re all cut or they’re cut bows or they’re uh what are the other species cut bowls. 00:19:59 Kevin: Uh, Yellowstone cutthroat and brook trout. 00:20:01 Dave: Yeah. Right. And brook trout. 00:20:02 Kevin: Yeah. And so those, uh, man, those couples, those hybrids, man. I tell you, you know, when you catch a nine pounder, they are there. And right now, with the water temperatures being so cold and. Oh, yeah, they’re they’re a hoot. And the guy next to me, uh, Pete Flynn, who’s one of the finest fly tyers and fishermen on the lake, he caught eleven and a quarter pounder in that same morning. Um, so they’re out there and, um, we’re really excited about this year. It’s just, uh, yeah, really turned on. 00:20:30 Dave: How does that look with the year right now as we’re talking, it’s, uh, you know, June, early June, July, you know, how does that look like? What will this be looking like in July come July? 00:20:40 Kevin: Well, we’re certainly hoping that we get some, you know, we’re supposed to get some more rain. We had a lot of rain last week. We’re supposed to get some more rain this coming Monday, Tuesday. So we want to keep those water temperatures down on that lake for sure. Um, but you know, those fish congregate near springs. It has to do with a lot of different things, water temperatures, the entomology, you know, if there’s some place they can feed, that’s where they’re going to be, right? Yeah. Or even like later in July, um, where water heats up a little bit. But you got these creeks that are coming in with fresh water, uh, they’ll congregate there. Um, Targhee is just some phenomenal caddis. You put anything that looks like a little caddis nymph on from about June twentieth to July twentieth. That’s a great place to fish. And you can. There’s a lot of boats that congregate around about eighty yards out from Targhee Creek, but all the way back for two hundred three hundred yards. Uh, fish will hold in that area. And, uh, normally that time of year, that June twentieth to July twentieth is when we catch some of our bigger fish because they’ll come in and lay and catch or eat the, uh, the caddis. And there’s just a number of really simple fly patterns. Like if you tie a really very sparse size, ten size eight renegade, we call them a single lash renegade where you got the hackle on the one end, a little red on it. And after you’ve put your peacock curl or some type of synthetic, you a red wire around it. Uh, I’m telling you, you know, that’s a that’s a fish catcher for that month, is it? Yeah. It’s a lot of fun. 00:22:28 Dave: Oh that’s cool. Yeah. And Henry’s Lake is not a small lake, right. This is a pretty decent sized lake. 00:22:33 Kevin: Yeah. It’s. Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s in the neighborhood of maybe three miles by a mile and a half somewhere in that area. 00:22:41 Dave: Okay. And are people able to, you know, there’s some lodges or there’s at least one lodge, there are people able to also camp around the lake or. Describe that a little bit. 00:22:51 Kevin: Yeah. I wish there wasn’t so much free camping around the lake. 00:22:55 Dave: Yeah there is. There’s quite a bit. 00:22:56 Kevin: Yeah. It’s like you just go across that mountain, uh, over into Hebgen and there’s not much camping. You come over here and there’s camping all around the lake, and there’s what they call a county. Uh, it’s Bill from. So you’ve got a restroom right there. You don’t have electrical, you don’t have sewage, but they have camp spots and it’s fifteen dollars a night. Where else can you do that? 00:23:19 Dave: That’s amazing. 00:23:20 Kevin: Um, and then there’s Red Rock, uh, campground with RVs and then the state park. We’re actually, uh, doing a lecture there tonight. Our guide service, Darren’s going to work with the people that are there and, uh, tell some things about, uh, fly fishing. And we do a lot of outreach not only with the lake guide service, but also with the foundation. I was tying flies once a week down at North Fremont High School with the kids down there. And, you know, we look to, uh, a couple times a year, I’ll do some fly tying demonstrations right here at my place. And we just open it to any kids that want to come, uh, learn how to tie some flies. We do a little casting with them. So we’re constantly trying to, you know, teach the next generation and share our knowledge and our love and our passion for fly fishing. I mean, I started, I’m seventy and I started fly fishing at Lake sixty years ago. 00:24:12 Dave: No kidding. Wow. Sixty years. What was it like sixty years ago? It was it was very good. 00:24:19 Kevin: Uh, you know, for a kid that didn’t know much about fly fishing. My dad hooked me up with a guy who, man, he loved as much as I do. I mean, he, uh, my whole high school, uh, days. I spent every Saturday morning with this guy for about an hour and a half tying flies, uh, Larry Green, and he was tied in with a bunch of guys, uh, the old school folks from Henry’s Lake. And. And I’d come up here with a buddy of mine, Rick Griffin, and we’d stay at Elk Creek in Island Park. We’d sneak over to Henry’s Lake, and we’d walk out off different points. And, I mean, it was really different. I mean, back then, uh, you know, a two inch woolly bugger as ugly and poorly tied as I used to tie him would catch fish. 00:24:59 Dave: Yeah. Does that not work anymore? The woolly bugger. 00:25:02 Kevin: No, it’s it’s so much more technical. You know, the small little bugs. And a lot of times, like over there in, uh, on target, like I was talking about that period of time with the caddis. If you’ll throw like an eighteen or a sixteen copper. John. Uh, red, black, um, copper colored copper. John. All of a sudden, they’re hitting those and, uh, so it’s, if I was throwing a two inch, you know, maybe a two triple x long hook that we used to tie with a bunch of grizzly hackle down it. Uh, no, they don’t work like they used to. 00:25:38 Dave: They don’t. 00:25:39 Kevin: Uh, and then all the different depths and the different lines that you can buy, you know, um, it’s really interesting because you can be out there with what you think is the right line and you keep changing your lines and you get different depths and you get a bigger belly to your line and you get a real slow retrieval. It’s just kind of showing that nymph coming off the bottom and boom, you’re on fish. So we, I would say at any one time, I probably got close to ten different types of lines that were casting. 00:26:09 Dave: Um, yep. Just to get down to the right level of the fish. 00:26:13 Kevin: Exactly. And and, you know, it’s really interesting. You’ll see guys, I’ve seen guys that have put their rod and their reel up underneath their chin, and they’re using both hands as fast as you can bring it in. Right. 00:26:25 Dave: Wow. 00:26:26 Kevin: And they might be catching fish. And then you’ll see the next guy. There’s probably about ten folks that are over there quite a bit every day. Most of those guys are on a real slow retrieve and they’re getting that fly right off the bottom. 00:26:39 Dave: Yeah. Imitating, uh, whatever, mostly chironomids or a little bit of everything. 00:26:44 Kevin: Yeah. And you know, another thing that’s really fun, like last year, even though like my personally, my August was and first part of September was tough over there. And then the late September, October. And then I got a picture of me on, I think it was November twenty first. I got a t shirt on November twenty first. It’s normally iced over. I’m out there. It’s uh, fifty seven, fifty eight degrees. And it didn’t matter what I threw out there. I was catching. 00:27:13 Dave: Fish. Yeah. Wow. And the caddis hatch. Now, is that a hatch or is that just throughout the summer you can find caddis. 00:27:20 Kevin: Pretty much through the summer. Yeah. And then, I mean, there are so many bugs there because of your, uh, all the lake weed. Um, there, you know, the leeches. Uh, they are. The other day yesterday when I was talking to Carl, he said they, they had some, uh, four inch leeches that they stomach pumped yesterday from a big trout, four inch. Wow. And get this, I was talking to Damon Keene this morning, and one of his buddies, uh, caught. I mean, this guy never keeps a fish, so something was abyss when he kept his fish. I guess he he he taken the fly deep. And in the fight, you know, it was bleeding and stuff like that. Yeah. So he, uh, I will not say his name because he probably would, you know, he just doesn’t keep his us fish and none of us do. But anyway, so this fish was bleeding. He kept the fish and he got it. It had nine small trout in it. 00:28:18 Dave: No way. 00:28:19 Kevin: And some huge leeches. And guess what it took? It took a size, uh, sixteen chironomid. 00:28:26 Dave: There you go. They’re generalists, right? They eat whatever they need to. Whatever. 00:28:30 Kevin: Yeah, exactly. 00:28:32 Dave: Man. Nine trout. Nine trout. Was it a was it a cut bow? 00:28:36 Kevin: Big hot? Yeah. Big hybrid. And, uh, and, uh, you know, he was just amazed. And, you know, we’ll pump stomachs occasionally. And normally you’re just, you know, getting the little chironomids and, uh, um, just try and match the color, basically. And, uh, sometimes it’s not as effective if you match the color as well. 00:28:55 Dave: Oh, right. 00:28:56 Kevin: I like green and purple. I like a and a and a wine colored chronimed that seems to be, you know, our three go tos. 00:29:03 Dave: Mhm. Green, purple and the wine. Yeah. 00:29:06 Kevin: I think it was Bill Schiess that initiated our first tide. The what he called it the purple showgirl and I call mine the Purple Showstopper. I. I tie a little more flash in it and I’ll tie a, a front and a back, um, marabou. And it’s just looking like a big leech coming through the water and, and flashy. So it gets some attention. But that’s a good bug almost any time of the year. Um, I’ll tell you one other thing that’s really kind of fun that we do in the fall. Um, I live about three miles from the lake, so if we’ve done something during the day, if we’ve gone chase some grouse or we’ve done something like that. Yeah. Uh, our guide trips are minimal normally in October and we do a lot of fishing in Yellowstone as well. But um, we’ll go out and the sun will go down, you know, somewhere around five thirty ish. And we’ll go into coves and we won’t cast until we see a fish. And those fish are chasing other small fish. And there are a lot of times big hybrid. And so you’re hoping you can kind of catch a directional when they come up and surface and they’re chasing something because they don’t, it’s just a one and done thing. And you throw it about six feet out in front where you think they might be. And just, uh, just big fishy looking, uh, pattern flies. And I mean, there’s like a two week area right before the water gets down to the high thirties where they’re just on the move, trying to eat up these little minnows that are in the lake. 00:30:38 Dave: But all right. 00:30:39 Kevin: Anyway, that’s a lot of fun. Now, we don’t guide that. We just fish it, you know, we just, we’re just out there in those pockets hoping that it happens. Yep. Uh, some nights it does, some nights it doesn’t. One other thing of interest to that, that Henry’s Lake is not a recognized dry fly lake. You know, there’s a couple guys that will tell you they’ve knocked them here and there. Yeah, and I have too, but it’s definitely, uh, it’s the exception to the rule. And over there, when they’re eating a cactus. I had some little, um, compare Dunn’s and, uh, I didn’t have the cactus with me because I didn’t have my dry fly stuff. I started throwing these little comparisons eight 10s and just pounded fish. It was on the twenty fourth of July, all on the surface, right. But there’s also a place over there. Uh, the old folks will know where stump hole is. Um, there’s a tree out there. There’s a stump that stood out about five feet. I’m saying fifteen years ago, it it’s gone, but there is a public access to it. And, um, if you catch a wind coming out of targhee the canyon out of Targhee, you’ll get those hoppers coming through there in first or second week of September. That’s another place that we normally don’t guide it because, you know, people get a little impatient. They want to be fishing the whole time. Mhm. And so we’re just sitting there with a hopper ready to, you know, toss that thing eighty feet and and have him come slam our hopper. That’s another good dry fly spot. But it’s again, very sporadic. You got to have the perfect conditions. 00:32:14 Dave: You do. Wow. This is cool. So it sounds pretty. I mean, throughout the year you guys fish it typically. When is the guiding program you do. When does it start and when does it typically end? 00:32:22 Kevin: We start well, you know, we could do ice fishing. We don’t because I get, uh, I get a call maybe once a week. If we could help set up a place for people to fish. But we don’t do that. So it’s off to, uh, I mean, we’re out there. We get very few. I don’t think we had one guide trip in November. And I’m telling you, it was lights out this past November. Big fish, um, all seemed to be just on the North shore. And it didn’t matter where you went on the North Shore. Uh, you got a two and a half mile stretch there that those fish they’re starting to stack and starting ready to run up the ladder over by the fish hatchery. But, um, we fished all along that north shore and just kind of in an exploratory mode, just think, okay, are they going to be two hundred yards further east or two hundred yards further west? And yeah, sure enough, we were still catching fish and we were in the shallows. We’re in two and a half, three feet of water. 00:33:22 Dave: Right? Is that typically where you’re fishing? Getting most of the action, uh, is in the shallower water, or you find some of those bigger fish deeper. 00:33:30 Kevin: For that time of year? Yes. But not like I, you know, uh, eight to ten feet. That’s another interesting thing. I, you know, I had never vertically fished until ten years ago. And, you know, now that might be the easiest way to guide folks that are new to fly fishing or, you know, beginners intermediates. Mhm. Um, because you get a little wind, all you got to do is put that indicator ten feet from your boat and it just kind of bounces away from you. 00:33:59 Dave: Right. 00:33:59 Kevin: Um, but yeah, I mean, in the fall, uh, you know, they’re kind of, they’re more in the shallows and also early spring, um, they’re in the shallows when the first ice off. 00:34:13 Dave: Stonefly nets makes nets with soul. Each one handcrafted to stand out and built to last. When you spend time on the water, your gear matters. And these are the kinds of nets you can pass down for generations. I know my stonefly net goes with me everywhere and has seen the abuse, but it seems to get better each day. I’m on the water. Every net is shaped from premium hardwoods, balanced by hand and finished to handle a lifetime of use. We all love a big fish story, but it’s the moments around it that Stick Stonefly helps turn every one of those into something you’ll remember. Head over to Stonefly nets dot com right now to see what stories you can create with this beautiful custom landing net. That’s Stonefly nets dot com. Okay, first ice off. Yeah, I think we’re I think we’re planning our trip a little ways out, but we’re thinking in the fall, I think September. Right. Yeah. Maybe later in September. What’s that going to look like in that period like September. How does that how does that does that depend on how warm it is and all that? 00:35:09 Kevin: Yeah, exactly. You know, if we get a warm September, September, it can be tough if we get a you know, if we can get one or two really cold, uh, high wind, what happens is when you get those winds, it knocks down that lake weed, and then you’ve got your Scuds and your leeches looking for a new home and the big fish are chasing them. 00:35:31 Dave: Oh, wow. 00:35:32 Kevin: So they’re on the bite. Uh, and so, um, you kind of need that to knock down some of that. At least that’s my opinion. That’s what we find is that if we can come in after a big windstorm, you got bugs moving and fish biting and, uh, so that’s, that can be really good, you know, certainly call Darren, call me, and I can tell you where we’re catching some fish. I normally September is good. I think I had Phil and Melnick, uh, like the third week of September. 00:36:01 Dave: Okay. 00:36:02 Kevin: And I don’t know, you could ask Phil when you talked to him, I, I would think we voted over two hundred fish. 00:36:07 Dave: No kidding. 00:36:08 Kevin: Yeah. 00:36:09 Dave: Wow. Two hundred fish. And you’re fishing. What were you. Do you remember what? You were fishing? Mostly chironomids or. 00:36:13 Kevin: No, we didn’t fish a single vertical fish. Uh, we we caught, uh, a vertical setup. Um, we caught them mostly on, uh, small, like a little black electric leech. I had what I call a bruised leech. And I think he calls it a bruised leech, you know, just black and blue and, and kind of tied, uh, um, not like it’s real bulky, you know, kind of thin. I would say we caught most of those on those flies. I’ll have to tell you one quick story. 00:36:42 Dave: Yeah. 00:36:42 Kevin: And by the way, I did write a book about my experience. Oh, you did fly fishing. Yeah. 00:36:46 Dave: Uh, about now, what was the book about? 00:36:48 Kevin: It’s it’s all about fly fishing adventures. It’s called adventures of a of a fly fisherman. And basically a lot of it has to do with Henry’s Lake. But I was going to tell you one story. Yeah. This fellow came in from, um, just outside of Seattle, and he fishes British Columbia. And he had this book, I call him the The Crab Man. And when I picked him up that morning to go guide us, I just didn’t picture this guy to be a fly fisherman. He had a he had this old, uh, Carhartt jacket and he had mostly was, uh, duct tape wherever it had a slice in the, in the old jacket. He just covered it with whatever duct tape he had gray, black, brown. He looked pretty tough. And, uh, he says, hey, are you skinning Dawn? I said, yeah. He goes, let’s get out on that lake. What are you doing? You’re you’re late. And I was like an hour early. I was just going over there to get some stuff, you know? Yeah. Anyway, we went and fished. He had a two rod, uh, permit, and he gets on the front of my boat. And the first day he fished with his with my rods, he fished with my rods and I had a couple of nice rods. I think Helios had just come in and maybe I don’t think the RA had come in. I think I had an ex sage and and, uh, so he, he’s got a strike indicator and he’s got a little what he called a, like a Seattle Mariners colors a little, uh, moose leach brown and the turquoise and the blues. And he throw both out there and we were in about if we’re in five feet of water, he’s throwing them at four feet. He’s got one single fly under each, uh, indicator. I’ve never had anybody catch as many flies on my boat as him. And we probably spent four years of a of about four to five days per week fishing. Um, and so it just makes me think, you know, your presentation, his leech was tied fairly scantily. It had a lot of blue flake in it, though, and, uh, we were out there in the middle, some of the finest fly fishermen there are, and he was just pounding fish off his own fly and off his own methods. So I think what works in different areas on Stillwaters works in different places. Stillwaters as long as there’s, you know, leeches and, and, uh, that’s all he threw. He did not throw anything else. 00:39:16 Dave: Leeches the whole time. 00:39:17 Kevin: Yeah. So you just never know, uh, out there. But, um, you know, we try and post information on our Facebook page, the Henry’s Lake guide. So we’re not keeping any secrets. I tell people what we catch them on, where we catch them on. You know, I’d love to see people out there catching fish. They don’t have to be guided by us, but we we’d love to have them. We get a lot of folks that, uh, you know, come back year after year and it’s keeping me guiding. I’m pretty much guiding those folks that I’ve already guided before. 00:39:45 Dave: Yep. 00:39:46 Kevin: But I’ve got a great team of guys that really, really know their stuff. And we’re just thrilled to get Darren to come aboard this past year. 00:39:53 Dave: Yeah, yeah. Darren’s awesome. That’s what I’m excited about fishing with, with Darren and Phil and getting a group of guys on the water out there. 00:40:01 Kevin: Yeah. Very cool. If you need an extra boat, let me know. I’d be glad to just take take you guys out. So, um. Yeah, my son’s my head guide. Oh, really? Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah, it’s really cool. He’s just so helpful. And matter of fact, we’re just getting. We just finished getting our boats ready for tomorrow’s trip. 00:40:18 Dave: Just. So you’re going tomorrow. So you’re hitting it tomorrow? Yeah. What was it like? Uh, so you were out there today or yesterday? 00:40:24 Kevin: I was out there yesterday and it wasn’t near as good. But I’ll tell you, uh, con con Smith and his buddy, man, they just put the hurt on him. We caught, you know, half a dozen fish. Uh, and mostly it was a reunion tour. It was two of my best high school college buddies that we got together. And the one least likely to catch fish had a fish on most the day. Oh, really? 00:40:45 Dave: So con was one of your high school buddies? 00:40:48 Kevin: No. He wasn’t. I played a little basketball against him. He was a great basketball player back in the day. He. He just was in a different boat. Um, and I had my two buddies in mine. We just saw him out there catching fish, and he motioned us over and he showed us, uh, his crown. And it wasn’t much different from ours, but we didn’t have near the action. They did. 00:41:07 Dave: But yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah. No, I know who you’re talking about now. Cotton Smith. Yeah. His son is, uh, Steve Smith at city. Steve has the Smitty’s Fly Box website and he’s got some other stuff that I think. 00:41:17 Kevin: Yeah. 00:41:17 Dave: There you go. Yeah. So that’s and I, we’ve heard those stories because I know he used to coach with Bobby Knight back in the day, right. 00:41:24 Kevin: He he’s traveled the world with Bobby Knight. He’s probably one of the only guys who would want to travel the world. Right? 00:41:31 Dave: Yeah. Bobby was he was a unique guy, that’s for sure. 00:41:34 Kevin: Uh, you know, the Sanders Lake has quite a history of some, you know, some folks that are fairly important that fish this lake, they’re not so much anymore because they’re in their seventies and 80s. 00:41:46 Dave: Yeah. Is there a good chunk of new. Is there a good chunk of new. Uh, guys, kids coming out through there? 00:41:51 Kevin: Yeah. There is, you know. 00:41:52 Dave: Um, yeah. 00:41:54 Kevin: That’s one of the things. And what I’ll tell you, if I had somebody who was in their thirties, 40s 50s even, um, that said, hey, I’d certainly like to be on that Henry’s Lake Foundation board. I’m looking for some younger blood. I mean, I’m seventy and I looked around and I not necessarily. 00:42:12 Dave: Mostly. 00:42:13 Kevin: Older. Yeah. Everybody’s silver. It’s a, it’s a gray haired bunch, but incredibly talented and knowledgeable and giving people, uh, just I would consider them some of the finest stewards of Henry’s Lake. And we need some more and we need some younger ones. 00:42:30 Dave: Yeah. No, that’s that’s awesome. And it’s such an important part of the whole thing, not only the lake, but. Right. Isn’t that the kind of the headwaters of the Henry’s Fork? Is that how it works in the system? 00:42:39 Kevin: Absolutely. And we, we do joint cooperative. activities with the Henry’s Fork. And I mean, you know, they’re a huge organization. They’ve got brilliant people working for them. Um, I don’t know how many they actually have on salary. I’m guessing fourteen somewhere around there. 00:42:56 Dave: Oh, wow. So there’s a lot of people. That’s amazing. 00:42:58 Kevin: Yeah. 00:42:59 Dave: So that’s quite a bit. That’s interesting because I would think that the Henry’s lake is just as critical as the Henry’s fork, but there’s a lot more paid staff on, on the other ones. 00:43:08 Kevin: I think it’s a you know, it’s a larger venue. I think they’re actually doing some work on the South Fork as well. 00:43:14 Dave: Oh, sure. They’re bigger. 00:43:15 Kevin: Yeah. And um, I mean, they’ve got a lot of challenges. That whole island park reservoir and the silt and. 00:43:23 Dave: Yeah, there’s a lot. 00:43:23 Kevin: You know, all and over there, but um. 00:43:25 Dave: Yeah. What is the biggest challenge for the Henry’s Lake? You mentioned water temperatures. Are there any other I’m guessing kind of the water. The water. Right. It really comes down to that. That’s the biggest thing. 00:43:35 Kevin: Water quality is huge. You know the dissolved oxygen issues for. If you get ice and you get a lot of snow on that ice and you don’t have the sun, uh, that’s an issue. Um, I think, you know, there’s certainly some opportunities here, uh, around the corner, some of the things that we’re doing with this feed the fish and the activities we’ve got going with all these, uh, creeks that are coming in trying to protect them. So we’ve got fresh, clean water coming down into our lake. That’s that’s huge. Um, the one of the things that the foundation’s worked on also are on those fish screens and fish pathways so that they can get up into those areas where they’re going to spawn. And, uh, we’ve had great cooperation from landowners to, uh, do those types of things, got rid of all the old culverts. Um, so that’s kind of cool. 00:44:30 Dave: Yeah, lots of good work there. Well, we were just talking to actually Will Godfrey recently, we did a podcast with him and he was telling about a little bit of the history of he kind of started out there as one of the original outfitters back in the mid sixties, and that probably overlaps. Do you remember if you connected to kind of Will or any of the old fly shops? Like what was the original fly shop back there? Do you remember that one? Have you been out there long enough? 00:44:50 Kevin: Well, yeah, I mean, I’ve been here in and out of Island Park for sixty years. But speaking of Will Godfrey, I reconnected with Will at the, um, Idaho. Uh. 00:45:02 Dave: Oh, yeah. 00:45:02 Kevin: Idaho. 00:45:03 Dave: Falls at the expo. 00:45:04 Kevin: Yeah. And, uh, I, I actually, I told him, I said, you know, Will, I said, right on right here. I tie all my flies. I’ve got your card and one of your original flies that you tied sixty, seventy years ago. 00:45:14 Dave: No kidding. 00:45:15 Kevin: And he is a legend and he is a nice a man as there is. And it’s people like him that have, uh, really protected the waters. And yeah, the reality of it is, I mean, if you know the history of Pyramid Lake and how in the seventies, luckily they found those cutthroats over in the pilot Utah pilot mountains. 00:45:35 Dave: Yeah. 00:45:36 Kevin: Because, uh, Henry’s Lake kind of had that same issue in the nineteen ten nineteen twenties. They would come over here and they would catch as many fish in the tributaries, and they’d haul them over to Virginia City in wagons. They’d salt them up and take them over there. Same thing might have happened over there if there hadn’t been people, uh, that were had a little preservation in mind. I think it was close to nineteen twenty when they dammed the lake. Yeah. 00:46:05 Dave: Okay. Nineteen twenty. Yep. 00:46:07 Kevin: But yeah, there’s been some really good folks. And Will Godfrey certain, certainly one of them. And I knew those guys over there in West Yellowstone that had their fly shops when I was a kid, we’d go over there. 00:46:18 Dave: Yeah, I guess that’s right. 00:46:19 Kevin: Yeah. 00:46:20 Dave: Yeah. It’s a little further down. Yeah. The shop closest to you is the one in, uh. What’s the closest fly shop to you out there now? 00:46:26 Kevin: Oh, um, there’s one that just went in at, um, at the Blue Buffalo. It’s Yellowstone fly shop. 00:46:34 Dave: Oh, Yellowstone. Okay. Yellowstone fly shop. Yeah. Because there’s the one in, um. There’s the. Oh, it was the name of the old guy that was out there for a long time. She was bought by the. Yeah. Well, it was the fly fish food guys came in and purchased the shop right out there somewhere. And was it. Yeah, that was in Idaho Falls. I think that was Idaho Falls. 00:46:50 Kevin: That was Idaho Falls. Yeah. Bill had a little fly shop just across the street from Valley View. Uh oh yeah. And he, I mean, you know, he is a legend. 00:46:59 Dave: Yeah. What was Bill she is he a legend on kind of that whole era that he’s more of a late guy. 00:47:04 Kevin: Absolutely. Yeah. And he I don’t yeah. I honestly I don’t know if he’s cast a line in fifteen years. 00:47:09 Dave: Oh no. 00:47:10 Kevin: Kidding. Um, I’ve been back up here full time for fifteen years. I mean, every. 00:47:15 Dave: You haven’t seen. 00:47:16 Kevin: Him. I’ve seen him and talked to him. I bought some flies from him. Um. 00:47:20 Dave: Yeah. He. So he’s still out. He’s still around. He’s just not fishing as much. 00:47:23 Kevin: Yeah. I don’t I think he’s got some shoulder issues. I, I think his uh, like we all do, we all have different priorities and interests as we age. I think he’s gotten into kind of rock hounding and that kind of stuff. Oh, sure. Yeah. 00:47:35 Dave: Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, yeah, we talked about that. I think he wrote a book on Island or on Henry’s Lake, right? 00:47:41 Kevin: Yeah. Very exacting book, but I’ll tell you the the places have changed. Like I would say probably one of the top one like Staley’s has had some issues with silt. And they’re not getting the numbers of fish into the springs. And it used to be where they called the whole numbers like one through ten. The first one by the cable all the way back out, every one of them was taken. And now you can just about go into Staley’s any time of the year and fish it. And it’s, it’s tough fishing and for whatever. Oh, it is for whatever reason, there’s a lot of Utah chub over in that corner. 00:48:15 Dave: Oh, really? Utah chub. Okay. Yeah. Wow. Interesting. Yeah. Like everything right. Changes over time. And when did Bill write that book? When did that get published? 00:48:22 Kevin: I’m gonna say that book was written close to thirty five, forty years ago. 00:48:27 Dave: Oh, a long time ago. 00:48:28 Kevin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:48:29 Dave: So like the eighties or something like that. 00:48:31 Kevin: Yeah. And really exacting on where to fish fly lines. Um, but the lake has, in my opinion, has changed significantly. I’ve never fished the cliffs this early and I’ve been there, you know, four out of the last five days. Uh, it just, it’s changes. Yeah. 00:48:52 Dave: How do you know when you’re. And maybe you could take it out here today with this. A couple of tips on fish in the lake, on that lake, or really any lake. How do you know where to start? You know, I mean, if you’re going in there and it sounds like things are changing a little bit. Yeah. What would you tell somebody new. 00:49:04 Kevin: So absolutely. I mean, uh, it’s kind of like going into Yellowstone and you want to find out where the grizzly bears are, where people are pulled over looking at them. Right. So you go out on the lake and there’s ten boats in one area. That’s where they’re fishing. And then just know a little bit about the entomology. Uh, you certainly can call Henry’s Lake Guide Service. You can call me any one of our guides. Yeah, we share our information. Um, so, you know, Henry’s Lake is not really a a good way to Bull Lake. There’s a few areas you can catch fish, but like you got a lot of lake weed close to the shore. So if you. And then if you wait out, it’s tough to catch fish. It’s, uh, you need a boat. I had a guy call me last night and a friend of a friend, and I said, just, I can’t tell you where to go out and catch him from the shore. But, you know, if you get into these pockets and these different springs, that’s one of the things, uh, is wherever there’s springs, you know, the entomology, the bugs are there, you got cooler water, you got highly oxygenated water. So you’re looking for those. And a lot of times when you’re seeing a bunch of people, they’re over either springs or they’re over the inlets, like Duck Creek on the west side. Uh, excuse. Yeah, on the west side. Um, that’s a great place to fish Duck Creek all along that area, a hundred yards out to two hundred yards out. Um, so everywhere there’s cold water coming in after mid July, you’re looking to fish those areas. 00:50:37 Dave: Yeah. Okay. So that’s it. The inlet, the cold water because it’s things are warming up and yeah, they’re huddling. Yep. Getting around. Okay. Awesome. And then, um, and then yeah, give us one and so on the water, it sounds like we’ve talked about, I mean, plenty of leeches. Chironomids. Um, and technique. What’s your, what’s the leech technique you’re typically doing? Are you using just a floating line with a, an indicator or are you kind of doing without? 00:50:57 Kevin: So, you know, up until just the last couple of years, I’ve never used a floating line with a leech. But I have the last couple of years a balanced leech and you’re putting them underneath an indicator. But I like stripping them. I like the strip bite. I prefer the strip bite. So if you can get out there, I’ll throw, uh, some type of a fathom line that has two or three different variations to the line, like it might be a floating line and then a, uh, a two and then a four on the tip. I really like those lines. Um, Rio, you used to have a big nasty. They quit making it, but that was probably. I bought every one I could buy. I just loved them because they had the floating line. So it doesn’t wear you out like your casting all day long. And then it had two different variations of whatever you wanted to, to get it down. So I, you know, doing that and stripping, uh, slow and slow. Yeah. Slow strip. And, uh, and then if you’re not catching them that way, put them, put a, get a balanced leech and put them below an indicator and, you know, maybe six to twelve inches off the off the floor of the water and ten feet deep, eight feet deep. Um, it kind of depends on the time of year, but, uh, definitely leeches. They’re always eating leeches and Scuds. They are Scuds are phenomenal in the fall too. We’ll put pink and orange scuds and, and a lot of times we’ll put it, you know, following a leech and we’ll get I think the leech might be the attractor. Then they bang the the scud. So yeah. 00:52:32 Dave: Then they bang the Scuds guys is great. Well, we’re excited about this. Well, give me one. We got one random for you. Uh, question before we get out of here. You mentioned basketball, and I think that was definitely my sport as well. It sounds like you played a little basketball. Was that um and you played did you say with con back in the day? 00:52:47 Kevin: So I there was this guy named Jay Matthews in Brigham City and you know, all these rec league type things. That’s the type I played. I, uh, but we, but Jay Matthews always had the best team. Of course, that’s why, you know, he goes over and buys Con Smith a steak dinner and cons playing basketball for him. 00:53:06 Dave: Was he the coach was Jay Matthews the coach. 00:53:09 Kevin: Jay was he was kind of a coach, but he just kind of was a fellow that put. He really liked having a good basketball team. I used to go goose hunting with him all the time. Jay. I played with his team a few times, but mostly against his team. And I was telling Colin, I said, you probably don’t remember, but, uh, I remember playing against him and I said, if there was a three point line, you guys would have beat us by forty. Because, man, that guy just steps over the half court line. 00:53:34 Dave: And who was that? Con oh, really? Was con. He was an outside shooter. 00:53:39 Kevin: He had a beautiful shot. Yeah, he really did. And it was fun following him over at Utah State. I went to school at Utah State for three years. 00:53:47 Dave: Oh, cool. 00:53:48 Kevin: Yeah. It’s a neat place. 00:53:50 Dave: That’s awesome. What was your the position you played mostly in basketball guard. 00:53:53 Kevin: Yeah, I I’m I’m five eleven and, uh, you know, we had a team called Griffin mobile Homes and we played everywhere. Every tournament there was. That’s part of the reason I had to transfer from University of Utah. I always told people I made the top ten percent possible, you know? 00:54:10 Dave: Right. 00:54:11 Kevin: I struggled over there because we were chasing basketball so much. Uh. 00:54:14 Dave: No kidding. 00:54:15 Kevin: Yeah. And then I ended up going to Utah State and I thoroughly enjoyed it over there. That was fun. 00:54:19 Dave: Yeah. 00:54:20 Kevin: Good fishing over there too. 00:54:22 Dave: Is it? Yeah. Utah State. So in which town is that in? 00:54:24 Kevin: That’s in Logan. I mean. 00:54:25 Dave: Yeah, that’s Logan. 00:54:26 Kevin: Blacksmith fork River, the Logan River. Um, just incredible places to fish. And that’s another thing. Neat thing about Island Park. When you come over here, there are so many places to fish. 00:54:38 Dave: Right? There’s more than just. Yeah, it’s not just Henry’s Lake. There’s a ton. 00:54:41 Kevin: Yeah. When Henry’s is slow, you know, I and me personally, there’s ten different lakes that are really. 00:54:47 Dave: No kidding. There’s ten ten right within an hour’s drive out there. 00:54:50 Kevin: Easily. 00:54:51 Dave: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:54:52 Kevin: And a few of them that you kind of gotta, you know, if you hike a mile and a half into them, just crazy good fishing. 00:54:59 Dave: That’s it. Wow. That’s really cool. Well, we’ll have to keep in touch. Obviously, we got this big trip coming up and we’ll be in touch with, uh, with Darren and Phil. We’ll definitely keep up with you. So we’ll send everybody out. You mentioned at the start Henry’s Lake Foundation dot org or give us a heads up again on your the best phone number to track you down. If people want to check on guide guide trips. 00:55:17 Kevin: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Give me a call at five oh five two five zero seven zero seven eight if you’re interested in a fishing trip. If you’re interested on what flies are working where we’re catching fish, I’d be glad to share that information. 00:55:31 Dave: Awesome. 00:55:32 Kevin: Yeah. 00:55:32 Dave: All right, Kevin, well, we’ll leave it there for today. And thanks again for all the insight and all the good work. The Henry’s Lake Foundation for sure. And excited to get up there on the water and fish out there with with you guys. 00:55:42 Kevin: Yeah. Sounds great. Looking forward to it. 00:55:46 Dave: Before we get out of here today, a few things you should remember. If there’s one takeaway from today, it might be this great fisheries don’t stay great by accident. You have to enjoy places like the Henry’s Lake and find ways to support the people doing the great work behind the scenes. So check in with Kevin, let him know. And the Henry’s Lake Foundation know you support them, and you’re checking in on things you can do to help. Also, we’re heading to Henry’s Lake. If you want to get a chance to join us. Phil Roy will be there. This is the Phil Roy Stillwater School with Darren Huntsman is going to be there as well. We talked about that today. Phil. Darren. We got the whole crew. Henrys Lake. If you want to get access to this, shoot me an email Dave at web dot com. And if you are a pro member, you definitely get a first shot at it. First crack at the trip. So join pro if you haven’t yet. Wet fly swing Pro, that’s where we’re bringing this conversation to the next level. Uh, before we hop out of here, just want to let you know we got a big episode next week. Davey Watson, if you’re interested in fishing wet flies, Davey Watson is back and he is going to take another deep dive into wet fly fishing. You don’t want to miss this one. He is packed with energy. One of the best out there. All right. I want to thank you for tuning in today and want to say, I hope you get out and explore a few new waters and stillwaters this year and experience that road less traveled. We’ll talk to you then.

 

The Henry's Lake Foundation

 

Conclusion with Kevin Skenandore on The Henry’s Lake Foundation

Kevin shared a great look at what makes Henry’s Lake special, from giant trout and productive stillwater tactics to the volunteer efforts that keep the fishery healthy. The work being done through the Henry’s Lake Foundation shows how local stewardship, habitat restoration, and community involvement can have a lasting impact on a world-class trout fishery.

If Henry’s Lake is on your list, this episode offers a great roadmap for where to fish, what flies to use, and how you can support the future of the lake.

     

Henry’s Lake Stillwater School with Phil Rowley and Darren Huntsman (Traveled #47)

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Episode Show Notes

There are plenty of lakes where you can catch trout. Then there are lakes that challenge you to think differently every time you launch the boat. Henry’s Lake is one of those places, and that’s exactly why this Henry’s Lake Stillwater School is so exciting. With Phil Rowley and Darren Huntsman leading the way, this episode dives into the strategies that help anglers unlock not just one lake, but any stillwater they fish.

Henry’s Lake has long been known for producing some of the biggest trout in the West. From giant cutthroat-rainbow hybrids to brook trout and Yellowstone cutthroat, this shallow, fertile lake offers endless opportunities and endless puzzles to solve.

In this conversation, we break down seasonal fish behavior, water temperature, fly lines, retrieve strategies, and the lessons anglers can take home to their local waters.


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Show Notes with Phil and Darren on Henry’s Lake Stillwater School

About Phil Rowley and Darren Huntsman

Phil Rowley is one of the most respected stillwater educators in fly fishing. Through guiding, schools, hosted trips, writing, television appearances, and his work with The New Fly Fisher, Phil has helped countless anglers become more effective lake fishermen.

Darren Huntsman is a longtime Henry’s Lake expert whose local knowledge comes from decades spent studying the fishery. His ability to interpret seasonal changes and solve daily fishing puzzles has made him one of the most trusted stillwater anglers on the lake.

Together, they bring a combination of global experience and local expertise that makes the Henry’s Lake Stillwater School unique.

Why Henry’s Lake Continues to Produce Giant Trout

Henry’s Lake is a unique fishery because nearly the entire lake functions as productive trout habitat. With an average depth of roughly 12 feet and a maximum depth around 22 feet, fish have access to food almost everywhere they go. The lake supports:

  • Yellowstone cutthroat trout
  • Brook trout
  • Cutthroat-rainbow hybrid trout (triploids)

Those hybrid trout are famous for reaching double-digit sizes. Darren noted that fish over seven pounds have already been showing up this season, with several fish reaching the ten-pound mark.

The Real Goal of the Stillwater School

One of the biggest themes throughout this episode is that the school is not about memorizing one lake. The goal is learning how to approach any stillwater and quickly solve the puzzle. Phil explains that the strategies they teach can be applied almost anywhere, regardless of whether you’re fishing Idaho, British Columbia, or your local lake.

Topics covered during the school include:

  • Seasonal trout behavior
  • Water temperature interpretation
  • Fly line selection
  • Retrieve strategies
  • Depth control
  • Fly pattern selection
  • Reading new lakes

The school also provides direct access to Darren’s decades of local knowledge and Phil’s worldwide stillwater experience.

Why Water Temperature Matters More Than Anything

If Darren could check only one thing when launching the boat, it would be water temperature. It determines where fish hold, what they eat, and which techniques to start with. One key number kept coming up: 50°F

In spring, water temperatures moving above 50°F help trigger major insect hatches. In fall, temperatures dropping back through that range signal trout to begin aggressive feeding before winter.

During the school, anglers will learn how to use water temperature as a roadmap for finding productive water throughout the day.

Why Fall May Be the Best Time to Fish Henry’s Lake

The school takes place during one of Darren’s favorite periods of the season. As water temperatures cool, trout begin feeding heavily on:

  • Scuds
  • Leeches
  • Immature damselflies
  • Baitfish
  • Newly stocked fry

The result is some of the most aggressive trout behavior of the year.

Another advantage is reduced predation pressure. Ospreys and pelicans begin leaving the area, allowing large trout to move into surprisingly shallow water with more confidence. This creates exciting opportunities to target trophy fish in only a few feet of water.

The Four Fly Lines You Need for Henry’s Lake

One of the most practical discussions in the episode centered on fly line selection. According to Darren, four lines will cover nearly every situation on Henry’s Lake:

Phil and Darren both emphasized the importance of the hover line, which sinks at approximately one inch per second and allows anglers to fish effectively over shallow weeds while maintaining precise depth control.

Recommended setups:

  • Indicator fishing: Floating line
  • Shallow weed flats: Hover line
  • General searching: Intermediate line
  • Deeper presentations: Type 3 line

Understanding the Midge Tip Line

Phil spends significant time explaining why the midge tip line has become one of his favorite stillwater tools. Unlike a standard floating line, a midge tip includes a short sinking section at the front of the line. This allows anglers to:

  • Maintain better contact with flies
  • Fish effectively in light chop
  • Reduce surface disturbance
  • Present flies naturally at specific depths

Phil uses midge tip lines in both shallow and deep-water scenarios, including chironomid fishing in depths exceeding twenty feet.

Depth, Pattern, Retrieve: Solving the Stillwater Puzzle

One of the most valuable lessons from this episode is how Phil and Darren approach trout behavior.

Phil often teaches: Depth → Retrieve → Pattern

Get the fly to the fish first, then refine retrieve and fly selection.

Darren adds an important twist for Henry’s Lake: Depth → Pattern → Retrieve

Because Henry’s trout can become extremely selective, finding the exact fly pattern often becomes the critical piece of the puzzle. Small differences in size, color, or profile can completely change results. Examples included:

  • Root beer vs. olive leech colors
  • Small color accents
  • Slight size changes
  • Different chironomid finishes

The lesson is simple: once fish tell you what they want, believe them.

Indicator Fishing vs. Stripping Flies

Both Phil and Darren appreciate indicator fishing because it offers precise depth control and shortens the learning curve for newer anglers.

Advantages include:

  • Easy depth adjustments
  • Better control in deep water
  • Great for chironomid fishing
  • Excellent teaching tool

However, both anglers admit they personally love stripping flies.

As Darren puts it: “The tug is the drug.” Stripping flies allows anglers to actively cover water and trigger aggressive fish, especially during fall feeding periods.

Stillwater Gear Package Giveaway

We have an ongoing giveaway where one lucky participant will win a premium stillwater gear package from our sponsors. The giveaway will run until July 1st. Click here to enter.

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You can Phil and Darren on Instagram @philrowleyflyfishing and @stillwaterskeeter.

Visit Phil’s website at philrowleyflyfishing.com.

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Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 940 Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: The goal isn’t to learn one lake. The goal is learning how to unlock any lake you fish. Today we’re heading into Henry’s Lake with two of the best Stillwater anglers around, and we’re breaking down the strategies, seasonal patterns, line choices, and decision making processes that can help you solve the puzzle on lakes all around the country this year. Joining us today are Phil Roy and Darren Huntsman. Together, they’re going to give us a preview of the Henry’s Lake Stillwater School, and they’re going to be sharing the lessons they’ve learned from thousands of days on the water. This is the Traveled podcast series where we bring you the best places to fish in the West, and the stories of the people that made this region what it is today. In today’s episode, you’re going to learn why Henry’s Lake continues to produce some of the biggest trout in the West. We’re going to find out how water temperature drives trout behavior throughout the season. We’re going to discuss the fly line setup that both Phil and Darren rely on most often. We find out about DPR and DRP depth pattern retrieve. We’re going to talk about that a little bit today and why the fall may be the best time of the year to target Henry’s Lake’s largest fish. This episode is presented by Visit Idaho and Yellowstone Teton Territory, home to some of the most diverse and wild trout waters in the west. If you’d like to connect with Phil, you can find him at Phil Roy Flyfishing dot com and you can find Darren at Stillwater Skeeter on Instagram. All right, let’s get into it. Here we go. Phil Roy and Darren Huntsman, let’s get into it. How are you guys doing? 00:01:27 Darren: Doing good. 00:01:28 Phil: Doing good Dave. Doing good. Busy time of the year. 00:01:30 Dave: Yeah, yeah. We’re going to get an update from both of you guys. I know Phil, you’re out there. You’ve got. This is the only day we could track you down to, to get a podcast in. So I know you’re busy Darren. You as well. We’re, we’re going to be talking about Henry’s Lake today. And I know we’ve covered that before, but we’re going to go in depth and talk about the Stillwater school that we’re planning here with both of you guys and how this, uh, you know, this trip is going to be different maybe than some other ones out there around the country. But, uh, but first off, maybe let’s start with a little quick update since we had you on. I guess it’s been a while. Maybe. Darren, we could start with you. What’s been keeping you busy this year? Any changes in the last year for you and your your fishing? 00:02:08 Darren: Oh, there’s going to be so many changes for this year. The lake is on the upturn. Uh, in fact, the last couple of weeks Henry’s has been fishing as as well as any may I can remember in the last twenty years. So it it’s on fire. So anybody that wants to get out and do some fishing under an indicator. Yeah. We’re having some banner days and we’re getting some big fish, a lot of fish over seven pounds. 00:02:36 Dave: Wow. Okay. And so we’re going to talk about that. What makes Henry’s because I want to hear more on that. Like what’s going on now? Why, you know, maybe what’s happened in the last few years and what’s going on now. But but before we get there, Phil, give us an update on you. I know you’re a busy man. You’ve got stuff going on. What’s the update for you? If you could give folks heads up? 00:02:54 Phil: Yeah, it is busy. I’m right in the middle of my sort of spring, early summer school and trip season. I just finished in May. I was in the province of British Columbia. Uh, I do two schools there with Brian Chan each year, one at Corbett Lake Lodge. Just finished another one at, um, Ruddock’s Ranch, uh, both located in British Columbia. On for a few days. Uh, Friday I fly to Iceland for the first time to, uh, visit a lodge there. So I will be there chasing Arctic char and brown trout. One of the things they’d like me to do is check out, uh, and help them with a lake that’s full of big brown trout. So I hate those. I hate those kind of assignments. 00:03:34 Dave: Really? 00:03:35 Phil: Yeah. And then and then, uh, you know, I was inquiring about flies and, uh, they said chironomid. So I was like, oh, okay. That sounds. I’ve heard about those bugs. I think they’re pretty cool. So yeah, doing that, uh, I get back for a day and then I fly into, uh, fortress Lake, uh, wilderness retreat, which is a trophy brook trout destination nestled amongst the Canadian Rockies. You. Helicopter in there for a week long chironomid clinic there. Then I come out and I’m home for a few days to do laundry, repack, maybe tie a few more bugs, and then I’m off to BC for two back to back Stillwater schools at Stoney Lake Lodge with Iron Bow fly fishing. As a Calgary based fly shop, I’ve been doing Stillwater schools with them for the past four or five years now, and they’ve been really good. So the crime and fishing out there at that time of the year is really good. July, I’m home for the most part, doing, you know, got to charge up the family account again with my wife. And then August, the first two weeks of August, I’ll be doing two hosted trips at Northern Rockies Adventures up in northeastern BC, some spectacular daily flights we do based out of Muncho Lake to all the remote lakes in that area for trout, bull trout, lake trout, grayling, rainbows. Do some rainbow fishing on rivers and lakes, and they have some huge trophy pike lakes up there that are not too well known, all in crystal clear, pristine water. It’s pretty cool. And then September again is another couple of Stillwater schools in British Columbia, one again at Corbett Lake Lodge with Brian, and then another one at, uh, up at caribou in the Cariboo region of the province. Um, it’s about northwest of Kamloops by an hour or two, working with Lone Butte Sporting Adventures. And then I come home, I think I’m home in October, probably do a little bit of guiding. And then early November, I’ve got a week long trip to Eastlake, uh, Paradise Lodge for bonefish, Tarpon permit, Snook, small group we take there. I think we have still a couple of spaces left. So by the time this airs, if anybody’s interested, they can let me know. And then I’m home for about ten days after that. And then I do my annual trips to Argentina, a week at the Golden Dorado River cruiser chasing Golden Dorado, and then head on to Jurassic Lake at Estancia Laguna Verde. And then I’m home for Christmas and then show season starts. So that’s pretty well the rest of my year. 00:06:01 Dave: It sounds like you’re, uh, it sounds like you’re out more than you’re at home with, with that sort of schedule. 00:06:06 Phil: Uh, that’s the way my wife sees it. Yes. 00:06:09 Dave: Yeah. That’s right. Amazing. Well, I want to hear on, you know, because Henry’s like you talked about a bunch of amazing places around the world, you know? But Henry’s Lake, I feel like, you know, is one of those places that has something special. Maybe you guys can describe that. You’ve both fished it, obviously. Darren. And this is like your home water. Talk about what you think. First off, this Stillwater school we’re doing here, how this might be a little bit different or how this, you know, why is Henry’s Lake the place that we should be doing this? 00:06:38 Darren: Well, number one, uh, you won’t find a prettier lake to fish. Uh, there’s a lot of times I’ll get frustrated, or, you know, if the fishing’s slow. I have to sit down and just look around, you know, be in the moment, get myself back to to realize that I’m fishing in one of the prettiest places there is. And at on top of that are the fish. Henry’s has got three species of trout. We’ve got a brook trout, a which they supplement with Triploids. We’ve also got still some wild fish in the lake. Uh, we’ve got, uh, wild Yellowstone cutthroat. And then we’ve got, uh, what we all seek. And that’s the, the cutthroat rainbow hybrid. And they’re all triploid. And so all they want to do is eat and they can get to some big sizes. Yeah. We’ve seen, we’ve seen several fish in the double digits already this year. So yeah, this year is looking really good. But that’s, that’s the number one reason people come up here is the fish. 00:07:37 Dave: Yeah. The big fish. And Phil you’ve you’ve been there before. How does this lake um, put it in place with everything else you’re covering around, around the country you mentioned. 00:07:46 Phil: Well it’s definitely, definitely up there within the top ten list on my personal list anyway. Um, I can remember, I think what was that book? Darren. Fly Rods, float tubes and other essays by Marv Taylor. Yeah, I remember that book when I was just, uh, you know, uh, a sponge. Well, I’m still a sponge for knowledge, but a sponge for knowledge on on lakes back then, and grabbing every Stillwater book I could find. And there wasn’t too many out back then. So reading that one and that sort of lit my fire and just the stories of Henry’s Lake, the large fish there, the diversity of species like you mentioned, Darren, those big brookies, the Yellowstone cuts to keep you busy. And then the chance of, uh, one of those huge hybrids. And I’ve had a I was with you, Darren, last fall on me. I was fortunate enough to be with you. And I got one around nine, just over nine pounds. And when I filmed with the new fly Fisher, uh, the first time I fished on Henry’s Lake, I got one. We believe it was around thirteen. So yeah. And it’s it’s a neat lake because it’s just. It reminds me of a couple lakes up in British Columbia, one called Tonka. It’s very shallow, somewhat large and very, very productive. So that gives the the perfect climate for fish to get big. There’s lots of things for them to eat. Um, but the challenge is, is because that water is so big, they can roam almost anywhere. The, you know, there’s not a lot of other Stillwater lakes have a lot of could have a lot of deep water areas that the fish don’t feeding fish don’t frequent that much. And it makes them a little more predictable. That doesn’t make them any easier, just gives you a better idea of where to anchor yourself or place yourself. Um, but, um, Henry’s they can scatter anywhere and that makes it fun and challenging. And as Darren alluded to, the, the lake sits in that confluence of those three valleys. So some days you’re, you’re caught gawking just looking around and, you know, remembering one of the primary reasons we, we fly fish is just to go sit in some of these beautiful places trout live. 00:09:42 Darren: Yeah. To just to add one more thing there. The fun thing about Henry’s is it’s the whole lake is almost a littoral zone. 00:09:50 Phil: Yeah, it’s a giant. 00:09:51 Darren: Deepest spot in the lake. When the lake is full is between twenty one and twenty two feet. So it’s not a deep lake at all? No. And the vast majority, it only averages about twelve feet. So, yeah, the food sources in this lake right now, the hatch is coming off and it’s I mean, it’s fine out on the lake. You know, you can brush them away from you if you get on shore, like where I camp. It’s just they are just. Yeah. And yeah, yeah, the fish are really on them right now. But the, the food in this lake is astounding. I mean, besides the cronides and the basics, like your your leeches, the lake is full of Scuds. In fact, that’s one of our problems is because there’s so many Scuds in the lake, it makes these fish real good table fare. And so we’re that’s that’s one of the problems we fight is, you know, before the weeds get going real good. We have a lot of hardware guys up here dragging stuff, and they’ve been pounding the big fish this spring so far. And it it hurts me. It’s like having your pet puppy at home and somebody walking in and wanting to kill and eat it. Yeah. So yeah, a lot of food. It’s a fly tyers Paradise because anybody that wants to match a hatch, goodness, you. Yeah. You anything you want to match, it’s here. 00:11:09 Phil: Yeah. I’ve seen you know as Darren talked about Scuds, leeches, baitfish, uh, damsels chironomids um you know. 00:11:18 Darren: Dragonflies, caddis. 00:11:20 Phil: It’s got it all there. Um, you know, it’s just. And that’s a function of its productivity because of that shallow littoral zone. Um, and that’s, uh, those shallow areas get bathed. A lot of sunlight down there stimulates weed growth. And that provides the homes for all these food sources to live in and these trout to roam through and graze at their at their leisure almost. And that makes it challenging both trying to find them because they can be anywhere. And then when you find them getting your fly into some of those areas, you know, Darren, we were fishing last fall, right? And we were motoring out from the, the county launch on our way somewhere else. And we were running through what, four feet of water? 00:12:01 Darren: Yeah. It was real shallow. 00:12:02 Phil: And all of a sudden there was just these big hybrids scattering everywhere, like you’d see on a bonefish flat. Just there’s one, there’s one, there’s one. Darren and I are like, put the brakes on, put the brakes on. And, uh, you know, we anchored up in a or, or set up in a spot and just, you know, we were fishing four feet of water and two feet of that was weeds. So you had a little two foot corridor between the weed tops and the surface of the lake to get your flies in. And we were just Darren has a great little, uh, crystal buggery ties, a little root beer, brown one and an olive one. And we were just fishing those on hover lines or midge tip hovers just to slow the hover sinks at about one inch per second. For those who aren’t familiar with that and very, very slow sinking unweighted flies because, uh, it was a challenge to keep those flies out of the weeds. But if you did, things often got locked up and got crazy because we hook a fish of that size, you know, four to ten pounds in that skinny water, they tend to go a little crazy. 00:12:59 Darren: Yeah. That’s there’s nothing more fun in the fall. That skinny water is really fun because our predation, our ospreys leave, the pelicans leave. Uh, and so those bigger fish feel more confident that they can move in there without, you know, something eating them. And, uh, yeah, that can be really fun in the fall. That’s why we like to have the school there. 00:13:18 Dave: Yeah, exactly. That’s setting the stage very well because this is getting exciting to hear about this. So, so we’ve got some potential big fish that people can get into. And also, I think the school part of it is big, right? Because the idea being people come there and they can learn some techniques that they can apply to maybe some other areas as well. But talk about that, you guys, what is this school, what does that fill? You mentioned yourself. You do these things around the country, North America, well, really around the world now it sounds like. But what is the school? What are people going to expect to get at this school that we’re talking about here? 00:13:49 Phil: Well, they get to spend time with, uh, Darren and I, both on the water and on the shore. Um, we usually do some sort of daily seminars, uh, every day that covers, uh, techniques and tactics, not only for Henry’s lake, of course, to make their trip as successful as possible. But I think what’s key is you’ll find that a lot of the stuff we do is applicable to any Stillwater. You may have to make the odd tweak or change a little bit, but for the most part, um, the techniques I use are, uh, universal, which makes it very valuable. And you get the chance, as Darren said, to run into those big fish. Um, just sort of punctuates everything. And with Darren’s knowledge of the lake, you know, he’s been fishing it for longer than he probably wants to admit. Because if anything, like me, Darren, that means you know how old you are. Um, but, uh, he’s got that experience and knows it’s, it’s, uh, seasonal tendencies and, and fluctuations. And there’s one thing about when you visit an area is, you know, local, you can’t beat local knowledge. And anytime you can find a source such as Darren to, uh, get that local knowledge, it just adds an extra level of confidence because you’re not out there by yourself struggling and banging your head against the wall, trying to figure it out. Well, the guy next to you who you don’t know is doing really well. Um, we’re all out there together working on the same problem, um, debriefing all that stuff. And we’re providing this in a nice location, uh, with food, accommodation, everything you need, uh, place to store your boat, all of that. Um, so you can, um, you know, come back every night and we can, it’s just a total immersive experience, I guess might be the best way to phrase it. 00:15:30 Darren: And the thing I like about it too, Phil, is, you know, this is this will be our third school together, and the guys, even from our first school, still stay in touch with me. And the thing that tickles me is, in my opinion, Henry’s Lake is about as major league of a Stillwater in North America as you can get. These fish can be as finicky as any. Any. Henry’s fork, Madison River. South fork of the snake. Any of those fish that are real snooty and finicky. There are times when Henry’s. They can be the divas of all fish. 00:16:04 Phil: Yeah, yeah, that’s with public water. You get that, right? You know the. You know you. Darren and I both get the luxury of fishing private water from time to time, and it’s nice, um, you know, reduce crowds. A lot of times you’re the only persons on that lake, but, uh, those public fish keep you honest. Keep your skill level high, keep your brain constantly in gear. Um, because they’re, they can be as fickle as anything out there. 00:16:30 Darren: And what you learn at this school, I guarantee you you will take to any Stillwater and be able to use the same things that we teach and be successful in your home waters. 00:16:41 Phil: Yep. And that’s, I guess that’s one of the primary goals is to not, you know, it’s to me, it would be kind of, um, you know, be obviously the fish Henry’s and all that’s fun. But if, if you can’t take the skills and the tactics and the strategies and the thought processes to another body of water, that makes you pretty one dimensional. And I think that’s an important skill that we’re going to show everyone how you can take what we’re doing at that time of the year for those fish and go, this will work. You know, and I’m fortunate enough that I do get to Dave, you mentioned I get to travel a bit. You know, my theories are based on that because I often get put in those situations on new bodies of water. When I’m working with a new Fly Fisher television show, um, doing Stillwater stuff, it’s there’s the lake, go figure it out. And, and, you know, hopefully come out of there with a TV show that, uh, is enjoyable, educational and supports the show sponsors as far as locations and things like that. So sometimes it’s a bit of pressure, you know, a little nervous, a little nausea in the morning when you get out there. Oh, I hope I can pull all this off. That’s right. Um, so, you know, these are these are very transferable skills. You’re not going to come and, and have a one dimensional experience going, well, that’s great on Henry’s Lake. But what do I do on Lake X? Exactly the same thing. Or maybe this and a little bit of a tweak here for that and you’re off and running again. 00:17:59 Dave: Wow, I love this. I, I actually am reading a book. I think we all know Lee Wolfe, a famous Lee Wolfe. He, he fished, uh, Atlantic salmon was a big species. He chased and, and he, uh, mountain Waters resort is a place that I’m going to this year to fish the same basically lodge where he used to fish. But he talked about that in the book. He talked about how he produced all these movies for fly fishing. And it was amazing. Some of the stories, the fact that you had to produce, he was the A, B, C that series that ran back in the day, the the sportsman. Right. That that whole series. 00:18:30 Phil: American Sportsman wasn’t that with Curt Gowdy? 00:18:32 Dave: Yeah. Curt Gowdy exactly. He did a ton of those, but he talked about that, how he was on the spot. You know, they had to produce whatever it was. So Phil, you’re you’ve done that. What is that like? You know, is that a it sounds like that’s a pretty anxious part of your, your job. 00:18:46 Phil: It can be usually you’re set up for success because the location really wants to showcase what they’ve got. So the two episodes I filmed on Henry’s Lake were both picked, you know, prime times of the years to go. But you know, the second show we had was, was a little more challenging because the lake was low. Um, there was a lot of algae, uh, big algal blooms then, um, which, you know, made it, um, you know, algae. Some people just think it’s not pretty. I think Darren and I look at that and kind of rub our hands and go, that’s a sign of productivity, you know, but it can, you know, in certain situations, algae can create in the summer months, the summer kill situation when it’s you’ve got warm water that’s low in oxygen. And then you put algae in there and the algae starts to die. And it it then starts stripping the water of oxygen through the decomposition process. That can be a pretty, pretty toxic mix for trout. But, um, you know, Henry’s being spring fed sort of gets through all that. Um, and it’s just a good barometer of its productivity. So yeah, we, you know, you’ve got to scratch your head and think about, um, you know, areas that the fish are going to find food where they’re going to find comfort in the form of oxygen content. And with Henry’s weed growth, um, one of the byproducts during the daylight hours of weeds is photosynthesis. Well, photosynthesis occurs all the time, but it’s stripping carbon dioxide out of the water and replenishing it with oxygen, which is very beneficial for fish. Of course, the springs, the food sources, you know, and just understanding the times of the year and where fish go. And we’re going to cover all of that. And those those skills and knowledge is applicable to still waters everywhere. 00:20:22 Dave: This is great. Well, I think, uh, you guys mentioned it, you know, we kind of set the stage here. So Phil, you will be there. Obviously, we’ll be doing the school like similar things that you do around the country. Darren. You know this place better than anybody. So we’ve got a good shot to know what’s going on. And and I will also be there this year. So we’ll have a little bit of comic relief. So wet fly swing and the whole crew. So we’re going to bring this together into, I think a pretty special trip. But talk about the time of year that we’re going to be doing this because we’re kind of setting this up now. What do you guys think maybe describe kind of the time of year we’re going to be doing this, and then how that when you fish Henry’s and how that changes throughout the year. 00:20:59 Darren: Yeah. The fun thing about the fall is when our water temperatures start to drop and get down in the fifties. Again, these fish, that’s just a dinner bell for them. They know that the cold weather is coming. And, uh, yeah, they put their feed bib on and go to eating. And that’s, that’s fun. It’s, you know, you, you still have to find the fish. You still have to get the, you know, the, your bug in the right zone and you have to have the right bug if you figure that puzzle out. Yeah. It can. We’ve we’ve had some epic days in the fall, last fall. In fact, the last few falls have been just really, really good fishing. 00:21:35 Phil: Yeah. Because it’s what that fifth Darren mentioned that that fifty Fahrenheit temperature is a key temperature we use in lakes both in the spring. Once things get above fifty, it tends to be a hatch trigger for a lot of bugs to get moving. And Darren mentioned the chironomids that are currently coming off. That’s sort of their let’s go number. And then in the fall, once temperatures start to drop below that, that’s Mother Nature’s polite kick in the pants to a trout to strap that feed bag on and start feeding. And in the fall months, things are a little that doesn’t make them easier. I don’t want to make it sound easier, but the food sources are often a lot less complicated. They’re. They’re feeding on scuds, immature damsels, leeches, baitfish that are present there. The chub, they’re targets of opportunity there. I call them bread and butter food sources. They’re just there all the time. And those fish are those are high protein food items too. So, um, they’ve got a strap on that feed bag, build up those fat reserves. Um, that’s going to get them through that long, cold winter. Right. Darren. 00:22:35 Darren: That’s exactly one other thing about the fall is that’s generally when fish and game, uh, does the majority of their planning of our fry. And when they plant, you know, when they plant thousands and thousands and thousands of these little two and three inch fry, that is just I mean, that’s like dumping a bunch of French fry on a bunch of hungry people. They’re just they go to mowing on them. Yeah. And so yeah, last in fact, last fall, uh, when Phil was with me, there were, there were times of the day when you could fish a little baitfish imitation and just strip it as fast as you could. And yeah, we had a, we had a couple of fun mornings doing that. 00:23:15 Phil: Yeah. We did, we did. Yeah. Those, those fish are in shallow. Um, the water conditions are ideal. You know, they’re, you know, in that temperature range that their metabolism is functioning efficiently. So they’re eating, they’re digesting, packing on that fat. And then they got to go eat again, right? They’re just in this constant feed mode. 00:23:36 Darren: Yeah. That’s what their focus is on is, is feeding. Yeah. So that yeah, I love those fish. 00:23:41 Phil: Yeah. That process where they sterilize the fish right after conception is, um, you know, they, they don’t have that desire to reproduce because trout and lakes, uh, they need, uh, moving water and a lot of your best lakes are pretty landlocked. Henry’s is a little different because it is has influence from, from streams that come into it. Um, that also bring nutrients in from the surrounding area as well. That whole area where Darren is located is so productive, you know, with the right nutrient loads and, and all that good stuff that provides a perfect environment to grow big fish. 00:24:17 Dave: Wow, this is cool. Well, talk about that. So there’s quite a bit going here. You mentioned the triple eight. Explain that a little bit maybe. Let’s get into the techniques. And I know you guys have a lot of similarities, but maybe kind of riff on this a little bit the maybe some of the differences between, you know, first let’s talk about what we’re going to be doing there. You mentioned a few ideas, but talk about that and then how you guys differ in your techniques. Or do you guys think you’re more similar than different on, on your Stillwater fishing? 00:24:42 Phil: Probably more similar. 00:24:43 Darren: More similar. 00:24:44 Phil: Than different? 00:24:45 Darren: Very much so. 00:24:45 Phil: Yeah, not in an adversarial way. If Darren and I are out together and we’re doing, we’ll do different things just to find out what different thing might be working, right. It’s when you’re trying to find fish. That’s one of the things is if Darren’s doing stripping something, maybe I’ll hang something or vice versa. Um, or maybe we’ll fish different lines or different bugs, uh, just to try and narrow things down. And once something becomes consistent, you know, we talked about that example last fall where we were ended up fishing, you know, really slow sinking lines to keep an unweighted flies, to keep our flies out of the weeds in an area where the fish can find them and eat them. 00:25:23 Darren: I love to fish alone out of my boat, but I absolutely cherish the days that I have my son with me. Because not only is it fun to fish with him, but Justin is a good enough fisherman that when we put two and two together, now you’ve got two people trying to solve that puzzle. And you know when you solve the puzzle, it’s really fun. Henry’s can be a tough puzzle, and sometimes you can be in a, you know, on a marquee place on the lake and you’ve got a dozen boats around you. And if you’re the one that figures the puzzle out, then, uh, you’re the boat that’s catching fish. And, and of course, that’s, that’s always our goal is, is to figure out what that puzzle is, get the right bug, get the right depth, get the right presentation. And, you know, that’s what makes it so fun and rewarding. 00:26:10 Phil: Yeah, yeah. And you know, in the group setting we’re going to have with the school is if that turns on, we can all communicate with each other through little two way radios, or you’ve got decent cell service out there. Just send we send up a a group text and hey, we’re here in this kind of conditions, fishing this line with this retrieve and this bug. And you know, if you’re in a similar area, give that a try or come on over. Right. 00:26:35 Darren: You know, one of the fun things about Henry’s to Dave is it’s a very social fishery. There are a group of locals up here that have fished this lake for decades. And you know, when the fish are in a certain area and you get a group of guys out there in the mornings especially, it could be so calm and so quiet that, you know, you can talk in a normal voice and converse with some of these guys. Now that can be a double edged sword too. You have to, you know, if you figure out a bug, you’re whispering or you’re using code names for bugs and locations because everybody within two hundred yards can pretty much hear what you’re saying. Yeah. And, uh, you know, that’s a, that’s a unique feature on Stillwater. So sometimes it can get so quiet that you can learn a lot just by listening to what other people are saying. But yeah, that’s again, if you’re trying to keep that secret, you need to be a little bit more soft in your voice. 00:27:27 Phil: Yeah. It’s funny, I’ve, um, often had guiding or something. Somebody else was catching fish. I’ll just, you know, politely ask it. Just be quiet for a second and listen. Um, because even the most secretive anglers get swept up in the moment and all of a sudden are releasing information they probably don’t want. I’m not so worried about the fly sometimes because sometimes people use a name of a fly. Who knows what that means? Uh, but, uh, you know, if they’re talking about, you know, some insight as to the depth they’re fishing or how they’re moving those flies or the lines they’re using. And, you know, and sometimes you can just sit there with a, a pair of binoculars and just, you know, sort of check out and see line color and, you know, with a little bit of understanding of fly lines and fly line color and seeing if they have an indicator on or not. All this kind of stuff. It goes okay, I can see what they’re doing and then kind of mirror that to find success as well. So but again, with the school we’re doing, we are the, the group. So we’re going to be quite social and letting people know what’s what’s happening. Um, so everybody can enjoy that success as well. 00:28:30 Darren: We have a good time doing that too. Yeah. 00:28:33 Dave: This is good. Now I’m excited for this. I think this is going to be fun. I think you guys have explained what makes this pretty special, right? Being able to hang out this community, you know, approach to it where we’re all kind of in this and then again, taking away some tips and tricks and all that stuff, which is great. So but you mentioned Darren, the puzzle. I want to talk about that a little bit because that’s always the thing. And I know both of you guys have covered on this podcast about, you know, you go to a new lake, how do you fish it and all that stuff. And we’ll have some links to those episodes. But talk about that like Henry’s, what do you think we’re going to be doing there in the fall when we do this trip, will there be a bunch of different techniques that will all be open and to figure things out, talk about how we figure that puzzle out when we’re out there. 00:29:12 Darren: Absolutely. The fall is the fun time because like I mentioned before, we can have fish in two feet of water, you know, chasing bait fish and, uh, immature damsels and stuff like that. Or we can have fish out in a little bit of a deeper water, uh, depending on what our weather is. And then we’re hanging indicators or, uh, even doing some dangling and, and some of that stuff. So just like with any new lake that you go to, you’ve got to figure out, you know, where you’re going to start. Very first thing I do in the morning is when I turn my sonar on is find out what my water temperature is. That’s pretty much my key to where I’m going to go, what kind of technique I’m going to use, what bugs I’m going to start with. Generally speaking, we like to to start early in the morning, and that puzzle changes throughout the day. In the morning, those fish will eat big things and stripped fast. And as soon as the sun hits the water, that puzzle, it’s like somebody sweeps off the puzzle you just completed and emptied out a brand new box on you, and you got to try to figure it out again. But yeah, the fall is fun because like I said, the predation leaves. And so the shallow water opens up and a lot of the weeds are starting to to die. When the water gets colder, we lose about an inch a day on weed growth. So it can go down real fast. And it opens up a lot of opportunity in in some of the corners. One of my favorite places in the fall is the the southwest corner. It’s called Hope Creek. And all summer long it’s so weed choked, there’s little holes in it and a lot of the tubers or the pontoon guys will get out and, and be able to fish those those holes with their indicators. But in the fall, when those weeds start to recede, those fish come out of there and they haven’t seen a fly all season. And so they’re, I don’t want to say they’re more susceptible to being caught, but maybe they are. It’s yeah, that little corner could be really fun when the weeds start dying. Lots of opportunities in the fall. 00:31:03 Dave: So water temperature is the first thing getting out there, knowing what’s going on there. And, and by the fall, we’re talking about kind of that September period. Is that is that what we’re looking at here? 00:31:13 Darren: The last couple of days of September first few of October. October is a sleeper month on Henry’s because it’s almost opposite of the rest of the year on Henry’s. We love to have a little bit of breeze, a little bit of chop on the water, those calm days where it’s just glassy and gorgeous. Those aren’t our favorite days in the fall. It’s just the opposite. If the weather’s good, the fishing’s good. If the weather’s lousy, it’s not worth going out. I don’t know why it is with that, but that’s that’s just kind of one of our little facts. 00:31:43 Dave: That’s it. And is that typical Phil, you fished around around? We talked about all these other lakes. Is that typical where the weather is bad, fishing is bad. 00:31:51 Phil: Or you go to if you go to, um, you know, both Darren and I have fished um, uh, pyramid and the uglier it gets, the better it gets. But in most situations, I think probably what Darren’s talking about is in the fall, your angle of light is less. So Those fish are usually the worst conditions on our lake. On any lake are, you know, reasonably clear water, bright blue skies, and not a stitch of wind. Um, very, very challenging. You know, fish are very aware of their surroundings and are, they’re naturally a spooky critter to start with. And in those situations, your presentation techniques have to be pretty well spot on. If you drop a cast and slap the water. Um, you know, your tippet diameter starts to come into it. Um, you know, maybe when your indicator fishing it later in the year you use swivels and the shallow clear water, you don’t, because any little flash of that swivel will put a fish off. It’s just a more challenging, uh, environment to, uh, to present in. And it just keeps you on your toes. But in the fall months, as Darren’s alluded to, you’ve got low angle of the sun, so it’s not as much direct light. The fish are feel a little bit more safer and secure. They’ve still got that security of the weeds around them. They’re not dare mention they’re dying off, but they’re not. It doesn’t turn the lake into a, you know, a desert. There’s, you know, because you still want some weeds in there because if there’s too much weed die off in one area, that decomposition strips oxygen. The fish may not be there. You know, if a fish came to me, that’s one of the most important factors is what I call comfort is if fish can’t breathe properly, um, they’re probably less inclined to eat or do anything and be active. It’s the parable I use. The metaphor I use is if I was crazy enough to enter the Boston Marathon and actually did it without dying along the way, and Darren says, way to go, Phil, here’s a cheeseburger right after the the race, I’d be like, you know what, can I just get my body back in order and get my breathing right? As much as I love a good cheeseburger from Darren, especially if he’s paying. Yeah, I’m not going to be too keen to eat it. So again, as Darren alludes to that late fall, you know, that late September into October, uh, right through until freeze up fall fishing just seems to get better and better and better as the season gets closer and closer to winter. And a lot of times we joke it’s all about your pain threshold and how much cold can you stomach? How prepared are you? Some days you’re going out there looking like you’re going on a, you know, an Antarctic or Arctic expedition somewhere with all the clothes and hand warmers and layers. And, you know, as Darren alluded to, you could be starting the day in subzero conditions by eleven o’clock. You’re stripping everything off because the sun’s come up and the heat’s on and life is good again. 00:34:38 Dave: And is that Darren for you out there? Henry’s? Are you how long are you fishing that? Are you is it wrapping up there come November or what’s that look like? 00:34:46 Darren: Yeah, it all depends on how cold it gets. As soon as it gets really cold. You know, if I if I walk down and have to break ice away from the boat. Yeah. No, I that’s, that’s too cold for me. We got and luckily we’ve got a lot of, of reservoirs on lower elevations that we can go chase to. So yeah, but up until yeah, up until it gets too cold, this lake just yeah, the fish love to eat. 00:35:11 Phil: Yeah. And getting there. Darren. Sometimes the lake’s good, but you gotta come through some, some mountainous areas and and some risk of snow. And I’ve gone down there a couple times where I’ve had to tow my boat through a snowfall. Not one of my most fun experiences. And I can recall one time actually getting stuck in in the Island park area because where I come down through highway fifteen up to the Canadian border, that entire corridor was blanketed with snow. I think I recall Great Falls got forty inches of snow in a twenty four hour period. It was just crazy. And I just, you know, looked at that weather map and went, Phil’s not driving in that. So I got to stay an extra day or two and fish, which was all right, because the where Henry’s was located was, was nippy and cool and, but the snowfall, um, the mountains that surround it took it all. So it’d be the best of times and the worst of times. 00:36:03 Dave: Right on. Yeah. It’s amazing country out there. I’ve, uh, I’m excited to get back out there just because you guys are mentioning it. There’s the mountains and the, you know, and that whole area. Right. And you’ve got the Henrys Lake, which is part of the obviously the Henrys fork and everything there. But talk about again, we’re fishing in the fall. What is going to be do you guys think, can you say right now you pretty much bring all lines. Maybe talk about that a little bit on the gear. Is this something where we want to have everything ready to go here? Talk about what you guys think people should be ready for as far as the lines and techniques. 00:36:36 Darren: Yeah. The fun thing about Henrys is where it’s shallow a person basically, if you’ve got four lines, you can cover all your situations. On Henrys, you always want a floater for your indicator work. Sometimes we get those mornings where the fish are feeding right underneath the surface, and it’s not real breezy. You can still use a floater or, you know, a midge kit. Generally speaking, I like to use the Hubbard line when I’m doing shallow water work because it gets my line underneath the surface so that that wind doesn’t affect it at all. After your hover line, your clear intermediates or your camo intermediates that sink one and a half to two inches a second, they’re probably the most widely used line on the lake, because a lot of our fishing is in six to ten feet of water. So, you know, if you’re in that shallow, you don’t really need anything else. Sometimes I’ll use a hover in that kind of water. If I’m working something really slow, and I’ll go to a type three, which is the only other line you really need. You know, there’s always your specialty lines that you can fill your, your golf bag up with, as we like to use that analogy. Everybody can start with a basic set of clubs, but as soon as you get more proficient at it, then you want a line for each specific, uh, situation that you get into. So yeah, if you, if you have four basic lines, a floater, a hover, an intermediate and a type three. There’s no water on Henry’s that you can’t fish. 00:38:00 Phil: As Darren alluded to, that floater is great for indicator work, but it’s also a good line just fishing a a longer leader and a and a single fly and work. And, you know, maybe on a flat calm day, you may, you know, that stripping that floating line on the surface may create a wake that the fish become aware of. Uh, in those situations, you can go to that midge tip or the hover line, which Darren and I both love those lines. Sinks of one inch per second. Uh, just a great line for Henry’s Lake because you, you know, you can cast out and you just let it sink to 10s fifteen seconds. It’s only going to go down fifteen inches in theory, and you can cover all that water. So, so effectively, especially if they’re they’re not, as Darren alluded to, maybe early in the morning, they’re a little more aggressive and willing to chase. But as the sun comes up, their, uh, response to your flies may change and you may have to slow things down. So you’ve got a line that allows you to keep those that all of that under control. You know the misstep I like because if a fish rolls only that tip sections under the water and you can pick it up with minimal disturbance and cover the fish, sometimes with a something that’s under the water, you’ve got to strip it back in close to you, get it up, cycle it up with a roll pickup, and then hit your target. And you might miss the opportunity because the time it takes to go through all of that. So it just varies. Usually we’ve got a couple of rods rigged and we can pick one up and put one down and make those changes. And sometimes when Darren and I fish together, it’s like, well, I’m going to give this a try. Okay, good idea. And you keep doing that and I’ll do this and, and see if one outperforms the other. 00:39:31 Darren: Doesn’t take long. And we’re both using the same stuff. 00:39:34 Phil: Yeah. Usually one or two fish. It’s like, okay, I got it right. Just do what Darren says. Darren’s the local. He’s got the knowledge. You can’t beat that. 00:39:44 Dave: There’s a place where every bend in the river feels like it’s been waiting for you, where the air smells of sage and pine and trout rise beneath the shadows of the Tetons. that places visit Idaho’s Yellowstone Teton Territory, the heartbeat of fly fishing in the West from the legendary Henrys Fork to the winding South Fork of the snake. This is where big fish and bigger stories live. You’ll find endless waters welcoming towns and locals who still wave as you drive by with drift boat in tow. This is your starting point for world class fly fishing, year round recreation, and wild country that stays with you long after you’ve packed up your gear. Check it out right now that’s wet. Fly dot com slash Teton T e t o n. Visit Idaho for yourself and support this podcast while you go. The Mitch tip. How is that different than the the other ones you guys talked about? Describe that one a little bit. 00:40:37 Phil: Well, Mitch tip is a floating line with a very subtle and I mean by secret tip on it. And there’s different manufacturers real that I’m familiar with uses the the Mitch tip, I believe essay calls it a merger tip. I believe airflow probably has a variation as well. I can’t remember they might call it a tip as well. And it’s just um, you know, there’s different sink rate tips now you can get, you can get clear tips that sink in about an inch and a half per second. You can get hover tips that sink at one inch per second. So a slower tip, and then you can get different tip lengths. You can get them in three foot lengths and six foot lengths. And it’s a subject unto itself because they can be. It’s a very versatile line in still waters. But I think, uh, misunderstood because there’s so many different things. You know, in the fall scenario Darren’s talking about, we can use that to, to strip leeches and things like that. But I also use it, um, in the summer months or in the spring months, fishing chironomids in deep water. Um, I mentioned that Stony Lake school I was at, um, I hold each year in June last year, fish were feeding in twenty to twenty five feet or deeper on a big basin, gorging themselves on huge bloodworm, a common way to fish that is fishing vertically. Darren mentioned it with full sinking lines dangling where you literally suspend your fly about a foot or so off the bottom and just let it hang or dangle for jokingly say, as long as you can take it and the fish swim along and eat it. And the takes with this method are just thunderous, very aggressive. You can have rods ripped out of the boat if you’re not careful, but the drawback to that method is the fish have to basically come to you. And when they’re on a big flat like they were, they’re, they’re meandering all over the place, feeding. They’re moving around in little gangs, pods and terrorizing the bottom. So I wanted something to cover that. So I opted for a midship line fishing. I was fishing from an anchored position. Uh, I put a three foot, uh, tip on with a clear intermediate tip. We had a little bit of chop. So one of the benefits of a midge tip is if it’s a little chop, it’ll get under the water and basically anchor your presentation. So you stay in contact with your flies. Sometimes that water chop can get so much that you’re floating. Line is following the contour of that chop, and you have moments where you’re in and you’re not in touch with your flies and you can miss takes. So I was using that. I think I put a twelve foot tapered leader on just to give the cast some support. From there, I added eight feet of tippet to a small barrel swivel because we had a little bit of wind. I wanted to get it down and another six feet I was fishing twenty six feet of leader. Yeah, casting this out and everybody freaks like you can cast twenty six feet. You just you just don’t obviously make a lot of false casts. But those lines are designed to cast cast that out. And I sort of quartered across the wind reach cast some men’s just to. It’s almost like swinging a wet fly to let it descend because the fish can eat that fly as it’s falling through the water. And it’s fun because everything just takes off and starts running. Craziness ensues and but I was letting it sink anywhere from a minute, forty five to two minutes to get down there and just slowest of retrieves to bring it back. But it really worked well and a lot of fun. Um, you know, with casting that the challenge is getting twenty six feet a liter out of the water because everything’s anchored down. So you just got to do a series of roll casts, almost what we call a roll pickup, to cycle that leader out of the water. And then as soon as it comes out of the water, one false cast with a little breeze behind your back and, you know, good casting, you know, smooth application of power. Let that back cast lay out a positive rod. Stop. That line wants to go and the leader follows and off it goes again. So yeah, minimal false casts and good casting technique. And you can cast long, long leaders. That’s probably an extreme example, but you can see how that line you what we’re talking about, what we’re going to do in the fall at Henry’s is using it to really, uh, surgically probe and explore the shallows. But it’s also a line. It’s very versatile and has a lot of different applications. I’ve even fished dry flies with it. 00:44:37 Dave: Yeah. So and what was the line again, you were describing with that, the twenty six foot leader, which line were you using? 00:44:43 Phil: That was the midge tip. The midge tip in a three foot clear tip section. But you know the ones Rio makes that I work with them on, especially my ambassador series of lines. We have a three foot clear tip, a six foot clear tip, a three foot hover tip and a six foot hover tip. And they all have their their time and their place. You know, Darren used that golf club analogy, which is one I use as well. Is, is, is very good. It’s, um, it’s got lots of, you know, and personal preference comes into it sometimes, but it’s, uh, as Darren alluded to, it’s that the hover line in that tip, either in a hover tip or the original three foot clear intermediate tip or two sort of backbone lines for those situations and a floater for a little bit of indicator work or early morning stuff if the lake’s not too calm, um, you know, your floating line is not going to disturb the surface and certain situations where you want to work a deeper pocket or strip something faster, a type three would work as well. 00:45:39 Dave: Wow. That’s cool. And so in the hover line we mentioned a few, but I mean, I guess, Darren, to you this probably is a hard one, but what do you think is the most common line throughout Henry’s Lake when you’re fishing throughout the season that you’re using? 00:45:51 Darren: I probably well, I don’t know, it’s it’s a cross between and my intermediate. Now, right now we’re all using floaters and indicators. Our water temperature is fifty two degrees and the chronometers are coming off real good. And yeah, everything’s indicator right now. I am a stripping fanatic. I that’s yeah, the tug is the drug for me. And so even the other day, I, I would like to think that if, if a fish can be caught stripping, I can do it, but had to go to an indicator the other day because that’s what was producing. 00:46:21 Phil: The one thing the indicator does is it really allows you to surgically control the depth of your presentation and have real control over your retrieve. Because with the indicator not allowing the fly to touch the bottom or the weed tops, you can let it sit still. You can let the wind drift it around. You can slowly retrieve it in, you can give it little strips, all that stuff. I’m like, Darren, everybody, I think say one thing, everybody thinks I indicator fish all the time. I indicator fish a lot because I do a lot of fishing and it’s a really effective method for that. But if I had my preference, my favorite way to fish a lake would be stripping either with a floating line or a long leader or a midge tip. With those two lines, I can cover a wide variety of different food sources and a wide variety of depths. But you’re it’s a little more. There’s more balls to juggle with the indicator. Once you set your depth pretty well and get your leader formula right, which is a discussion unto itself. But in summary, you want to have a level leader from indicator to fly. So when you suspended eight feet, it’s going to hang vertically down at eight feet. If you use tapered leaders because of their differing thicknesses, you’re going to have a leader that’s going to sink at a different rate along its length, and it sinks in more of an arc. And that can rob you. You think you’re getting down to a depth and you’re not, and it really magnifies it when they’re on the small bugs, as Darren’s talked about with the chironomids and things like that, where fish can feed in a very narrow band of water because it’s efficient. There’s all the food they need. Is that, you know, it could be ten feet of water and nine feet six inches down is where the food is. And that’s where the crews and those are small food sources are rich in calories, but they’re not going to chase one all over the place. They don’t have to. They just basically swim open and, and almost filter feed them. But, uh, you know, with the, what we call the naked technique or the English call it, uh, straight line nymphing you’re just, you’re playing with your leader length, you’re playing with the speed of your retrieve, you’re playing with your sink time and you know, the weight of your pattern. And once you get those four variables in balance, you can be as effective or some days more effective than an indicator, but it’s a little harder, more finesse to, to learn and to stick with. But that’s how I first learned to fly fish lakes was with British Columbia, and its predominance of chironomid fishing in the spring. Indicators didn’t exist back in the days when I first started. So you had to learn you were fishing, you know, not very, you know, floating lines that were not specific to still waters. We were fishing leaders. We made knotted them together. Darren, you probably remember this knotting leaders together. And we used maxima, which was not a great Stillwater leader material because it’s buoyant, it tends to float. And our patterns were unweighted. Bead heads didn’t exist. You if you’re fishing, you couldn’t wrap it with lead or anything because the fly would look bulky and unnatural. So you had to just use the natural weight of the pattern to get down. The materials we use a lot of times, um, were not, you know, they were more, you know, we used to use Centex yarn to make poly yarn basically to make bodies on chironomids because they had little luminescence to them. Just strip out the fibers and thin it down and wind it up to make a slender body. Well, that’s that material is kind of more buoyant than it is dense. So it, it, it, the whole system was fighting you, it seemed. And that’s how you fish chironomids and, and other small nymphs, mayflies, damsels, scuds, leeches. You know, it’s a it’s a very versatile way to fish lakes. Uh, but it’s, it’s fancy and it’s got lots of variables. And a lot of times it’s dependent on the food sources that you’re trying to imitate the time of the year, the water depth. So it changes everything. It keeps you, keeps that brain bouncing around in your head. 00:49:58 Darren: One of the things about that indicator though, is it, it has changed the learning curve. 00:50:03 Phil: Oh yeah. 00:50:03 Darren: You know, for new, new guys, I get clients in my boat and I don’t worry about having kids in my boat and worry about getting them on fish because I can use that indicator. Last weekend, just a prime example of being able to move that indicator to get that fly into the, into the right zone. We, you know, we always start real close to the bottom with our with our bottom fly. And the other day, the first few fish that we were hooking were all on our top bug, which is three above that. And so, you know, it didn’t take very long to decide that those fish were spending a little bit off of the bottom. Or maybe that’s where the bugs were suspended. And we just yeah, we lifted everything up and now our bottom fly was three feet off the bottom. Our top five was five feet off the bottom. And we started catching fish more on both bugs instead of just that top one. And so it allows you to lift that fly up and make sure that you’re in the zone. You know, as Phil and I both teach, that depth is the number one key. You can be very best bug in the world guaranteed to catch fish. And if you’re not down where the fish are or up where the fish are, you’re, you know, you’re not going to catch fish. So that depth is, is key. And that indicator allows us to keep that bug in the zone, especially if people have the experience to be able to keep a, a strip bug where they need it to be. 00:51:25 Phil: Yeah. Now the indicator, you know, both Darren and I guide it certainly saves our arms if somebody, uh, can’t cast as well. So sometimes you cast for them and then give them the rod and let them strip. And, you know, you start doing that all day. It gets tiring. Um, and you know, you can, you don’t have to cast long distances with indicators. In fact, typically the deeper I’m fishing below my indicator, the closer I keep that cast because you need to be able to not all indicator takes are, you know, these aggressive bubble trails, the indicator. We love those, but it’s not always that way. Sometimes that indicator just slides left or right. What I call pulls half down. It kind of is a little deeper down on the surface than it normally was. Very subtle. And if you have too much distance between yourself and the indicator, you’re not going to be able to react or even see those takes. So works very well for that. And, you know, I’ve had, uh, new anglers or kids and you can teach them a basic role cast. They may not win any casting competitions, but they can flop a fly out there and it can hang and they can catch fish and then they get hooked on this great sport and, and, uh, get the enjoyment out of it. You know, the learning curve I went through, I described where you might go a year before you hooked anything, right? You were watching everybody else do this, so you knew it worked and you were just trying to refine your technique and, and get those all those variables. I talked about the retrieve the leader length, the sink time and the pattern weight, all in balance to for that situation in that day, you know, there was a lot of like, God, this is, I’m never going to learn this, right? So the indicator was, has really knocked that learning curve down and made it, you know, stillwaters, I think more accessible. The only curse, I would say of it is those that don’t face lakes think that’s all we do is. And then how easy, how dumb is that? And, and, you know, there’s a lot of people that aren’t indicator fans, but it’s, uh, you know, it’s, it’s just one thing. It’s not the only, it’s not the only thing in lakes, you know, and I think Darren and I talked about when we were on Henry’s last fall, we didn’t indicator fish at all. We stripped. That’s what they wanted. They were. Oh, wow. Yeah. So we never you know, frankly, the indicator wouldn’t have worked because we would have had to hang a fly two or three feet below an indicator. A lot of times the indicator landing and a fly underneath of it that spooks the fish out. Um, the, the, a regular in, in, uh, so, you know, it’s just like nymphing on a river. You a one end of the run. It’s three feet below the indicator is fine. A little further down, you’re hitting that log or that rock in the run and you’re hanging up all the time. So when you’re casting and stripping, you have a little more control of your depth. You can, you know, you can sometimes read where your fly is roughly and say, oh, there’s a big weed clump there. I’m going to pick up the pace of the retrieve a little bit, almost to hop it over that weed clumping, and drop it right back in that hole and slow down again. So indicator fishing is not the only way we fish lakes. 00:54:10 Darren: Those indicators. That’s why we like to use a little bit longer rod. I, I prefer a ten foot six weight and it makes those row casts for those, you know, less experienced anglers, it makes it way easier than if we were using shorter rods also. 00:54:25 Dave: Yeah. So ten foot or so a good all around Stillwater Rod is going to be ten foot. Is that. 00:54:30 Phil: Yeah. And that anywhere from a five to a seven week. Probably a six. Darren, is that you and I are using pretty well those. 00:54:37 Darren: Sometimes if we’re fishing in the wind up here, I’ll switch to seven weight just, you know, to get the line to cut through the wind a little better. But yeah, generally speaking I’ve, I’ve got a six weight in my hand, six weight. 00:54:47 Dave: Okay. And talk about this came up on another podcast I brought up because I was thinking about you guys. I know you guys were talking, I think it was the last one you did. You were talking about the DRP or maybe DPR, maybe talk about that. I think this is something where you guys have depth where I think you’re set, right. That is the thing. But on Henry’s Darren, do you feel like, you know, retrieve or pattern talk about that a little bit and how maybe you guys differ there a little bit? 00:55:11 Darren: Just about every other lake I fish, I do what what Phil does depth retrieve pattern. Uh, Henry’s like I’ve, like I mentioned before, these fish can be so finicky, they can zone in on one bug. And if you don’t have that bug, You’re just. Yeah, you’ll pull your hair out because. Fish let you know that they’re feeding the. You know, they’re around you. They’re they’re showing themselves and. Yeah, so, uh, Henry’s, I teach, uh, depth pattern retrieve because if you don’t have that right pattern, that’s one of the biggest puzzle pieces to Henry’s is, is finding the bug they’re going to eat. And they, they let you know pretty quick when you right pattern. They’ll, uh, they’ll accommodate you and want to play. But if you don’t, you’re casting a lot of times. 00:55:57 Phil: Yeah, yeah. And that’s, you know, I do follow that depth retrieve pattern most times. But as Darren says, there are and what he just talked about is one example. And again, I keep referring to Chironomids. You know, you can have the depth, right and the retrieve, right. But you’ve got to now they don’t want a black one anymore. They want a black one with a red rib, or they want one that’s a little more gassed up. So a little shinier. Chironomids go through this process where they’re, they generally start in a kind of a dull coloration as they just transform from the larval stage and is suspending just above the bottom. But they’re gathering gas and they get shinier and shinier, and this gas provides buoyancy and helps helps their ascent to the surface and then their hatching process. Those bugs will get so they’ll, you know, in the morning, a more somber bug will work. And then as the hatch is progressing, they start to get gassed up, they get shinier and you get the ultimate scenarios. That pattern of mine, the chrome, that’s almost all silver is the ticket. So it keeps your, you know, pulling your hair out and driving you crazy because there are times that you get the retrieve and the, the depth, right? But you got to have the right bug in that situation. Whatever flips the switch that day. And, and some days is, you know, in that situation, there’s a pattern to that. But other days, like Darren and I experienced in the fall, they like that root beer, brown color. They didn’t like the olive color so much. Same pattern, just slight color variations. They seem to respond to it better. So you go with it. 00:57:19 Darren: Yeah. 00:57:19 Phil: Keeps you coming back. 00:57:23 Darren: All the big difference was same color of bug, same size of bug. They wanted a Gil. Yeah. Little piece of that glow. Bright coming out the top of the Gil. And that made the difference in in fish picking it up. You know, every five minutes versus sitting there for fifteen minutes waiting for a take down. 00:57:41 Dave: Yeah. Right. That seems to be one of the challenges, right? You’ve got the pattern. How often are you changing that pattern to get to the right one? You know, maybe you have the depth. The retrieve is the pattern. And how do you know what to use? Do you just have your, you know, your files of flies that you’re kind of going through? Describe that a little bit. 00:57:59 Darren: Yeah, we, we do up here. We, you know, there are certain bugs. There’s a book out there that was written by a guy back in the night called Fishing Henry’s Lake. Anyway, it’s written by a guy named Bill Chase. Some of his bugs we’ve made variations of over the years. Uh, added little things, taking things away. Bill was a a fan of waited bugs. He used a lot of, you know, the lead wire to rap on the bugs. And I very rarely do I ever fish a bug that’s got weight on it, other than maybe a bee or a chronometer or some of my baitfish imitations might have a small bead, but I personally, I give a bug. If I know the fish are in the area, I will give a bug six casts. If they don’t eat it, I’m changing. And like I said, Henry’s, you can change bug after bug after bug after bug, and then all of a sudden you find the right bug and they let you know real fast that you’ve got what they want it keys in. It’s it’s like, uh, I was just getting ready to get a bunch of stuff for camp and I, I wanted some shelled pistachios. They come in a bright green box or a bag and, uh, I walked on to the snack aisle and here’s all of this food for me to eat. And I had my eye on one thing and I was, I was scanning up and down. I was, I saw it, it was like, ding, there it is. And those fish, I think are the same way. There could be some food in the water, but if they have a preference for something or there’s one bug that’s hatching, you know, dominantly, that’s what they’re picking up. And that’s they just it’s almost like they have eyes only for that bug. And it’s frustrating until you find it. And then and it’s frustrating for everybody around you. 00:59:40 Phil: Yeah. Those fish, if they, they want it, they tell you right away they’re not going to watch you fly. Go past them four or five, ten, fifteen times and then finally lose their mind and nail it. They usually fish if they’re in the area and they’re feeding. That’s usually why they’re there. They’re feeding all the time. It’s a beautiful thing about trout. They’re constantly grazing on food. They don’t. They’re not like a pike or a muskie or a bass that eats a large food item and has to that’ll satiate them for a while until that digests. Trout are grazing and cruising constantly. You know, you put something they like, they’re on it right away. Um, you know, I think Jason, you probably had Jason Randall on before and, and Jason in his book. Um, his trilogy did, uh, he called it search image optimization. And we, we call it selectivity, I believe, and we just believe that those trout are, are really smart and, and know that that’s there, but they tend to, once they figure out what they want to eat, they sort of that’s the search image in their head that they’re looking for the size, the shape, the color, how it moves, and anything that doesn’t fit that criteria, they just, they don’t almost don’t even see it. So once we figure, as Darren says, once you figure out that bug and, and sometimes it can be the same bug in brown, but they want it not on a size ten today. They want it on an eight. They want it a little bigger. And that’s, you know, that really causes hair loss and stress and other things. But, uh, you know, it’s the analogy I use is as humans, we do it to a degree as well. If you’re, if. Dave, Darren, and Phil are in a big mall shopping at Christmas and, uh, Darren takes off on us and we can’t find him. And if Darren’s wearing a red jacket and Dave and Phil are trying to find him, all we’re looking for is someone of Darren’s stature in a red jacket. That’s what we’re looking for, because we don’t have the time to individually look at every person to see if it’s Darren. Right? So as soon as we. That’s what we’re looking for. And that’s sort of the analogy, maybe a bit simplistic, I use when trout get really focused on, on one particular thing or size or color. It’s the same thing. Um, they’re doing that and just not if nothing meets that criteria, they don’t respond to it, but that criteria can change. It’s just sometimes just when you got it figured out, they go, well, today, maybe, maybe an hour from now, I’ll eat all of. 01:01:55 Darren: one of the most popular bugs up here. We have a really good caddis hatch. And so one of the most bugs that we have is called a Henry’s Lake Renegade. And it, it looks like an old fashioned renegade. It’s got hackle on the front and the back. It’s got a, a body of peacock girl, but Henry’s we, we tie it kind of with a, a size down hackle and we use a small piece of wire and counter wrap that over our Peacock-Farrell to keep that, you know, more than one fish fly. And so a lot of times we’ll, we’ll tie that fly anywhere from a size eight to X long to a size fourteen, one x short. And so that bug, we have so many different species of caddis in the lake that that bug in different sizes will represent one of those species. And when they get keyed on one of those species. Yeah. Finding the right size, the right color is key. 01:02:50 Dave: Do you guys have in your box? Darren. If we were to look at your box, would it have. You’d have. It sounds like when we talked to these a lot of the Euro nymphing you know the team USA pros, they have like a sick their confidence flies and they’ve got all sizes, all colors. It sounds like that’s kind of. Is that how your box looks as well? 01:03:06 Darren: Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, like I said that Henry’s Lake Renegade, I’ve got that probably in a dozen different variations in sizes of that single fly. I always have my confidence fly. I in the mornings at Henry’s and I, I’m I’m one of those believers of being out there, you know, if it’s light enough to see to tie a knot, it’s time to fish. In the summer, if I’m fishing by myself, I leave the dock at five. And that first hour, hour and a half before the sun hits the water can be magical. Uh, the sun can come up and hit the water and that lake can die. Now, it doesn’t do that very often, but it can do that that first hour. My favorite bug is it’s kind of a variation of a woolly bugger, but it’s a we call it a Halloween, and it’s got a brown and orange variegated body with a brown hackle and then almost a it’s a burnt orange tail, but almost borders on orange. And I don’t know why they like that in the morning, but first thing in the morning, when it’s dark and stripped fast, sometimes that bug can just be magical. Uh, and that’s my go to. If any place on the lake first thing in the morning. That’s the fly that is on my the end of my tippet. Again, it gets six casts. If it doesn’t produce that morning, then I’ll change out. Usually I’ll go to black to start with after that. But yeah, that first out in the morning and a big bug. And then after the sun hits the water, then the bugs start moving and now you got to match the hatch just like you do on rivers. 01:04:37 Dave: Yeah. How about you, Phil? Do you have a few? Uh, I know you’ve got some of your own patterns. Are those your confidence? You have just a couple or do you got more like twelve? 01:04:45 Phil: No, I probably got a, you know, a half a dozen to a dozen flies, but it, you know, it depends time of the year. They’re constantly in flux. But, you know, leech style patterns like Darren talks about, you know, and I have sort of more confidence patterns for Henry’s than I do for, for other lakes as well. Right. You just the benefit of going to these places a few times and seeing what’s going on. But, uh, yeah, you know, I like fishing micro-moments because it’s such a dominant food source. The lakes I fish up here in Western Canada, um, leeches are always, uh, on that um as well. And um, you know, my area, we have more bait fish than do that and we fish the blobs, the zooplankton, uh, as well. Um, but you know, I, I haven’t done as well down there and Henry’s using those and that’s, that’s just you learn, you know, you give that a try for, as Darren says, fifteen, twenty minutes, it doesn’t work. You might as well change up and do something else. Banging your head against the wall over and over again just gives you a headache. So change something up. Try to find a door somewhere else to get through. So, um, and that’s, you know, the benefit with folding back to the school is having someone of Darren’s, uh, stature and knowledge on hand. He knows the nuances of the lake and, and the flies. You know, a lot of times people ask me and I’m like, talk to Darren because he fishes this all the time. He knows, you know, so I, I follow Darren’s lead a lot. Um, and we’ll often, if we have the good fortune to fish together, we’ll have some discussions. We talked earlier and says, okay, let’s try this and let’s try that. And two people in a boat, you know, eliminating the working your way through the problem twice the pace of one person, kind of like how droppers work, right? Darren. Eliminating depth of water at twice the rate of a single fly as you are with two flies. 01:06:28 Dave: So yeah, that’s it. Awesome guys. Well, let’s just take it out here real quick. And I want to give a shout out to our giveaway event we have going, we are giving away a bunch of great products. And a lot of the stuff we talked about today will be here. People can enter that right now at our giveaway fly dot com slash giveaway. But we’re also going to be, uh, selling some spots here for people that want to go out and take advantage of this school. So if people want to do that, they can connect with me, Dave at web dot com. We’ll have some information there. But as we take it out of here, guys, just maybe let’s get a couple of tips from each of you as we get out here. We’ve we’ve really nailed this one, I think, as far as what we can expect. But but again, Phil, let’s start with you. Um, you know, you fished this a while. You’ve done some videos. We’ll have links, by the way, to all the videos, the new Fly Fisher stuff in the show notes here and everything else today. Plus we talked lions, but you’ve got a whole series of podcasts. You did. I think you did a couple episodes on lines, great resources there. We’ll have those in the show notes. But tell us again, somebody’s thinking about Henry’s or maybe really any lake. What are you telling them right now as they get prepared? There’s a couple of tips that you would throw out there. 01:07:33 Phil: If you have never fished a lake before. And you can, and there’s a guide service on there, somebody such as Darren, again, you can’t beat that local knowledge. Um, they can get you started in the right way. Um, show you what works. Don’t, don’t use it as a spot thing, you know. Oh they were fishing that spot or this spot. You gotta remember in, in, in lakes fish cruise and move so they can be there one hour and gone the next hour. So um, focus more on the, the techniques that, uh, the lines they’re using and how they’re using them somewhat. The flies are using as well, obviously, and, um, you know, leader setups, all that kind of stuff. So you can use that to maximize your time. You know, we talked about DRP and the, and Darren mentioned as well the importance of water temperature. For me, still water fishing, I’m looking for that water between fifty and sixty five Fahrenheit. Most trout char species, that’s their happy zone. Each species has different tolerances. Some fish, probably brown trout, are probably a little more temperature tolerant. Brook trout or char. Um, they’re a little they like cooler oxygenated water, those kind of things. But you know, your thermometers, you can eliminate a lot of water. And by just dipping the thermometer and going, that’s a little warm depending on the time of the year or, or what have you. It also governs your retrieve speed. If it’s if it’s water temperature is really cool. Um, the fish being cold blooded, their metabolism slows. So you may have to slow things down to be more successful. They may not respond to quick things. And conversely, it could be the other way around. 01:08:59 Dave: So those are awesome. And when it’s below fifty, what are you doing? 01:09:04 Phil: Are you still fishing? You’re just fishing a lot. You know, this is, you know, late fall when it’s. You know, you might be. I’ve got some, you know, from my local lakes where on any time after Halloween, we’re on borrowed time because it can go from comfortable to frozen in a day. You know, I fished in water temperatures in the the high, you know, mid mid to high thirties. You know, those sometimes that’s the indicators. The only way because you have you can just let it sit there with a balanced fly and just let that slight ripple just subtly move that fly in the water, you know, leaves a lot of soft mobile materials, marabous, rabbits, rabbit fur, things like that to move and breathe on their own underwater and just let the fish casually swim up and take it. They just won’t respond to something moving too fast or metabolisms. You just got to slow down and kind of go with their mood. 01:09:55 Dave: Awesome. And Darren, how about you? You’ve nailed this thing, I think, today. But give us somebody getting ready for Henry’s Lake. And what are you telling them? You’ve already given us maybe a good fly to start with, but let’s say it’s the fall. What would you tell us out there? 01:10:09 Darren: I think one thing that a lot of people miss up here is their leader length. I think a lot of people do a Stillwater from a river or a stream environment. Uh, you know, they’re used to that nine foot, twelve foot leader, twelve foot leader would be very rarely do I ever fish anything shorter than twelve. Usually it’s closer to fifteen. And yeah, longer leaders. They’re not you know, I mean, it’s not twenty six feet like Phil’s. 01:10:35 Phil: That’s extreme. 01:10:36 Darren: Yeah. Fifteen feet. If you’re if you’re throwing a nice little you know, I step it down just a couple of sizes when I build my leaders. But the vast majority is the same diameter, uh, here on Henry’s I, I like, uh, my seaguar red label in an eight pound. And that’s generally what I do. If the fish get real finicky, sometimes I’ll go down to six, but usually you don’t have to. I think a longer leader is something that people miss, and one little equipment tip that I could give people is a stripping guard for your middle finger, your index or your your birdie finger, I guess you’d say on your right hand, because, you know, if you’re fishing a floating line and you’re fishing an indicator, that indicator goes down, your rod goes up. Usually you’re stripping like crazy to get that, that line tight on the fish. And if you’re doing that with, with some of these new textured dry lines, they can, they’ll burn your finger. So that’s, that’s a good protective thing. Now, the reason I like them so well is because when I’m, when I’m casting and retrieving, I’m stripping my bugs. It keeps that my skin from being tacky on my fly line. I had an old gentleman a long, long time ago tell me that the the difference between a good Stillwater fisherman and an exceptional fisherman is being able to recognize those real subtle takes, whether it’s an indicator just barely sliding sideways or just the straightening out of your line when you’re stripping it in, and that tacky wet fly line on a wet finger will create just a little bit of a drag. And there’s some times when I will drag against my finger. If I don’t have my my stripping guard on, I’ll wonder, oh, what’s that my finger and the fly line? Or did I just miss a real soft take? And so when you do that, it takes all that friction away from the line versus the finger. You’ll fish that, uh, you wouldn’t normally. So that’s, that’s my equipment tip is a little, little guard for your birdie finger on your rod hand. 01:12:33 Dave: Love it. Love it guys. Well, I think we leave it there as, as always, you guys, uh, bring the knowledge. I’m excited for this big trip. Uh, like we said, people can connect with, uh, with me here and, and I’ll be setting some stuff up for the trip and, uh, yeah, guys, until the next one, we’ll send everybody out. We’ll have links, maybe just give us another shout out. We talked about this at the start, but, uh, Phil, uh, give us a heads up. Best place to go right now if people want to follow your stuff. 01:12:59 Phil: Yeah, my personal website. Phil Rollie fly fishing. So Phil really fly fishing dot com. We also, myself and Brian Chan also have our own online Stillwater fly fishing store as well. What do we carry? A lot of the the flies and all the the weird gear we like to use in lakes. Um, there as well. That’s uh, Stillwater fly fishing store dot com and other ways to contact me. Facebook, Instagram are probably my two social media poisons of choice right now. Got an active YouTube channel. Uh, there, there are links on my channel. Dave. Uh, there’s a new Fly Fisher playlist that features all the shows I’ve done. Uh, Stillwater shows I’ve done primarily I fill canned fish rivers, you know, but that’s right. 01:13:37 Dave: Yeah. You’re not, you’re not just we know. 01:13:40 Phil: Yeah. Um, that’s on there too. My YouTube channel and again, just Google Phil Rollie and that usually brings all of that together is probably that’s why I say the easiest thing, rather than having to jot all of that, all of those other different, uh, uh, outlets down. 01:13:54 Dave: Okay. We’ll get that and Darren, remind us again where we can find you. 01:13:57 Darren: Yeah. I don’t have any videos. No TV shows, no YouTube channels. 01:14:02 Phil: He’s just out there doing it and living it. 01:14:04 Dave: Yeah, exactly. 01:14:05 Darren: I have a podcast. Not for TV. You both? Yeah. On Facebook. Uh, and then on Instagram. Uh, Stillwater. Skeeter. Uh, also on Instagram, Stillwater Fishing co, uh, I am, I gotta throw this out there. This is the season that I am guiding full time on Henry’s with Henry. 01:14:26 Dave: Oh, nice guide service. 01:14:27 Darren: So look them up. They’re big on Facebook and Instagram. Uh, you can give us a call. I would absolutely love to teach somebody, anybody that wants to learn this cool lake. It’s it’s an awesome lake. And, uh, yeah, I love taking people out and teaching them, uh, techniques that they can take home and use on their home waters, but also show them what this lake can offer. 01:14:51 Dave: Love. It reminds again on that. Darren, what’s the guide service you’re working with their. 01:14:54 Darren: Henrys Lake Guide service. Yeah, you can get a hold of us. Yeah, there’s there’s several different ways. Just Google that. It’ll come up. We, we actually our outfitter is Eagle Ridge Ranch, but, uh, Henry’s Lake Guide service is the guide service for Eagle Ridge Ranch. And we, yeah, we, we have a, a gym that we’d love to show off to. 01:15:14 Dave: People love it guys. Well, thanks again for all your time. We’re excited for this trip and, and we’ll be in touch very soon. 01:15:20 Darren: Thanks. 01:15:21 Phil: Dave. Thanks for having me. 01:15:23 Dave: One of the biggest lessons today is that successful Stillwater fishing isn’t about collecting more flies. It’s about understanding the relationship between depth, retrieve and pattern. If you’re serious about improving your lake fishing, take one idea from this episode and put it into practice for your next trip. If you’re looking for more resources, live events, masterclasses, and the Fly Fishing Boot camp, you can find us at webflow dot com slash pro. Sign up there and you’ll get access to first access to new trips we got going and this trip right now, Henrys Lake Stillwater School. If you want to get access. Your best chance is to join Wet Fly Swing Pro, and we’re going to be opening that up as soon. It’s right around the corner, so get your name on the list. Want to let you know that the Henrys Lake School is open now? Uh, along with the giveaway. But if you want to get any information on the school, send me an email Dave at web dot com. And I would love to hear if you’re interested. And we’ll get you more details there. Want to leave you with this today. The best anglers aren’t the ones who know all the answers. They’re the ones who know which are the questions to ask next. All right. Hope you enjoyed that one. Looking forward to the next one. I want to thank you for tuning in today, and I hope you can get out and explore a few new waters this year and experience that road less traveled. We’ll talk to you soon. Have a good one.
henry's lake

Conclusion with Phil and Darren on Henry’s Lake Stillwater School

Henry’s Lake is much more than a destination known for giant trout. It’s a classroom where every day presents a new puzzle involving depth, retrieve, fly selection, and trout behavior.

Whether you’re planning to attend the Henry’s Lake Stillwater School or simply looking to improve your lake fishing, the lessons Phil Rowley and Darren Huntsman share here can help you approach any stillwater with greater confidence and a clearer plan.

     

939 | Sexyloops Founder Paul Arden on Fly Casting, Tight Loops, and Why Anglers Stop Improving

Episode Show Notes

Paul Arden, founder of Sexyloops and one of the most respected fly casting instructors in the world, returns to the podcast to share lessons from more than three decades of teaching anglers how to cast more efficiently. From beginners learning loop control to experienced anglers searching for more distance and accuracy, Paul breaks down the fundamentals that separate average casters from great ones.

The conversation covers fly casting plateaus, loop control, back-cast awareness, the 170 cast, double-haul mechanics, fly line selection, and common misconceptions that hold anglers back. Paul also shares practical drills, coaching insights, and why understanding what happens behind you may be the fastest path to improving what happens in front of you.

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(The full episode transcript is at the bottom of this blogpost) 👇🏻

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Episode Recap with Paul Arden of Sexyloops

Why Most Fly Casters Stop Improving

(3:25) Paul has coached anglers for more than 30 years, and he sees the same pattern over and over. Most anglers become good enough to catch fish, then stop improving as casters. According to Paul, the missing ingredient is often feedback. Anglers spend years repeating the same movements without realizing what’s holding them back, which is why coaching and deliberate practice can unlock breakthroughs that seem impossible on their own.

The Back Cast Secret Most Anglers Ignore

(7:00) One of Paul’s strongest opinions is that anglers spend too much time watching the forward cast and not enough time watching what’s happening behind them. Many casting problems actually begin on the back cast long before they show up in front of the caster. Learning to watch loop shape, tracking, and timing on the back cast can dramatically accelerate improvement and help anglers develop tighter, more consistent loops.

Why Paul Thinks Fly Lines Took a Wrong Turn

(15:57) Modern fly lines have become shorter and heavier, but Paul isn’t convinced that’s always progress. Drawing from decades of teaching and rod design, he explains why he still prefers long-belly lines and how they offer more versatility, better presentations, and greater control in windy conditions. It’s an interesting discussion on how fly fishing gear has evolved—and whether some of those changes have made anglers more dependent on equipment than technique.

The Fly Casting Myth That’s Holding Anglers Back

(29:11) If there’s one phrase Paul would remove from fly casting instruction, it might be “load the rod.” He explains why many anglers become overly focused on bending the rod and how that mindset often creates poor timing and inefficient power application. Instead, he encourages anglers to think about moving the line smoothly through the air, which often produces better results with less effort.

Beyond Tight Loops: The Fishing Casts That Matter

(39:25) Distance casting gets a lot of attention, but fishing situations often demand something entirely different. Paul wraps up the conversation by breaking down practical casts like the reach cast, curve cast, and bow-and-arrow cast—techniques designed to solve real-world problems on rivers, flats, and tight jungle streams.

  • When to use a reach cast
  • Overpowered vs. underpowered curve casts
  • Bow-and-arrow casting in tight cover

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Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 939 Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: The difference between a sloppy and a sexy loop is what your rod tip does for a split second. Today we’re getting into fly casting at a deeper level loop control, timing, line speed, and why so many anglers hit a wall after years on the water. We’ve got Paul Arden back on the show, founder of Sexyloops, longtime casting instructor and someone who has coached some of the best fly anglers around the world. Today, you’re going to learn why most anglers plateau and what’s really holding them back. And we’re also going to find out what tight loops really come down to. We’re going to also discuss why watching your back cast changes everything and how to start doing it correctly. And we’re also going to talk timing, when to wait and when to go and how rushing kills your cast. Plus, we’ll find out how to generate real line speed with the haul and where most people lose it on the cast. If you want to go deeper with Paul, you can head over to Sexyloops dot com right now. That’s where you can find a full video library, casting drills, coaching, everything’s there. Sexyloops dot com. All right. Let’s get into it. Here he is, Paul Arden. How you doing, Paul? 00:01:06 Paul: I’m doing well. Dave, how are you? 00:01:08 Dave: I’m doing great. I’m doing great. Yeah, it’s really good to have you back on the podcast. It’s been a couple years since we chatted last episode. Six thirty eight you know, we’ll have a link in the show notes to that. We, we got into your story on how you created Sexyloops, which has been one of the big websites out there. You’re a Flycasting instructor. Your name has come up a lot recently. We’ve been doing interviews with some of the really some of the casting champions now. And they’ve mentioned your name. So you’re a big player out there. It’s cool to your story. You know, you’re you’re sitting on a boat right now and we could talk more about that. You told the story of where you’re at. It’s pretty amazing where you’re able to do all this. But but maybe just give us a heads up. Since the last couple of years, what’s been new? Give us an update on Sexyloops and what you got going. 00:01:51 Paul: All right. Well, well, it’s great to be back. Two years is a is a long time in this world. It’s two wet seasons. I’m still on the boat in the jungle. We had a really good wet season two years ago, and then the last one, it seemed to forget to rain on us. And so the fishing wasn’t wasn’t as good as it could have been. There was still some good fishing. It was just a very short season. So the fishing’s been been a bit up and down this year. Hopefully. Hopefully we’ll get a good wet season coming up next. Uh, but it’s, it’s very good actually, because it gives me a bit of free space to work on Sexyloops at the moment. Uh, a couple of major things happening there. I’ve got a rod builder in Texas, Andy Dyer So I’m sure, you know, we make rods. And so we’re manufacturing now in Texas, and my online coaching business has become a bit nuts. And so I’m bringing in I’m bringing in another coach from England. So I’m working with him and he’ll be starting in about three or four weeks. 00:02:44 Dave: Oh wow. So you’re going to have I think last time we talked a couple of years ago, I think availability was you were pretty maxed out. But now. So if people are listening now, there might be a chance to get some coaching. 00:02:53 Paul: Absolutely. That is the plan. He’ll be full time. So I’m very excited about that. So I’m currently transferring all my sort of program and knowledge and, and drills over to him. And we’re going to work very closely together. 00:03:06 Dave: That’s awesome. For somebody listening now, I know, you know, I was just in our membership group. We had a meetup last night and casting. I was asking them, okay, what’s your biggest things? You want me to bring more content in? You know, fly casting is always there, right? Because it’s, it’s the basics. It’s the, you know, it’s the foundation. But how does that work when somebody calls you for coaching? How do you do that? 00:03:25 Paul: Well, I think it sort of depends where they come in. So people have come to me are generally not beginners. They’ve generally been fishing for five to fifty years and they’ve been very successful in catching fish. And then they decide, well, what would it be like if I could be a better caster now, because most people plateau seventy, eighty feet in distance, maybe maybe a little bit further, but everybody sort of plateaus. Yeah. Without coaching. And so, so they generally come in there. Now, if they’re not quite at that level, that’s fine too, because we can get to that level quite quickly. But I look for long term coaching. So most of my students. So I do ten lesson packages. So I look to be coaching somebody for at least ten months. And often it becomes it can go into years, but it does take that sort of dedication because, you know, I do. So I do one lesson and I set eight or ten drills and then I, I want them to go away and practice for the next three weeks. And that’s usually where the magic sort of happens. It doesn’t happen during the lesson. And if it does, I get very suspicious of it. You know, if somebody’s a much better caster at the end of the lesson, well, I want to wait three weeks and see where they are. Then sometimes it’s sort of in one ear and out the other. So it’s really the longer term stuff that interests me. And that’s that’s new to me. Dave. I’ve, you know, I’ve been coaching for thirty years now this month and for. It’s only been the last Five or six years since I’ve been doing the Zoom, have I actually had multiple lessons? It’s either been day clinics or one or sometimes two lessons with somebody. And so I never really got to see them afterwards. And from what I know now, I wish I had because generally, you know, when I teach somebody now on the first lesson on Zoom, and then I get them back the second week, I have no idea where they’re going to be. It’s only until weeks less than three. And lesson four does it all start to come together. So it’s been I’ve learned a huge amount, amount, amount out of that over the last six years or so. 00:05:28 Dave: That’s amazing. Yeah. I feel like it’s there’s a couple of big things. It’s you being there. Obviously you’re one of the, the greats and you know, out there anywhere. And so you get the instruction, the lessons, you know, whatever that is. But then you also get the accountability, right? Because I feel like, you know, if you’re spending money, you got some skin in the game and then you also know you’re going to be speaking to you again in a month and you better be coming back with, you know what I mean? Like, how many times do you do those? And somebody comes back and maybe they haven’t practiced as much. Is that pretty noticeable? If you get that in the second week or third week? 00:05:57 Paul: I’ll be honest, that doesn’t happen. 00:05:59 Dave: No it doesn’t. 00:06:00 Speaker 3: There you go. It doesn’t happen. 00:06:02 Paul: I don’t I don’t know so much about the great. 00:06:04 Speaker 3: But. 00:06:05 Paul: It doesn’t happen. But they are putting money down and they know that they’ve got to practice if they want to see results. But if they haven’t got time, they don’t have to come back in three weeks. They can come back in five weeks whenever whenever they’ve managed to make the time. 00:06:16 Dave: Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. No, I think this is cool. So I want to just talk and I know fly casting isn’t the easiest thing to talk about, you know, without video. And I hope hopefully we’ll maybe get some more video from you, you know, as we move forward. But today, maybe just start with, you know, I’d love to talk about again, let’s just take one of our members that we were talking to recently, I think. Well, we have a couple people that are kind of brand new, but let’s take that person that’s been casting for a while and they’re really struggling with kind of accuracy. Like you said, distance, maybe some of those reach casts and things like that. What are the kind of exercises you do? I mean, I guess you got to analyze somebody. Let’s just say you’re looking at them. What are you looking for? 00:06:55 Paul: Well, how about I look at it like this? Right? So generally when somebody plateaus in their fly casting, they do have loop control. Uh, whereas a beginner, they haven’t learned loop control. So maybe we should start with the beginner. Um, because it’s actually an easier place to start. And so what I liken this to is a, is a child. When you give a child a piece of paper, not that I’m calling all my students child children here, but when you give a child a piece of paper and a crayon and you ask them to draw something, they sort of scribble all around the around the paper, and then that’s their artwork. That’s kind of what you’ve got to do when you first start casting. You’ve got to learn to, to hold the rod and form loops. And that doesn’t mean starting with thirty or forty feet of fly line outside the rod tip. I, I start people with a leader in six feet of fly line out of the rod tip and then and then gradually build it from there. So six feet. I do twelve foot intervals, but six, twelve, eighteen. But you could go five, ten, fifteen. It doesn’t matter. The point is it’s short to long. And it’s important to not just watch the front cast, but you have to watch the back cast too. So you’re casting side on just shaping loops, understanding what forms are what forms a tight loop, which obviously the rod tip half controls the shape of the loop. So just playing with this, this line on the side, I don’t know if you’ve interviewed a guy called Lee Cummings, a friend of mine. 00:08:16 Dave: No I haven’t. 00:08:17 Paul: No. Okay. Well he took going back, he took something that he saw Joan Wolf doing and Bill gamble doing and which he then called the triangle method. And it became very influential. And I was particularly in the UK and Europe, where both Bill and Joan were casting loops on the side onto the ground, back and forwards. And I do that drill with a short length of line. So that’s how I that’s how I start people off. And then we can pick that up. I then look to do all planes, so not just horizontal, but then up to the vertical and cross body. I look to do all different loop sizes from narrow to medium to wide to medium to narrow. And then there’s a really good drill with somebody. You really must talk to a friend of mine called Mark Surtees, which we call his walking drill, where one somebody is sort of established loop control. They go walking around the field casting loops and it just unfreeze freezes all, all the restrictions in the movement. It has some other benefits too, I think. Um, so that sort of package, that sort of combination I think is a way to, is a way to start somebody off. Definitely not thirty foot or forty foot pick up and lay down. So it’s just crazy not watching the back cast start short. 00:09:33 Dave: No, this is cool. And I as you were talking and this makes sense. You start short and you work out longer. You’ve got the where you can see the loop both ways. It was interesting because I was at the there was a spei clave here recently, just this weekend. And and Whitney Gould was there who was on the podcast recently, actually, we had a, we did a podcast that was Whitney Gould, Rick Hartman and Kaitlin Hoggard. Right. And so wow. Right. I know, and then actually, that’s where your name popped up because I think you’ve obviously influenced them, but. 00:10:02 Paul: And vice versa. 00:10:03 Dave: Yeah, exactly. I didn’t realize it, but Whitney was at the space club. But she had this, I think it was a bamboo rod and she was out there casting. I was just watching her in the field. And I mean her loop. I was just looking at like, I just felt like, man, how did she get to that level? You know what I mean? She was doing a big wide like her, her arm, right? The whole thing was like she was really putting and doing the double haul. Like, what’s the difference between where where Whitney’s at or talk about that because she’s not just doing ten and two, you know what I mean? When she was casting. 00:10:31 Paul: Uh, well, I well, that’s so that’s an interesting process. So if we jump back a little bit. So Rick Hartman really is the instigator of what we now call the one seventy cast from the best of the West. And he says he got it from bits of it from Jim Gunderson. And I first watched him cast. I may have told you this last time I first watched him curse, and I thought, this is awful. He looks terrible. This is not fly casting. He looks running around like an elephant, and the loops are all over the place. And then and I got to know really, really well. And I went down and fished with him and Bill Gamble in Texas. And he had changed his stroke. And it was incredible. And I and then I thought, well, I’ve got to learn this now. This would be or probably close to twenty five years ago. And it changed, uh, distance casting in Europe. And but there are two aspects to it. So there’s a, there’s a, there’s this, what we call stop plus delivery cast, where we’re not trying to stop the rod to form this tight loop. We are just trying to direct the rod tip to the target. And this one seventy stroke has both of those elements backwards and forwards together. But because you’re carrying a lot of line, and I know Whitney is carrying eighty six feet of med and that’s not including the leader. And that’s measured to the line hand, which is a fantastic character because she’s got this amount of line. Even though you’re pulling down five or six feet of line away from the direction that you’re aiming at. There is so much line left that travels to target. So to answer your question, how to teach that? I start off by teaching Stop-loss delivery forward casts into targets with a high back cast. So you get a. So you’re not trying to throw a tight loop, but you’re trying to finish with the rod tip touching the water or the grass, which should be a saltwater shot for me so that the fly doesn’t hit the rod tip. And then I teach that backwards. Um, and then so the big one, where is just to teach the back cast and then three weeks later is to put that together into a one seventy cast. I teach that to all of my students. I think it’s really important I do because a they’re all saltwater and B it’s it’s a there are advantages. It allows you to cast into a headwind on the front cast, but it can also allows you to cast into a headwind on the back cast. You know, if you’re, if you’re on the flats and the wind is coming veering in at you, you need high line speed. That is the way to deliver backwards. And you can deliver backwards shots seventy, eighty feet, no problems at all with this technique. So I think it’s really important. But the interesting thing is I’ve noticed when I teach people this, they suddenly become much smoother overall casters. So everybody gets it. 00:13:11 Dave: Yeah. Everybody gets it. Yeah. So and the idea there is that there’s the shooting, the line, right where you have a bunch of line, you try to shoot out a bunch and then with like a shooting head, right. But then there’s more of the what Whitney was doing, what you’re talking about, which is you’re carrying a lot more line and shooting less. Is that pretty much the basic idea here? 00:13:27 Paul: Yeah, absolutely. This is she’s casting the the mastery expert distance line there, which is the competition. But but we used to use double tapers. So if you use a double taper or a lot, you know that’s an even longer belly if you like. This is the distance way to go. It’s just this. Bizarrely, lines have become shorter and overweight over the last twenty years. For me, they’re not very practical. They’re not very versatile. So particularly if you have to cast into a wind, right. 00:13:54 Dave: So that’s what’s happened. And we’ve talked about that before. We’ve had some other casting instructors I’m sure you know of and they’ve said, yeah, they’ve talked about how the lines have changed. They’ve gotten fat or the rods have gotten faster. The lines are trying to keep up. So now they’re kind of these almost like short, you know, the Spey would be Skagit Head, right? These short, heavy weight forward lines is that kind of where the industry has gone. But you’re saying a better line is more of a balanced double taper for casting? 00:14:18 Paul: Certainly for me. Yeah. I mean, double taper or a long belly line. I mean, it’s not to say that there aren’t uses for short belly lines. Of course there are. You may be restricted space, uh, deep wading. But as a general fishing line, I would personally much rather have a longer head because there is more I can do if I can make presentation casts at more distance, for example, or longer stay costs or just longer cast into a wind. So I would much rather have a longer head. 00:14:43 Dave: That’s a great point, and I’m not sure I was mentioning a he was in, you know, he’s in our membership group and he was saying, man, give me some more casting stuff. And I’m not sure. I think I think he’s in kind of the Oregon area. So I’m just going to take it to that. You know, the the salmon fly hatch is kind of right upon us. And I feel like casting big bugs. The wind is a big part of it. Would it make sense for him to go out? And if he’s got this weight for a line, maybe try to find a different line that’s more balanced. That might be like, what are your thoughts there? Are there some lines we should be looking at getting to help with our cast? 00:15:12 Paul: I, well, I would put it this way, I don’t think you can really want to fix a cast with a line. But the problem with the short belly lines is it restricts the sort of cast that you can make. So all of my students, you know, all of the intermediate and upward students, I asked them to get a long line. And we also work with shorter lines too, but the longer belly line is much more versatile. If you want to make a mend at sixty feet, there are only very limited ways of doing that. For shooting head or a short header line. 00:15:43 Dave: Right. Okay. And where would you just. And again, somebody out of the loop and they’re thinking, you know, they just go pick up a line or do all the major manufacturers have this, you know, that line? Where would somebody filter through that all the maze of lines? 00:15:57 Paul: Well, the Scientific anglers mastery expert distance is one that’s a competition orange, but they also have a, an expert trout, which is the same length, uh, head, uh, just a shorter line. And it’s a green color. Uh, but I know that ballistic have some sixty foot heads and Rios certainly had some. I don’t know what their current line up is at the moment. 00:16:22 Dave: So they all have some. And these are would be more like a double taper type of long belly line. 00:16:27 Paul: Uh, well, like a weight forward with the sixty foot head. 00:16:29 Dave: Okay. Well, good. So we can do a little more work and maybe this is something we could follow up with you on and talk more about. But there is a line piece. But let’s get back in. Let’s say we have our line. We’re sitting there and we want to do some, you know, walk us through again, you’re doing the training. What are a few exercises we might be able to start to think about to get, like you said, better accuracy, maybe a little bit longer distance, maybe better with, you know, changing conditions. 00:16:52 Paul: All right, so this is your typical caster who’s been fishing a long time and has plateaued, right? 00:16:56 Dave: Yep. Exactly. 00:16:57 Paul: Okay. So the first thing I do with my students is I get some accuracy, some rings out, some targets out, and I ask them to hit the targets to see what’s going on. Now, the problem with targets is it’s very difficult to watch your back cast. And so that has to be under control. So that then tells you quite a lot about about the caster. Because in order to learn to have like nice tight loops on the back cast, you have to have watched them while you’re learning it. But that’s not an option. If you’re in the salt and you’re taking a shot, you’re watching the fish. So it needs to be ingrained. And it’s a ring. I find rings very good for that. Rings are very good. I think a very good way of sorting. Tracking out, drawing back from the target to make the back cast. I always talk about an imaginary belt on the back cast that you have to ring, and that bell is one hundred and eighty from the target, and it and it lines up above the shoulder or it depends on the angle you’re casting, but there’s always an imaginary bell that you have to ring with the fly behind you, which solves an awful lot of problems. And then the next thing I like to look at is distance. Most people, I think we were talking there about the one seventy. So you’ve got I sort of see two strokes. You’ve got this one seventy stroke that this big wide arc. It’s called one hundred and seventy because it’s one hundred and seventy degree casting arc or approximately. So it’s this big wide arc. And then you’ve got something much more traditional, more like Steve Rajeff, uh, sort of with the hand finishing in front of the shoulder or level of the shoulder. Most people who come in to lessons are somewhere between those. They’re not quite into the shoulder and they’re not quite fully extended. So they’re sort of halfway between. And I generally take what they’re doing and I turn it into both. So I turn it into this blocking curse where the acceleration is basically the provided to the rod by flipping the wrist. And then this other, this one seventy with the acceleration is opening the elbow. It’s difficult to describe. You kind of want to see some videos for that. Yeah, there are some videos for that on Sexyloops. 00:18:56 Dave: Stonefly nets, handcrafts, wooden landing nets, fly boxes and reel seats in little Rock, Arkansas, using premium hardwoods and burls sourced from landowners across the United States. Every piece is built by hand, combining traditional craftsmanship with the durability anglers need on the water. What makes Stonefly different is the attention to detail. 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So if somebody was going to flip over after this podcast and check out Sexyloops, where would you send them to? Take a look at some of this. 00:20:15 Paul: On the front page on the drop down menu. There is a header called video. And if you click on video, it will take you to, I don’t know, maybe one hundred and fifty YouTube videos on that page. Actually in order done twice. So first time was twelve years ago. It’s a bald version of me. And then the last time has been for the last two years, which is a Yeti version of me. So it’s quite easy to know which is the original content and which is the follow up content. 00:20:46 Dave: That’s awesome. Yeah, I see it. So yeah, you have a ton of videos. So basically go to that video link and people can start digging in there and take a look. You got and you got titles for everything too. 00:20:55 Paul: Yeah. And I would probably make when there’s a second video, I’d probably pay a bit more attention to that because ten or twelve years is a long time in instruction. 00:21:03 Dave: So tell us this. So you got you got two videos. You got one with you as the long hair, the longer hair you got now is that the current? That’s the current. And then the short hair is the current. 00:21:13 Paul: Yeah. Most people go the other way around. 00:21:16 Dave: Yeah. So do we want to watch the one with you clean cut or you with the long hair? 00:21:19 Paul: I would generally well, you want to watch them both. But but. And whichever one comes first. But it’s probably going to be the the Yeti one that you get to see first, because that’s more up to date. And I’ll talk about the other one, but I do sort of put them in order. 00:21:32 Dave: Okay. 00:21:33 Paul: If I think suitable, I haven’t gone right through them yet. I do plan to do that, by which point I don’t know. I don’t know what I’ll be looking like when I finish. 00:21:41 Dave: That is amazing. So so basically we got this ton of resources at Sexyloops. They can click the video link in your header and just basically probably watch videos all day. So this is awesome. They could take this further. 00:21:52 Paul: Many hours of content. 00:21:53 Dave: Yeah, you mentioned a couple. So the one seventy degree that stroke is basically. Yeah. I mean, one eighty is like full, obviously straight across. So you’re almost doing a full thing. But then you mentioned Steve Rajeff, who’s kind of more describe that. How does Steve do it? Because he’s people, some say he’s maybe the greatest, you know, caster out there. Right. 00:22:12 Paul: Wonderful cast. Yeah. Well, actually a wonderful caster. 00:22:15 Dave: And why is that? What is Steve doing differently out there than, say, maybe some of these other casting, um, you know, experts are doing. 00:22:22 Paul: I mean, Steve has widened up his his, uh, delivery. I mean, I think the difference really is on the back cast. I think the forward cast that Steve does is pretty similar to the forward cast that like a one to seventy cast would do. The difference is on the back cast. One of the most amazing things that Steve has, and Rick Hartman too, is an incredibly fast hall. And so it’s a blistering hall, which which really gives great line speed. 00:22:47 Dave: Like the double hall. 00:22:48 Paul: Yes. Yeah, yeah yeah. But I’m particularly on the forward cast on the delivery. It’s incredibly fast. Whereas most people seem to sort of swing from the shoulder when they make the hall. Uh, but, but neither of those two and they’re extremely powerful on the hall. But yeah, the main difference, I would say, like, if you look at somebody who. Rick, because Rick, Rick’s throws a one seventy and you look at somebody like Steve is the back cast. The one seventy, in my opinion, does certainly allow for longer carry. And if you’ve got a tailwind and you need to get that long carry for distance. That would be the way I’d recommend doing it. But Steve’s a very powerful guy. And, uh, you know, we’ve competed together. In fact, the last time I stood next to him, he put it past me. But the year I put it past him. 00:23:33 Dave: All right, there you go. Nice. 00:23:36 Paul: Very nice guy. I haven’t met Steve for a couple of years now, but, yeah, I’ve always liked meeting him. It’s a very small world. The competition world? 00:23:44 Dave: Yeah. The competition world is is pretty small. Yeah, definitely. And and so you have yeah, the whole piece. When do you really start focusing on that again, taking that person that’s you’re instructing, they’re getting, you know, you’re starting with the rings. At what point do you bring in the hall and start working on their hall? 00:24:01 Paul: I, when I look at distance in that first lesson, maybe these are guys who have been fishing. I definitely want to look at that. There’s a couple of really common faults that you see in the hall, particularly on the on the. So one is obviously is an obvious one is to not straighten the hauling arm. And so you’re, on a distance cast. You’re, you’re losing some of the speed because you’re not fully straightening the arm. Another is on the forward cast is and it’s taught like this is to reach back, to bring your hands together. But one of the issues with that is if when you reach back with your hand, you straighten your elbow and then you’ve got nothing left to give into the hall apart from a swing, from the from the shoulder and a little bit of elbow. So I like to get some bend in the elbow. And if you watch Steve, he definitely. And Rick, they both have very good bends in the elbow. So the speed is really the straightening of the elbow and a bit of wrist at the end, which generates a much higher line speed. 00:24:56 Dave: And the straightening of the elbow is on the casting arm that that elbow straightens. 00:24:59 Paul: No, the the hauling arm. 00:25:01 Dave: Oh, the hauling arm. Straighten. Okay. 00:25:03 Paul: Yeah. So you go from a bent elbow, elbows at ninety it’s a bit difficult but elbow at ninety. So on the back cast I liken it to holding a shield in front of you. And then the speed is that elbow joint joint straightening. And then. And then you want to again, find yourself in a position where you have a bend in the elbow, at least at some point during the hall on the forward cast, so that you can, you can extend your elbow through ninety degrees. That’s a much faster chopping movement than swinging from the shoulder. You’ll generate higher line speed. And then the other one is if you watch a lot of casters, they begin their hall with the rod behind the line hand, and it’s not really doing very much. But if they were to turn their body, put their right shoulder in front of the left, that automatically brings the rod in front of the line hand. Also much easier to show in person. So when you watch a lot of casters and you study how they’re hauling and you watch them, you will see on the forward cast, their rod is behind their line hand as they’re coming forward, as they’ve started the hall. And so that’s not doing anything. But if they were to twist their body from the waist, that brings the rod hand in front of the line hand. And now the two hands are separating, which makes ten foot distance on somebody’s distance cast. It’s very significant. 00:26:23 Dave: It is. Okay. Yeah. So the hall is a big part of that. And like you said, hauling all the way down through. And do you also track does the hall track your casting arm or your arc is the same thing, the speed and all the timing. Talk about that a little bit. How does somebody, you know, dial in their timing? 00:26:39 Paul: Oh, this again depends at level, but I would look for the rapid acceleration of the hall to be in the rapid acceleration of the rod stroke, which is the rotation of the rod. But I have a few cues for that. I think the rod tip should be above us. Remember, the rod is bent, but it should be above us when we begin the rapid part of the hall. So much, much later in the stroke than most people would begin, begin the hall. I tell you an interesting story about this. So I was. I was in the States and I was driving some huge drive from Michigan to Montana or somewhere, and I would stop, I would drive and I would be thinking about fly casting, and I would have an idea, and I’d pull over to a parking lot and cast on the grass, and then I would jump back in the car and, and this is how I did my whole three day journey. And, and, um, so maybe I’d come from Nova Scotia. It was a long way away. And so I thought, well, my, I could speed up my haul and I speeded up my haul, sped up my haul. And in the next parking lot, I was throwing tailing loops. Well, that’s not very good. So I tried to make the haul as fast as good jump back in the car. And then I thought, well, maybe if I started the haul later, I wouldn’t throw the tailing ups because the tailing loops are happening, because the haul is finishing while the rod is still bent. So next time I used a, I used a queue. The queue I used. Nowadays I look to see the upper part of the rod coming into view before I hit it. So it’s late that basically. 00:28:09 Dave: It’s late and is that the common. When you see somebody doing a tailing loop, is it the force is off? 00:28:15 Paul: Very unlikely. Not in the hall. It can be, but that’s generally a beginner’s hall for tailing loops are. It’s usually a power application in the rod stroke. It can be as subtle as a timing issue, though, especially in a good car. So it can be not quite letting the back car straighten. And then it does straighten and that pulls the rod tip down. So any time we get a tailing loop, it’s because the rod tip hasn’t travelled in a straight line, but it’s dipped down at some point and risen, and that’s put a wave in the fly leg. That wave then travels along the fly leg. Usually it expands in size and it intersects usually a double. It’s a classic tale as a double intersection and the rod leg, but there are quite a few ways to do it. Another one I often see. So there’s a very common and probably should say this. So there’s a very common misunderstanding, particularly in the States, which is fly casting is about loading the rod, loading the rod. You hear that a lot. And it’s not about loading the rod. And so people are trying to load the rod and they’re applying applying a lot of force early in the stroke. And this can be a result of tails and it’s certainly not a smooth cast. So the way I think about it is the beginning of this casting stroke. I’m trying to get the line moving through the air. And then in the second half or the final part of the casting stroke, I’m trying to sling it out so it’s much smoother. One cue that can be instead of trying to load the rod, think about trying to cast without bending the rod. So it really takes the power out. And um, generally for most people, it results in much better cast. I don’t want to necessarily want to go into the science of it, but rod loading is not, is only a very small part of how fly casting works. It’s mostly a lever. 00:29:51 Dave: Yeah. Right, right, right. And that’s a whole nother part of this. The fly rods, which I’m sure you’re just as knowledgeable about, right? Depending on the rod you have, you know, there could be a different cast. Like what’s your take there? I feel like that’s another thing, a challenge. Sometimes somebody maybe picks wrong. Rod. It’s too fast or something like that. What do you think is a good rod? Is there an all around action that you think is good for the most? The general people and they’re fishing for trout, that sort of stuff? 00:30:16 Paul: Yeah, but you’re asking a rod designer here what he thinks. 00:30:19 Dave: Yeah, right. 00:30:21 Paul: There’s only one answer. 00:30:22 Dave: Yeah. Give me the the whole rod speed thing of rods getting super fast. You’ve heard this, right? Like super fast. And now the lines. All right. Yeah. 00:30:31 Paul: I will give you my perspective on that. I think twenty five plus years ago, rod design took a wrong direction and became very stiff in the lower half of the rod. And I think that was a mistake. So my favorite rod from any other manufacturer was thirty years ago or maybe more now, thirty four years ago. 00:30:52 Dave: We’re talking the two thousand. 00:30:54 Paul: No, we’re talking no, maybe more then. So we’re talking nineteen ninety two. 00:30:59 Dave: Okay. Yeah. Ninety two. Yeah. So good. Yeah. Thirty years ago, whatever that is. Twenty five years. 00:31:03 Paul: Yes, thirty plus thirty five years ago. So depending on what year it is now, I’m never quite sure about that. Yeah, but my favorite rod then was the Loomis IMX, which I thought was just an absolutely wonderful rod. And that to me is what a rod should be. It should flex down to the handle. You should feel it flex under the cork, but not too much. If it bends too much, then you do start to throw tails or it’s very or it’s more difficult not to throw them. Whereas a lot of rods sit. Now, particularly saltwater rods are stiff in the lower half or even third. I mean, they still bend, but they don’t flex very much. And I just think that’s a design fault. And I obviously obviously I’m in a obviously most people don’t think that because they produce. I don’t know if. I don’t know if they’re producing rods that they think people want or if they’re producing rods that they think they want for themselves. I just make rods I want for myself. Yeah, that’s the easier way. 00:32:00 Dave: And tell us about that. The Sexyloops. Rob, how would you describe that? Rod? Is that. You know what I mean? Is it, um, do you cover everything with your rods, your lineup as far as species. 00:32:09 Paul: Ultimately we will. So there is mostly nine foot. There’s a four, five, six, seven, eight. There’s not a nine that’s finished and there’s a ten and there’s a seven foot six three way. But they’re all designed for true to weight lines. I think that’s really important, particularly nowadays when lines can be two or three line weights over weight. So if that’s the case, don’t go by what the number that’s written on the box go by the actual weight of the line and start there. But I always, because we sell direct, I always have this conversation with customers anyway. In fact, my first conversation is what lines do you use? 00:32:45 Dave: Right? Let’s take that example. So if you use a line, if you use a, let’s just take your standard, let’s say six weight. You’re going trout fishing. You want to maybe the six weight is the rod, the line you really love or the rod, what route would you take him then if you knew that? 00:32:59 Paul: Well, firstly, I need to know is it genuinely is a six weight line that they’re fishing because it may be an eight way, you know, or even more. And that makes that’s a significant part. In fact, I would say that people would do this. They go all about this the wrong way. They buy the rod first, and then they ask what line they should use. Maybe even to load this rod, right? That’s not the right way to go about this. The first thing is what fly are you going to use? What tippet are you going to use? And then what size line does that need. What type and what profile does that need. For example, if you’re fishing a size twenty midge, you probably want a four weight line. You know, maybe even a three weight line. And then you go, well, now what would be the best rod for this? Okay. And that would solve this problem where you’ve got these heavy lines matching to the rods because people are buying the rods and go, well, this is very stiff. I need a heavier line to get some sort of feel out of this. And that’s a problem. Whereas if you went, oh, look, I’ve got a double taper for what rod would you recommend? And that line really is a four way. Then in my. In our case, it’s really easy because you just buy the. You buy our four way because that was designed around a double taper for. 00:34:08 Dave: Yeah. So if we buy your six wait, the line that would match up with that good. If you’re fishing for. Let’s just say again on that trout fly, maybe some big bugs on a salmon fly hatch for trout. You might fish a. What would be the line you might pick up to match with that? 00:34:22 Paul: Yeah. Any, any six weight line is going to match that now. I mean, there is the other part of the story that rods will obviously cast lots of different line weights. That’s part of it. Because a rod can cast just the leader, only it can cast ten feet of line, twenty feet of line. It can cast eighty feet of line, right? So it has all these inbuilt gears. And so it is possible to up and down and down line. But to get the performance that I want out of it, it’s I want a line that actually matches after a f t the a f t m table. 00:34:55 Dave: Which is thirty feet. Is that typically where it’s balanced is thirty feet? Is that the number? 00:34:59 Paul: Yeah, it’s the old system that used to work. I mean, the point is, it doesn’t mean that you’re just casting thirty feet of line. It just means it’s going to feel in a certain way at thirty feet. But as soon as you get forty out, it’s going to feel a bit different. It’s a range for me. I don’t look at it as being a single line weight of a single length. I look at as being a gearing like on a car. So you’ve got first gear casting, second gear, third gear. I think third gear is about thirty feet of line and then fourth and fifth gear. 00:35:25 Dave: So I love that that’s actually true because I love the gears because if you think about a car, the old school, the stick shift first through fifth, whatever, a lot of, you know, back in the day, I remember third gear is the gear that you could drive, you know, you don’t want to, but you could go sixty miles an hour in third gear. You know, you could also go probably fifteen, you know, like, but first and second, you can’t go really fast. And fourth and fifth, you can’t go really slow in. Right. I feel like third gear. You’re right. You’re right on. Is that is that true? Is that kind of the I love the gear analogy. 00:35:54 Paul: Yeah, I guess so. I don’t know if I’d call it sticks. I don’t know if I’d call a manual, a manual gearbox, old school, but. Yes. 00:36:02 Dave: Yeah, totally. Well, I’ll tell you. I’ll break out a little fun fact and maybe you could have a story. My brother had this old Subaru car back in the day. It was like a nineteen seventy eight Subaru. And and and he gave it to me after he got his new car. But the problem was the transmission was going out and it only had one gear, and that was third gear. Right. It was. But this was let’s see. I think it was a yeah, it must have been a stick now that I think about it. But I remember my mom was like, all right, do not drive that car at all. And, you know, I can’t remember what age I was. I was like, okay, okay, great. And then we got up late that night and we took it out and we drove it up to the mountain and I drove it up literally using third gear on the highway. Wow. And, uh, long story short, we got pulled over eventually. And, you know, the bad things happened, right? But the point was, is that I made it up like probably an hour long drive up a mountain using third gear. And so it’s doable. So that’s my fun story. I’ll have to ask you, Paul, today if you have anything, anything random like that to ask. But let’s get back into that analogy. What is the knowing that? How do we choose lines, rods, kind of given what you talked about with the gear analogy? 00:37:06 Paul: Well, I think the thing is to decide on the line first and then to decide on the rod. And I mean, you know, there’s, I think it’s maybe difficult with the information, particularly on the internet, and you either have to go and cast it or you have to trust somebody. I think most people do, do actually buy, buy, buy gear without often through advertising. I don’t even know how people buy stuff anymore. But I used to, I would see adverts and papers and, you know, in magazines and I thought, well, that must be the rod for me. 00:37:33 Dave: Yeah. I think part of it is that, you know, we have like, like this example, right? Podcast. You listen to somebody talk about it. I feel like we’re getting a feel for obviously you’re a very knowledgeable person, so probably picking up one of your rods would be a good, a good place to go. 00:37:46 Paul: Yeah. Wonderful. Yeah, absolutely. The thing I, I mean, I’m not here to market rods or anything, but the thing I do is everybody who buys a rod? I have a Zoom lesson with them. I give them a Zoom meeting. So we get we get to meet each other and if they want any casting tips or advice, we can. We can work on that, work on the double haul or whatever. So I think that’s very important because it’s all about building relationships, I think with with customers. And then they don’t buy one. They buy, you know, half a dozen or eight. Then I feel like I’m doing a good job. 00:38:16 Speaker 4: Today’s show is brought to you by Visit Idaho and Yellowstone Teton Territory, a place that should be on every angler’s list, from the Henrys Fork to the South Fork of the snake, and all the hidden creeks and alpine lakes in between. This region is built for fly fishers who like a little room to roam. You can head over to Wet fly dot com slash right now for guides, lodges, and trip ideas to plan your next adventure. That’s Teton T e t o n fly fish with me. Utah discover year round blue ribbon trout fishing. 00:38:47 Dave: On the famed Provo River. Choose a guided walk and wade or a scenic float and experience big trout, stunning canyons and unforgettable days on the water. You can book your adventure right now at Fly Fish with Me, Utah dot com. World class water. Incredible fishing. That’s fly fishing with me Utah dot com. Well, tell me this when we’ve kind of bounced around a little bit. This is I think I always love these episodes, but talk about some of these. We get these questions sometimes about some of the I don’t even call them trick casts, but they’re casts that you could use the curve cast, the the reach cast are those things that you talk about. You, you instruct on. 00:39:25 Paul: Yeah, absolutely. I wouldn’t I don’t think them a trick cast. I mean, they’re very useful fishing casts on the presentation. Reach the reach the reach cast or reach mend is is an essential river cast really the over and under power curve particularly overpowered. I use a lot here uh, when casting in towards the banks to cast around obstructions or in my case, to cast around babies to get to the snakehead on the other side of it. But yeah, a lot of that’s about understanding how it works and then practicing it and practicing it to targets so that you can just go away and do it when you need to. On the river, it’s not much point in having a great curve cast if the fly isn’t going to to a spot. 00:40:04 Dave: You mentioned the overpower is the overpower the curve cast or what is that? 00:40:08 Paul: Yeah, sorry. There are largely two. So they’re both there is an overpowered and an underpowered curve cast. And what happens is we. In both cases we. The usual is. In both cases we throw horizontal loops and one under powers or collides with the water so it doesn’t fully straighten. And then the other is overpowered and it kicks around. And there are some interesting physics with that. And then ideally you should be able to do them on shoulder and off shoulder. And if you can do the off shoulder overpowered curve cast, that’s probably, I think that’s probably the hardest cast to get really good at. 00:40:44 Dave: Yeah. Over the shoulder. So over your shoulder. 00:40:46 Paul: Off shoulder, curve. 00:40:47 Dave: Off shoulder. And then the curve n is the big part of the curve is your. You’re kind of using your wrist to do a motion at the end to. How would you describe that curve? 00:40:56 Paul: So firstly, to understand how it works, it has to be a horizontal loop in order to curve. If it’s overpowered, it should be inclining slightly. So coming up if it’s declining it’s not going to turn properly. And the third reason it works is it’s not just because the fly kicks around, but because when the loop straightens, it has so much more energy. A wave kicks back along the line from the fly towards the caster. So you’ve got this wave coming back at you. The best way of doing that now I’m going to have I’m going to describe this. We have a technique called pullback. And a pullback is like bouncing the rod in your shop. Or it’s like taking a wet tea towel and flicking the wet tea towel at the end of the stroke. And I would incorporate that to, if you really want to accentuate the curve, is to sort of make that bounce of the rod right in at the end of the stroke in order to overpower it. 00:41:49 Dave: Okay. 00:41:50 Paul: You don’t sound very convinced by that, Dave. 00:41:52 Dave: Well, I’m still trying to take it in. I’m letting everybody take it. I’m. I’m trying to figure out the under power. Right. So let’s go back to the overpower. So you’ve got this line cast. Maybe describe it again. So we make sure to get this clear. 00:42:03 Paul: So which one is this. The overpowered. 00:42:04 Dave: Let’s do the under power. 00:42:05 Paul: All right. The underpowered one the underpowered one is is a loop that is on its side and it doesn’t straighten. So it curves. It doesn’t straight. And you can do that by underpowering it, which is why it’s called the underpowered. Or you can just use the trajectories so that the loop gently collides with the water without straightening. Then it’s a handier cast because you can use it in the wind and so on. 00:42:26 Dave: Yeah. So under power is the loop isn’t straightening, it’s just kind of hitting the water without a straightened loop. That’s the under power. And then the overpower is the kind of the opposite where it’s actually straightening and then it’s hooking around something to curve around it. 00:42:39 Speaker 5: Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. 00:42:41 Dave: That’s it. Okay. And you, and I’m guessing you have a video that shows this on your website. 00:42:45 Paul: Yeah, absolutely. On that, on that page, on, on the, on the, if you go down to videos or whatever, it’s listed as zero down on there and you’ll find them on YouTube as well. It’s just easy to find them there on the drop down menu over and under. 00:42:57 Dave: Exactly. Yeah. You’ve got the snap cast, the steeple cast, the pendulum cast. You got it all. 00:43:01 Speaker 5: Everything is awesome. Everything is. 00:43:02 Dave: Immense. Okay, I’m going to be I’m going to be spending more time. This is great. They got all the you got Spey two. You got everything in here. 00:43:09 Paul: Everything’s in there. 00:43:09 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:43:10 Dave: Wow. Okay. This is this is amazing. 00:43:12 Paul: Yeah. That was originally an app. I did that app without. That was about twelve years ago or thirteen years ago. We did all. Which is why I didn’t have any hair. So I wanted to look very clean on the app. And so we, we did the, we did this app and then, oh, they just kept changing the app. What the requirements and it and it became, I don’t know, Google was making all the money and, uh, and I wasn’t seeing any. So we thought, well, what we’ll just, we’ll just give it all away and put it on YouTube and sort of index it that way. 00:43:41 Speaker 5: That’s smart. 00:43:42 Paul: That was a long time ago, but now I’m going back and redoing it because I don’t teach like that. I mean, you can learn how to do it from twelve years ago, but now I’m putting in drills and exercises and different. 00:43:51 Speaker 5: Explanations. 00:43:52 Paul: And cues because we learn as we go, right? 00:43:54 Dave: Yeah, definitely. Okay. And then the reach cast is basically, how would you describe the reach cast, how to do that correctly? 00:44:00 Paul: It’s like you say, what you’re going to end up doing is you’re going to finishing with the rod generally pointing upstream, let’s say ninety, ninety degrees. And so it’s a straight line cast from as if you were casting upstream a rod length away. And so you make the cast to the target. And then as the loop is unrolling, you reach the rod, tip out to the side. 00:44:22 Speaker 5: Out. 00:44:22 Dave: To the side, right. 00:44:23 Paul: Usually upstream, it’s a drag free. It’s usually a drag. There are other uses for it, but it’s usually a. To overcome drag problems, casting a dry fly across a current and. It gives you a bit of slack line you can play with afterwards. 00:44:34 Dave: Yeah, it’s a little slack line. One of the casts that is always a fun one is the the bow and arrow cast. Is that something that you, uh, people are applying. Do you think that’s a good one to add? 00:44:43 Speaker 5: Absolutely. 00:44:44 Dave: Repertoire. 00:44:44 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:44:45 Paul: Yeah. That’s in. 00:44:45 Speaker 5: There. 00:44:46 Dave: Yeah it is. How do you how does the bow and arrow cast. How do you describe that. 00:44:50 Paul: Basically like a bow and arrow. Yeah. And I use that here. I was telling you last week I worked a bit with the local indigenous last time with the Indigenous Malaysians and teaching them to be guides. And we have marsiya underneath the. 00:45:05 Speaker 5: In the jungle. Nice. 00:45:07 Paul: And that is that is the only cast you can use in some circumstances. So you get very good at it. And there are a couple of other casts in that family. So you’ve got the bow and arrow, and then there’s the bow and arrow role, which is pretty handy, especially if you want to cast under a low object on the other side. And there’s also an extended bow and arrow cast where instead of just holding the fly, you can actually coil up some line in your hand as well. And you can have loops that you fire out and it can go ten, ten meters. So it can go thirty feet, which is, I think it’s a very long bow and arrow cast. 00:45:38 Speaker 5: Wow. 00:45:38 Dave: That’s amazing. And essentially it’s you’re grabbing your fly, right? And you’re bending your rod back and kind of shooting, letting it go. 00:45:46 Paul: Be very careful though, not to break the tip. 00:45:48 Dave: Break the tip or, or hook the fly. Yeah. 00:45:51 Paul: Or yeah. Hook the fly on your thumb. Yeah. So you hold the fly up if it’s a very small fly there. I’ve held it in forceps before or I know people have put a little loop of line around their thumb and then double it over and hold the fly in that loop, and they can let go of the loop. That’s one way of doing it for the very small fly. But it’s very important that when you bend because it puts a very tight, if you’re not careful, you’ll put a very tight bend into the rod tip. And that is a. And they’re not very good at. They can break if you’re not careful. 00:46:18 Dave: Right. What do you do when somebody out there. Maybe they’re fishing on the water and things fall apart. Maybe they’re getting tired. The wind’s blowing and just struggle. What should somebody do when that happens? Is it a good idea to take breaks out there or what would you recommend? 00:46:31 Paul: Yeah. So here that doesn’t happen because they only get eight or ten shots a day. 00:46:36 Speaker 5: Oh right. 00:46:37 Paul: Right. So but it can fall apart for a different reason. But if we go to your example, I think if somebody casting falls apart, go back to those basic drills of just casting a short length of line, making very tight loops on the side where you can see it and build it from there. I call that first gear exercise. 00:46:54 Dave: That’s first. 00:46:54 Speaker 5: Gear. 00:46:55 Paul: That’s first gear. Just work with a short length of line, you know, six, six, ten feet of fly line outside the rod tip plus leader tight loops and dial it back in that way. Here on the other hand, it’s very different. This is shots. And it can be it’s quite difficult because firstly I was telling you last time you have this two shot window, two second window, which is very difficult. And when you’re not putting it in, your cast can fall, especially if you if you if you mess up, you know, ten, fifteen, twenty shots in a row over a course of four days, then things start to fall apart. And then it’s really a headspace. I think a lot of that stuff has to be dealt with before somebody comes, you know, that can be trained. 00:47:36 Dave: Right. You can prepare for that. So you start if you’re out there. So start with the short length. So just start short again like you said six twelve and working that. And then after you got that going, what’s the next exercise you’re adding or is that good enough to get and then get back in? 00:47:48 Paul: I think that’s probably good enough to get you back into it. I mean, you can keep adding, you can go, you know, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, up to thirty, you know, just keep going, but go incrementally. 00:47:57 Dave: But it’s that loop. Seeing your loop. 00:47:58 Speaker 5: It’s. 00:47:58 Paul: Just getting your loops under control. That’s usually where it falls apart. Either the loops are open or they’re not allowing the back cast to straighten, you know, these basic things, but just getting under control is the key. 00:48:09 Dave: How does that on the timing of the, you know, when you see your loop, let’s say you’re looking at your back cast, it’s going back. How do you know? Are you waiting till it’s totally straight or are you casting before it’s straight? It straightens out. Describe that on the timing there. 00:48:22 Paul: I think the it has to straighten. It doesn’t mean that we can’t be doing something else while it’s straightening. We can be repositioning, but we. But I want that fly to fully straighten before I properly apply power. It’s a very confusing question that you’ve just asked because you’ll get lots of different. You talk about people hitting the J and so on. 00:48:43 Dave: I know because I’ve heard, I’ve heard people say, and I’m not sure where, but like you actually want to cast before it straightens because if you wait till it straightens, then it’s too late. 00:48:51 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:48:52 Paul: See, I think that’s wrong. 00:48:53 Speaker 5: Right? There you go. 00:48:55 Paul: But I, so I think that’s wrong. But there’s a caveat in that because you can make repositioning moves with the rod or the rod tip or the body. So sometimes you see that whole stroke and you think they’ve started early, but it’s getting themselves into position and they may mistake it for starting earlier. But if if you start, if you have a tight loop going backwards and you start the forward cast, that’s going to cause a whip crack that you hear. 00:49:22 Dave: That’s it. If you go to her, that’s the snap. You never want to hear the snap. 00:49:26 Paul: No. And it will just, it will disrupt the front loop as well. So I think there’s more time than most people think. And if you’re casting like hovering the fly at targets. On the forward cast, you can see that the fly just hangs there. It doesn’t suddenly fall out of the sky, right? 00:49:41 Dave: Yeah, it hangs there for a little. 00:49:42 Speaker 5: Bit. 00:49:42 Paul: More time. So this is one of the this is one of the drills I have is leader and maybe two feet of fly line and a weighted fly and being careful not to hit the top of the rod, but just casting this backwards and forwards and making it hang in the air. At the end of each stop you stop loop the fly. The fly straightens, the fly hangs there and then get it going again. And it just gives you a feeling of more time. 00:50:08 Dave: And you have a weighted fly. Like just a little like what? 00:50:10 Speaker 5: Like a beat head or something? 00:50:12 Paul: No, no closer. Or a crab. 00:50:13 Dave: Oh, gotcha. 00:50:14 Paul: Yeah, yeah. Especially saltwater. You know, if you can’t do that, then how can you do it with thirty, forty, fifty feet of line out. So you want to get that under control. 00:50:24 Dave: Okay, so that’s awesome. And then and then what about when you factor in the wind? Are there exercises? Is everything you’re talking about here helping for the wind or specific things you would do to get ready for the heavy wind. 00:50:35 Paul: So wind is about trajectories and line speed, and it depends which angle wind that you’re, um, you need to be able to put the loop on both sides of the body. And you need depends on where you’re fishing, but you really want to deliver forehand and backhand, particularly, you know, taking shots, which I’m sure a lot of you, a lot of your readers do, a lot of your listeners do. So if you’re casting into a headwind, the idea is that when the loop straightens, the fly is on the water. If the loop hasn’t straightened and it’s straightening, if the loop is straightening in the air, then the wind blows it back at you, right? 00:51:11 Dave: That’s not good. 00:51:13 Paul: For that to happen. Your backcast needs to be elevated one hundred and eighty from the front target. Otherwise all all that happens is the loop opens. So that bell on that backcast is is adjusted so that we’re one eighty away from the front target. And then the key is line speed. It’s not so much about tight loops, which people think it’s really about line speed and a straight fly leg to the target. So the best way to practice that is to go out on a windy day, put a whole bunch of targets around you at all different angles and aim at all the targets, and then move to different parts of the field and cast at the same targets. You’re constantly moving it around and making the adjustments. 00:51:50 Dave: Yeah, trying to replicate those conditions. And, and so what you’re saying is, yeah, lower to the either coming up, shooting it down. Are you also maybe keeping your rod tip low, like more horizontal is does that help at all closer to the water. 00:52:03 Paul: Well, I do, but it’s not necessarily for the reason that people say so. So the one you hear is there’s less wind down there. 00:52:10 Speaker 5: Exactly. And they may hear that. There may be. Yeah. 00:52:12 Paul: But then I remember reading in a book, they said, well, if there’s less wind down there, then why the waves filling my waders? 00:52:17 Speaker 5: Right. 00:52:17 Paul: So, so so there is still wind down there and you can’t really get under it. But what you’re really trying. I do tilt it for, um, not because of that reason, but because if you have canted the rod over the angle the line makes to the wind is flatter, it’s steeper. If we’ve if we’re on the vertical on a high back cast. And so there’s going to be more you presented more line to more face of line to the wind. So if it’s very windy, I will cast low off to the side. But the back cast has to be slightly elevated and the forward cast has to be declining straight to the target declining. 00:52:55 Dave: Right. And so it’s rolling out as close to the water as you, so the wind won’t affect it and you can drop it where. 00:53:00 Speaker 5: You. 00:53:00 Dave: Want it. Yeah. That’s great. And tell us this. We’re going to take it out of here in a little bit. But we we mentioned this on the last episode. Snakehead. You’re still describe that where you’re at right now for people listening, it’s pretty cool, right? You’re, I’m guessing using, uh, you’ve got some the satellite internet and stuff, but where are you at right now? 00:53:17 Paul: So I’m in the middle of the Malaysian jungle on a lake here, uh, just south of Thailand, about twenty or maybe thirty or forty kilometres a night. I’ve got a boat and I’m. And I’m sitting on the back of the boat. It’s thirty degrees. I don’t know what that is in Fahrenheit. 00:53:34 Dave: That’s sixty. That’s hot. It’s about ninety degrees. Yeah. Somewhere in. 00:53:37 Speaker 5: There. 00:53:38 Paul: And it’s about I can’t see, but it’s probably about ninety five percent humidity. 00:53:42 Speaker 5: Oh, wow. 00:53:43 Paul: Uh, it’s yeah, it’s very hot and warm and muggy. No bugs though. 00:53:48 Speaker 5: No bugs, no. 00:53:49 Paul: Mosquitoes, no bugs. There are snakes and elephants and tigers, but there’s no bugs. And I fish. I fish for giant snakehead and giant gourami. And the giant snake had, uh, they come up and they breathe air and we put poppers in front of them, which surprises them, and they grab it. And then the giant gourami and there are giant gourami around at the moment. They’re, they’re eating bugs like, um, ants and stuff like that. 00:54:13 Dave: Okay. And how do you spell that species Gourami G o u r a m I. 00:54:19 Paul: They have smaller ones. In the aquarium. We have the giant gourami species and a small one is about six or seven pounds, and the biggest I’ve had is five kilos. So about at about eleven, ten and a half, eleven pounds. 00:54:33 Dave: That’s amazing. They’re kind of like a almost like a sunfish body morphology kind of like. 00:54:38 Speaker 5: Yeah. Very deep. 00:54:40 Dave: Yeah. Very deep. Wow. 00:54:41 Speaker 5: Very clever. 00:54:43 Dave: Are they how are they? They’re a lot different than snakehead. 00:54:45 Paul: Yeah. So I was, I was guiding a chap here and he put the fly in front of the fish. And this fish came and looked at the fly and it looked at the fly. And I’m taking photographs and it’s looking at the fly and it comes and looks at us and goes back and looks at the fly, and eventually it swims away. And on the timestamps of the photo, it had been looking at the fly for over five minutes. 00:55:05 Speaker 5: Wow. 00:55:05 Paul: Five minutes and refused it. Now I can’t imagine any fish, any other fish looking at a fly for five minutes. So I have a little aquarium in the boat and I have a little gourami here, but he’s growing quite big and he. 00:55:18 Speaker 5: Spends. 00:55:18 Paul: All his time. All of his time looking out. If I’m well, I Well, I feed him cheese. He gets very excited by Cheez its. 00:55:26 Dave: That’s awesome. You got your pet. How do you pronounce it? 00:55:29 Speaker 5: Grammy Gourami. Yeah. Gourami. 00:55:31 Dave: Gourami. And how do you get your power there on on the boat. You’ve got a fish tank going. How do you do that? 00:55:36 Speaker 5: Oh, I got I got about six or seven. 00:55:37 Paul: Solar panels on the roof. So, uh, so I run a fridge. Uh, yeah, a lot, a lot of power really. And then, of course, the Starlink takes quite a lot of power as well. 00:55:46 Dave: And Starlink. Do you remember before Starlink? Because Starlink is amazing, right? I mean, before that, how were you were out there before Starlink, right. 00:55:52 Paul: I was out here a long time before Starlink. Yes. 00:55:54 Dave: Yeah. How’d you do it back in the day? 00:55:57 Paul: Well, I was going to I was getting back. There’s no phone reception in most of the lake, so I was managing to find phone reception twice a week and catch up with my emails. I wasn’t doing the online coaching then. And then I got the boat and I took Starlink. I still hadn’t arrived and I was doing online coaching, so I was having to part my boat in a couple of places where, where there is mobile reception, but I felt like I wasn’t really exploring the jungle then, you know, because I was I was so close to I mean, I’m, I’m, I’m about an hour right now from from, uh, from anybody. 00:56:28 Dave: You’re our boat driver. 00:56:30 Paul: From anybody, from anybody. And I can be, and I can be two hours boat drive from, uh, you know, so I’m very remote. In fact, I haven’t seen anybody on the lake for about a week. 00:56:39 Dave: No kidding. 00:56:40 Paul: Yeah. So it is, it is. It’s pretty much the only people I see here are the, the local indigenous or. Yeah. But I haven’t seen it. But but but I haven’t seen them. I haven’t seen anybody around here for quite a while. It’s great. I like I like spending time on my own. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. 00:56:55 Dave: Right. No. You’re an amazing place. That’s like your. It’s pretty cool though, right? With the tech. I mean, the technology has allowed us to sit here with a podcast. You’re in the middle of nowhere and doing this thing. It’s pretty amazing. 00:57:06 Paul: I mean, being able to teach as well and run the business and everything. It is fantastic. But I also like to get away from it. This is the problem. We end up being connected. 00:57:15 Dave: You’re always connected. 00:57:16 Paul: And I and I’m, you know, old enough to remember not having social media and not having the internet in the pocket. 00:57:22 Dave: That’s why the trips, you know, we don’t all get to do. We all can’t live in Malaysia. But for, you know, like me, I’ve got this trip coming up here, you know, and it’s definitely going into a river canyon where there’s no cell phone coverage. So for at least a week, you know, I’m going to be disconnected. And it’s like, okay, well, I got a business to run and I’m going to, you know, we’ll do it and I’m going to be out of touch for a week. So I feel like we all need. I think that’s part of fly fishing, right? Being able to experience that. 00:57:45 Paul: I’m totally sure just getting away from everybody and. Yeah. Leaving it all behind. I used to spend, you know, well before I came here. I sometimes spend six weeks or even, you know, ten days in New Zealand and not, not again, not meet anybody and certainly not have any internet connection or connect or phone connection. And it’s just nice to get away from the world. The world doesn’t stop. So all those things we worry about on a day to day business, you know, we don’t have to worry about them. It turns out, because there’s still. Those problems will still be there when we get back. 00:58:20 Dave: Exactly. Yeah. They will be. Yeah. That’s that’s why you just got to go. You got to say, hey, I’m going. Well, this is awesome. So like we said, we’ll have links out to the show. Give us let’s take it away. A couple of tips. Again, we’ve talked tons of tips today. But again, somebody sitting here, you know, they’ve got some experience. What are the few things you’re going to leave them with today? Like they can actually take action on to help that cast? What would be the big thing? 00:58:40 Paul: Well, I think the first thing is to practice. I mean, not just practice when you’re fishing, but really to make that that part of it, everybody plateaus. And at some point then you’re going to want to look for coaching. I think you can’t do it all. But but there is I would go through those videos, there’s probably four or five hours of content there that you can go through. And I would go through it in order. Don’t just skip the beginnings because the beginnings have little drills that are useful for everybody. I mean, I think another way of looking at it is the really good cast is one of the reasons they’re really good. It’s not because they’re practicing all the difficult stuff, it’s because they’re just really good at the basics. So you want to get really good at the the foundations. And ideally, if you’re taking shots, you’ve got to be to do it without watching the back cast. But you need to learn. I think I’m quite sure at first you need to learn by watching and seeing what’s going on. 00:59:27 Dave: Yeah. See what’s going on. Okay. So watch, so watch the videos practice and is practicing. You know, if you only had a week, a one day a week to go out there for an hour, would that be. 00:59:37 Paul: Well, yeah, but I think you’re better off to do to go out more often and for less. 00:59:41 Dave: Yeah. For less. 00:59:42 Paul: You know, if you could do ten or twenty minutes a day, I mean, most people have got a garden. You just go and have go out and throw out some targets for ten minutes and keep the rod set up. And now, you know, as I say, I wouldn’t say most people have got a lot of people have a garden or a field that they can go in if they have a long way to travel to do that. Well, that’s, that’s difficult. But hopefully a lot of it, I think, is getting over that fear of casting in public and looking a bit different. But after that’s gone, people just if you if you talk to yourself while you do it, people will just avoid you. They’ll think you’re nuts. 01:00:12 Dave: That’s right, that’s right. That’s awesome. That’s always the yeah, the person that’s talking to themselves, you’re always like, okay, I’m staying clear of that guy. 01:00:19 Paul: So I’ll leave you this. So one of the guys I’m coaching down in down in Los Angeles, he I’ve been, he’s been over here and fished over here. He actually writes for the Sexyloops. Now one of the days. Okay, really great guy. And he was listening to Mark Surtees walking drill. And so he’s taken it to the new level and he’s running around making casts, running, running back. He’s sixty eight, running around forwards, around the park this way, running backwards, making different casts. I just thought this is just going to be hilarious for anybody watching what he’s doing. 01:00:48 Dave: That’s good. Well that’s what you said. That’s one of those drills we can do. It’s it’s good to cast and walk because what does that train you to do? It trains you to do. Why is the walking while you’re casting help? 01:00:58 Paul: I think there’s a few different reasons for it. Firstly, it frees up. It makes us less rigid. It makes us more mobile. It allows. And when we cast, we do depends on the cast. We do use weight shift. We’re standing on the front of the boat. We don’t use so much, but it just helps frees up free up all the body. But there is another thing. When we walk, we don’t think about walking. You know, we we’ve learned to do it. We don’t think about putting one foot in front of the other and the angle. We bend our legs and so on. We just do it. And it’s a autonomic thing that we do, and it helps make casting in the same way. You don’t want to be thinking about your arm, your wrist, your shoulder, or, you know, you want to be just want to be forming the loops and the movement should be natural. And so the walking really helps, uh, put that in place. It really is a very powerful drill. 01:01:45 Dave: Yeah. I feel like my cast was when I’m doing my cast the same thing, I’ll have that short distance where it’s just like, I could do it in my sleep, you know, it just feels good. But as soon as I get out to that certain, I don’t know what length it is, but it’s that longer length where I just I struggle. Right? And it’s because maybe I’m starting to think and stuff’s breaking down. Like, how do you do that when you get to that length where you’re at that length where you start struggling, what’s your tip there? If you, you know, to get past that. 01:02:10 Paul: What length is it? 01:02:11 Dave: Uh, well, I mean, I would, and I’m not good with length. I would say thirty to fifty feet, maybe thirty to forty, fifty feet. I can cast pretty good. But when I start trying to make that longer, I don’t know. I just guess it’s probably sixty, seventy, eighty feet, something like that maybe. Right. That’s where it’s tough, tougher. Maybe that’s I don’t even know. How do you even judge? I guess I should probably measure measure the length right, of what I’m casting. 01:02:32 Paul: Yeah, yeah. Tape measure. 01:02:33 Dave: Tape it. Is that a good idea? 01:02:34 Paul: Yeah yeah yeah, absolutely. Stand next to a tape measure. When you get to when at this point you kind of want to know. 01:02:41 Dave: Yeah. Okay. 01:02:42 Paul: But it really, it really, really depends. I mean, uh, it can be the back cast. Um, it can be hall. It could, it could even, I don’t know what line is this? 01:02:52 Dave: Um, what I mean, I’m always using it depends. I got a bunch of lines from different. I mean, you know, I’ve got, I’ve got everything. So I’m not it’s kind of I feel like part of it is the, um, you know, the conditions, the wind factors in. But I mean, I guess when you’re casting, if you just take it to you or Steve or anything, at a certain point, you know, if you’re casting one hundred feet or one hundred and fifty feet or one hundred and ninety feet, at some point, does it break down or does it just you just can’t cast any further. What’s how does that look with the people at the highest level? 01:03:21 Paul: Well, one hundred and ninety feet would be nice. I don’t use a tackle that goes one hundred and ninety feet. That’s a good question. Not really. No. Not so much so. But in order to get there, there are a couple of ways of doing it. But that’s why I was asking. So there is there is a drill I use where if somebody worked out that their maximum carry is X feet and then and anything after that it breaks down, then I get them to carry a little bit less, maybe five feet less, and I get them to play with speed, like going from one hundred percent effort to ninety, eighty, seventy, even sixty. And then I get them to play. And that can be enough to open it up. And then they can carry more because there’s some physics behind that, but the loops can end up being tighter. And then the other is I get them to play with loop shape, like that beginner’s drill we had from me, tight to medium to wide. So if this, whatever this, this carry is five feet less suddenly becomes very comfortable. And you can do a lot with it. And then that can help you extend. So the distance you can reach in the front is largely determined by how much line you’re carrying behind. So it depends a little bit on the line, the line profile and so on. They often it’s not quite accurate, but they can. They often say we shoot about half of what we carry. It’s not quite that. It’s more or less. And it’s, it’s less when it’s more. So one of one of the keys is to develop the back. But look, if you like Dave and you’ve got some time, let’s get together and have a meeting on Zoom, have a cast. 01:04:47 Dave: We’re all gonna. Yeah, let’s, we’ll all take you up on this. This will be good. So yeah, this is great, Paul. Let’s leave it there. And we’re going to hopefully follow up with you and get some more good stuff going. So we will send everybody out. Like we said, Sexyloops dot com. They can check the video page, follow up with you. And yeah, I appreciate your time today. This has been amazing and we’ll look forward to talking more. 01:05:05 Paul: Thanks, Dave. It’s great to talk to you again. 01:05:08 Dave: All right. I hope you enjoyed that one. If you want to check in with Paul, go to sexyloops dot com. Check in with him. There’s a ton of videos there, all sorts of step by step. This is a great place to take it to the next level. I want to give you a big heads up. Next week we are heading into the Stillwater School. The big giveaway launches next week. If you’re interested in joining us on the Stillwater School, check in with me, Dave at Netflix dot com. We have limited spots available. Uh, definitely enter the giveaway, but we’re also going to be selling a few key spots. If you are interested in fishing with Phil Roy, uh, heading over to eastern Idaho. Henry’s.

Conclusion

Paul Arden’s approach to fly casting combines decades of teaching experience, competition casting knowledge, and a deep understanding of how anglers actually learn. His message throughout the episode is simple: better casting doesn’t come from working harder—it comes from understanding loop control, timing, line speed, and practicing with purpose. Whether you’re looking to add distance, improve accuracy, or simply become a more efficient angler, Paul’s insights provide a roadmap for long-term improvement.

     

Why Less Gear Catches More Fish with Chris Teas and Jeff Ditsworth of Pescador on the Fly

pescador on the fly

Have you ever packed a pile of gear for a trip and ended up using only a small part of it?

Today I’m joined by Chris Teas and Jeff Ditsworth from Pescador on the Fly. Chris has been fly fishing for more than 50 years and has traveled all over chasing fish. From lost rods and stolen gear to fishing golf course ponds between holes, he’s picked up a few lessons about keeping things simple.

We talk about travel fishing, packable rods, Euro nymphing, the handful of flies Chris always comes back to, and why he believes fly fishing is one of the best ways to slow down and connect with people.

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(The full episode transcript is at the bottom of this blogpost) 👇🏻

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Show Notes with Chris Teas and Jeff Ditsworth of Pescador on the Fly

The conversation covers fly fishing travel mistakes, stolen gear, packable rods, Euro nymphing, guide tactics, and why Chris believes most anglers only need a handful of flies to catch fish almost anywhere. Along the way, he shares stories from Argentina, golf-course peacock bass adventures, and lessons on why fly fishing remains one of the best ways to connect with people and the outdoors.

Dave, Chris, and Jeff - Pescador on the fly

The Travel Problem Nobody Talks About

(03:20) Chris Teas has been fly fishing for more than 50 years, growing up between Wisconsin and Colorado and spending time on rivers like the Roaring Fork, Fryingpan, Arkansas, and South Platte.

His connection to Pescador on the Fly started because of a problem many traveling anglers know all too well. Over the years, he’d had fly rods lost, stolen, or damaged while traveling. And so he wasn’t looking for a new brand; he was looking for a solution.

What caught his attention was the idea of a rod that could fit in a carry-on or disappear into a backpack without giving up the performance he was used to. For Chris, it was all about being able to show up, put a reel on, and go fishing.

Pescador on the fly

A Fly Rod in the Golf Bag

(06:11) One of Chris’s favorite uses for a packable rod has nothing to do with a fishing trip.

While playing charity golf tournaments, he started keeping a fly rod in his golf bag. The setup included a seven-weight rod, a reel, a few flies, forceps, and nippers. During breaks between holes, he slipped away and found opportunities to fish nearby canals.

The result?

Peacock bass. Snakeheads. Unexpected fishing opportunities that never would have happened if the rod had been left at home.

Watch the full video for the top 5 reasons a 6-piece rod might make more sense than you think. And yes, we find out whether the El Rey G6 fits in my smallest pack. 👇

Traveling Lighter on the Water with Pescador on the Fly

(08:18) Chris says one of the biggest changes he’s seen in fly fishing is how much less gear people carry.

Years ago, anglers loaded up heavy vests stuffed with flies, tools, and backup gear. Today, many guides and experienced anglers are moving toward smaller packs and simpler setups.

He also points to Euro nymphing as one of the biggest innovations in modern fly fishing. The technique opened the door to new rods, new rigs, and a completely different approach to fishing.

For Chris, it all comes back to keeping things simple. Carry what you need, fish hard, and leave the rest behind.

Chris Teas - Pescador on the fly

Sometimes the Best Lesson Is Watching

One of Chris’s favorite ways to learn is by watching guides fish.

On several trips, he spent part of the day sitting back and studying how a guide approached the water. Where they cast, how they moved, and how they read a run.

He says if someone is better than you, pay attention. Sometimes you’ll learn more watching for ten minutes than fishing for an hour.

Chris Teas - Pescador on the fly

Fly Fishing Is the Great Equalizer

For Chris, fly fishing has never been just about catching fish.

It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, where you’re from, or how much money you have. Once two people discover they both fly fish, the conversation changes.

Part of that is because fly fishing teaches lessons everyone understands. Most days involve missed fish, changing conditions, and figuring out what to do next. Success usually comes from adapting, staying patient, and trying something different.

Chris also thinks the TV series The Madison could bring more people into the sport, much like A River Runs Through It did years ago. At its core, fly fishing is about much more than the fish. It’s about the people, the experiences, and the connections made along the way.

Watch the Madison Official Trailer here:

You Probably Need Fewer Flies Than You Think

Chris shared a story from Colorado in which he caught fish after fish on a simple dry-dropper setup while other anglers nearby struggled. The secret wasn’t a magic fly. It was a basic scud suspended below a dry fly.

That experience reinforced something he believes strongly: most anglers carry far more flies than they actually need.

He said if you can’t catch fish with seven or eight patterns, another hundred probably isn’t going to help.

He mentioned flies like the Walt’s Worm, Frenchie, Griffith’s Gnat, Pheasant Tail, scuds, and Adams patterns. For him, it comes down more to depth, size, and presentation than having every new fly in the shop.

Chris Teas - Pescador on the fly

Three Things Chris Likes Most About Pescador on the Fly

Chris broke down three things he likes about Pescador on the Fly. None of them had anything to do with flashy marketing. Instead, they came down to practical details that make life easier on the water and while traveling.

  1. Square Rod Tubes
    • Unlike traditional round tubes, they don’t roll around in the back of a truck or drift boat. Jeff said the idea actually came from a customer suggestion, and it’s one of those small details that turned out to be more useful than expected.
  2. Spare Rod Tips
    • Chris joked that most anglers have broken a rod tip in a car door, ceiling fan, or somewhere equally frustrating. That’s one reason many Pescador on the Fly rods include a spare tip. Jeff sees it as simple insurance, especially for anglers traveling long distances or heading out on a big trip.
  3. Reel Performance Over Flash
    • When it comes to reels, Chris kept coming back to one thing: drag. Colors, logos, and flashy features don’t matter much when a big fish is headed downstream.

      Jeff explained that Pescador on the Fly’s direct-to-consumer approach helps keep costs down while still delivering solid performance, allowing anglers to get quality gear without paying premium-brand prices.
Pescador on the fly

About Chris Teas

Christopher Teas is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Park South Capital, a single-family office established in 2013, focused on majority-control investments across multiple sectors, including banking, Biotech, FinTech, TMT, and U.S. Security & Defense. 

With more than 38 years in finance, Chris has held senior roles at Morgan Stanley, Belstar Group, Ticonderoga, and Southport Lane, building businesses and structuring complex transactions. In 2010, Chris co-created the RepuSPX Algorithm, outperforming the S&P 500 benchmark by 380 percent 

Chris also serves as CEO of CAD Therapeutics, a Phase III FDA Candidate treating PTSD. He is a frequent speaker on AI, alternative assets, national security initiatives, quantum computing, and biotech innovation.

Christopher is a passionate fly fisherman and golfer. 


Check out Pescador on the Fly

Website: PescadorontheFly.com

Facebook: Pescador on the Fly

Instagram: @pescadoronthefly

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Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 938B Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: Chris Teas has fished all over the world, and he stripped today’s episode down into a handful of things that actually matter. Today, we get into those things from fly behavior to simplifying your setup and why something like a fully packable rod is a game changer and how people are using it to fish. I’ve got Jeff Ditsworth and Chris T’s on the podcast today. Chris has spent decades fishing everywhere from Wisconsin, the Rockies, South America, everywhere around the world, and Jeff Ditsworth is from Pescadora on the fly. Of course, one of the best packable rods out there. And we’re going to get into it all today, including a bunch of amazing stories. This is the Wet Fly 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 give back to the fish species we all love. Today we’re going to talk about what travel mistakes Chris has made over the years, how he’s lost gear, dealt with tough conditions, had gear stolen and why this packable rod has been great. We’re going to get into that today. We’re going to find out about some tips on Chris’s travel, and we’re going to find out how not only has the rod been great, but how he is tweaking things with his fishing. We’re going to find out how Euro nymphing is fit in Chris’s life, and actually how Pescador on the fly has a rod that’s coming out right around the corner. We’re excited about that. In fact, it should be live as we speak here today. And then we’re going to talk about how you can strip it all down and really get to the things that matter, including a few flies, and then why you should be thinking about this on your next trip, and also why on your next trip. If you’re on a guide trip, you should let your guide fish on the water. All right, this one is a fun one. You gotta stay with us to keep up. Chris Tease and Jeff Ditsworth. Here they are. Let’s get into it. How are you guys doing? 00:01:45 Chris: Doing great today. Thanks for having us, Dave. 00:01:47 Jeff: Excellent. Thanks, man. Good to see you again. 00:01:49 Dave: Yeah, yeah. This is gonna be fun. Today we are going to talk fly fishing, which we always do. We’re going to get into a little bit. You know, Jeff, we’ve had you on the podcast a few times. We know your background, Chris. You’re kind of new. You’re the new guest to the show. So we’re going to find out about your story, kind of how you got into it all. And we’ll dig into a little bit of that and talk gear, rods and everything. But maybe let’s start there, Chris, with you, since you’re the the new one here, have you been fly fishing all your life or did you just get started more recently? 00:02:14 Chris: Yeah, you know, that’s a good question. Thanks, Dave. I started fly fishing, I believe, when I was five years old. Oh, wow. And, uh, maybe four years old. It’s been in my blood since I’ve been just a wee one. I could hold a flight. There’s pictures of me holding a very, very old Fenwick fly rod. And I was maybe three years old with a five pound bass with a, you know, a mouth from here to here. So yeah, a long time. So I won’t give up my age completely. But let’s just say it’s north of forty five, fifty years. So there we go. 00:02:43 Dave: Yeah. That’s cool. And where did you grow up? 00:02:45 Chris: Yeah, I grew up in central Wisconsin, uh, where there’s not a whole lot of trout fishing other than the Kickapoo River. And then kind of split my time between Colorado. Uh, so my home streams were the Roaring fork frying pan. Arkansas. Colorado. You know, Miracle Mile, eleven mile, South Platte, etc. so really, I had the fortunate ability with my parents to be able to fly fish in some phenomenal places as a young kid. 00:03:09 Dave: Nice. That’s amazing. You know, of course we have Jeff on here, Pescador on the fly. We’ve been working with him for a while using his stuff. His packable rods are amazing. How did you first connect with Pescador and Jeff and his program? 00:03:20 Chris: Well, that’s a really that’s an interesting question. And just make sure your public viewing audience and listeners know I’m not a paid endorser. I pay right, right. I pay one hundred percent for everything I own. And Jeff will attest to that. Nor do I get paid by any lodges that I talk about or related. So I’m on my own. And, and the reality is the story of why I picked to work with Jeff and Pescador on the fly is not because of something I wanted to wake up and find some dude in Iowa that made fly rods. Okay, I’ve had a history of, of traveling and the benefit of traveling around the world on more than one occasion. My fly rods have been stolen. I haven’t been able to check them in. And voila! At the other end, six brand new sages are gone and have had real stolen, I mean. So the thesis of a packable solution that actually had really the quality and dynamic of what I’ll call and I hate to use the word premium, but premium solutions was really selfish. I just wanted to be able to show up, pick out my rod, reel it up, and let’s go. And up until now, you know my ninety L bags. You know the big bags will carry a four piece. The euro rods sometimes fit, sometimes don’t. But really I was searching for a solution. And truth be told, I’m not a huge internet guy. But somehow I got on a fly fishing page with, uh, Pescador on the fly. And I looked at it for a while and I said, you know what? Let’s try this stuff out because I really need it for this next trip. And, and Jeff knows that I just came back from Argentina. So it was a functional rationale of why two is I had no idea whether they perform or not, just be truth be told, I had no idea whether the reels would work or the this or this look cool or whatever. And three is, is it something that I would recommend to my friends? So the journey of finding something online, the benefit is I didn’t see it on a commercial. He doesn’t advertise at the trade shows. You know, it’s just it’s a natural guy. And very frankly, the allure to me is that, you know, he’s built a business in the United States that caters to my favorite pastime. Golf might be second in line, but my favorite pastimes fly fishing. So we’re always people who are in the know are always looking. And, you know, we have I shouldn’t say we because I’ve been blessed enough to own more than I could have my own fly shop. So I have Thompson. 00:05:29 Dave: And. 00:05:29 Chris: Thomas and Thomas and Loomis and Sage and Winston’s and you know, about a dozen offices and so forth. So over a period of fifty years, you end up collecting a lot of equipment. Probably most of it’s not usable, but we become sensitized to the brands and the big brands, and it’s kind of like skiing. There’s only so many ways you can make a fly rod. This particular differentiating factor for me was it wasn’t that the brand is better, or that it’s faster or slower tip, or somehow it was that I could pack this damn thing into a carry on in my backpack. I have one here in Nashville with me on my trip, and if I want to, I can get on on that stream and not lose performance of what I would call the premium rides. That’s the bottom line. 00:06:11 Dave: Yeah. That’s amazing. That’s well said. Actually, you just said a lot right there. And I think that for me too, it’s the same thing. The packable rod I know when I first took it on, you know, you’ve got a four piece rod and putting that in your little backpack, it’s sticking out. It’s all over the place. It’s hitting trees when you’re hiking. But Jeff, when I grabbed that rod the first time, it like disappeared in my pack, my little pack, you know, and that’s like a cool thing to just be like, all right, it’s there. Tell me this. You guys have a or I think Chris, you have a story about, you know, about a golf course. I think maybe one of you guys were telling me about this. You had the rod in your golf. 00:06:41 Jeff: Bag this the day that you had sent me a picture of some fish you guys got, and you said, well, I never would have got it if we didn’t have a rod in our golf bag. Yeah, not the easiest thing to do, but I thought that was pretty cool for. 00:06:52 Chris: All the golf course superintendents out there and all those who want to do, I am not liable for anything that comes your trespass warnings. 00:06:58 Jeff: I apologize in advance. 00:07:00 Chris: Directly to Pescador on the fly, but. But I play in a number of charity golf tournaments where you have a lot more time in between holes than normal. And I said, what the heck, let’s just throw this little. I guess I had a seven weight in there and, uh, you know, magically, somehow the reel ended up in the same golf bag and a couple of flies and, you know, nailed a bunch of peacock bass and, uh, even two. 00:07:23 Dave: Peacock. 00:07:24 Chris: Bass and a snakehead, uh, along the way. And I won’t give up. I’m not going to burn any spots, guys. So. 00:07:29 Dave: No. What state were you? Where are you at with the peacock bass? 00:07:32 Chris: Yeah. So this this was in South Florida. So, you know, we had a pretty cold winter this year. In fact, you know, the iguanas were falling out of the trees and and a lot of the peas didn’t make it. So this was in, in the Miami area. And, uh, the ability just to like, put it in there, break it down, throw it away, you know, and not think about it and not have the course superintendent come at me. Was pretty cool. So I again, I don’t advocate, uh, going on to private property and doing this or for golfers always ask the superintendent, most of them, as long as they know your catch and release, they don’t have a problem with it if you’re not holding up golf holes. But it brought the pack ability and the ability just to, whether I used it or not, didn’t take up a lot of space, really became something fun for me. And so now I keep one in my golf bag with a couple flies and a few reels and and so forth. So some forceps and clippers. 00:08:18 Dave: There you go. That’s amazing. Well, Jeff, this must sound pretty cool to you when you hear this story. What are you thinking now as you hear Chris tell the story about using your rod there? 00:08:26 Jeff: It’s funny because Chris, it reminds me of of why I started the company in the first place. Because again, you know, I’ve got a basement full of fly fishing gear from all the brands that you mentioned too. And I used to travel a lot for business. And, you know, it was one of those things where bringing a four piece rod with me was what I had to do, till I found the packable rods that were on the market, and I hated them because they felt like broomsticks. And, you know, I get it all the time where people come back to me and say, I found those rods. There’s another company that’s been making them for years. And I was like, no, I, I’m so happy that I found that company too, because the rod was so bad that it forced me to start this company. So I love that brand. 00:09:04 Chris: The inflection point of technology today and your ability, you had an auspicious nature to find a niche in the market. Listen, guys, there’s nothing really new happening in the fly rod industry. It’s just marketing. Okay, so we can say that it’s got better wraps or better grip. It’s a gosh darn fly rod. Okay. 00:09:23 Dave: Because we’ve had a lot of pros, like the highest level on this podcast that are still using rods from the eighties. 00:09:28 Chris: Well, mine are I truth be told, every reel I got, I had the benefit of Lefty Cray saying, buy this reel. It’s called an eighth out of Sweden. I bought a half dozen of them when I had no money. They were five hundred bucks a pop. I think they’re going for two thousand five hundred to three thousand a pop now. So that was from Eighty five eighty six. And Joan Wolfe, you know, gave me one of her rods, which is still I’m still using the Wolf special, you know, the Joan Wolf special. You know, it’s forty five years old. It’s almost fifty years old. So, you know, reels may have had some mechanical changes to them, but ultimately a reel to reel rods are. What I will tell you is that I raised some eyebrows in this last camp of people saying, you know, for, you know, you’re a serious fisherman. You really brought a six piece rod with you and it works. And the guys are all like, let me hold this. Let me see how it works. And for real. I mean, the guides are kind of, you know, I was a guide when I was in high school and early college. So we all have our own little thing. And it was a broomstick in the past. These things performed, you know, am I going to say it’s perfect for me? It’s what’s perfect. Might not be for you and Jeff, but for me for sure. And I’ve caught. 00:10:32 Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure. 00:10:33 Chris: ten million trout that have disability payments due to me on them. So trust me, trout don’t like me. But those rods did what I wanted them to do. I over lined them. Just truth be told, I over lined them because of the wind in Tierra de Fuego and so forth. And they worked really, really well. So well that the guides asked me to leave them behind as not back up rods. But can I leave this in my boat? I’ll give you whatever you paid for it. And here’s the key. And they said, you know, grand or eight hundred dollars. I said, you know, I’m not going to embarrass myself or my my sponsor on this, but let’s say you can get the whole thing for five hundred bucks. Five fifty and it’s not a, it’s not some kit that you got from Walmart. Okay. This is like a serious rod. I think it’s going to change a the secondary rods for a lot of guides out there as a who are not sponsored on the guide deal. Okay, this is the guide deal and it’s going to work for you. And so I don’t know how many rod tips you’ve snapped off. Lord knows I’ve got a whole bunch in ceiling fans in South Florida floating around somewhere in Bimini, the Bahamas. I’ve snapped off rods in back doors. I mean, I am the king of snapping rods in half. 00:11:35 Jeff: Doors and ceiling fans. That’s the number two. 00:11:38 Chris: And so that was one thing too, is, you know, other than a handful of US manufacturers who still in existence the Made in China or Made in Asia moniker. Up until early two thousand was made of maybe not such good materials. Or maybe the workmanship was wrong. That’s gone today. That stigma is over. So at the end of the day, the composites that are used, the wrappings are all the same wrappings and composites, real seats and so forth, premium or not, that are being sold by a number of the top rod companies, including Orvis. So the differential between foreign made or marketed to me is a is a non-issue. At the end of the day, it’s performance, performance, performance. And I think that whether Pescador has any other competitors in the market or not, there just weren’t any that came across my attention. So to go to your first question, Dave, I grew up using the same five rods, no matter how many I owned for forty years. And it was the same. Now with the Euro, it’s a little different, right? A little different animal here. 00:12:34 Dave: Yeah. So you’re you’re doing the euro a little bit. 00:12:36 Chris: Well, let’s not expose that to everyone. So you know euro a little bit could have some different connotations. 00:12:41 Dave: But Right. 00:12:43 Chris: I got into it about six years ago and it should be illegal. It truly is that devastating of a system that, you know, we used to use these metal wraps and then it became micro split shot. And then we all learned how to do the bounce rig and, you know, kind of we progressed and then Euro came along with this, you know, hey, screw all that. Let’s just do what effectively is tight line to the bottom, which you’ve been using. Chuck, your father girl taught me how to do that in nineteen seventy five. So the Euro situation is really cool. The better situation is that you could take a Euro rod and still cast a dry fly, so that convertibility between the two. Absolutely. And so, you know, I go out with two reels and a couple of different lines on them, but I’m still using in certain cases, just the rod. But now I can throw in one of the pescadora on the fly, probably a five weight or a four weight, just as a backup if I want, and I’ll have it ready for dry fly, you know, with that, Adam’s ready to go, so I’ll euro in the morning. In the evening, and in between. If there’s a hatch, I’m going to pull out this little rod and within five minutes I’m up and going. But that that big until Jeff figures this out, that big rod, you know, is still sticking out of my head. You know, the back of my backpack by about this much. 00:13:52 Jeff: So we’re looking into that one. Chris. I got a four section euro in the L. Jeff. A line coming out probably in two weeks. It’s in the oven. It’s almost done. And then we’ll we’ll see what we can do on the six side on that one for you. 00:14:03 Chris: That would I need a two way eleven foot you know super soft to carry the seven x Tippets and eight x Tippets that we use on some of these tail waters. But I think that you brought up something, Dave and Jeff, that that’s interesting. It’s probably the first real innovation in fly fishing, other than the auto reels that you see the Euro guys using to pick up line, there really hasn’t been innovation in fly fishing. You know, we’ve got Fish Pond to their benefit has really redefined a certain consumer in terms of the nets in particular and some of the baggage that came along with it. I think I bought one of Jeff’s um, bags that is a, it’s got a, it’s, I put it in the rain. I can dunk it. I did, I dunked this bag. I put it in the water because that’s always been the things, you know, at the end of the year, having all my flies rusted out, I dumped it. It worked. So the two innovations that have really changed is to move away from the vest, right? That was the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties thing, the vest into a pack. And then it was the flippable pack here, here, here, here, wherever you wanted to go. And then we kind of advanced to micro pack. Right now, the guides, my friends are all using this. We want the smallest, lightest that we can walk around. I carry one, I think I have one around here somewhere. I carry, you know, a puck with my dry flies, a puck with my wet and a baggie with my my streamers in. It all fits in a couple spools and I’m out. So we’ve that what I’ll call the translation business of carrying baggage on the stream used to be I’d pick everything. And I wanted to have two of everything. Five forceps. God knows I’ve dropped enough on the ground. So that was one innovation. But Euro really changed the market and brought a whole new. I think the numbers are probably two billion a year of of in the United States, a market that didn’t exist. So up until a few years ago, you couldn’t find. Euro was you were thrown out of you know, you’re in Silver Creek. You say Euro, you’re out of there. Right. But get out. You’re one of those guys from California. But Euro now means we all got to go out and buy new rides. And you can’t just get one. You got to get a two way. You got to get a Douglas three way. You got to get this one. And it created kind of like Jeff. It created a niche market for like echo and some other players that didn’t even have shelf space before. So that’s one huge inflection point in the fly rod market of innovation coming. And most people don’t know the euro didn’t come because some guy said, oh, it’d be a French guy. Like it’d be good to have an eleven way. Well, that does us no. Right. It was because they couldn’t use split shot. Okay? Because lead is illegal in ninety percent of the European stream. So they learned how to reverse tie upside down flies. And with tungsten, if to the extent it’s legal. And then the other big thing, innovation wise that’s changed is it’s legal in certain streams, not others. More than one fly. Okay. And I’m not talking hopper dropper. I’m talking a rig of three, four, five in a row. That was a never. Tags were never. I never heard of tags until early two thousand. Like what’s a tag other than hopper dropper? What’s a tag? So now we’ve been conditioned to buy new flies and if one is good, ten must be better. A thousand must be great. So you have three things packability and storage on the equipment side, including Packability storage reels, which haven’t really changed. And then ultimate in flies. And then a whole new definition of fly fishing to say, hey, what’s this Euro thing? And guys my age over sixty, either they are like, hey, that’s, you know, a ton of BS or I saw you like clean up in that hole. What are you guys doing up there? Right? 00:17:22 Dave: Yeah. That’s awesome. Well, this is again, that’s well said. And we just got off an episode. We’re doing a series A team USA is in Idaho this year going for the gold. Right. The World Championships. And we’re doing a series. We’re doing a five episode series of interviewing these top the five starters. And last night I just talked to Mike and Mike, right? Mike Kimura, Mike Bradley and they were going off on some stuff that I didn’t know about in the Euro. Like one of them was I didn’t know as much about. We were talking about Microliters, you know, so they moved to Microliters, which are basically the whole liter super long. They don’t really use a cider as much anymore. It’s a little bit different, but I feel like again, innovation, like you said, Chris, there’s always innovation in all these things. But Jeff, as you hear this again, what do you think? I mean, you’re, you’re innovating, right? I mean, you’re, do you, are you always in your mind thinking like, okay, what’s the next thing I’m going to be tweaking? How do I make the next thing that you’ve already made, right? How do you make it better? 00:18:12 Jeff: You know, I don’t know. I go back two different directions. One, I’m always thinking about something that could be interesting that could, you know, be nichey kind of like that. But I also don’t want to be all things to all people. So I don’t want to get I don’t want to get too broad. I’m getting a little broad when it comes down to the fact that we got the four section rods in the El Jefe series, and we got the El Rey series where it’s, you know, we’re rocking that one. I’m gonna have two to two to nine. Wait, maybe a ten. Wait, coming here in the fall. 00:18:38 Dave: So you’re not breaking out a Spey rod anytime soon? 00:18:40 Jeff: I mean, I get asked probably weekly for that kind of thing or I mean, we get like legitimately asked to, hey, why aren’t you building two piece rods? And it’s like, I mean, I could I don’t really think I need to. You know what I mean? I’m just kind of trying to stay in my lane. I’m a small family business. I don’t need to be all things to all people. I’m just trying to make something really, really good in this area that’s kind of been neglected in the market. 00:19:03 Chris: But you know, Jeff, first of all, congratulations for innovation and taking a risk in something you’re passionate about because passion projects are always going to be the best. But two is thank you. You also hit a second inflection point, and I’m not going to throw anyone under the bus, but there’s a number of really, really well-known pro guides. You can all guess who they are, who were tied to brands, who their contracts ended and they spun out and they have their own series of rods. So, you know, Temple Fork. And I’m not, I’m a I own ten of them was probably the first to get rid of the brand and say, hey, by the rod, by the person, not by the brand on the top. And again, kudos to temple for they were, I think, the first that that jumped out in that market. 00:19:43 Speaker 4: That it built a really good brand. Agreed. 00:19:45 Chris: And it used to be kind of a joke. You know, we’d show up at Los Locos and guys would have Temple Fork. I’m like, yeah, but you know what? I break three rods a year anyway. And why spend twelve hundred bucks on a new rod? We’re going to do this. So you got the benefit of some guys ahead of you that got off the brand, the guide market, brand market, you know, and we all know who they are and said, hey, maybe you should look at this. And that only became possible because labor costs and innovation offshore became a more efficient way to deliver your product. 00:20:12 Jeff: Yeah, I mean, it’s a true story. And I think I go back to it where we have people probably monthly, at least that reach out and say, I can’t buy this rod. And unless I can walk into a store and touch it. 00:20:23 Chris: That same guy walked into my store and said, where do I go? What do I use? What do I do? You want me to tie the fly on for you and catch it for you too? I mean that guy maybe wants to that person that goes and does that will sit in that fly shop for two hours just touching all the things. Okay. 00:20:39 Jeff: No, I know exactly what you mean, but it’s, you know, I, I just go back to the, to the line and I say to a lot of people, you know, if ten years ago you would have told me that I’d be buying one hundred percent of my shoes online, I would have told you, you’re nuts. 00:20:50 Chris: Yeah. Well, I also I also had a phone book which is now called Google. So you hit on something earlier that that’s important in terms of innovation. Dave. Is that what I see now? And I think once you click, once you click forever, now that I’ve clicked into Jeff’s world, I get hit by every fly fishing deal in the world, right? So everything comes up because I’ve been, you know, the algorithms got me as a fly fisherman, I see lines as the next thing. So sun Ray has been really active in lines in the performance of shooting heads. You’re seeing a lot of the micro sinking tip, you know, the micro liter that have sink tip, six inch per second type tips that you can just flip on at the end and get a sink tip immediately to. Saline lines are a new area of, hey, I need to have this. Maybe I need to have more than one. Maybe I need to have five or six in my bag, I don’t know, what do you think, Jeff? 00:21:39 Jeff: Yeah, I don’t know. It depends on what you’re trying to do in the fly fishing world. Right? I mean, some guys are gear people and they want to have every new shiny thing that’s out there and get every little advantage. Some people just want a little piece of quiet on the water, right? So for those people that are interested in it, I love the fact that people are bringing out new innovation. Love it. Right? I love the sink tip lines. I love fishing streamers, but I’ve never really gotten super advanced into, you know, all the different options that are out there. So like I said, I fish the way I fish, maybe I innovate a little bit, maybe a little, a little bit less than some guys do on that side of it. But like, at the end of the day, I’m fishing probably ninety five percent of the time with a weight forward floating fly line and I catch a few fish. 00:22:23 Chris: That’s ninety, ninety percent. Truth be told, other than this last trip, the two trips before, I probably spent sixty percent of my time on the water watching the guide who I had, watching him catch learning from him. He’s like, sir, why do you want to see? You paid me six hundred bucks. Why are you sitting there? I was like, because I like to see how you attack the water. 00:22:41 Dave: Oh that’s cool. So you had the guide fishing? 00:22:43 Chris: I do it all the time. I mean, I was as a kid, I was a guide on the Deschutes and the frying pan and so forth. And you learn from people who were better from you in all sports, but in fly fishing. 00:22:52 Jeff: Everything. 00:22:53 Chris: In particular. Fly fishing is one where not having the cell phone on, not having competition. I’m a catch and release guy forever. For me, it’s cathartic to be on the water and fly fishing becomes a mechanism for me to talk. Not just business, but relationships with other executives and people. You might be, you know, the cattleman’s daughter for all I care. You know, it’s the great equalizer on the fly, on the on the water. I don’t care what you have. I don’t what car you have, how big your wallet is. I’m going to get you into fish or you’re not going to get fish or I’m not going to get fish. One of us can be jealous. Okay, so fly fishing in itself is the great equalizer. The tools and techniques we use Just get us there, right? 00:23:28 Jeff: Yeah. I don’t disagree at all. I mean, I just love my time on the water. Last weekend I was out in Montana and that’s, that’s the time where I can be on the water and truly like decompress. And I love it because we had one day where we had a photographer out with us. And Dave, you met drew before. 00:23:43 Dave: Oh, yeah. 00:23:43 Jeff: So we had Jake, who’s also been on this podcast as well. Yep. And then drew and we were on the water. And Chris, to your point, I never even thought about it until you just mentioned it. Probably one of my favorite parts of one day, which was the Tuesday last week, was when I was sitting in the boat screwing around to something, and I was watching those two guys cast and actually catch fish in a hole. It was actually super fun. So I didn’t realize that until you just mentioned how cool that was. 00:24:07 Chris: Coming right behind you. And then the other thing that’s happening, Dave, in the market is you got the upswing from, you know, I think it was nineteen ninety two was a River Runs Through it, if I remember correctly. 00:24:17 Dave: That’s right, that’s right. 00:24:18 Chris: You know, the Madison now is out is Madison. 00:24:21 Dave: Is that happening? Is that show going to be the next? 00:24:23 Jeff: I heard about it last week. 00:24:25 Chris: six episodes and it’s phenomenal, guys, you gotta you gotta get on on the show. It was, uh, you go in with a predisposition, like they’re going to mess this up. So it’s fly fishing, the underpinning of the story. It’s the journey. And I recommend anyone listening. I’m not an advocate for the studio. 00:24:41 Dave: So it’s worth it. So it’s funny because I’ve been on a little bit, I’d be like, okay, do I want to jump into this? But you’re saying we should jump in and watch it. 00:24:47 Chris: I power watched it all six episodes. Oh, this is great. 00:24:50 Dave: This is great. 00:24:50 Chris: But what they messed up even with today, okay, he had all the gear. I’m not going to say who it is today. Did you see it, Jeff? 00:24:57 Jeff: I haven’t seen me. I just heard about it last week. My only joke was that all the spin offs from Yellowstone, the very first one that I tried to watch was with my wife, and it was Marshalls. And I’m like, I can’t watch. This is horrible. But I heard this was really good. 00:25:12 Chris: For all those listening at home. It is worth it. Hopefully I do a second episode. It hits. It meets my world of Wall Street. The main character, who’s a private equity guy kind of says, you’re missing it there. My time is in in Montana and you kind of go to my point though, being is even with everything he’s got, all the gear, he’s got all the anyone who knows, you know, we all kind of look at the stuff. He’s got it all. But man, you can’t land a fish. You couldn’t get a director to get a real fisherman to show him how to take a fish off a hook and land it and not hold it up. I mean, so they got ninety percent of it, right? And if you go back to Brad Pitt throwing, you know, back then no one really knew. But what I’m saying in a nutshell, it’s reinvigorated fly fishing. And I I’m in in Nashville at a, at a, at a private equity family office event and three conversations around fly fishing. They don’t start that way, but as soon as it comes up, it’s, wow, where did you go? What do you do? You stop. It stops everything as soon as one hundred. It is the game changer among executives. As good as golf. If someone’s a fly fisherman, it doesn’t matter who you are, what they do. They can be a lawyer, banker, crook. Doesn’t matter. You know, delivery boy fly fisherman changes the dynamic of the conversation immediately across the board. 00:26:22 Dave: Yeah. 00:26:23 Chris: So this movie, this movie is going to generate a lot of interest among young people who and other people to rediscover. What do they do? Where do they go? What do they need? Does that make sense? 00:26:33 Dave: Yeah. 00:26:34 Jeff: Here’s me that you should be speaking on college campuses, that if you want to be successful, you got to get into fly fishing. 00:26:39 Chris: I do do that and I do speak about it. I tell everyone, here’s my plug. I’ve hired thousands of people and I tell every girl, every woman and don’t call me. Don’t blame me for being gender this way or that way. Learn how to golf a respectable bogey round. The first thing you do. Take golf lessons and learn how to golf one hundred percent. You can golf as a woman from the whites no matter what you do, as long as you don’t embarrass yourself, you’re going to have a whole different class of people. Okay? Number two is learn how to fly fish. And so to all my single girlfriends out there and someone over my shoulder is going to beat me here in a second. If you want to find a nice guy, go to Sun Valley, go to peekaboo, park yourself in the parking lot, pull on your waders and say, I need some help and you’ll find your next husband. Okay, so the guys who fly fish typically are pretty good guys out there. 00:27:28 Dave: That’s right. 00:27:28 Jeff: But you know, I agree with that. 00:27:30 Chris: You got a belly button, a fly rod. I think it’s a little bit of a one of those dating apps because the reality is, is that it’s mostly dominated by men. That being said, there’s a number of young women out there that you’ve seen online. There’s one at Colorado Springs who’s tying. Amy’s tying aggressively on her flies. There’s some women out there who’ve broken through and they’ve been around for a while, but really now it’s something that you can take your girlfriend, you can take your wife, you can take a date fly fishing. And the thing is, oh, it’s really expensive. I can’t afford that. There’s a certain element to that. But if you can afford a thousand bucks, you can be in the business with waders and a decent pescador rod or two and some flies. And I think Jeff actually sends out everything you need. If you if you order through him in a package and it’s not some crap package, but it’s a date. And once you own it, then it’s really, you know, finding you. You can go bass fishing in your backyard or you can go to a trout stream. So I think it’s a great equalizer for for getting to know someone. And I mean that very seriously. And I say this, Dave, you asked me the two things I teach. I tell everyone, learn how to play a decent round of golf, learn how to fly fish, those two. Okay, but if I watch you on either vehicle, whether you’re golfing or fly fishing, I know everything about you in about ten minutes, right? 00:28:40 Dave: Yeah. If you see my swing right now, if you see my golf swing, you’re going to know that I haven’t played golf in about ten years. 00:28:46 Chris: I don’t care if you hit it in the tree fifty times. Okay? I want to see how you deal with adversity or a bad shot, or how you treat the caddy, right? Or how you treat the clubhouse person. Yeah. The minute you put on your shoes, I’m watching everything. Same thing in fly fishing. I don’t care where you’ve been, what you’ve done. It’s how you deal with rejection. Because fly fishing is about rejection. Okay, true. 00:29:09 Jeff: Yeah. 00:29:09 Chris: It’s fishing, not catching. Ninety percent of what we do is rejection. And those who are the best fly fishermen are the best at getting rejection and figuring out how to do something different. And those are the guys I wanted working for me because they figured it out. I’m going to tell you a funny story, Dave, and I’m going to keep it anonymous for a very specific reason. Yeah. Uh, we’re in the in the flats below the toilet bowl on the frying pan and between the big L curve and the big toilet bowl at the top, there’s these flats and no one ever fishes them. But there’s fish that sit in the middle and down at the curve. Two gentlemen were watching me, and I was absolutely killing them. And I was using a scud, not a Mrs. A Scud. Okay. And I had it dropped below. A really ugly floating flight. Didn’t matter. It was I don’t remember, it probably was a wolf or something, but the point was I just wanted it suspended about seven inches below. Yeah. Dry dropper. And I was just killing him. And I saw this guy and he was with a guy, and I saw the guy going, let’s go downstream. Let’s go downstream. These guys after. No, no, get him out of here. Because I hit like fifteen fish in a row. 00:30:08 Dave: Yeah. 00:30:08 Chris: And you know, those fish are tanks up there. So, you know, I’m sorry. I’m running through your hole three times. Doesn’t work well. So the guys at the end, the guy packed up, He drove around, came up. He goes, sir, would you take us tomorrow? I said, I’m not a guy, guys. He goes, what are you? I said, I’m a garbage man. I’m a garbage man. Because you’re a garbage man, I said. Absolutely. He goes, me too. I’m a garbage man. I said, perfect, we’re two garbage men. Meet me tomorrow at another spot on the Roaring Fork. I’ll take you. And him and his partner ended up catching eight, ten, fifteen fish. Wasn’t hard. Yeah. No, they they they got into it. He goes, you know, sir, what do you do for a living? I said, I’m a garbage man. He goes, Not in Aspen. You’re not. So what do you do? I said, well, I pick up other people’s garbage and fix it. Okay, so I do turnarounds of companies and he goes, me too. So I ended up being a CEO of a major bank and, and having a discussion with him and his wife and his partner saying, you know what? It’s a game of humbleness on this trout stream, not arrogance, humbleness. It’s a place where it’s the great neutralizer. You want to find out about people, take them fishing, hopefully with a pescadora on the fly. It’s the part where whatever they use, I want right, a little bit of that and go off to Dave, right? Yeah. Everyone has pH. I. It’ll make me better with a pH. It used to be Callaway or. Then it was whatever. Fly fishing is the same. Everyone’s like, wow, he caught them with that. It must be better, right? And I said, guys, I’m going to tell you something. God’s honest truth. You only need seven flies. Okay. You can’t do it with these seven flies. Eight flies. You ain’t doing anything. So size is going to be the most important. Color is going to be second. All the rest of it is, you know, is for you to buy more. But you really only need in most specific situations, seven flies or eight flies. 00:31:47 Dave: The two starters I talked to last night from team USA, we were talking about flies and they literally just use basically that amount. Just a few flies. Yeah. 00:31:55 Chris: Waltz worm, Frenchy Griffiths I mean, you all know the same things. 00:31:59 Dave: The the pheasant tail, literally that pheasant tail pattern is like that’s it. 00:32:03 Chris: So Umpqua went into the the feather business, but and then the Vietnamese started tying them for fifty cents a fly. So it became a very competitive. So what do you do? You just create more stuff and more flash and more this and more that. But the reality is, outside of streamers, you only need seven, maybe ten flies, and you can put them all in a puck somewhere in a box and that’s it. But that doesn’t that’s not good for sales in a, in a, in a shop. So I think that Jeff’s and waiters are even worse. Right. But Jeff’s business is one where try it, like it, use it, rediscover and spread the word. So in that parking lot, trust me, at the end of the day, when we’re at Silver Creek or we’re at the Deschutes or at Warm Springs or wherever, we’re all looking, okay. And, and we all kind of drooling over some guy’s new reel. You got an able, you know, whatever it is, you’re we’re all kind of drooling a little bit. But what I would say is that minimalism came back in terms of gear. Less is more. And if I can carry two extra rods in my pack versus just one, I’m going to do it. Okay? Because I am still competitive, I’m going to do it. And at the end of the day, I think that that message is going to really spread. And I don’t want to minimize what we talked about earlier, this movie or this show is going to get a whole new generation of people playing golf, just like Happy Gilmore got kids saying, wow, Adam Sandler played golf. I should learn how to play golf, right? So fly fishing now, you know, God bless his soul and rest his soul. You know, we’ve had a number of people who are very serious, either politicians or celebrities, uh, from Kurt Russell down. 00:33:36 Dave: Kurt Russell. 00:33:38 Chris: Paul Newman was a huge fly fisherman, you know? Yeah. Jimmy Carter in Georgia was a great fly fisherman. 00:33:44 Dave: Uh, I got one for you. There’s there’s been a number of presidents and vice presidents who have been Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney was one that I’ve heard some stories where he was fishing. You know, definitely Obama, I think maybe got out a little. I don’t know if he was a diehard fly angler, but there’s a lot. 00:33:56 Chris: I don’t know how hardcore he is. I do know that, uh, Tucker Carlson, Tucker good, bad or indifferent, whether you like him or hate him, he’s. Once I’m on the stream, nothing matters. I’m saying this glibly, but the celebrities kind of learned how to pick this up, and it was a thing, and they all kind of moved from California to Montana about twenty years ago, bought ranches. I even think I think Kanye was fishing one day out there. Oh, wow. And it’s a and then they all the California move now. Sorry for you Californians from Hat Creek in particular. My friends up there, Jason Jock they’re moving to Nevada. Tennessee. 00:34:28 Dave: Oh wow. 00:34:29 Chris: Texas. Austin where there’s some bass. They’re moving out of California and they’re going to places Idaho, Sun Valley in particular. And now they’re all kind of learning, saying, what do I do here? What should I do? I saw these guys fly fishing. What’s this thing? So either, you know, put up or get out of the bar type thing is learn how to do it. So you’ve got a backdrop of celebrities and so forth saying, hey, this is cool and you don’t have to be rich to do it. Okay? You can be a gas station attendant and catch the same fish that I catch unless it’s, you know, some posted area. 00:34:58 Dave: Oh yeah. That’s amazing. Well, this is cool. I mean, I think that you’re definitely speaking to the choir because everything you’re talking about is resonating with me. Is this, uh, you know, Jeff, when you hear this, does this kind of all resonate with you? You must be because you’re you’re on that. You need to, you know, selling rods obviously is your business. Do you see this, Madison, all these other things as a good chance for you to really kind of up your, your sales or how do you look at all that? 00:35:20 Jeff: You know, it’s interesting just because Chris and I, we talked about it a little bit just earlier. And I don’t I don’t have to sell a million rods in order to do a good living for our family. Right. So I’m growing organically for the most part with not ridiculous margins and not ridiculous ad campaigns. We’re direct to the consumer, so that adds a lot of value to the brand. But you know, at the end of the day, every time people want to get into fly fishing, that gives me a bigger opportunity. So I love the fact that there’s something new that’s popular. Chris. I laugh a little bit because I haven’t watched it, but I’m going to have to I’m gonna have to watch it because you’re the second guy in a week to, to mention that this, this one’s legit. So I’ll definitely check it out. 00:36:01 Chris: It’s still Hollywood. Okay, so the fact that this woman. 00:36:04 Jeff: Of course. 00:36:05 Chris: This woman reads through her husband’s book, and I won’t say how, how he dies, but he dies and she reads and learns how to fly fish in two hours and catches fish. That didn’t happen, okay? That’s never going to happen to anyone. But I think the big picture is that women are going to watch this show and say, hey, honey, is that what you’re doing out there? Because I always thought you said golf was six hours, and I’ve heard it’s three. Does fly fishing take really all day, or can you just go out for an hour or two and just bust out your rod and a hopper dropper? Dave’s hopper, whatever, and go out and catch some fish, right? 00:36:37 Jeff: Yeah. I don’t know. I love the fact that, you know, more women are curious about fly fishing, I think, than ever, because, I mean, I have a lot of women that will reach out to me direct and I’ll actually answer their calls and their emails and try to help them get started. 00:36:51 Chris: Be careful. They may be asking for something different on swipe left or swipe right. 00:36:55 Jeff: If they’ve ever met me before. They fly. Fishing is probably the best thing they’re going to find. So it’s, you know, that’s the way we’re going to go. But again, I think they’re curious about it. And I think a lot of them get intimidated when they walk into a fly shop and they see everything in there and then everybody telling them that they need one thousand dollars rod and it’s one thousand dollars reel and eight hundred dollars waders. And to you, you nailed it. It doesn’t take that. You don’t need that to get into fly fishing. 00:37:19 Chris: So no, you know, gear becomes something for fly fishermen. I mean, I’m sorry. We’re all no doubt about women. Some women collect shoes and handbags. I collect fly fishing gear, but I’ve pared down. Okay. It used to be more. Must be better. I’ve pared down. So once you have your stuff that’s there. The other big thing, Dave, in terms of you and I’m a market guy, so I’m always looking at cycle issues. The big issue that happened from the seventies to the eighties was bass fishermen, which, you know, took on a whole different league. Both my my boys were on, on tour, bass fishing, bass fishing became a big thing, I mean, televised. And whether it was and I’m not going to give him credit for it, but certain people in the industry, Johnny Morris in particular, put bass fishing as a thing that isn’t just a southern thing for bass. Okay. It became in Iowa or Wisconsin or Minnesota. Bass fishing became kind of the next level. And then trout fisherman. I hate to say this, guys, and don’t blow up my emails. We kind of look down on bass fishermen. It was kind of a hick thing, you know, through your skull and bass fish. And now bass fishing with a fly rod takes on a whole new dimension. So you got another market there that’s saying, hey, you know, I’m not a boat guy. I don’t need a Skeeter nine thousand to get across. All I need is some access and a fly in a five way and, you know, some tippet and I’m off to the races. Bass are the some of the big and carp. And again, guys, don’t yell at me. You float certain areas of Montana and you know where it is. The dam up above that you catch a twenty five pound carp on a seven weight. You’re in for a hell of a ride. And everyone’s like, oh. 00:38:49 Jeff: I love fly fishing for carp, Chris, I love it. It is absolutely a blast. 00:38:54 Chris: It is. And the Asians have done this for the fly fishing guys from Japan have been doing it for a long time. We kind of went down. And I think part of that’s because the magazines I don’t know the last time you bought a magazine, again, to my friends, fly fishermen used to be on my, you know, quarterly. I haven’t bought a magazine in twenty years. So content wise, I think it’s smart of you to promote your brands, regardless of whether it’s pescador on the fly. Otherwise, social media will be the medium that guys like me, you know, I still have to read something called a newspaper that used to be something with ink on it, and now everything is videos. What I’ve seen, though, unfortunately, and there’s a little bit of Debbie Downer in me, there’s a lot of these, um, sponsorship guys, influencers that are going to lodges and I know it’s paid, you know, it’s paid, they’re throwing down stuff. And I, it’s just like, come on. And this year was a real disappointment. Dave. Big disappointment. I, I went to Argentina probably my fourteenth time to Chile and Argentina. I never tell them that I fished before. Okay. I just, I just walk in and do my thing. They needed to tell me there was no water. Okay? They had an obligation to tell me you dropped twenty grand on this trip. There was no water, okay? They had no snowpack in the Andes this year. And they should have said, hey, you know what? We’re down two and a half, three feet on our water flows. It’s going to be tight. And it was and I’m I’m going to say out of a one to a ten, I’ll call myself an eight and a half nine, uh, black belt in terms of fishing. Those fish have my social security number coming in. It was six or seven a day, but it was you had to spot them, catch them, Shad. You couldn’t boat them. You had to be like, it wasn’t Chuck and duck. It was micro fishing because the fish were so scared. Any movement at all. So they needed to tell me that it’s going to translate to this summer in the Rockies. Um, there is no water. They’re draining eleven mile reservoir this weekend. You can keep as many fish as you want. There’s no water in Denver. There’s just no water out there. So the combined pressure on smaller stream with no water. This is the one year it’s going to be tough. That’s a political issue for a lot of reasons on water rights and water is. But you can’t stop Mother Nature. So I think that what my thesis is, is that if trout fishing is bad, there’s always a golf course or a lake around you. Maybe catch a pea or you catch a snook or you catch a bass. But it’s going to be a tough year in the West. 00:41:02 Dave: Well, there’s like you said, there’s warm water fish too. That’s the great thing is that carp, bass, all these warm water fish are probably going to be doing pretty good this year, I’m guessing. Right. Even when the trout aren’t. 00:41:12 Speaker 5: They are. 00:41:13 Chris: And at the end of the day, again, there’s a whole new genre here as well. I’m headed up to Toronto at the end of next week, and they do this thing that we just don’t have down here called center pin fishing. 00:41:23 Dave: Oh yeah. Center pin. It’s kind of like a mix between like, almost like a gear fishing and fly fishing, right? 00:41:29 Chris: It’s kind of eleven foot rod with center pinwheel, which looks like the Spey reel that spins free. And they use, they call it a bobber because it is a bobber with a float or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, it’s an indicator. It’s a gosh darn bobber guys. Yeah. It’s a bobber. These weights down and they drag and they are deadly. These guys get two hundred two hundred yard thing. That’s a world. Jeff. In terms of gear, especially up in Canada, these guys have two thousand dollars center pin rods and reels. They go all out on that because that’s kind of what they know, right? There is a gentleman who was one of my my son’s bass fishing coaches who created something called the fee stick. Uh, and I’m not promoting. It’s another Jeff fee stick is a four foot long fish that almost was reminiscent of the. You remember the pocket Ron Popeil pocket fisherman. Were you guys born when that came out? 00:42:19 Jeff: Yeah, of course. My grandfather had one of those Ron Popeil pocket fish. He’s the same guy with the rotisserie chicken guy. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. 00:42:27 Dave: Gotcha. 00:42:28 Jeff: Yeah. 00:42:28 Chris: But Peale’s pocket fisherman made that guy one hundred million. One hundred million was one hundred, bill. 00:42:32 Jeff: Oh, like a big deal. Yeah, yeah. 00:42:33 Chris: Keep it in your truck. Keep it in your dash. You drive by some dude’s pond. Ron Popeil, pocket fish. 00:42:38 Jeff: No, I think my grandfather was the first one to buy that thing. He thought that was the coolest thing in the world. 00:42:43 Chris: I still have one of those, and I think I have a I. Evel Knievel stunt cycle somewhere. We’re floating around. 00:42:49 Dave: And. 00:42:49 Chris: And bikes with cards in them somewhere, going through the wheels Schwinn bike. But Ron Popeil was on to something. So Jeff is kind of the non Ron appeal is if you want something that you can carry and travel at an affordable price. Pescador on the fly for now, is probably your only choice in the market. There will be more, but never duplicated. 00:43:07 Dave: Yeah, there’ll be more. That’s a cool, right, Jeff? There will be more. That will be coming, but you’re probably not too worried about that because you’ve built this cool little brand that is, you know, like you said, doing your thing. 00:43:17 Jeff: I think I’ve got a good niche, and I know that some of the major brands are coming out with, with some things that are a little bit, you know, a little bit more packable, but they still don’t put a lot of attention on it. So I’m happy for now. 00:43:29 Chris: Let’s get into some detail here. Okay, let’s just cut to the nitty gritty for five minutes. 00:43:33 Dave: Let’s hear it. Let’s do it. 00:43:35 Chris: My partner said, why are some rod cases round and why are these rod cases square? And I said, because the guy who invented the square case is a boat guy and didn’t want these rolling around the back of his truck or in the back of his boat. Okay, why does the rod have two tips? Why is Pescador on the rod? Because we break them. Um. Okay. We break them like crazy, and I’m not sure what the replacement policy is, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving. We break stuff as guys. Okay. Number three is what differentiates. And I’m not going to pick one real or another. But the real game right now is very competitive. Getting that six hundred to twelve hundred dollars reel into someone’s hand. It was, you know, for me, I started at Ross the Gunnison. I still have, you know, a dozen guide models of Ross and the Cimarron and Gunnison. They were great in the eighties, seventies and eighties. Then it was as many as Steve Abel. Reels were the best. I still have twenty five of them, most of them one in raffles, overpaid for, and then a couple of eighties. That was my Bugatti at the top. And then some reels, you know. Then it was Marriott had a little run for a minute. But what we’re talking is the real game. It’s like the shoe game, okay. The real game is real. Jeff’s real is simple, easy one color, one flavor. Chocolate. chocolate, chocolate. You want vanilla? Sorry. We’ll sell you chocolate. And it works. 00:45:01 Jeff: Yeah. Any color you want. As long as it’s black. 00:45:04 Dave: Yeah. 00:45:04 Chris: There’s only one thing you care about guys is drag. Drag? Yeah. As good as it looks. As good as it looks. So I micro dragged you, Jeff. I’m not going to say it was perfect. I had some things that are going to go through. I micro dragged you. I had it down to stop a Subaru and it did okay. I could stop a small truck with it. That’s all that matters. Colors looks real. Capacity is is what it is. Drag is everything. 00:45:28 Jeff: Yeah. Good. I mean, I think you nailed a number of things there. I don’t know if Dave’s going to let me, like, go on to kind of have a conversation about all three of them, but like one, the El Jefe rod tubes are square. You nailed it. They don’t roll. That’s it. The El Rey rod tubes, those carbon ones, those sweet tubes, those are round, obviously. So those, you know, is what it is. But almost every rod tube out there is round. So we made a square one and there’s a couple companies out there that made them. But I think it’s, a lot more functional than we thought about. Right. So we did it. Good tip from one of my customers. So we it’s nice to be nimble enough and small to be able to adjust like that. So it was cool based on a really good tip. The second thing you talked about, Rod to Chris, what was number two tips? 00:46:11 Chris: Multiple tips, tip solutions, multiple tips. 00:46:13 Jeff: Okay, so for the El Rey G6 rods, we have two tips and something you don’t know about me, Chris. I’m also in the risk management business. It’s my little insurance policy. I’m going out on a trip. I want to have a little bit of insurance when I go out there because like you said, ninety percent of the time a rod breaks. It’s the tip. It’s a ceiling fan. It’s the car door. It’s the whatever. It’s the tip. So having that in there is just a little, you know, little insurance policy. Not all of our rods come with a spare tip. A lot of them do. Right? So just kind of part part of the deal on that one. The real game. You nailed it. The pricing and the real takes this example. It’s exactly the same as the rods. Right. So direct to consumer for us is a huge portion of our value proposition, right? This is the foundation of everything, because half the cost of a rod or a reel is in the distribution and the marketing, whether we like it or not, it’s half, could be forty, could be sixty. It just depends. Right. But a huge portion of it. So I just cut that out and pass on the difference. So when you talk about the six hundred to one thousand reels, yeah, I can sell those for three hundred bucks and I can still make a reasonable margin. And like you said, I, they don’t have to be the shiniest thing that we can market, right? With nano this and whatever, it’s got a good drag and it works. 00:47:33 Chris: No one cares the name of it. When you got a tank on and he’s headed downstream at thirty miles an hour. So you know you’re not in the net business. I get that you’re not in do what you do, Jeff, and stick to your knitting. As we say, the rest will take care of itself. What I do think, though, is that your pre-Christmas push this year should be on a backstop of this show. and it should be to the women saying, what have I got my husband that he hasn’t had, or my boyfriend or my my brother? What is something new and different? If you can get them into a setup for five hundred bucks or five fifty. I’m not sure which one. It was a full setup, including literally including real wine. And it’s not like I said, it’s not this crap out of something. I’m not picking on Walmart, but it’s not something out of some dime store. This is a pro equipment that gives you date night, man. He’s going to be, or she’s going to be super happy to get something that they can do something new to or something they haven’t seen. Trust me. 00:48:25 Dave: Yeah. That’s great. I love it. 00:48:27 Chris: And I get my standard ten percent on anything after October first on that. 00:48:31 Dave: That’s right, that’s right. We’re gonna track this. 00:48:33 Speaker 5: Yeah, I. 00:48:33 Jeff: Know it seems reasonable and I think you’re worth it. Chris. Yeah. 00:48:36 Dave: We’re gonna track this for sure. So tell me this, Chris, I want to ask you before we get out of here. You mentioned A River runs through it back in ninety two. Where were you at ninety two? What were you doing in nineteen ninety two? Do you remember that pretty well? Were you fishing wise, work wise? 00:48:49 Chris: Yeah, I was a young. I was a young kid on Wall Street and. Okay. And this is for those on the East Coast are going to laugh. I grew up in mostly Colorado in my life. I didn’t bring my fly fishing gear to New York. I didn’t know there was fly fishing in New York for ten years. I had no idea that you could fly fish in New York other than stripers. And stripers were completely an oddity to me because I was not. I didn’t grow up as a striper fisherman, so I had to learn a whole new thing about striper fishing, which I quickly became addicted to, uh, especially in the East River of Manhattan and down in new Jersey. But I’m totally serious as a heart attack. I had no idea that in new Jersey, if you said new Jersey fly fishing, all I knew was Newark, Newark, and Trenton and fly fishing. If I dropped you in Ken Lockwood Gorge, I can say it now because everyone knows the spot seventeen miles west of Manhattan and told you, open your eyes and said, we’re in Montana, you’re in Montana. And I kicked myself saying, I waited twelve years from nineteen ninety two to two thousand and four to bring out a fly rod other than my striper stuff to say, there’s quality fly fishing in Pennsylvania, obviously upstate New York, but new Jersey. Okay, so we’ve opened up a market now that when you ask where was I and what was I doing? I had my nose down trying to make rent at the time. Okay. But fly fishing wasn’t something in my lexicon other than stripers. Does that make sense? 00:50:08 Jeff: It makes total sense. I mean, I’ve I’ve got a guy that lives in midtown Manhattan and he’s owned a bunch of our our ag six rods. And he sent me pictures of him catching carp in Central Park. 00:50:18 Chris: Well, that I may or may not have an apartment next to Central Park, so let’s just leave it at that. Don’t anyone call me to go fishing. But I fished all those lakes and reservoirs back when people thought I was crazy. So people thought I was like, what are you doing? The park rangers like, there’s no fish in there. I’d be catching bass like crazy. You’re right. And, you know, maybe hook a couple dead corpses along the way and some beer cans. I mean. 00:50:36 Jeff: Yeah, pros and cons, pros and cons. It’s okay. 00:50:39 Chris: Yeah, well, they call it square grouper down in Florida. So anyway. 00:50:42 Jeff: Yeah, a little. Yeah. 00:50:43 Chris: Square grouper. But ultimately there was a fly shop in Manhattan run by Jonathan Fisher. I think it’s still there. Urban angler. Props to Jonathan. You sold me. Your mom sold me a dozen reels. And I was like, why would there be a fly shop down? And it was down the, uh, in Flatiron District going gangbusters. And I had no idea that, you know, but most of that was destination fishing. So he was booking trips to at the time, Argentina, Alaska, Chile, you know, and it went out to Belize, Iceland and so forth. So a lot of fly shops lost revenue channels because once you buy your stuff, what are you going to go in for? Just to see what’s new? Booking guide trips became kind of the big time, let’s say the Lodge concept. Does that make sense? 00:51:27 Jeff: Yeah for sure. 00:51:28 Dave: Yeah, that’s exactly it. No, and we’ve done podcasts. I mean we’re well over a thousand interviews now. And I’ve had people in every state and every nook and cranny. I mean, you could pick any place and there’s people fishing, you know, that’s the great thing about fly fishing now. So, so good. Well, give us a couple. We get one tip from you, Chris. And then one tip from you, Jeff, as we take it out of here, Chris, you’re obviously in the business. Give us a. People are listening. Some people have businesses and maybe they’re. What’s your biggest tip for somebody to have more success? It doesn’t even have to be a business. Maybe it’s an investment tip. What would you tell somebody to be to get more money in their pocket so they can do more fishing? What would you tell somebody? 00:52:01 Chris: That’s that’s a loaded question, but let’s just turn it around a little bit. My, my number one fishing tip is if you’re not losing flies, you’re not deep enough. So that is the numero uno. I don’t care if you’re on a bounce rig or other euro, you’re not on the bottom. Those fish, if they’re not on top, they’re four inches from the bottom. So you’re not losing flies. You’re not winning. Two is we’re in a post Covid. We’re in a different dynamic where you don’t have to go to Wall Street. You don’t have to go to law school. You don’t have to med school, pick a business, be like Jeff, follow your passion, learn how to execute. And number one, pick good people because it’s people, people, people. Although Mr. Wonderful says people, product process, it’s people. Surround yourself with good people. And ultimately you have the ability today without having to go through lots of hurdles to build a business, have direct to consumer or whatever you’re doing and do it, but follow the people and bring on only the best or else you’re in. You’re in deep trouble. 00:52:53 Dave: Love it, love it. How about you, Jeff? What are you going to leave us with today? Any tips on, uh, you wanna give us a fishing tip or a business tip? What are you going to take us away with? 00:53:01 Jeff: You know, I’ve got I’ve got a handful of each. But I think at the end of the day, one of the things that that I always try to rely on when it comes down to fishing and business is that I have a very, very hard time not focusing on business, no matter what I’m doing. But the only place that I can actually not think about business is while I’m fly fishing. 00:53:22 Dave: So you turn it off. So when you’re fly fishing, you’re not thinking about. 00:53:25 Jeff: I can turn it off, but I, I can’t, I can’t turn it off when I’m playing golf. I can’t turn it off when I’m bass fishing, I can’t turn it off almost any other time. But fly fishing requires a handful of things to be thought about at the same time. Could be depth, could be fly, could be presentation. Could be drift, could be. So you have to concentrate on so many things. It’s the only way I can decompress. Does that make sense? So, like, I love fly fishing and I think everybody should get into it for that simple way to shut off the mind a little bit. 00:53:53 Chris: So, Jeff, you must have read my playbook when I go to bed at night. I’ve got a fifty two degree wedge from ninety or I’ve got a fly rod to my favorite holes, and I fly fish at night to go to sleep and put my weight behind me. Yeah. And I pick different rivers, different experiences, etc. to do it. But not to be glib, Dave, I think that, you know, business environment is something that you’re going to fail if you don’t, if you’re not passionate about whatever you’re doing. I don’t care if it’s accounting or garbage making, I don’t care. You’re going to fail. Two is surround yourself by good people. Three is pick an industry that AI is not going to replace you in. No one’s going to replace you. 00:54:28 Dave: Yeah, it’s going to be hard to replace this with AI, isn’t it? Like what we’re doing here, it’s going to be hard to get AI to kind of have this conversation, right? 00:54:34 Chris: Well, I may not be real. I could be an avatar. You don’t know. 00:54:37 Dave: Right? Yeah. You could be an AI actually, the way you’re the way you’re nailing this podcast. I kind of feel like you might be AI a little bit. 00:54:43 Speaker 5: Well, we’re very. 00:54:43 Chris: Active in the space, but nothing’s going to replace that. And as we look at not again, just to leave you because it’s twelve, if you got kids, boys and girls, I did it with my own. I’ve got them on the stream in my backpack when they were babies. Okay. All the way through. It is the most important time that you can spend without a cell phone in the hand, or a computer or social media. Just talking life. And when you talk about success on a family basis with kids in particular, it’s great. I also don’t want to underestimate the concept of meeting new people who are generally like minded. Generally, there’s always a, you know, Yeehaw with a twelve gauge in the back, which is okay too if you have a bear around. But most fly fishermen are pretty level headed about different things. The better they are, the more level headed they are because they’ve seen it all. Does that make sense? 00:55:30 Dave: Oh, that makes total sense. So. And I will just leave it with I’m heading out this week for a five or six day remote trip out of cell phone range. I’m telling everybody my team like I’m out. Don’t even try to call me because. And so I feel like that’s not easy to do, but I’m going to do it because I know like you guys are talking about, it’s kind of the most important thing, right? 00:55:47 Jeff: It’s huge. It’s everything man. 00:55:49 Chris: Listen, man. Protect our streams. Protect our people. Protect our rights. Catch and release when you can. And at the end of the day, I think that we’re going to have a great opportunity for Pescador on the fly as we go into this next two quarters. That I think that this renovation of people, the orientation around knowledge of fly fishing because of this new show that’s come out, is going to have a lot of discussions around the table. And again, it’s not just fly fishing. It’s about some Wall Street guy that’s, you know, lost his his way and found it through fly fishing. But they nailed it. So high recommendations. Thank you for having me on the show, Dave. Great to see you, Jeff. Congratulations on all the success you’ve done. And look forward to buying more rods from you. 00:56:26 Jeff: I appreciate everything, Chris. Thanks, man. 00:56:28 Dave: Awesome. Thanks guys. This has been awesome. 00:56:30 Jeff: See you guys. 00:56:31 Chris: Take care. Cheers. Tight lines guys. 00:56:34 Dave: There you go. Your takeaway today, if you get a chance, uh, call to action, obviously, is check in with Pescador on the fly. If you are interested in getting one of those rods to tuck in your pack and disappear into your golf bag, you know wherever you need it to go, it’ll go. So check in with Pescador on the fly dot com right now and check in with them. Uh, we got a lot of good stuff going this year, including trips. If you want to connect with me, go to Dave at web dot com and I’ll give you some details on that wet Fly Swing Pro. As always, if you’re interested, check in with me, wet fly swing dot com slash pro, and you can get access to some special deals and trips we have going there. I want to thank you again for staying in here till the very end. Appreciate everything you’re doing. And, uh, and to support this podcast and we’ll look forward to seeing you on that next episode. Hope you have a good one. And I hope you’re having a good.

Conclusion with Chris Teas and Jeff of Pescador on the Fly

Chris and Jeff reminded us that fly fishing doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes the best thing you can do is carry less gear, focus on a few proven flies, and spend more time learning the water in front of you.

If you’re looking for a rod that can disappear into a backpack, a carry-on, or even a golf bag, check out Pescador on the Fly and see what they’ve got going.

     

938 | Water Lines with Riverhorse Nakadate – Patagonia, Boundary Waters, and Stories from a Life on the Water

If tomorrow were your last day on the planet, would you feel like you left enough out on the water?

Today, we’re joined by Riverhorse Nakadate to talk about his new book, Water Lines, a collection of stories, adventures, and lessons from a life spent exploring marshes, rivers, oceans, surf breaks, and wild places around the world.

We’re talking about the making of Water Lines, what it was like working with Patagonia to bring the book to life, and the experience of recording the audiobook. We’ll also get an update on conservation efforts in the Boundary Waters and hear a few stories from the road along the way.

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(The full episode transcript is at the bottom of this blogpost) 👇🏻

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Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain
Riverhorse Nakadate Photo: Tony Czech

Show Notes with Riverhorse Nakadate on Water Lines

Riverhorse describes himself as a journalist, environmentalist, fisherman, and someone who has spent years “running wild all over the earth.” He’s written stories, worked on films, and spent the last five years focused on a new project: Water Lines.

He says the book came together during a wild stretch that included the pandemic and years of creative work. Now that it’s finally out, he’s excited to share it with readers.

Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain

Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain

(02:13) After spending decades writing, traveling, fishing, surfing, and exploring wild places around the world, Riverhorse finally brought many of those experiences together in Water Lines.

The book draws from years of journals, notes, and adventures, but unlike a magazine story, Water Lines gave him room to go deeper. Still, he wanted the writing to feel the same: tight, clean, and fast-moving.

Inside the book, you’ll find:

  • 32 stories from a lifetime of adventure
  • Fly fishing, surfing, conservation, music, and travel
  • Personal reflections and hard-earned lessons
  • Near-death experiences and unforgettable moments
  • Stories that have never been published before

The stories range from childhood memories to recent adventures, all connected by a life spent following water wherever it leads. As Riverhorse puts it, he saved “the cream of the crop” for this book.

Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain
Photo: Tony Czech

The Long Road to Publishing Water Lines

Getting Water Lines published was a much bigger process than Riverhorse expected.

The proposal sat for a year while Patagonia worked through major leadership changes. Once the project got the green light, Riverhorse spent another year writing before the manuscript moved through multiple editors, copy editors, and designers.

The finished book features 24 watercolor paintings created specifically for the stories, along with a cover illustration that wraps around the entire book. Riverhorse worked closely with the artist, sharing photos, reviewing sketches, and helping shape the final look.

Recording the Water Lines Audiobook

(00:14:08) Riverhorse thought someone else might end up reading the audiobook, but he pushed to do it himself.

That led to two long days in a Houston recording studio where artists like Beyoncé had worked before him. By the end, he’d read nearly 80,000 words and only had nine corrections.

He also talked about some of the writers who shaped him over the years, including John Muir and Henry David Thoreau. One book he keeps coming back to is A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, which follows Muir’s journey across the South as a teenager.

How Riverhorse Became a Patagonia Ambassador

Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain
Photo: Tony Czech

(09:20) Riverhorse has worked with Patagonia for about a decade. Patagonia supported his work through Flyfish Journal and the film Love and Water, which followed him around Texas. Over the years, that relationship continued through conservation films and storytelling projects before he became a Patagonia ambassador about six or seven years ago.

He called it one of the biggest honors of his life when Yvon Chouinard personally read the manuscript and encouraged him to keep writing.

Boundary Waters, Local Conservation, and the Fight for Public Lands

(20:49) Riverhorse shared an update on the ongoing fight to protect the Boundary Waters. He explained why he’s concerned about new mining proposals and what they could mean for one of the most visited wilderness areas in the country.

While there are still legal and political hurdles ahead, he believes the fight is far from over and that people who care about clean water need to stay involved.

A Few Stories From Water Lines

When I asked Riverhorse to pick a few stories from the book, he admitted it wasn’t easy.

One story takes him to Mozambique, where he set out to find a fish he’d been fascinated with since he was a kid. Armed with little more than maps on a napkin and information from an old VHS tape, he traveled into a remote part of Africa chasing that dream.

Another story follows his quest to catch a bass during a total solar eclipse on a quiet lake along the Texas-Oklahoma border. For Riverhorse, it was about being in the right place for one unforgettable moment.

The book also includes surfing adventures, close calls, romance, funny moments, and stories featuring everyone from NFL quarterbacks to ZZ Top. As Riverhorse puts it, he tried to balance the heartbreaking and terrifying moments with plenty of wild and hilarious ones.

Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain
Riverhorse Nakadate Photo: Tony Czech

Oregon, Water, and a Life Guided by Maps

(34:53) Oregon played a huge role in shaping Riverhorse’s outdoor life. Growing up in Austin, he spent summers traveling to Manzanita and Portland after his mother married an English professor and steelhead angler from Oregon. Those trips introduced him to surfing, skimboarding, clam digging, sea perch fishing, and steelhead culture.

Many of his adventures begin the same way. When I asked how his essays come together, Riverhorse said he never sets out looking for stories. He gets fascinated by a place, studies maps, reads everything he can find, and goes exploring.

The writing comes later.

He journals throughout his travels, and when an experience really sticks with him, it becomes a story. That’s how Water Lines came together. He started with 35 stories and narrowed them down to what he calls the “creme de la creme.”

Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain
Riverhorse-Winter-Journal-Campfire Photo: Tony Czech

Living Like It’s Not a Dress Rehearsal

(43:36) When I asked Riverhorse how he thinks about getting older, he didn’t sound like someone slowing down anytime soon.

He’s already planning more adventures and even thinking about another book. But more than anything, he hopes people remember that this isn’t a dress rehearsal.

As Riverhorse puts it, we only get one shot at this life. You don’t need a trip around the world to make it count, either. Sometimes it’s as simple as taking a bike ride, sleeping outside for a night, or finding a small adventure close to home.

One Fish Is Enough

(53:26) Riverhorse says fly fishing has changed for him over the years. Fishing the marshes of Texas and Louisiana, he’ll often paddle past plenty of redfish without casting to every one. Sometimes he’s just happy to watch them, enjoy the scenery, and soak in the day.

He talks about bringing coffee, tacos, or even a cold beer and simply enjoying the experience.

One line from the book sums it up perfectly:

“How many fish do you need? Just one.”

Where to Get Water Lines

Water Lines is available in both hardcover and audiobook formats. Riverhorse narrated the audiobook himself, so you get the stories exactly as he tells them.

The book is available through Patagonia, major bookstores, and many independent bookshops.


Connect with Riverhorse

Want to keep up with Riverhorse’s latest adventures, conservation work, films, and writing projects? Follow him on Instagram at @riverhorse_nakadate.

You can also learn more about Water Lines and Riverhorse’s work through Patagonia.

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Water Lines Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 938 Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: If tomorrow was your last day on this planet, would you feel like you left enough out on the water? Today’s guest has spent decades chasing that question. Across marshes, oceans, rivers, surf breaks and wilderness trails around the world. We’re talking about a new book, years in the making, the adventures behind It, and why some of the best stories begin when you leave the easy road behind. Today we’re joined once again by River horse Nakadate. River horse is a writer, conservationist, Patagonia ambassador, filmmaker, and lifelong wanderer whose new book, Water Lines, brings together some of the most unforgettable adventures, lessons, and reflections from a life spent following water wherever it leads. This is the Wet Fly 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 give back to the fish species we all love. Today, River horse is going to talk about water lines. This new book and the incredible story of working with Patagonia and getting this published. We’re going to find out what it was like recording the audiobook here and in the studio with some of the biggest names in music. We’re also going to find out about this publishing process, what it felt like, and also get into some conservation concerns out there, including the Boundary Waters. We’re going to get an update on the Boundary Waters and some of the crazy adventures River horse is on. This is a fun one. Always good to get rid of horse on. You can check in with him at River horse underscore Nakadate on Instagram and you can check out water lines. A life lived on marshes, rivers, seas and in the rain. You can go to Patagonia dot com right now and check in with that book. Here he is. River horse Nakadate. How you doing? River horse? 00:01:44 Riverhorse: Oh my gosh. Best day ever. 00:01:46 Dave: Nice man. Always good to hear your voice on the podcast here. Get caught up with you. It’s been a little while. I was looking back. We’ve got, uh, you know, I guess the first episode takes us back to twenty Nineteen twenty one. The last one we had on was twenty twenty three. So it’s been a few years now. So we’re looking forward to an update with you. But maybe just for since it’s been a few years, give folks just a little update on what you’ve been up to, who you are out there. For those people that haven’t heard your name before. 00:02:13 Riverhorse: Cool. Well, I’m Texas journalist and environmentalist and fisherman, kind of known for just running wild all over the earth and writing stories for magazines, doing some movies. And, uh, I’m Patagonia ambassador, so that’s pretty, pretty amazing. I never dreamed that I would get to hang with all those rock stars and legends and in our fly fishing world, but, um, I’ve been pretty head down since we last talked. Just the last five years. When I’m not out in it, I’ve been working on this book and it’s just been, it’s been such a cool path. I feel like I don’t know, you know, we had the pandemic and all that and these were wild times to be creating art and trying to leave my barbaric Whitman yap for the world. But here we are. The books out and I’m thrilled. I could tell you about the the road to it soon when we talk about that, because that’s just been. 00:03:10 Dave: It’s been talk about your because you’ve written a lot, obviously, but as far as books, how does this book relate to everything else you’ve done before? 00:03:18 Riverhorse: Um, you know, it’s the different world. You have a little more room, but I made it a point to not change my voice or writing style. I like things really tight. Who was that? Tom petty, the musician with the Heartbreakers. He always said, don’t bore us. Get to the chorus. And I’m a big fan of that. Just really tight, clean prose, poetry writing. So when you get the book, you listeners out there, I mean, the stories just fly by and they’re really fast. And hopefully, really, you know, each paragraph takes you a long ways instead of those, you know, just slugs that some books can be a bit. I did open it up a little bit. Um, I will say I feel like I kept the best pieces for the book. Uh, there’s pieces that were crazier than ever and pretty just, you know, near-death adventures and surfing and guitar. And I always save that stuff for the book. I know I’ve been in a lot of magazines, but the cream of the crop is in there and a lot of a lot of that nobody’s ever known. So and then there’s some obviously just some deep down, heartbreaking stuff and there’s some romance in there you can check out. Oh yeah, you can check out all my moves. So, uh, fasten your seat belt right on. 00:04:33 Dave: Right. That’s so cool. Yeah. We, you know, it’s interesting with the, with authors and writing, you know, we had, uh, John Gierach on a while back and, you know, obviously he’s passed away and, um, and he was a big influence to a lot of people. And the way he wrote was, I think some people said he wrote for the common man, you know, and but his writing was so unique. And, you know, I’ve been chatting a little bit with Tom McGuane because we’re going to be talking to him too. And I know he influenced John Gierach. Right. And there’s I’m sure there’s all these connections. What does that take us back there on your writing? Who were some of those people that were influential and maybe who are some writers out there that maybe are similar or write similarly to how you how you write? 00:05:15 Riverhorse: Yeah, McGuane and, and Gierach are awesome. And you know, the guy who actually first made a living as a fly fishing writer. So he’s, he’s and that was wonderful reading all those books. But that wasn’t really my, you know, I was always looking at the transcendentalists and reading a bunch of Gandhi and Muir. John Muir and Emerson. And I’d be just crazy for all the old stuff, Whitman and Thoreau. And I know that’s old school, but God, I could never, never get enough of that stuff. So a lot of it’s in the book even. 00:05:50 Dave: That is. That’s awesome. Yeah. So and your influence is where did that start again? You know, I mean, we’re gonna kind of take it back a little bit here, but just on the conservation ethic. And I and I want to bring that into the Patagonia because I think that’s a pretty powerful connection. But when did that start for you? When did you the conservation movement moment start for you? 00:06:08 Riverhorse: Well, I mean, I always was crazy for it just being out there. Like, I guess even as a kid and going into high school, like on Friday nights, I don’t know what other people did, but I was hauling ass into the woods alone and fishing and hiking and just learned how special these places are from the get go, but talks about it in the in the very introduction of the book. But, you know, I was watching Jacques Cousteau and, and Wild Kingdom and that I mean, watching him sail all over the world drove me crazy. Like I was like, listen, I may be first or second grader, but I gotta, I gotta, I gotta get out there. You know who needs this school stuff? 00:06:50 Dave: So that’s it? That’s it. Let’s just highlight that really quick. The name of the book that’s out there, people can pick it up right now. And, and, and then we’ll get into maybe some of the stories there. What is the title of the book? 00:07:02 Riverhorse: So it’s called Water Lines A life lived on marshes, rivers, seas and in the rain. Thirty two stories and an introduction and an index. And, um, even, you know, I didn’t know they would ever do an index of my book was just that listing at the end of all the different places and people and moments in the book. So even reading that just, wow, it’s so much fun. I look back, I’m like, wow, what a triptych of my life, right? It’s like baboons, Buddhism, yoga. Like it’s just, just hilarious. 00:07:36 Dave: Right? Does it cover what range? Do the stories go way back or are they are there more and more recent? 00:07:43 Riverhorse: Oh, definitely recent the last few years. But then, you know, I’m in the midst of a three a m drive somewhere. I’ll I’ll reflect on some other things. So but I talk a lot about as a kid, you know, nobody wanted to. I mean, I’d have a buddy that would fish or something and they’d only last an hour. And I was like, well, I just I couldn’t find any people that could hang that long or wanted to be gone for days. So I feel that that’s just all those transcendentalists, like they got it, you know, just running wild on your own. So, so many of the stories of that, even my years and years chasing surf all over the world, like same thing. I didn’t didn’t have anybody that wanted to fly to Africa for two months and hiked the southern. 00:08:30 Dave: Right. 00:08:31 Riverhorse: So yeah, the books, there’s so many stories in there for, you know, those rock stars and an NFL quarterback and drug cartel backed machine gun, boat chases and mountain. I mean, it’s just I’m looking at them like, wow. 00:08:50 Dave: So you’ve been you’ve been close to, uh, on the brink a few times close to death, all that. 00:08:56 Riverhorse: There’s three or four in there. 00:08:57 Dave: Yeah. 00:08:58 Riverhorse: There were. It’s like, wow, I think this is it. 00:09:00 Dave: Yep, yep. But you’re still here. What is the, um, you know, Patagonia. We’ve been working with them this year talking about their swift current waders and just all the good stuff. And I’ve been talking about them for years. You know, I think that they’ve led by, you know, example for a long time and, you know, inspired people. But what was that? When did you first connect with them? Was that a little bit ago? 00:09:20 Riverhorse: I think it’s been about ten years now. And they were supporting first, um, Blackfish Journal and Patagonia did that film called Love and Water following me all over Texas. And they supported that. And then I did the Boundary Waters film and this recent, um, Lapland Sami tribe reindeer journals film. But I think been an ambassador for six or seven years. But even those years before, you know, they would say stuff or send a little gear. And the way the Patagonia ambassador, this is the funniest question, but how do you get to be an ambassador? I’m like, wow, you gotta like walk the walk for thirty years and pour your heart out your community in the earth. And yeah, good luck with that. Like you should have already been doing it. But yeah, that’s, I never dreamed it. I can remember even ordering a some gear from them and calling up on the phone, you know, years ago and being thrilled that I even got to talk. Wow. I just talked to Patagonia and, you know, it was like, you know, because well, even now with the book coming out, it’s just it’s hard to process. It’s such an honor. And, um, I mean, a bunch and I wrote me a long letter about the book. He read it before it came out and his wife and he’s like, these words are so powerful, you need to keep doing this. And I was like, God, this is this is pretty. It makes me want to inspire me to keep going. And, um, so many of those projects that I’m doing with the environment are really heartbreaking. And especially this new Boundary Waters news. Like you just, I worked three years of my life to make that movie and I’m like, wow, this is we got it. We’re still trying to push those guys back and keep a foreign billionaire out of our public wilderness. So it’s crazy times. A lot of work to do. But like, without a doubt, that’s just the honor of my life being a part of that Patagonia team and having this book with rockstars like Gerry Lopez, Liz Clark, Swell and Yvonne’s books. And I’m, I can’t even imagine seeing it in the store. I’m like, this is crazy. It’s you know, I get it. Like, I know I have my deal and my own just wild take on life, but it’s just such an honor. And what’s funny is the book, um, I did the proposal for the book with this guy John Dutton, the editor of Patagonia. And I always felt that’s where the book would be. But, um, so I turned in the proposal because I wanted it. And that’s right. When Yvonne made the earth the owner of the company. And so for a year, the manuscripts out there, because they’re getting a new CEO, Ryan Gellert, and they had to see what, you know, what they’re going to do. Are they going to be more books or how many do we do? And so it’s up for a year. And then I got a call one day. It’s like, good, congrats. It went in front of the board, which was Yvonne and Melinda and Ryan and a couple others. They had all read the the previous stories and the proposal. And so they greenlighted it. Had a meeting on Zoom the next day with Carla and the team. And they’re like, here we go. I’m like, wow. And they sent the contract and it was amazing. And so I hunkered down for another year or so writing, turned it in, and the next day, my editor retires. MM. So it sits for another year. 00:12:51 Dave: Oh no way. 00:12:52 Riverhorse: But they, they give it to one editor to just like read it and say, yeah, he did his job. This is killer. And let’s do it. And, and then I, I get assigned another editor. This mountain climber, uh, Matt Samit who worked for outside. And so we spent a few months just bearing down on it. And I thought, okay, here we go, here goes the book. And then they’re like, great job. Now we’re giving you to over to Sharon, your next editor. I was like, what? Another one? It’s three editors. 00:13:20 Dave: Oh, wow. 00:13:21 Riverhorse: She was incredible. And you know, we did that. And then it goes through three copy editors to proof it. And you deal with each one of those and a design team. They were flying around the country interviewing artists. So there’s twenty four watercolor paintings with the book. Even the cover wraps around. It’s just incredible. So then once they had an artist I really like, they asked me and I was like, yeah, let’s do this. And so I had meetings with her and sent her all these photos for moments in the book, and she’d do sketches and we’d talk about them and the colors and, um, we got to pick those together. So finally, here we go. The book is out and I can’t believe it. 00:14:08 Dave: Sounds like a lot of work. You know, a lot of time to get there. What do you think it would have been, you know, if you were, let’s say, just doing this on your own. I mean, some people are actually even self-publishing, right? I mean, that’s still. How do you think the book would be different if you did something like that versus working with Patagonia? 00:14:23 Riverhorse: Um, just the beauty of the packaging and the, just the artistic statement of it. Like as an environmental, um, statement in the front and there. I mean, even doing the audiobook. Did I tell you about this? 00:14:37 Dave: No. Huh. 00:14:38 Riverhorse: So there for the audiobook. You know, I always figured it was me, but they farm out the audiobook to random House Penguin, which is huge. So I get an email from them and oh, listen, we’ve got five different legendary voices, voice actors, and here’s their samples of your book. And I didn’t even listen to any of them. I wrote back, wait, what? Like I, I, it’s my book. Like I lived it, I was there and I have a decent, I feel like I’ve narrated movies and Toyota commercials like, hey, give me a shot, guys. And which was still I thought, Holy Bleep you know, I can’t. This has got to be tough. So they say okay, you do it. And they book me into the studio where Beyonce has recorded a bunch and Beck and Ludacris. So and it’s here in Houston huh. So I get in there and there’s all these Beyonce records, and there’s a. I put the headphones on. There’s a big screen and an iPad and a producer there and a guy from LA, and we’re all on live and he’s like watching me read the whole book. 00:15:41 Dave: Oh my gosh. 00:15:42 Riverhorse: This great microphone. And I just went for two days straight. It was supposed to be three days, but I rocked it out in two days. But even that was like, wow, you know, you have to read three hundred pages, almost every word perfect. And, um, and I just, you know, I just closed my eyes and just locked in and, and then they called me back and there were only nine words to correct. 00:16:06 Dave: No way. Nine word. And how many words is the book? 00:16:10 Riverhorse: Oh, it’s like eighty thousand. 00:16:12 Dave: Eighty thousand. Only nine. How? Obviously you know the book better than anybody else, but that still seems. I mean, if I was up there reading it, I mean, you would think, yeah, there would be hundreds and hundreds of mistakes, right? Because how’d you do it? You just kind of you said locked in and you’re kind of in that zone probably. Right. 00:16:27 Riverhorse: Yeah, I just story time. 00:16:30 Dave: Yeah. Story time. Exactly. 00:16:31 Riverhorse: And even, uh, I got story. Spring Creek master. There’s a couple hilarious big fart noises, and I was like, oh, you know, you can always. How do I make this? But I’ve done it at readings. But, um, I just made a couple huge ones and I stopped. I asked the producer, how’s that magnificent? I’m like, oh, okay. 00:16:54 Dave: Oh, really? 00:16:54 Riverhorse: I was like, all right, glad that works. 00:16:57 Dave: Oh that’s awesome. 00:16:57 Riverhorse: You know, but one of the nine words was John Mayer and they’re like, it’s a mirror. And I was. 00:17:04 Dave: Like, oh. 00:17:04 Riverhorse: I was like, well, John Mayer. And they’re like, listen, I’m a Texan and withdrawal and a slow roll and it’s John Mayer and they’re like, no, it’s a mirror. And I was like, okay, fine. And then the other one was this French Renaissance philosopher, Michel de Montaigne, who’s awesome. And they wanted the French pronunciation. I was like, what? What? So it was Michel de Montaigne. And I was like, wow, okay, I don’t agree, but I’ll change it. You guys are the pros. You know, stuff like that. I was like, it was funny to me. 00:17:42 Dave: Yeah. That is so good. Wow. And you know, you mentioned John, John Muir and John Muir a couple of times. But I mean, talk about that a little bit for those folks out there. I mean, I think probably most people have heard that name before, but how did he, you know, maybe describe what he did out there? What was his, you know, influence? 00:17:59 Riverhorse: I mean, it’s pretty famous for Yosemite and his books and writing around there and lived in California coast. But boy, just like Thoreau, like I really feel he walked the walk for caring about the earth and not just caring about it, but being blown away by it because I’m a weirdo, you know, I just I’m still just staring at sunsets and clouds, and I could not believe how incredible this earth is. Like many things that I’ve seen, and I’m just crazy for it. I mean, I’ll look up and watch rainstorms in the canoe and I just nonstop even the full moon. That was last night. I was up at five o’clock this morning. Um, hiking under the moon. I’ve been out in the marshes alone under that moon. And as it built up and and even I swam a mile before this podcast at the pool, and I was like, the first rays of sun were coming down into the water and reflecting off the bottom of the pool, and I was just freaking out. Oh, this is beautiful. It was crazy, you know? So those I feel like those are my kindred souls. And I’ll tell you, John Muir book that nobody talks about. So listen to this. When he was a ninth grader, he would read all these botany books and he was living on a farm in Indiana. And he told his dad, hey, I, I think I’d like to go to Florida to see all these flowers. And this is the time of the Civil War. 00:19:21 Dave: Oh, wow. 00:19:22 Riverhorse: And he’s a ninth grader on a farm, and his dad goes, all right, cool. Go for it. And so he’s going to walk from Indiana to Florida at the very end of the Civil War, like right through all the, you know, the South, everything. So he puts this backpack together, a knapsack with sandwiches and some books, and he takes off all the way to Florida. And these guys try to rob him and they like, look in his pack and there’s a peanut butter sandwich and three flower books, and they just look at him like, what the hell, dude? You know, he’s just a kid. And they let him go and he makes it to Florida. A thousand mile walk over there, and then he gets typhoid or something because he’s trying to catch a freighter to Cuba. But he sees all these plants. He’s in the, you know, the the forest there and just blown away. And that was as a ninth grader. Wow. No, nobody talks about that book. No, I never meet anybody knows that. I’m like, this is great. You know, all of us. No GPS? 00:20:18 Dave: No. Wow. That’s crazy. And what was the name? What was the name of that book? 00:20:23 Riverhorse: A thousand mile walk to the Gulf. Geez, I’m crazy for that book. And it’s old school writing like it’s cheese, you know? But it’s. 00:20:31 Dave: Yeah. Oh, yeah. 00:20:32 Riverhorse: You know, like there’s that. Well, it’s it’s great. 00:20:34 Dave: That is so cool. 00:20:36 Riverhorse: You want to talk about some street cred? Come on man. 00:20:39 Dave: Yeah, exactly. That’s what you’re talking about. Like living, living it. Right. You’re actually doing it as a as a freshman in high school, right? 00:20:48 Riverhorse: Yeah. 00:20:49 Dave: God, that’s so crazy. Yeah. I always go back to that with the kids, you know, thinking about like, man, if I was to send my, you know, my daughter’s pretty close to that, actually the same age. She’s going to be in ninth grade next year. And I mean, I can’t imagine, right. Like, how do you look at that? Do you think this world, I mean, obviously you’ve got the Civil War was a crazy time, you know, and environmentally things are changing always too. We got some crazy stuff going on now. What’s your take on that? Do you feel like we repeat ourselves or is it getting worse? Getting better? What’s your take on it? 00:21:21 Riverhorse: Oh, that’s a lot of work to do. But I think these generations, these young kids coming up like your kids and they smell a rat. They’re like, oh, man, you guys left us a big old mess. And politically, both sides are just weird. Like, I’m like, come on guys, everybody’s do right for our like, our country is so awesome. And it’s just a, a divided time and we need to pull it together and great leadership. We can turn the tables, but I just focus on doing my part. Like if I pay too much attention to it, it just, it just, it’ll slow you in your tracks. And we can’t have like, the only answer is either to do the work and take care of each other or to roll over. And I’m not here to roll over. I’m here to open a can of whoop ass and keep rich billionaires out of, you know, the Boundary Waters, where twenty percent of the fresh water and the entire forest system is like that of all the things people value in life other than love, like clean water is the most precious thing. You can’t live without it. 00:22:26 Dave: So no. 00:22:27 Riverhorse: No, there’s work to do. And I love these kids coming up. And I think that I think they’re pretty cool. It’s a weird world with all their technology and everything, but I think they’re just going to call BS on stuff and get us back on track, even though it’s a big old mess. 00:22:44 Dave: I know, I know, I think you’re right, they’re they’re going to be on top of it. They well, we were on another podcast. We were talking about Alaska, actually, some of the conservation issues up there, including like some, you know, they’re proposing a new dam on the Susitna. They’re like giant road builds and stuff like that. But on that episode, they mentioned the Boundary Waters, the fact that there were some changes there and I hadn’t heard all the details. Can you give us a little update on that? It sounds like maybe there was like some some steps back on the status of protection up there. 00:23:14 Riverhorse: Yeah, there’s a there’s a lot the Sierra and they used to do legally and interpreted it wrong to um a senator of Minnesota Rep Stauber who’s just awful. He’s just awful. And somebody’s getting a payback somewhere like big kickbacks. We know they are at downtown at the Pennsylvania Avenue, but he proposed that they use that to allow mining with no review and such an incredible America’s most visited wilderness. And, um, and I’m not going to go into all the details. There was a six million dollar mansion given to the administration, and his daughter and son in law moved in by the Chilean billionaire, gave it to him. It was in the times and blah, blah, blah. Same old thing. Just money, money, money. 00:24:04 Dave: Right. 00:24:05 Riverhorse: And they’re they’re supposed to do great things. And I’m not a fan of either side right now. I just think everybody’s they’re not getting along. They’re just not working together and not representing us. So all of them, like all of them, I’m like, wow, you guys are a mess. And anyway, so the Boundary Waters, even in that act, they said that there can be no review. Like we can’t even discuss it. 00:24:29 Dave: So no Environmental Protection Agency, no. 00:24:32 Riverhorse: No. And bypasses the Clean Water Act. Wow. Everything. 00:24:36 Dave: Wow. 00:24:37 Riverhorse: And the crazy part is that hard rock mining is the most toxic thing in the world. There’s never been one of those mines in history that one hundred percent of those have failed and decimated the areas. So it’s like a no brainer, but it’s a bad thing. Eighty percent of Minnesotans are against it. Um, right now the outdoor industry provides up to eighteen thousand sustainable jobs there. And they think like building a mine there would bring in two hundred some jobs. And this guy has promised that any copper he gets goes to China and Russia and not us. Like, is this a joke? Yeah, right. Come to our country, ruin a wilderness, and then send it to Russia and China, and you keep the profits, like at the very worst case scenario. Yeah. Let our own, you know, keep the copper for our country, our phones and, you know, air conditioner lines and whatever, like, and let the profits go here and let’s just kick back after kick back, I’m sure. But so now that that KR was used for that in the boundary waters, they can they’re saying they can use it all over the country. 00:25:47 Dave: Oh wow. 00:25:48 Riverhorse: It sets a precedent and it’s illegal. The good news is that Minnesota there’s this thing called the bad actor bill. And, you know, if somebody’s just a terrible person to come into your state and they’re going to do wrong and harm. But the bad actor bill, you can if the majority votes and say, hey, no, you can’t come here. No matter what federal says, Minnesota can say not still our state and stay out. So hopefully waltz is you know gets it together. And he’s just been you know nobody’s hearing much from him. But they can block it. And there’s a couple other things they can do. And each of those mines has to get a lease from Minnesota as well. 00:26:28 Dave: So so there’s another step. It’s not a it’s not a done deal yet. And I remember, you know, you hear that too in Alaska. So we’ve covered Alaska quite a bit on some of the issues like Bristol Bay and stuff. And it feels like it’s just it’s not like a done deal ever. You know, you can you can stop the mine, but there’s going to be a new company coming back at it, right? Trying to find there’s going to be change in politics too, right? So it feels like you’re always going to be there. How do you, you know, if somebody’s listening now, how could they, you know, maybe help get involved? You know, what would you tell them if they want, if they’re interested in protecting these areas. 00:27:02 Riverhorse: What would act locally, like find community and act locally, like here, even in Texas, outside of Austin. My buddy Alvin. Dido. 00:27:11 Dave: Oh, yeah. Alvin. Right? 00:27:12 Riverhorse: Yeah. He just did the loco, the Lower Colorado trash pass. And every year for his birthday, he brings everybody he knows together to clean up trash on the river. Like that’s his birthday party is spending his time pouring his heart out for the river. Like, just act locally. Find your community. It can be overwhelming otherwise. 00:27:32 Dave: And yeah. 00:27:33 Riverhorse: It’s so nice to have a group of people that you’re into the same thing. And down here, there’s a the coastal conservation and Patagonia always has cool events at their stores. And with the action that you can take and people to join. So I like just the power and local communities. Me, I like with being an ambassador, I get to do huge, you know, global and national pieces and talk about the reindeer and climate change and movies and stuff. But locals where it’s at. You know, there’s so much. There’s so much work to do. Like you can’t go to Florida and deal with big sugar, right? I mean, it’s everywhere. Striped bass on the East Coast. Like it’s just I’ve been working on this piece on the Lavaca River in Texas, and I did a big Patagonia event at the store in Austin, but it’s the last free flowing river in Texas. And there’s a Taiwanese chemical company called Formosa. And they make Ziploc baggies, all these plastics, and they’ve had more pollution fines than anybody in the history of Texas in those rooms. And all that empties into the bay. They’re already on a different river, and they bought a bunch of land on the Lavaca, and they want to do it again. And so I’ve been down there meeting with old school Republican ranchers and, you know, young, hip, liberal environmentalists and everybody’s like, get, get out of here. We don’t want Taiwanese. So. 00:29:00 Dave: Right. 00:29:01 Riverhorse: You know, there’s so much work to do. And even paddling that river like a barred owl came down and I was like, oh, nice. What a beautiful place do we want to chemical plant here that pours microplastics into the Gulf? No. And the crazy thing is there is there other plant that’s already in Texas on a river gets like a thirty thousand dollars fine every month there for, you know, pollution. Fine. And I’m pretty sure they make over thirty five million a month. Like I got to look at that. But it’s like they don’t care. 00:29:33 Dave: No, they don’t care. 00:29:33 Riverhorse: So who is, who is making these fines so small? 00:29:36 Dave: It’s like, right. 00:29:37 Riverhorse: It’s like your parents say, oh, if you, you know, we want you home at ten o’clock. Here’s your curfew. We’re worried. We want you to be safe, but go have fun. But if you come home past ten o’clock, uh, you get one less, you know, bite of food at dinner or something. They don’t you don’t care. 00:29:55 Dave: Like doesn’t matter. Yeah. It’s got to mean something. It’s otherwise. Yeah, you’ve got to have something that it’s got some teeth. Right. That is going to. And it sounds like some of these stories are in in the book. Maybe you could break that out a little bit. You know, maybe you can grab a couple, two or three. Where would you start if you’re going to pop out a couple of your essays and talk about some things that really kind of resonated with you. You know, folks, what would you pull out? That’s probably a hard question. 00:30:22 Riverhorse: Well, I mean, I feel the book, you know, there’s a lot of flow to it and there’s a lot of life moments that are obviously in sequential orders. But are you asking environmentally or just fun stuff? 00:30:35 Dave: Yeah, just in general, maybe just a couple of, uh, you know, and I kind of go back again when I think about, you know, different authors and it’s hard because you kind of write similarly, right? With these essays, bringing things together, maybe what are, what are some, you know, you talked about Yvonne, what do you think would be something that he would pull out and say, oh, this is one you got to read. This is one that really resonated. 00:30:56 Riverhorse: I minivans a surfer. 00:30:58 Dave: Yeah. 00:30:58 Riverhorse: And he loves loved surfing. And listen, you know, that was for ten years. I was a staff writer for surfing magazine out of California. And I still love surfing. And, um, there’s a piece towards the end that that is in Africa and I’m, I was a little boy had seen this fish called the potato fish in a book my dad gave me. And when I was a kindergartner and I always wanted to see that fish. And I read through these scuba dive websites that they live in a certain place and they stay there for years. And I had read about one in Mozambique. And so I was like, all right, I’m going to fly to Africa and just like, try to get into this village across the border from South Africa into Mozambique. And I want to like free dive and try to find this fish. Wow. But on the way, of course, like I’m going to I’ve got maps on a napkin from the surf spot that I knew about on a VHS tape. So. And there’s some crazy things that happen in there. And, and it’s, um, you know, there’s, it’s tough out there. There’s a lot of carjackings and right. And soloing in there. So that’s, that was a crazy piece that towards the end, I will say the last story is, was just, you know, that that I bet he loved that. But this, there’s a total eclipse about to happen. And I’m like dreaming of being on this, uh, empty forest lake in the middle of the Texas, Oklahoma border where nobody is for the four minutes and twenty one seconds of totality. And I’m like, could I catch a bass under the exploding eclipse and got all this? So that’s a rad adventure that ends it. Um, there’s some, you know, some romance in there and that’s pretty fun. And so many cool pieces I tried to temper. There’s some heartbreaking stuff, some terrifying stuff. And I tried to temper it with the really buckwild, rowdy, you know, hilarious stuff like being in a country club golf course on national television. I didn’t know they were there filming, but it was a national televised golf tournament. I’m sticking this eight pound bass right underneath all the cameras. The cops are coming after me and, you know, silliness like that or, or, or a yoga studio. This is just silliness. So I tried to blend all that. Um, so cool to be in there with my buddy that’s an NFL quarterback. There’s z.z. Top in there. And I just, you just have to read it from the top. They go so fast. Like even the reviews coming out, Kirkus Reviews and Fly Fisherman magazine, they’re just like, wow, these just what a flow and the font, everything. That was one thing. Patagonia, that team like, their books are just beautiful to hold in your hand. 00:33:52 Dave: Right? Right. This is cool. Wow. So. So this is one where. Yeah, just pretty much just pick it up and go. Don’t even worry about picking out stories. Just read it. 00:34:00 Riverhorse: Read it straight to you. I would say straight to you, I would love it to be read that way. And that was the intention. But even that awesome organ stuff, a couple pieces and Arctic Circle and yeah. Wow. 00:34:13 Dave: What were the if you had to run down some of the species, you kind of mentioned it, but what were, what did you cover? How many? Well, maybe not even how many, but what were some of those species you covered? It kind of sounds like you covered a little bit of everything. 00:34:24 Riverhorse: I mean, a world record snuck in there on the fly, um, bass after bass, after redfish, all kinds of trout. Huge pike. Yeah. Arctic char. 00:34:38 Dave: Where was the where was the pike? Where were you at for the pike? 00:34:41 Riverhorse: Lapland. Lapland using using bass frogs with thirty pound wire leader just rocking them. 00:34:49 Dave: Wow. And then and then what about Oregon. What was the Oregon connection? 00:34:53 Riverhorse: Um, so when I was growing up in Austin, it was just a young single mom going to UT. And I mean, we were no money. We’re on food stamps, and government’s giving us cheese and clothing were in this little apartment. And but in the backyard is the river. And so I got to grow up with the river in the backyard. Like I just felt like billionaires back there. And my mom falls in love. When I was a kindergartner with a teacher, an English teacher at the University of Texas, but he happened to be a Stanford grad who’s a steelhead from Oregon. Like he grew up in Portland, and his dad’s a steelhead or so in manzanita. 00:35:34 Dave: Oh my gosh. 00:35:34 Riverhorse: Right on Neahkahnie Mountain is our cabin grandpa’s fishing cabin. So he marries my mom. He’s the coolest dad. Like we start, you know, sharing literature talks right off the bat. He gives me that book with the fish that’s in Africa. And Every summer we drive from Austin, Texas to manzanita, and we bounce between there and Portland. So all my summers were in Oregon and it just opened up. I was like, wow. I started Skimboarding and then surfing, digging clams and catching big sea perch down at Garibaldi and Oregon just changed everything for me. And then there’s a great piece in there about Brian O’Keefe. There’s a story in there, a long piece, where he and I go on all these adventures. Just one of them’s a near death, one in Oregon. And. But, man, Oregon, Oregon, Oregon. What a place. And gosh. 00:36:31 Dave: Yeah, it is pretty cool. That’s really awesome, man. Yeah. That’s like right, right next door for me on the coast. I mean, that’s the cool thing about it, right? You got these towns, you’ve got you’re right on the beach. You know, you can the oceans, you can hear it out the door. But and you have these steelhead, right? You also have the winter steelhead that are migrating in during this time, which is cool man. So this is awesome. I think that, you know, there’s obviously a lot here to cover. How do you maybe describe on your when you’re getting putting one of these essays together, are you thinking first about the species, the conservation, you know, issue? How do you go into these things? How does it, how does like one of these stories evolve? 00:37:11 Riverhorse: Um, well, it’s none of that even I’m just running hard, living my life like a lot in the book, you’ll see me just getting interested in a place. I’ve been reading books about it or something, and I fill the the floor of the sunroom with maps, and I’m reading everything about it. And I just like, well, you know, just like the first time I ever went to the Boundary Waters, I would read and read and I had maps and I found that there was a two hundred foot cliff with the waterfall and the very last lake between the US and Canada, and it’s actually A five hundred foot. But the waterfall is like two hundred. And I thought, how how could I make it to this place? And I figured out all the maps and just went up there and went for it. So I’m never thinking about writing or stories. I’m thinking about, you know, chasing some cool moment out in wilderness, seeing something I’ve never seen. And I’m journaling the whole way. Like there’s just all these stories are from stacks of journals, but it gets to the point where you do something and, you know, it’s such a, a beautiful or incredible experience that you’re like your whole body, your ribs, your stomach, like you just can’t wait to write this down. And, and to even, you know, I use writing to make sense of my life and the world and my place in it. So none of these stories are I set out to write them. I set out to live the experiences and then. And then you just know when it’s a it’s a piece worth writing. You just think, oh, this is that was crazy. I want to write about it and share it with people. And, um, that Patagonia did gently push me to be more, even a little deeper on some heartbreaking, uh, stuff with a parent. And they’re just like, oh, man. And I was like, okay, I’ll just let it all hang out here in hopes that, um, all of us, you know, who read it and just know you’re not alone when you go through those things. And so that’s in there. And gosh, and you know, those funny stories of a stolen truck and chasing after the guy with the sage rod tube. 00:39:23 Dave: This was your stolen truck? 00:39:24 Riverhorse: No, no copy of the Fly Fish Journals truck. 00:39:28 Dave: Oh, wow. 00:39:30 Riverhorse: And Rolfing are there, but yeah, that’s, you know, you when something like that happens, you gotta write about it. 00:39:36 Dave: Yeah. You do. You do. Wow. So the stories in this book are was that hard to choose which ones to bring in there? Or was it pretty much just that was an easy one. 00:39:46 Riverhorse: I think I narrowed it down to thirty five that I just thought were primo and wrote the pieces, and then I kicked out three of them. Just thought, oh, let’s make this thing even just more just creme de la creme. And they could have been in there, but I just wanted anybody who blows thirty bucks on this book. I wanted every word to be as amazing as it could be and inspiring. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fly fishing book just, you know, do all these things. Everybody seems to have their little geographic location, or they go to lodges and write about it. And that’s not me. 00:40:24 Dave: Right. Yeah. That’s not you. This isn’t like going to a fancy lodge, you know, wherever and kind of writing the story and doing a review of, of the lodge there. It’s totally different. You’re out there choosing a place just you want to experience that place. It sounds like. Yeah. Just connect. 00:40:41 Riverhorse: No, I’m. I’m in the canoe sleeping in there with a blanket and got a fire going on some island or in the middle of winter. There’s one lodge in there in the Yucatan where somebody bailed out of a trip to this incredibly fancy place. And so my buddies at the fly shop were like, it’s it’s all paid for. And I was like, well, cool. Can I buy my ticket down there and, and find some way to hike into other places, like just leave there and go into the backcountry and they’re like, nah. And I’m like, well, I’m going to do it. So you’ll read that story about the Yucatan in the book. And I get down there and I find a guy who’s got a little wooden boat. I’m like, hey, take me into the back country. I’ll pay you however much you want. And we go in there and we’re eating peanut butter sandwiches on Mayan temples that are abandoned. And something happens in that story. That’s it just gets bananas and testifying at the end of it. The lodge guy is in there. He’s like, hey, don’t you want to? We’re the number one destination for permit. And I was like, I don’t care about permit. Like, who cares? Like, I’ll go stick a jack or something like look, right? Like I want to be in the back country where nobody goes and I’m going to wait and hike in there and take a little like, look, I want to do that. I’ll be gone all week. So I just can I make a bunch of sandwiches? And he just looked at me and was like, wow. He’s like, dude, you could be on a permit boat all day with guides and your meals. And I’m like, yeah, no, sorry, I just. 00:42:16 Dave: That’s not you. 00:42:17 Riverhorse: This is a step step. This is base camp. And he just loved it. He’s like, this is great. You know, he guided rocks like, you know, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. Oh yeah. Buffett and Raven had all these. He was a guide for Buccaneers and Bones. And, um, so he and I end up going on an adventure together at the very tail end of that trip. That’s. It’s the craziest. 00:42:40 Dave: Oh, right. With the owner of the lodge or the manager? 00:42:43 Riverhorse: No, just the manager. Yeah. Todd Platt, who’s, uh, now he’s up in Langara Island in British Columbia, running that lodge up there. That salmon lodge that you helicopter in. 00:42:56 Dave: Wow. 00:42:56 Riverhorse: But even that, like I’ve, like, I got some maps together and I said, hey, Todd, if I catch a helicopter to your island, can you have somebody boat me thirty miles up into this rainforest and I’m going to hike into this rainforest and see the, the Haida indigenous community. And I’m going to bring an ultralight packraft and wrap this river out where it looks like there’s wild cutthroat. And he’s just like, yeah, I got you covered. And I was like, okay, cool. He goes, you don’t want to stay here. Like, we got this chef. And I was like, no, just have somebody boat me up to that rainforest. He’s like, oh God. Okay. 00:43:36 Dave: Wow. How long do you think? You know, it’s interesting because, you know, we’re all getting older, and some of these, you know, experiences sound like, you know, not everybody can do them. You know, you get to a point and you can’t get around like you used to. Do you ever think about that a little bit, how this is going to evolve once you maybe can’t carry that canoe over or you know, or experience it the same way you’re doing now, will you still be doing it? Or how do you think you’re going to change in the next twenty years? 00:44:02 Riverhorse: I mean, I just think I’m going to go and I’ll just like explode in the air one day, just from, from running like that car engine, that truck engine that just, you know, just does it. But I do think about it a lot. And I feel like I have a lot of perspective on the horizon. I don’t know when I kick out of here, but I mean, I’m just like, like I said, I already hiked five miles under the moon this morning and swam a mile. 00:44:26 Dave: And man. 00:44:27 Riverhorse: Like, I’m, I’m rolling pretty hard and I’m feeling it. And I’ve already got an entire Six to eight adventures that are just crazier than ever in the canoe. For another book, if anybody, if anybody would Patagonia, maybe who knows what they’ll say. I would love to travel with them, but. 00:44:45 Dave: So you’re done with this book. You’ve got another one that you’re already thinking about. 00:44:49 Riverhorse: Oh man, I can’t wait. You wouldn’t believe the maps I’ve got and all the things I’ve got lined up like that rainforest thing. 00:44:54 Dave: And yeah. 00:44:56 Riverhorse: Yeah, I’m going to roll it. I am, you know, I, I founded this creative writing program for high school kids and, um, it gives me health insurance and it’s like thirty four months or thirty four weeks out of the year. So when I’m in Houston, they still give me a lot of leave from there. But I’m going to do that one more year because I just, I just love giving back to the community and young writers and, but I think that by next May, I think it’s just like just going to pull out all the stops and and see how hard I can go tell it to the truck. Engine explodes. 00:45:36 Dave: That’s it. Yeah. Don’t leave. Don’t leave anything out. Right. Put it. Leave it all out in the field. 00:45:42 Riverhorse: No, no. But I can tell you that if something happened today that I’d still be laughing, like all the way out of here. I’d be like, wow, I never. What, is he kidding me? Right? What a lie. Like this is. That was the greatest. 00:45:55 Dave: Yeah. 00:45:55 Riverhorse: Thanks, everybody. 00:45:56 Dave: Right. 00:45:57 Riverhorse: Thank you. Thank you, mom, for getting me here. Like, what a ride. But that said, like, you know, that’s out there for everybody. Everybody’s these people are home watching TV and on their phones and gosh, it’s not a dress rehearsal. Like, this is our one and only life. I’m sorry, but I mean, worst case scenario, ride your bike somewhere to a park and have lunch. Or Alastair Humphreys. You ever heard of that author? 00:46:25 Dave: No. 00:46:26 Riverhorse: Uh, to England. He wrote a book called Micro Adventures. and that’s a great book to get if you’re like, maybe you’re a business person in the city or you’re working nine to five, which is awesome. Everybody has to make a living. But he talks about like on a Tuesday night, find some place where you can sleep, you know, in the woods or camp out at a park near your house and then be like, get up early, make coffee, like have that experience, hear the birds and then go into your office job or whatever. Like these micro adventures, right? 00:46:57 Dave: You can do it. That’s it. Right? 00:47:00 Riverhorse: Yeah. Micro adventures. And that’s Alastair Humphreys. He’s got another book called rewilding just about to come out. I already pre-ordered it, but I love his work. He had a book where, um, he wanted to walk across Spain and he didn’t have any money and so he, he paid for a few violin lessons even though he’d never played violin. And he sucks like he gets he’s like squeaking out these tunes. He admits it, but he goes to Spain, and in every little town he comes to, he sets up and just tries to play his three tunes and see if anybody will give him money and wow! And it’s a rough road, like he. 00:47:37 Dave: Makes. 00:47:38 Riverhorse: It, but he does it like he’s like people give him a couple bucks and he feeds himself and and hikes. And that guy was a National Geographic explorer. He. So he’s the real deal. But his books are great. If you get a chance to after you buy water lines. 00:47:55 Dave: Yeah. Water lines, water lines is first. Yeah. We’ll definitely we’ll be hitting that up first. And the cool thing is that the books out there now, and there’s also an audiobook so we can listen to you, uh, which is going to be cool to try to find, you know, I mean, I feel like the audiobook again, for those people that are on, you know, the road, obviously it’s not as good as reading the book. What’s your take on that with the audiobooks? Do you think when if somebody was just able to listen to it, how much you know, would they miss or get out of the book versus, say, reading it? 00:48:24 Riverhorse: I think both, But that’s seven hours and ten minutes of just Flavortown, man. Yeah. 00:48:30 Dave: That’s you. I feel like it’s almost more because you get to listen to you. It’s almost like this podcast, right? We get to hear your voice, which is so unique. 00:48:37 Riverhorse: So if you’re on a boring drive or something or just like, let it. I love, I can’t wait to hear it. I heard just a tiny snippet and I was shocked. I was like, wow. But I said, what is this microphone? That’s. Oh, no. That sounds incredible. And the producer goes, this microphone is called the Broadcaster’s Dream. I was like, oh. 00:48:59 Dave: Right. 00:49:00 Riverhorse: I was like, that sounds good. Because when I had to do redo the nine words, they. I got to hear that sentence played back and I had to punch it in. So no, it was whatever you dig. So, you know, I don’t even know if there’s a, um, a digital book. 00:49:17 Dave: Oh, digital. 00:49:18 Riverhorse: Yeah. 00:49:19 Dave: Yeah. That’s a good point. Yeah. It feels like. Yeah. You don’t see that as much. It seems like it’s audiobooks or you just buy the book, right? The real thing. 00:49:26 Riverhorse: Yeah. And you can get it on Patagonia dot com or all the big bookstores. Um, you know, if you get it from some big companies, then they get to, they take a little extra cut and use it to buy soap pillows for their mega-yachts. And we won’t name anybody, but we know, but. 00:49:45 Dave: Oh. 00:49:45 Riverhorse: Yeah, you know, small bookstores can get it. I even saw it for sale at target, which just cracked me up. Oh, wow. What? Oh, boy. 00:49:53 Dave: Oh, man. So right now, people can go, like you said, Patagonia. Or where would you send them? If they want to pick up the book? Where would it be the best, easiest place? 00:50:01 Riverhorse: Patagonia for sure. Bookshop dot org is a great one. Or, but if you Google it, I’m sure you can find it or just order it locally and. But it’d be great to support Patagonia. Yeah. 00:50:13 Dave: So yeah, definitely. That’s always awesome. That’s, that’s always our focus, you know, definitely supporting the great companies out there as we kind of start to take it out of here a little bit. What was, you know, I’m just thinking about, again, the book, you’ve already got this new one coming, but it seems like water, right? You mentioned surfing. We haven’t talked about your music background at all, which is just as amazing, I think, as everything else. But is water always how does that shape, you know, your adventures versus, say, maybe just the forest, the deserts, or, you know, or do you separate those two? Is it always around water? Is that always, you know, talk about that a little bit. 00:50:48 Riverhorse: I think so I think water, you know, I’m crazy for it. And I talk a lot about it in the book. There’s a passage in the Boundary Waters where I talk about the magic and beauty of water. So at that moment in the book, I’m on this lake and there’s a wintertime scene where I’m paddling these ice sheets in the canoe and before everything’s frozen out for good, that’s like the last lake. And I’m just like, where? Imagine where this water could have been. Like the whole concept of it, that maybe it was in the Caribbean and some shimmering, you know, turquoise blue reef. And it floated into the clouds. And then storms brought it all the way to Minnesota. And it, it came down as rain and then it froze. And like, this water could have gone all over the world. So my whole life, I will be bananas for anything to do with water and being in it and riding across it, surfing, feeling like I’m flying seagull and the whole thing seems like voodoo. Like, I cannot believe we get to be on this earth, even to walk along the ocean and just stare out at it like the Pacific there in Oregon. And I could do that all day, every day, the rest of my life. Like I just and never not be floored by it. Right. But yeah, water, water, that’s what’s called water lines. 00:52:07 Dave: Exactly. Yeah. Water lines. 00:52:09 Riverhorse: Even when I climb some mountain, I’m looking for an alpine lake. So yeah, there’s a great, great, that’s the second story in there. is a big alpine lake adventure where I mess up pretty good. Or a Black Canyon story down in the Gunnison and yeah, that’s. Yeah. Now you you you got my number. 00:52:31 Dave: Yeah, yeah, we know it. You know, it’s all about the water. And for all of us, I mean, everybody listening here, you know, we we’re chasing these fish, right? And really it’s not just chasing the fish. It’s it’s that experience. You know, the more the more we do this. You know, I just had Calvin, you know, shout out to Calvin. He just sent me a photo from a Atlantic salmon. He caught up on the Restigouche. And we’re going to be fishing Newfoundland for Atlantic salmon this year with Calvin and some folks from the podcast. And I’m excited because it’s my first time fishing for Atlantic salmon. And but it’s not just about the fish. You know, if I go there, you know, if I don’t even catch a fish, it’s going to be an amazing trip. You know what I mean? I feel like that’s always the I mean, I’m sure that’s how you feel about it, but what is it about fly fishing? You know, because you hear people talk about, oh man, they’re chasing this. The big fish. What do you think they’re missing there? Do you think they’re missing something or they just haven’t got to that point yet? Or do you think we’re all in this evolution? And, you know, how do you describe that? 00:53:26 Riverhorse: Well, I mean, in the first place, it gets you outside to beautiful places. Like if you’re going to fly fish, you’re going to be somewhere beautiful, even if it’s the killer bass pond on a farm or something. It’s just good to be out there. But I’m glad you brought it up because there’s been, you know, an evolution in me. I’m alone in those Texas and Louisiana marshes, in the canoe and in the back country. And sometimes I’ll come around along on so many big, beautiful redfish, some days on the good days, and I catch only one or two that whole day like I. There’s so many fish that I could light up and I just like. I’m so happy to watch them and paddle. And I’ll be out there with a good coffee or bring a cold beer on ice and some, you know, some tacos and a piece of pie, and I could have caught so many fish and I, I just that’s. 00:54:22 Dave: You don’t have to. 00:54:23 Riverhorse: And no, no, no, no, even in the book, it’s like there’s a line. How many fish do you need? Just one. 00:54:29 Dave: Just one. 00:54:30 Riverhorse: So that part of it. But there is something, you know, fly fishing is such a form of meditation. Finding that rhythm. And it’s almost like it changes your breathing. Just that when you when you get in time with your line and you get to really be with it and connect with it instead of just bait checkers and conventional fisherman fly fishing, you’re just, it’s just like you’re a conductor just orchestrating in the sky and you can’t do it without having, uh, to get in sync with it. Your whole body and your arms and the line. And it’s really special. It’s just this almost a form of tai chi fluff, you know, and everybody thinks it’s rocket science or voodoo. And flycasting is so easy. It’s once you once you get it, you get I mean, it’s I’ve taught so many kids that I’ve come. Hey, let me take you a bass fishing kid, you know, a neighborhood kid or I’m. And they’re like, this is. And I get it. Like, as long as you have the right rod set up, like, remember this old sage bass rod series that came out with. 00:55:38 Dave: Oh, no, I don’t was this this is back in the day. 00:55:40 Riverhorse: Yeah, I talk about that a lot, but that’s my favorite rod in the world is the seven foot eleven sage bass rod. They had that bass series and they’re short, and that is the greatest fly rod to teach somebody to cast on. Like you can’t find them. They’re all, I broke one a couple weeks ago. That’s up there at sage now getting fixed. 00:56:00 Dave: Oh, they’re fixing it. They’re fixing it. Yeah. 00:56:02 Riverhorse: Supposedly I got it’s it’s been there a while. I’m gonna call this guy’s. 00:56:06 Dave: So it’s a seven foot, almost an eight foot, basically like a, a kind of a medium. A noodly rod. Lots of flex. 00:56:13 Riverhorse: So it’s cool. It’s a really cool. It’s called the bluegill, but it’s really. They named it wrong. Like it’s I’ve stuck juvenile tarpon on it. 00:56:23 Dave: Oh wow. 00:56:24 Riverhorse: Big pike. And um, there’s seven foot eleven and it feels like an eight weight, but that tapers into the sweetest six weight you’ve ever had. 00:56:33 Dave: Nice. 00:56:34 Riverhorse: And they, they came with the fly line and a carrying case and they were like three hundred and twenty five bucks when they came out. But I got three of those. Maybe you could, people could look online, but don’t get anyone but the bluegill. Like that’s the magic. And you know, in the canoe, that type of rod length is perfection. 00:56:53 Dave: So. Oh, it is. So that’s a you don’t want to go for a nine foot. 00:56:57 Riverhorse: You can do it. Yeah, yeah. Nine foot is great. But I like short tight like I’m in mangroves and grab forest lakes. And I just love I love shorter rods. It just Oh, man. Well, I mean, I love casting underhanded and sideways and. 00:57:12 Dave: Right. 00:57:13 Riverhorse: So. 00:57:14 Dave: Yeah. God. And that canoe, is that canoe. You’re. Are you taking that canoe? I guess you’re taking it around the country, right? Is that is that pretty much always going with you? 00:57:22 Riverhorse: Yes. I have three of those. The same one. 00:57:25 Dave: Oh you do? 00:57:26 Riverhorse: Yeah. And I’m crazy for it. It’s the Merrimack Osprey, and they’re just a fortune. I think they’re five grand. 00:57:33 Dave: Wow. Wow. 00:57:35 Riverhorse: But I’ve had mine in every ocean and I’ve had it. Unfortunately, it was caught in a hurricane last summer, and that’ll be in the next book. Oh, wow. Quite a night. It was midnight and I was wearing flip flops and out in it and oops. 00:57:50 Dave: Out in a hurricane accidentally. 00:57:53 Riverhorse: I wasn’t, I just was. 00:57:55 Dave: Well, yeah, it wasn’t planted on it. 00:57:57 Riverhorse: No, it was, it was bad. 00:58:00 Dave: God. Crazy. Okay, so that’ll be in the next one. We’ll, we’ll track you down. When do you think that next book, do you have a. Do you already set a date or have a goal for when you want to get that thing out there. 00:58:09 Riverhorse: We’ll just see what happens out there. I’m not worried about it. I just want to go live it. 00:58:13 Dave: Yeah, just do it. 00:58:14 Riverhorse: I have no idea, Dave. Yeah, but. 00:58:17 Dave: I feel like goals are are nice to have because it kind of keeps you, you know, on track. But sometimes it sounds like the way you do it, you got to just you got to focus on just living it. Just experience it. It’ll come. It sounds like it’ll, it’ll, you’ll know. Well, you know, when this book is ready. 00:58:32 Riverhorse: Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, especially after all I learned during this book was such great editors and the team and I like, okay, that’s how you do a book now on the highest level. Like, you know, like I said, Patagonia was flying around the country interviewing painters like, right, God, they just like to a t they want everything to be the greatest. It can be like, that was nuts. 00:58:57 Dave: Yeah, this is exciting. Well, we’ll definitely be checking this out here. Give me one. We’ll just take it out of here. You know, you mentioned we kind of been going back and forth, but if you think of a a younger river horse back in the day, what do you think? You know, maybe just take it back to your let’s go back to your twenties or 30s somewhere in there. What do you think would surprise that River horse about about this book and kind of where you’re at now? 00:59:21 Riverhorse: I mean, I always dreamed it. I even at the very beginning of the book, I’m in the public libraries reading in Austin, and they had a contest one summer where for every book you read, you write a little thing about it, and they give you a train car with your name on it, like a fake construction. So I’m sitting at the public library in Austin as a six year old, and I read so many books, my train goes around the entire library. 00:59:48 Dave: No kidding. 00:59:49 Riverhorse: And it’s like the end of June. And I’m loving I’m like, yeah, I’m just gonna, I’m gonna fill this whole library. And they stopped me and I was like, what are you talking about? They’re like, dude, you’re good. You took your train around. We’ve been putting up your train cars. And so obviously I’m crazy for books and words. And I feel that that’s our human experience. So it’s its own form of art, just painting. And I always dreamed of doing a book someday. And so I would just tell myself, yeah, keep going because it’s going to happen. Chase that dream and it’ll happen. And then never know for sure what would happen with the publishing company as incredible as Patagonia. So even the Carla, the publisher, Patagonia, I saw an interview she did once and she told the interviewer, hey, we’re in a position that no other book company in the world is in. And he’s like, what do you mean? He’s like, we don’t publish a book to make money. We publish a book because the world needs it. And I was like, Holy cow. And so then they that they take water lines and they say, yeah, the world needs this. And I’m like, well, just Just an honor. But I think that book kicks ass, and I would love for everybody to take the ride. 01:01:08 Dave: I’m super excited. Now. This is this is going to be a great, uh, a great year. I think we’re excited to jump into this, uh, and kind of go deep with you and maybe just give a shed light. You’ve obviously got this going. Are you still doing some other are you still writing in other publications, or does the book just consume you fully? And you know, that’s your focus? 01:01:27 Riverhorse: No, I’m in the Fretboard Journal right now. Uh, a cool story about an old tape player and my rescue cat driving across the country. I’m in the journals publishing the Gunnison Canyon. I’m in the Town Crest Report with all these guitar stories, and I just love writing. 01:01:47 Dave: Yeah. And the music. Yeah. Well, we, we have, we talked about a little bit of the music on the last episode, I think we did, but maybe just give us a take us out of here with something on, on your music. Like maybe give us a I can’t remember, you know, describe your style. What’s your, you know, do you kind of cover it all or because you play the guitar, right? 01:02:06 Riverhorse: Yeah. This house is filled with old guitars and amps. Um, I am Hendrix and Pink Floyd. Crazy. 01:02:13 Dave: Okay. 01:02:14 Riverhorse: Love Gilmore and Hendrix, but I’ve played with orchestras. I did all the music for a modern ballet Houston Ballet did years ago. And I love acoustic stuff. And in the book, there’s a story where I’m in the water behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, fishing. But I talk about like these, my band experiences and music and guitar and, and there’s another part of the book, even where, um, Stevie Ray Vaughan amp was stolen and I get it back and a super eight hotel parking lot, and this guy’s got a shotgun. These druggies, it’s just a weird one or z.z top, You know, the famous singer and my buddy, he comes to the house and that’s the story called Big Tex in the book comes over for. 01:03:04 Dave: Yeah, it’s easy Tom shenanigans. 01:03:06 Riverhorse: So there’s some good music stuff in there. 01:03:08 Dave: But that is a good stuff is easy top. Are they from. Do you know their story? Are they from Texas? 01:03:14 Riverhorse: Oh yeah. They’re Houston. 01:03:15 Dave: Yeah. They’re Houston. 01:03:16 Riverhorse: Billy’s. Billy’s pretty cool when he shows up, you know, to take you out for a drink or to dinner. It hasn’t happened a lot of times, but it’s just weird. It’s like, wow, that’s there’s. I mean, there’s nobody that looks like him. 01:03:30 Dave: No, this is with the big the full beard. 01:03:32 Riverhorse: Yeah. Billy. Like he pulls up in a black Cadillac with a driver and comes in the house and he starts playing your guitars and it’s like, this is this is cool. 01:03:43 Dave: Wow. That’s easy. Top. What is the easy top? I mean, they had what would be a song. We could take it out and maybe listen to it on the way out of here today. What would you throw out there? 01:03:52 Riverhorse: Oh gosh. I mean, the. I just, like waiting for the bus. 01:03:59 Dave: Oh, waiting for the bus. Okay. 01:04:00 Riverhorse: Jesus just left Chicago. Those are just slow. Brown sugar, bluesy. 01:04:05 Dave: Oh, nice. 01:04:06 Riverhorse: I mean, he just milks those leads. 01:04:08 Dave: That’s right. 01:04:09 Riverhorse: You know, whether you’re religious or not, it’s not about that. It’s about, you know, just that Texas groove. 01:04:15 Dave: But it’s. 01:04:16 Riverhorse: So Texas is the place. 01:04:17 Dave: Yeah, Texas is the place. 01:04:19 Riverhorse: Willie Nelson. Like if you play guitar here, you better throttle that thing. You better. You better get it on. 01:04:26 Dave: Man, I love, I love the Willie Nelson story because it’s, it’s, uh, you know, he goes to Nashville back in the day, right? And he tries to do the thing, the music thing. And it just, it never works right until he, he moves back to Texas and says, I’m just going to I’m going to do my thing. And that’s where it feels like Texas. Is that what is it about Texas? You hear a lot of people loving. Why are people drawn to Texas? 01:04:48 Riverhorse: Just that panache and that just, you know, it’s bigger than Spain. So you got the dessert? 01:04:53 Dave: Yeah. 01:04:53 Riverhorse: It’s huge. West Texas, big bend. You got the hill country. There’s seven spring fed emerald rivers. You got East Texas with the piney Woods. Just all the hilarious, you know, somewhat quasi cheesiness of Dallas. 01:05:09 Dave: Right? 01:05:09 Riverhorse: There’s great food, chef medicine, all the oil money. So the art world’s crazy here. Um, it’s just got so much going on. Holy moly. And just like, the Latino culture is so awesome, so awesome. The food and the people that comes with them and the Tejano music and the country music, like it’s, you know, we got three hundred and thirty miles of barrier islands to go read fishing on like three hundred and thirty miles. 01:05:38 Dave: Like that’s. 01:05:39 Riverhorse: Insane. Holy moly. 01:05:40 Dave: Yeah. 01:05:40 Riverhorse: That’s it down to Padre. And even space is down there. Like there’s a, there’s a piece in the book where that where I’m undercover with the game wardens and we got bulletproof vests and machine guns. Whoa! We, like, go down there to stop. The drug cartels are forcing these indigenous fishermen to do longlining and shark finning. And, wow, we chased these guys and bus and save. It’s a crazy story. Like, even when I when Patagonia found out about it, they had a meeting and they’re like, dude, this is reverse. You know, we’ve never had guns in a story and you guys are freaking us out. And I was like, well, this is on me. And they’re like, okay, go do it. 01:06:24 Dave: Yeah. Wow. 01:06:26 Riverhorse: So that’s in the book. 01:06:27 Dave: That’s in it. 01:06:27 Riverhorse: Too. It’s a Texas story, and it’s some of that takes place right down there near space. It’s crazy. 01:06:34 Dave: Oh man, this is good. Well, I think we’ve definitely highlighted a good chunk here today. And I think we could maybe leave it there and take everybody to a river horse Nakadate on Instagram if they want to track you down or Patagonia to find the book and River horse. Thanks again for the great episode. We will obviously be in touch with you and thanks for all the inspiration out there. 01:06:53 Riverhorse: You bet! Big love from here buddy. Love you so much. And the podcast that you do is just amazing and I freaking could so happy when you’re going to have me on because I just you just such a good hang and and doing great work and I want to, I want to be up there on highway twenty six hanging with you and, and getting together sooner than later. As soon as I. 01:07:17 Dave: Yeah, let’s do it. 01:07:18 Riverhorse: Since I’m coming through there for the book, I hope I didn’t give away. 01:07:21 Dave: Yeah that’s right. Yeah. Well we’ll follow up. That’s what we need to do. You’re going to be doing a tour or two right here on stopping. 01:07:27 Riverhorse: Oh man. I’m everywhere. That tour Patagonia doesn’t mess around. Oh good. I’ll be Portland on the twenty third Seattle port. Patagonia Austin on June twenty third. 01:07:38 Dave: Okay. 01:07:39 Riverhorse: And June twenty fourth. Seattle Emerald waters. June twenty fifth Bellingham Port. I’m doing Houston, Dallas and Austin right before that. And then like Boston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Saint Paul. 01:07:54 Dave: Oh, man. 01:07:54 Riverhorse: Just Boulder. Bozeman. 01:07:58 Dave: Wow. What are those tours? What does that look like when you’re out there? You go to the fly shop or the Patagonia store and you just describe that. What is the what is it like at those stops? 01:08:09 Riverhorse: Oh, it’ll be like three guys that look like they’re extras on on Golden Pond. Three old dudes. And I’ll be sitting there awkwardly. 01:08:17 Dave: Yeah. 01:08:18 Riverhorse: Right at the end of it, they’ll come up and tell me about the biggest brown trout they ever caught, and they won’t even buy the book. And then they’ll walk off and I’ll be like, yeah, this is this is the big time, right? No. I’m kidding. That’s what you worry about, right? 01:08:33 Dave: That’s what you worry about, right? Nobody shows up. 01:08:35 Riverhorse: Shows up. Not some, you know. 01:08:37 Dave: We’re gonna get some people to show up at least a. 01:08:39 Riverhorse: Few. But emerald water sells out. Like Houston will sell out. Okay, so many of these events sell out, and Patagonia usually has beer and food and giveaways and know that it’ll be awesome. But some gigs are, you know, more better than others. And a lot of them are weeknights and it’s summertime and fall, so that’ll be killer. Sometimes they show one of the films I’m in and have a band play, and. 01:09:05 Dave: This is good. 01:09:06 Riverhorse: Okay, I was going to tell you Willie Nelson story. 01:09:09 Dave: Oh yeah. 01:09:09 Riverhorse: Let’s talk about. 01:09:10 Dave: That. Let’s hear Will. Yeah. Do you have a Willie is now Willie Nelson. Is this in the book or is this just another story? 01:09:14 Riverhorse: No, it’s not all right. But you brought it up. We’ve talked about it. But I was over there in his ranch doing a story with him and Freddy Powers, who was Merle Haggard’s guitarist. 01:09:25 Dave: But oh. 01:09:25 Riverhorse: Anyway, I did a story for the Fretboard Journal on a guy named Paul Buskirk who’s not alive anymore. But Paul Buskirk was playing on all these old Lefty Frizzell albums. He was like this electric mandolin, just wild Man cowboy. And Willie would listen to Lefty Frizzell. Willie was a clean cut DJ in the fifties at a little radio station. 01:09:48 Dave: Right? That’s right. 01:09:49 Riverhorse: And he’d always hear the music. And Buskirk played with Chet Atkins and. And he would travel around with, like, a covered wagon and drop the back down in a small town. And so when the back goes down, it made a stage and he just jammed for money for all these. Anyway, Willie, Willie gets Ahold of Buskirk and says, hey, can I interview on the radio? Like, listen, this is you on all these albums. And so Buskirk comes in for the interview and Willie’s just this short haired, clean cut, you know, dude and Buskirk system. Do you want to play guitar? Like, I give lessons I can teach you to play a little. I’ll keep you one lesson ahead and you go for it, dude. And Willie, Willie starts and. 01:10:36 Dave: Wow. 01:10:36 Riverhorse: That’s kind of the chrysalis of Willie, as I understand it. 01:10:39 Dave: That’s it. But that’s where the guitar is. And of course, now his famous guitar. 01:10:44 Riverhorse: Yeah, we could definitely queue up on the road again. 01:10:47 Dave: Yeah. 01:10:47 Riverhorse: For if you want to. Even better than the z.z. Like who knows? 01:10:51 Dave: Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, yeah. No, I know, I know. I’m, I’m always, always been my top. Yeah. Just everything. Yeah. I mean, he’s been such a songwriter too, right? He’s written some amazing songs for other greats. 01:11:02 Riverhorse: Yeah. And that live, those live covers of whiskey River. They’re so fun. Yeah. I wish there was less harmonica. That Gaga is an incredible harp player, but I want, I want, I want to, I want to be. I want to play guitar with Willie. Like, give me let me take a solo, man. 01:11:19 Dave: Yeah. That’s right. So but you’ve sat down with. Will you you’ve you’ve chatted with him. 01:11:23 Riverhorse: Pass through there. Yeah. For a story on on uh, Freddie Paris. Very cool. 01:11:29 Dave: Yeah. 01:11:29 Riverhorse: But even the deer like you’ll find out in the book that I’ve never done a drug in my life. 01:11:34 Dave: Like you. 01:11:35 Riverhorse: Haven’t drug. No, I’ve never even tried a cigarette or weed or anything. 01:11:38 Dave: No kidding. 01:11:39 Riverhorse: I talk about it in the book, you know? 01:11:41 Dave: Yeah. 01:11:41 Riverhorse: I don’t need that. And I like a dairy Queen ice cream cone. 01:11:45 Dave: Right. Well, and I guess alcohol is technically. But that’s a little bit different, right? 01:11:49 Riverhorse: But I’m so like, imagine if I smoked a joint like I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to tie my boots for a month probably. Like I’m already so, so crazy. But anyway, as I’m driving through Willie’s ranch, there’s all these wild deer there, and even those deer look like they’d been smoking them. Like, look at everybody. This whole branch is probably blasted. 01:12:10 Dave: Oh, yeah. 01:12:11 Riverhorse: It was so funny. And sure enough, he’s like, do you want some reefer boy? 01:12:14 Dave: Did he offer you? He offered you some. 01:12:16 Riverhorse: Not Willie Paul. I mean, Freddie did. And I said, oh, I’m driving a truck. I’m good. 01:12:22 Dave: Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, it’s, it’s, it’s pretty cool. I feel like we have a person we follow. Well, I’m not even sure if we’ve talked about this before, but Superman, he is a, a Native American artist, a hip hop artist out in like Wyoming. and and he is same thing. Never touched. And obviously you know you think you know some of the background there with some of the I can’t remember the name of his you know the native tribe he’s with there. But he talked about not in his life. He hasn’t. And he describes it. Right. And we’ve been to a couple of his shows. And I think it’s pretty powerful because I know in my family we have huge. Alcoholism is a big struggle, you know, and drugs. And you hear these stories and I have I have friends that have died. I don’t know, I guess it’s it’s pretty powerful, right? I think that at some point, even if you’ve done it before, like right now, I’m kind of like, I’m out of that, right? I do even beer. I’m kind of on, on the wagon trying to be like, you know what? I think trying to go totally without anything is cool. 01:13:20 Riverhorse: Well, the first beer is the best beer anyway. Yeah, like the second beer doesn’t taste. 01:13:24 Dave: No. Yeah. You really only need one if you take if you have a beer. Right. 01:13:28 Riverhorse: Yeah. But I always look at it as our body and our incredible brain. That’s your light. And you only have one light. And if you dim your light. That’s right, boy, you’ll never get it back. And but I just I can’t risk that. Like I don’t, I don’t, nor do I need it. Like I said, like a dairy Queen ice cream cone to me feels like a gateway drug right there. Like, I’m so happy rocking one of those dip cones. And there’s plenty of dairy Queen in the book, but. 01:13:55 Dave: Oh there is. Yeah. That’s right. 01:13:57 Riverhorse: Yeah. I just there’s so many ways to get high. Well, I say it in the book, like if you can’t be beyond high from being out in wilderness, like you’re not living. Right. 01:14:08 Dave: I know, I know, that’s what it’s all about. Cool river horse. Well, I think we will leave it there for today until we get you on here in the next one and maybe talk about that next book. Thanks again for all your time and we’ll be in touch. 01:14:20 Riverhorse: Okay? Take care. Brother. 01:14:23 Dave: Please check in with River horse. Let them know you heard this podcast and please check in with his book. Go to Patagonia dot com or check in with your local fly shop. Uh, this is an exciting one. Can’t wait to get this out to everyone out there. I’m going to be listening to the audio book as well as I go and get a little bonus River horse on the on the phone today. And if you want to check in with me, join the crew here. Wet Fly Swing Pro we’ve got a bunch of great stuff coming this year, including, uh, this next week. We’ve got the Stillwater School is back with Phil Roy. We’re launching the Stillwater School. This is going to be a big event. We are going to be doing a giveaway next week. If you want to get access to save one of the spots that are going to go quick for this one, we’re heading to, uh, back to Henry’s Lake, and we’re going to be fishing some of those great waters around eastern Idaho. If you want to check in and fish one of the great fisheries with one of the best in Stillwater. Send me an email, Dave at web dot com. If you want to assure that you can get a spot, you can just join Wet Fly Swing Pro at web dot com slash pro. That’s the best chance to get access. And we always let our pro members have first access to trips. So if you haven’t yet, check in there. And, uh, and that’s all I have for you. I’m gonna get out of here. We got a busy day today. As always, I want to remind you to, like, follow subscribe to the show. If you haven’t checked out our YouTube channel, we got some big stuff coming this year where we’re basically summarizing a lot of these episodes and adding some new full length content there. So check out with our YouTube channel. Deep breath. All right. Final thoughts today. The fish are great, the stories are better, and the stories that happen as you go. River horse always inspires us to remember that it’s not just about the fish, it’s about that journey. And that’s why you should be planning that next trip. And I hope you’re having a good one. I hope you have a great afternoon, evening, or morning, and I hope to see you and talk to you on the next episode. We’ll talk to you then. 01:16:13 Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Show. For notes and links from this episode, visit Wet Fly swing dot com.

 

Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain

Conclusion with Riverhorse Nakadate on Water Lines

This was a great conversation with Riverhorse Nakadate on adventure, conservation, fly fishing, and the stories behind his new book. Be sure to check out Water Lines, connect with Riverhorse online, and let him know you heard him on the podcast.

     

Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho with Elden Berrett – East Idaho Fly Tying Expo, Salmon Fly Hatch (Traveled #46)

Fly fishing Eastern Idaho is all about timing. Hit the river during the right hatch, find the right feeding lane, and a good day can turn into one you’ll remember for years.

I sat down with Elden Berrett, a longtime eastern Idaho guide, fly designer, and tier who spent more than 25 years guiding on the South Fork Snake, Henry’s Fork, Yellowstone waters, Hebgen Lake, and the Teton.

We talked about the East Idaho Fly Tying Expo, some of his most productive fly patterns, the famous salmon fly hatch, and what he’s learned from decades on some of the best trout water in the West.

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Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho

Show Notes with Elden Berrett on Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho

Elden Berrett shares stories and lessons from a lifetime spent fishing eastern Idaho’s legendary rivers. We cover the South Fork Snake River, Henry’s Fork, famous insect hatches, fly design, trout behavior, guiding history, and conservation efforts to protect one of the world’s most important wild cutthroat fisheries.

The East Idaho Fly Tying Expo

(02:00) Elden recently tied at the East Idaho Fly Tying Expo, spending both Friday and Saturday mornings demonstrating patterns. He also taught a workshop focused specifically on flies he likes to fish with on the South Fork of the Snake River.

The workshop ended up being a small group with only three participants, which allowed him to spend more time one-on-one helping each person improve their tying techniques.

Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho: The South Fork Salmon Fly Hatch

(04:51) The giant salmon fly hatch remains one of the biggest events in Eastern Idaho fly fishing.

The hatch usually starts on the lower river in late June and slowly works its way upstream, eventually reaching the dam around mid-July. Elden said it’s one of the busiest times of the year on the river, where everyone is hoping to hit that perfect window when giant salmon flies start showing up in numbers.

One interesting thing about the hatch is that the best fishing often occurs just before or after the peak. When the hatch is in full swing, there can be so many bugs on the water that the fish simply fill up and stop feeding aggressively.

But as the hatch begins to fade, the feeding can pick right back up.

Watch this video of Fishing the Salmon Fly Hatch with Elden Berrett:

One thing Elden sees anglers miss is focusing too much on the banks. Sure, salmon flies collect along shore, but he says trout also key in on feeding lanes created by seams and current breaks.

These food highways can form well away from the bank and often hold some of the river’s best fish.

His advice? Watch the water before you cast. Find where the bugs are gathering, and you’ll often find the trout too.

Elden Berrett’s Pteronarcys Orange

Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho
Elden’s Pteronarcys – Orange

(14:16) Elden’s Pteronarcys Orange pattern imitates a fluttering female salmon fly returning to the river to lay eggs. After mating, females carry visible egg clusters and often struggle to regain flight after touching the water. They flutter helplessly downstream, becoming easy targets for trout.

The fly incorporates several specific materials:

  • UV black dubbing to imitate the egg sac.
  • Z-Lon body material for buoyancy.
  • Palmered brown hackle for segmentation.
  • Multiple rubber legs for movement.
  • EP fibers for the wing.
  • Alaska brown bear hair on Elden’s personal versions.

The Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch

(18:21) The salmon fly hatch gets all the hype, but Elden says the Mother’s Day Caddis hatch can be just as good. Around mid-May, rivers like the Henry’s Fork and South Fork can be covered with caddis.

One of Elden’s favorite flies is his Mother’s Day Caddis pattern, which features a trailing shuck that imitates an insect struggling to hatch. He believes that’s often the trigger that gets trout to eat.

And when the caddis aren’t the main event, blue-winged olives and March Browns are usually in the mix too. For those larger mayflies, Elden says a simple Parachute Adams often gets the job done.

Elden's Mother's Day Caddis Barbless - Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho
Elden’s Mother’s Day Caddis Barbless -Photo via https://www.fullingmill.com/Products-US/Elden-Berrett

Eastern Idaho Hatches You Should Know

Once the salmon flies wrap up, Eastern Idaho still has plenty of bugs on the menu.

Elden walked through a few of the hatches he watches closely every year, along with the flies he trusts when trout start keying in on them.

Pale Morning Duns (PMDs)

The South Fork’s PMD hatch used to be one of the biggest events of the summer. Elden says a Pink Cahill is still one of the best ways to match these bugs.

He remembers when anglers would spend entire days fishing riffles during the hatch. Trout would move into surprisingly shallow water to feed, including some very large fish.

Green Drakes

As the salmon fly hatch begins to fade, Green Drakes start showing up on the lower sections of the South Fork.

According to Elden, this can be one of the most productive dry fly periods of the season.

Brown Drakes on the Henry’s Fork

The Henry’s Fork has its own famous hatch.

Brown Drakes usually start coming off in the evening around 5 p.m. and continue until dark. For many anglers, it’s one of the best times of the year to be on the river.

Flavilinea and the Morning Spinner Fall

One hatch that doesn’t get talked about as much is the Flavilinea.

  • The hatch typically starts in the evening.
  • The following morning often brings a strong spinner fall.
  • Trout will gather in tailouts and slick water to feed on the spent insects.

After seeing fish feeding heavily on these bugs, Elden created a rusty spinner pattern that’s become one of his most productive flies.


Connect with Elden Berrett

Want to see more of Elden’s fly patterns, tying work, and updates from Eastern Idaho?

Instagram: @eldenberrett
You can also find several of Elden’s patterns through Fulling Mill.

This episode is brought to you by Yellowstone Teton TerritoryMake sure to check them out when visiting Idaho.

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Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho Related Podcast Episodes

Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 937B Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: There are a few small adjustments in fly fishing that don’t seem like much until they completely change what happens next. Today we get into those shifts from dialing in big dry fly eats during the salmon fly hatch to the subtle tweaks that can turn a slow day into something you won’t forget. I’ve got Eldon Baird on the podcast. We’re going to talk eastern Idaho fly tying, and a guy who spent decades on some of the most famous waters of the West. This is the travel podcast series where we bring you the best places to fish out west, and the stories of how those regions became what they are today. Eldon Barrett is going to walk us through what he has done in over twenty five years of guiding on the South Fork and other rivers in eastern Idaho. We’re gonna find out about how people overlook feeding lanes and how to focus on them, especially during the salmon fly hatch. If you’re interested in that, this year, we’re gonna talk about the Mother’s Day hatch and how to fish that with a trailing shuck and how that’s a trigger. We’re going to get into the power of observing water and bugs, and how you take it to the water with some of the patterns that he’s going to tie. He’s a fulling mill fly tire. And we talk about some of those patterns as well. Today, we’re also going to get a few fly tying tips that you can take straight to the vise this week. This is going to be a fun one. This episode is presented by Visit Idaho and Yellowstone Teton Territory, home to some of the most diverse waters in the country. All right, let’s get into it. You can find Eldon Barrett at Eldon Barrett on Instagram. Here he is, Eldon Barrett. How you doing, Eldon? 00:01:30 Elden: I’m doing great. How are you, Dave? 00:01:32 Dave: Oh pretty good, pretty good. Yeah. We’re gonna chat today. A little bit about fly tying and some of the patterns you tie. And we’re going to talk about the East Idaho Fly tying Expo today and just get a little background. I think you do. It sounds like maybe a little Stillwater fishing, which I’m interested in. And, and we’re going to kind of hop around a little bit today, but maybe take us back real quick on the, the expo, it just wrapped up. Um, you obviously do it every year in March. How did, how did the the event. Were you there this year? What did it feel like there? 00:02:00 Elden: Yeah, it was a great event. A lot of people attended. I don’t know what the comparison of the numbers were to last year, but it was, uh, a lot of familiar faces. I tied both Friday morning and Saturday morning. And Friday afternoon I did a workshop. There was only three participants, but that makes it easier because I can spend a little more one on one time with the people on how to tie the patterns that we worked on. We did, uh, three different patterns run out of time. I wanted to do a couple more, but, but we had a great time and I felt like it was a great success. 00:02:43 Dave: Nice. What was your workshop focused on? Was it like a beginner or. 00:02:48 Elden: It was, uh, flies that I like to use on the South Fork. 00:02:53 Dave: Oh, it was nice. and is the South Fork a river you spend a lot of time on? 00:02:59 Elden: Yeah, I’ve been a licensed guide since nineteen ninety. I started on the South Fork and I’ve worked for a variety of different outfitters. I was with Henry’s Fork Anglers from two thousand through last year, so I had a long run with them. But I’ve guided on the Henry’s Fork, the Madison, Yellowstone Park, Hebgen Lake, the South Fork, and also the Teton. 00:03:30 Dave: Amazing. Yeah, that’s really cool. And yeah, I mean, that’s a good chunk of time, twenty five, twenty six years. And we just actually had Mike Lawson on the podcast. They just had their fifty year anniversary, which I’m sure you’re aware of. Yeah. Um, they’ve been around a while. What was that like? What was it like working there? Was that correct? You worked there for over twenty five years? 00:03:49 Elden: Yes. It was a privilege to work there and worked with several of the guys that have been in the industry forever. Bob Lamb started with Mike Lawson. He’s been there since day one. The guy’s an animal. He goes out. He would go literally go out every day if they would let him. There’s been years that he’s done over one hundred and fifty guide trips through the season. So I mean, it’s I did it twice, two years full time. I did one hundred and twenty one one year and one hundred and eleven the other year. And by the end of the summer I was done, I was beat. Yeah. So he’s the guy’s an animal. He just he’s the Energizer bunny when it comes to guiding. 00:04:33 Dave: Yes. That is so cool. Yeah. Nice. So basically yeah. Henry’s fork. And we’ve definitely chatted with them quite a bit. And then and then the show. So you’re out there and you were tying, uh, take us back to that workshop. So you were tying some flies for the snake. What does that look like when you’re tying showing people snake flies. 00:04:51 Elden: So the one I’m focused on mostly was the salmon fly, the Tyrannosaurus. 00:04:57 Dave: Okay. 00:04:58 Elden: It’s probably the most popular hatch, you know, on any of the rivers around. 00:05:03 Dave: Yeah. Is it is that the one? Is that bringing in the most people when that giant salmon fly comes off. 00:05:09 Elden: Yeah, that’s the shuttle drivers. They say that’s when they get their peak time of the year. 00:05:14 Dave: Yeah. Wow. 00:05:15 Elden: There’s lots of boats on the river. But the last five years, the hatch has been an incredible hatch on that river. There’s so many bugs at times. The fish, the fish are full. They won’t. I mean, you can’t buy a fish, but you get that time prior to that and just after that, you can have some phenomenal days on that river. Not only lots of fish, but quality fish. Good fish. 00:05:43 Dave: Yeah. Wow. So just prior or just after. So you basically prior, you’ve got describe that a little again before they go, or they’re not really feeding, because I’m not sure you can explain that, but what’s going on before and then what’s going on after. 00:05:56 Speaker 3: So the hatch. 00:05:57 Elden: Is triggered usually by water temperature and time of the year. So the lower part of the river is obviously warmer downstream from the dam. And so that’s where the hatch starts. And then it moves up the river. And it usually starts the end of June at last week of June. And it will reach the dam, usually by the fifteenth of July. So it’s a, it’s, there’s quite a time frame in there where the hatch is out. But when the flies just first start to hatch, the fish are looking for them. They’re hungry. But then when the hatch gets in full swing, there’s so many flies on the water, the fish will fill up on them. And then, you know, obviously they they hunker down till they get hungry again. So during that middle part of that hatch, when the flies are most abundant, that’s when you know the fish, they’re not looking for them. They’ve already ate. You will find a few fish in those places like that feeding. But once the hatch starts to taper off, they’re looking for them more again. MM. So the fish will pick up pick up better then too. 00:07:16 Dave: Gotcha. So it might start like you said, end of June. It’s kind of getting going getting there on it. And then they’re full. Then after that they’re maybe once they’re not full again, they’re starting to eat. And then you also have golden stones mixed in there, right as you go a little bit. 00:07:30 Elden: Yeah. There’s a couple different kinds of golden stones that hatch on the South Fork. There’s the one that hatches just about simultaneously with the Tyrannosaurus, and it overlaps a little bit. And then that golden hatch will continue After the salmon flies, the pteronarcys is done. So that can be a very productive time too. And then in August, there’s another golden stone hatch starts to hatch, usually about the middle August, and it goes into September. And that one is the one that everybody refers to as the mutant stonefly. And where that came from is the little males. They crawl out on the cobblestones and hatch. It’s a nocturnal hatch, and then they will go to the banks on dry ground and live under those cobblestones. And then you roll one of those rocks over and those things, they scatter, they go everywhere, but they have a little short, stubby wing, so they can’t fly. And somebody one day says, well, that flies a mutant of some kind, but So that’s how it got its name. Yeah. And that can be an exceptional time of the year also. Most of the guys that are really dedicated to that, they’ll get up and start fishing just prior to daylight because like I say, that’s a nocturnal hatch. So those fish are looking for them at that time of the day. 00:09:06 Dave: Yeah. 00:09:07 Elden: And that’s when you’re going to get your big fish usually to, you know, them big weary browns. 00:09:14 Dave: Yeah, exactly. Okay. Perfect. And do you now do you guys can you fish out there in the dark out there at night. Is that something is legal? 00:09:23 Speaker 3: Yes. 00:09:24 Elden: There’s no limit on restrictions on the hours, fishing hours. So. 00:09:29 Dave: Oh you could so if you had like a full moon or something like that, that might be good. 00:09:35 Speaker 3: Yes. 00:09:36 Elden: That’s the time when to catch a big fish. You’re more your chances are better after dark, especially those giant browns. I’ve got a couple of friends that one of them runs one of the fly shops and guides a little bit, and he goes out after he gets off work, and he’ll fish all night long and then go back to work the next day. I don’t know. I don’t know how he does it, but he showed me pictures of of browns that are, you know, close to thirty inches that they’ve caught in the dark. 00:10:10 Dave: This is great. Yeah. This shows you you know, I mean, well doubles your time right. You got you got the now the night time to fish which is pretty. That’d be pretty spectacular. What’s the um so you mentioned the giant salmon fly. So what is that pattern that you’re tying at the workshop and the one that you’d be using during, you know, late June, July. 00:10:27 Speaker 3: It just imitates the female. 00:10:30 Elden: When they hatch, they crawl out on the bank and they’ll attach themselves to a rock or a stick or something like that. And then they’ll molt. They shed that skin And then they’ll hang around and dry their wings and stuff, and then they’ll mate. And then the females will develop an egg cluster on their abdomen, and then they fly back to the water to deposit the eggs. And they land on the water, usually to lay the eggs, but they’re so big and bulky they can’t achieve flight again. So they lay there and flutter on the water and float down the river. And and they’ll, you know, they’ll collect along places along the banks where you get those collection spots. And that seems like where that’s where the fish likely will hang. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be on the banks. It’s anywhere where those fish, when they land or those flies when they land on the surface, when they float downstream, you’ll find places where they’ll collect into a like a lane, and that’s where the fish will stack up and eat. You figure out where the food is and that’s where the fish are going to be. 00:11:41 Dave: Yeah. So they’re collecting, so they’re floating down and the water’s taking them downriver and going into like a little seam or a back pool or something like that, where they’re right on the they’re collecting. 00:11:51 Elden: Exactly. 00:11:52 Dave: Yeah. And that’s what you hear a lot about on the South Fork, that people are kind of hitting the banks and stuff, but that’s not really necessarily what you’re talking about here. Are you talking about finding more a describe that where if you were floating down, you’re new to the snake, the South Fork, and you were trying to find a spot where these were collecting, where would that be? 00:12:09 Elden: You know, just observe the water, look and see where the bugs are at. 00:12:13 Dave: They could be anywhere. 00:12:14 Elden: You know, the banks are a great place to start. But like I say, you’ll find those places where the they’re not necessarily on the bank. They can be off the bank aways where it’s just one of those seams or it’s, it’s, uh, an obstruction back upstream to where those flies will come out and they’ll follow that line off of that obstruction downstream. and it might be thirty, forty, fifty yards downstream where those fish will lay in that feeding lane. Yeah, that’s one of the most overlooked spots. You know where there’s fish on that river. And that’s true on the Henry’s Fork also. 00:12:51 Dave: And does the Henry’s fork have a similar, uh, giant salmonfly hatch? 00:12:57 Elden: It does. It also has a golden hatch, too. Just pretty much the same one as the South Fork. It starts earlier. And that hatch on the Henry’s fork is triggered mostly by water temperature. So a year like this year, that hatch will come off early. It’ll be, I’m guessing, somewhere around the tenth of May. Whereas some years when you get the high water and the cooler air temperature and the cooler water temperature, I’ve seen it as late as the twenty fifth of May. So there’s quite a window in there to where that hatch can come off on the Henry’s Fork. But it’s a prolific hatch on that river as well. 00:13:41 Dave: Yeah. That’s cool. Yeah. Those ranges are closer to I fish the, uh, the Deschutes with the giant sand fly hatch. Uh, I try to as much as I can, and that one usually is somewhere in that, you know, that frame, you know, may eighteenth, somewhere kind of mid to late May and then but it’s different. The South Fork is later and that’s mainly again, water temperatures. The water, I guess is how does that work? Is it warmer than the Henry’s fork or colder? I guess it’s colder. Is that what it is? 00:14:07 Elden: Colder. Yeah. It comes out of a lot larger reservoir. And and so that reservoir, the water’s deeper. So it takes longer for it to warm up. 00:14:16 Dave: Yeah. Longer. Okay. And, uh, I’m looking at a pattern on fulling mill. Uh, it looks like it’s one of your patterns. Eldon’s. Pteronarcys orange. Is that the pattern we’re talking about? 00:14:26 Elden: Yes. It imitates a fluttering female salmon stonefly. Yeah. 00:14:32 Dave: Yeah, it’s got lots of rubber legs. It’s got what is the the back. The tail is that there’s a very on the very end. Is that it looks like a peacock. 00:14:41 Elden: So it’s what that is is that’s that UV black dubbing that imitates the egg sac. 00:14:48 Dave: Okay. 00:14:49 Elden: And there’s, you know, variety of different types of ways to imitate that egg sac foam, uh, dubbing. I’ve seen guys use peacock herl to imitate it. It’s just, just something that’s black and, and how much that works as far as, you know, getting the fish to eat it, I don’t know, I think a lot of it’s more cosmetic for the fishermen. 00:15:16 Dave: It looks cool. 00:15:17 Elden: It looks than the fish. Yeah. 00:15:19 Dave: Yeah. It looks different. And is it um so you got that on the back there. Does this fly. It looks like it’s mostly foam so it floats pretty. This one floats pretty well. 00:15:29 Elden: Yeah. That floats real well. the body on it is z lon, which floats real well. And then there’s, uh, to create the segmentation appearance. I Palmer a brown hackle on it. 00:15:42 Dave: Oh, cool. Gotcha. Brown hackle. And then it’s got the rubber legs a bunch of rubber legs and it’s got the and then what is the wing. What’s that material. 00:15:51 Elden: The wing is the epi fibers. 00:15:54 Dave: Yeah. 00:15:55 Elden: The one I tie for myself is the wing. I use Alaska brown bear hair, which is it’s not an easy item to come by, but I have a pretty good supply of it. But it can’t be used commercially. You can’t sell the bear hair commercially. So the epi fiber’s a great substitute for it, though. 00:16:16 Dave: Okay. And when you’re out there on the water, let’s say you find one of those feeding lies. How are you presenting that fly? How do you cast? Are you kind of usually downstream and up or out of a boat? Describe that. 00:16:28 Elden: Well, the South Fork, you might have to fish it out of a boat because it’s such a big river, very limited waiting places on it when the water is up through the summer. And so, like I say, most of your fishing is going to be along the banks. And a lot of the time, the closer to the bank, the better. One of my good friends, he had a he had he’s has the best description I found yet. He says, you want to fish between the water and the bank. That’s how close in tight you want to fish because you watch the naturals. A lot of the times they’re like two three inches from the bank floating along, trying to grab a stick or something so they can crawl back up on the bank. And so, well, like I say, wherever the bugs collect, that’s where the fish are going to be. 00:17:18 Dave: Yeah, perfect. This is great. And no, it looks like killer pattern. And then you have, um, a few other patterns right out there that you’re tying. I know on fulling mill. You have some and you do. You do some Stillwater stuff. Is that something you’re into still? 00:17:32 Elden: I don’t do a whole lot of Stillwater stuff. I. Yeah, I like to fish Henry’s lake. I got to go with, uh, Kevin Skenandore last summer for half a day. He owns Henry’s Lake guide service. The guys on that lake over a hundred days of the year through the summer. So he he knows it real well and the different patterns. But most of my Stillwater fishing is just what I fish on my own. 00:17:59 Dave: Yeah. On your own. Okay, so, so good. So I’m, you know, the sandfly hatches and I’m trying to think now we’re talking early. We’re kind of April. Sandfly hatch is right around the corner a month or two away. So this episode will probably be prime time for that. You know, that hatch, when it comes out. Anything else you would tell? Let’s take it to the Henry’s Fork. If you’re fishing off the bank, do you do more fishing off the bank or more out of a boat on the Henry’s Fork? 00:18:21 Elden: I usually do a boat. I mean, I, I can’t get around as good as I used to. I got two artificial knees, so. Okay, kind of limited there, but there’s. Right now the Henry’s fork has some good hatch going on the bluing olives. The baddest there hatch and you get an overcast day and you can have an exceptional day dry fly fishing. There’s also the Mother’s Day caddis. I’d be surprised if they don’t come off in a within a couple of weeks. It’s usually right around Mother’s Day. That’s where it got its name. And also the March Browns will be hatching on the Henry’s Fork. So the Henry’s fork has got some really good hatches this time of the year. I have a Mother’s Day caddis pattern with fulling mill that’s been very effective for me on the Henry’s Fork. 00:19:15 Dave: What’s that one called? 00:19:17 Elden: Uh, it’s just, uh, just the Mother’s Day caddis. 00:19:21 Dave: Mother’s day. Okay. 00:19:22 Elden: It’s got a tray. I put a trailing shuck on it. It’s Z or Antron is what? The trailing shuck is kind of an amber colored Antron. And then the body is peacock herl, and then it has a Z on a light colored zylon underwing. And then I use caribou hair for the wing on that one. And then about two, maybe three wraps of a medium done hackle for the legs. And it works. It’s worked exceptionally well for me on the Henry’s fork. 00:19:57 Dave: Yeah. And that’s. Is that a good Henry’s fork fly. 00:20:00 Elden: Yes. 00:20:01 Dave: What is the. No. That looks. I see it now. I see it on on fully milled as well. It’s got the the orange tail the shock. And then. And is that more like how would you fish that describe that. That looks like a, a dry fly is that kind of down in the film a little bit? 00:20:16 Elden: Uh, yeah, it’ll sit right there in the film and just watch for rising fish and fish to the rising fish. 00:20:23 Dave: That’s it. And when the Mother’s Day caddis is going off, which typically around Mother’s Day, is that the the big hatch during that time, or are you getting some other stuff still coming out? 00:20:33 Elden: There’s still, uh, still blue wings. And they’re also can be some of the March brown. The March brown is a big fly. It’s like a size fourteen. And the easiest way to match that is just a parachute. Adams works as good as anything in my opinion. 00:20:52 Dave: Oh, right. Okay. 00:20:53 Elden: You get a lot of the larger fish feeding on those because it’s a little bit bigger meal than a size eighteen bluing olive or a size sixteen caddis. 00:21:03 Dave: Yeah. How big is that cat that that so it’s a size sixteen or eighteen, the Mother’s Day caddis. 00:21:09 Elden: It’s a size sixteen. You can drop down to an eighteen. Also sometimes that little smaller fly will work a little better. But I typically tie that in a size sixteen. 00:21:19 Dave: Yeah. Size sixteen. And so you have that Mother’s Day cast, which you hear a lot about. And then you also have just caddies throughout the whole summer that I think people just say caddies. Are there other caddies hatches that it seems like the Mother’s Day. Why is that the one that is kind of named, even though there’s lots of caddies throughout the whole year, right. Or summer? 00:21:37 Elden: Yeah, that’s a prolific hash. It’s, it’s, uh, there’s times when that literally almost covers the water. It’s an amazing hatch. And that’s, it’s that way on several of the rivers around the. I know the Yellowstone has a very prolific Mother’s Day hatch. Most of the rivers around this part of the country has that Mother’s Day caddis hatch, but the South Fork actually has that. And there’s times when it can be very productive on the South Fork also. And it’s usually right around that same time about the middle of May. 00:22:14 Dave: Do you do any, uh, twitching, you know, when you make that cast, you do anything to the fly when it sits there to get. Because how do you make it stand out, say, from the other, other thousands of patterns? Naturals. 00:22:26 Elden: My belief on that is that trailing shuck imitates one that’s struggling to get away from that to, you know, to complete the molting cycle. And so he’s easy prey, whereas those others, you know, that’s already hatched out, they’re a little more active. So I think that causes the fish to key on those a little bit more. 00:22:49 Dave: Okay. And what does the how does the moose hair for somebody who hasn’t tied with that compare to, say, elk or deer hair as far as it’s. 00:22:57 Elden: Caribou. 00:22:58 Dave: Or sorry, caribou. Yeah, yeah. Caribou. Yeah. 00:23:01 Elden: You know, caribou hair is a little softer has if you find the right kind, it has that kind of that gray pale gray look to it and it imitates the natural wing more so. And it’s easy to tie with, easier than deer or elk hair, in my opinion. 00:23:19 Dave: Oh, it is so it’s softer. And does it sit softer? Means it kind of maybe sits down in the water a little more or doesn’t because elk care kind of, I guess, and deer kind of are, I don’t know, they float pretty well. Does this float as well? 00:23:32 Elden: Yes. This floats really well. The hair is hollow. So it’s you know, it’s doesn’t sink as easy. 00:23:41 Dave: Okay. Nice. All right. So we got this Mother’s Day cats and then well, maybe take us back. Let’s step back a little bit from this. So you’ve got all this going. You’ve got all these fulling mill flies tying at the expo. You’ve guided for, you know, all these years. Take us back to how that you got into the guiding. Was that something that sounded like you did some other guiding as well? Have you been doing this a lot of your life? 00:24:01 Elden: Oh, I, you know, I grew up fishing. I can still remember the first fish I caught. I was four years old. That’s how much of an impact it had on me. 00:24:11 Dave: Where were you at? Where did you grow up? 00:24:13 Elden: I grew up in eastern Idaho, just north of Idaho Falls. 00:24:16 Dave: Oh, nice. 00:24:17 Elden: And we lived about five miles from the river. And I can remember, you know, when I’m seven or eight years old, hooking up with my buddies and walking that five miles to get to the river to fish. 00:24:30 Dave: And that’s great. 00:24:31 Elden: And, uh, my uncle used to take me a lot. My dad took me. My grandpa took me quite a bit. So I had a great experience growing up as far as fishing. And I just, you know, it’s one of those things you can never get enough of it. 00:24:48 Dave: Yeah. 00:24:49 Elden: And I eventually ended up working at the Idaho National Laboratory as a security officer. And our work schedule was four days on and four days off. So my four days off through the summer, I was on the river. 00:25:04 Dave: Mhm. 00:25:05 Elden: And then after I was there for a few years, I was getting almost to five days or five hours a week vacation accrual. So I would take about a month of the summer off to guide. So it kept me busy. 00:25:20 Dave: Yeah. 00:25:21 Elden: Not real good for the home life, you know, the domestic life. But it was the summers went by fast that way. And then I retired from out there and for two years I guided full time. And that was a great experience. 00:25:36 Dave: Yeah. 00:25:37 Elden: And I wish I could keep doing it again, but just for a variety of reasons, I decided, you know, I’ve had enough of it. I need to focus on a few other things in life at this time. So. 00:25:48 Dave: Sure. Yeah, definitely. That’s a good I mean, that’s a full career right there. Twenty five years, right? Just about just with your guiding there. 00:25:55 Elden: Yeah. 00:25:56 Dave: That’s it. And, uh, and so, and yeah. And so now you’ve got that, but you’re still doing the expo. Are you going to be this upcoming year? Are you planning on doing the expo again? 00:26:05 Elden: Oh, probably. Yeah. I don’t know if I’ll participate in any workshops Or anything like that, but, uh, I’ll be doing the demo tying y’all. 00:26:14 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. 00:26:15 Dave: Take us there on the floor this year with what that was like. You get there. Are you guys still on the you’re on the ice rink, right? You got you got ice under you. Is that was that still the case? 00:26:24 Elden: Well, they I don’t know if there’s ice under it or not. They have a floor in there and everything, but uh it, I did notice it was a little cool in there this year. So yeah, there may have been ice underneath, but, but yeah, they set up, uh, several different things. You know, all the vendors have their booths lining the outside of it. And then in the center, they set up tables to where I think they accommodate about forty tires at one time. And so you can just walk around amongst the flyers and sit down and, and observe somebody. And I’ve learned a lot from just watching that. I would sit down and watch somebody tie a particular pattern And they would use a technique that I like. Wow, I can use that on this fly. And so I would implement that, you know, on some of my patterns. And it’s, I learned a lot over the years watching those guys. 00:27:21 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:27:22 Elden: They have some extremely talented tires out there too. 00:27:27 Dave: Yeah, that’s kind of the idea, right? That’s the cool thing about it is you got all these tires so you can go there and just kind of, if you can maybe work your way, talk to everybody, see the techniques and come away with, you know, some new. That’s pretty cool. I mean, probably to this day, even for you, do you, if you sit around and watch somebody or are you still picking up new little tips and tricks? 00:27:44 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:27:45 Elden: I mean, it’s a continual learning. 00:27:48 Dave: Yeah it is. 00:27:49 Elden: And like I say, there’s some extremely talented tires out there nowadays and the materials and everything. How much that’s evolved since I started tying flies. It’s just to me it’s mind boggling. It’s like the computer industry, you know, how much it’s evolved over the last twenty years. 00:28:05 Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. The fact that. 00:28:07 Dave: You’re using we’re using a phone now doing this podcast through a, you know, a, the Riverside program, right. The fact that it all comes together into, you know what I mean? It’s, it’s pretty amazing. 00:28:18 Elden: Yes it is. 00:28:19 Dave: Um, okay. And then looking at and then on that day. So you there, so you said you tied Friday morning and Saturday morning. Um, on Friday morning, did you tie, did you tie just a couple of patterns or do you, do you, do you ask people what they want to see or do you, what are you tying there on that first day? Other than the Terra Narcisse. 00:28:35 Elden: I usually focus on two or three different patterns. And, uh, and then if you know, somebody asked me about a different pattern, if I have the materials with me, I’ll tie it for them. 00:28:48 Dave: And pretty much, could you tie if somebody gave you a pattern, just pull it out of their fly box and just gave it to you, could you pretty much tie that at this point? Come close? 00:28:58 Speaker 5: Uh. 00:28:59 Elden: Most of them I could. Yeah, there’s some of them. I, I, There’s the streamers, the articulated streamers. I’ve just started tying those the last couple of years, and I had to go to YouTube to learn how to tie some of them. 00:29:13 Dave: But yeah, good, good. What do you think? What do you enjoy tying most? Sounds like these big flies. Do you do you also tie some of the small dries, some of the. Are you ever fishing any of those smaller. Um, I guess um, you know, other than the caddis, like your typical, like what would be if there was a mayfly hatch? What’s your go to for your typical, I guess you mentioned the parachute. Are there other ones? 00:29:35 Elden: So the South Fork has a great pale morning dun hatch pmd’s. They have kind of a pink color to them. And the best imitation of it is a pink Cahill. And that used to be a very prolific hatch. The last four or five years, it hasn’t lasted as long or not near as prolific as it has been in the past. It’s just one of those mysteries of the river that they’re trying to figure out. The South Fork initiative, they have a couple of biologists that are doing the studies on the on the flies, on the river, and trying to figure out what’s going on with them. But it takes, you know, a few years to collect the data to where they can kind of get an idea of what’s going on. And the Henrys Fork Foundation has been doing that on the Henrys Fork for quite a long time. And so they’ve established that baseline and their ideas to do what they can to mitigate, you know, what’s causing the decline in the fly hatches. 00:30:42 Dave: And so these pink cahills. So the cahills have been declining. That’s something that’s been changing. 00:30:47 Elden: Yeah. But there’s still, you know, it used to be that was the popular way to fish on the river on the South Fork. And the summer was go to the riffles because that’s where the hatches would start. And then those fish would stack up, you know, at the bottom of the riffles and even in riffles while a hatch was going on. So you could just get out and wade, you know, wade fish the riffles and you didn’t, you never wanted to get in, you know, up to your knees because chances are, if you’re wading in water up to your knees, you’re wading in the middle of the fish. That’s where the hatch is coming off. 00:31:25 Dave: Mhm. 00:31:26 Elden: It’s pretty amazing how shallow a water, especially those cutthroats, will move up into to feed on those mayflies when that hatch is going on. And even the big browns. And in another hatch that comes off on the South Fork, right about the end of the salmon fly hatch or a little bit before is, uh, they have a green Drake hatch on the lower three sections of the South Fork. And that can be a prolific hatch. 00:31:56 Dave: Yeah. Wow. Green drakes versus say, the other the brown drake. Right. That’s another hatch that’s always get those confused. But is there also the brown drake out there? 00:32:06 Elden: Not on the South Fork. The Henrys Fork has a prolific brown Drake hatch, mostly up in the ranch section of the river. And it’s an evening hatch. It’s about five o’clock in the evening when that starts, and that can be one of the more productive times of the year for the Henrys fork. 00:32:25 Dave: MM. Yeah, yeah. And so Henrys fork South fork. And then what are the you also have the Teton River which is quite a bit different, right. Are those kind of the three big. I mean those are the three big ones. Are there other smaller rivers that people are fishing out there other than these big ones? 00:32:40 Elden: Oh, the there’s fall River. It’s kind of limited to what you can do on it. There’s a couple of floats on it that’s possible. It has a a prolific pteronarcys hatch. The fish don’t get big. I mean, a twenty inch rainbow on that river is a pretty good sized fish, but they are some of the hottest, most acrobatic fish that I’ve ever caught. Them fish go berserk when you hook them. 00:33:13 Dave: Wow. And the fall River that. Where does that flow into? 00:33:17 Elden: It comes out of the southwest part of Yellowstone Park and flows down through, uh, east of Ashton. And then it meets up with the Henrys Fork, just about the Chester area, upstream from Saint Anthony aways. 00:33:33 Dave: There’s a place where every bend in the river feels like it’s been waiting for you. Where the air smells of sage and pine. And trout rise beneath the shadows of the Tetons. That places visit Idaho’s Yellowstone Teton Territory, the heartbeat of fly fishing in the west, from the legendary Henrys Fork to the winding south Fork of the snake. This is where big fish and bigger stories live. You’ll find endless waters welcoming towns and locals who still wave as you drive by with drift boat in tow. This is your starting point for world class fly fishing, year round recreation, and wild country that stays with you long after you’ve packed up your gear. Check it out right now that’s wet. Fly swing dot com slash Teton T e t o n. Visit Idaho for yourself and support this podcast while you go. Nice. Gosh, this is great. Yeah, I mean, that’s, I think the thing you realize there’s so many of these hatches are what make I mean, I guess that’s one of the things, right? People are coming from all around to check out these hatches is, are there other hatches during the year if you just keep that going? You mentioned the green Drake and then you got obviously caddis throughout the summer. Any other big hatches that are happening out there? 00:34:40 Elden: Yeah, there’s, uh, the Flavilinea. It looks real similar to the green Drake. It’s just about a size fourteen, and it can be a prolific hatch on the Henry’s Fork. It’s an evening hatch. It’s one of those that starts about five in the evening and goes till about dark and the fish key on them. That’s one of the best times of the day to fish during that hatch. But also in the morning, there’s a great spinner fall of those flaps. And those fish will get out in the tail outs of the holes or the the slick water and feed on those spinners. And I can remember the first time I got into that, it was right there at last chance, and I was out fishing on my own. And I was like, what are these fish eating? And I finally got my screen out and caught some of the spinners. And it’s a it’s a big spinner. It’s about a size fourteen, but it had a rusty abdomen and an olive thorax. And I thought, well, I can tie some of those. So I went back and tied some of them. And it, it’s, uh, been a very productive fly. In fact, one of the fly shops up there in Last Chance told me it was their top selling fly three years ago. And Fulling Mill also carries that one too. 00:36:06 Dave: Yeah, yeah, I see it, I see it, it’s got the, uh, how does that one, when you tie the, when you’re tying a spinner, you’ve obviously got the big wings, bent wings. How else do you tie that fly to make it effective? What do you think are the keys to that one? Because it’s pretty small, right? It’s a pretty like there’s not much to. Well, it looks hard to tie, but there’s not much to it. Not too many materials. 00:36:25 Elden: It’s not difficult to tie. It just has the the, the micro tail. The abdomen is a dyed turkey quill, the rusty spinner color and the thorax is just an olive dubbing. And then, uh, poly wings. Very simple. 00:36:45 Dave: Yeah. And those wings are pretty simple. If you haven’t tied the spent wings, you just take a thing of whatever you’re seeing. And what do you use on the wing material here for these? 00:36:53 Elden: It’s just the polishing material. Anything looks like it. I mean, there’s several different things you can use on them, but that seems to work because those wings get real clear translucent. They have quite a bit of shine to them. 00:37:06 Dave: So yeah, that’s it. And do you want to tie those wings in kind of right. Yeah. Go ahead. 00:37:12 Elden: So they lay flat out. Yeah. One of the things that I use when I tie flies I think of what are the fish looking at? You know, look at it from the fish’s point of view. One of the common mistakes people make is we’re in a light environment looking into a dark environment, looking into the water. The fish is just reversed on that. 00:37:35 Dave: Yeah. 00:37:36 Elden: You know, take that into account. But then just think, you know, well, here’s where the fish is laying and this is where the bugs are coming from, floating down the river and watch their feeding patterns and what the flies are doing and their fish’s relationship to them. That’s something that, you know, that has worked well for me over the years. 00:37:59 Dave: Yeah, that makes sense. So you talked about the spinner and then fishing the duns on the water. Is that um I guess in the rusty spinner? Are you fishing that differently than you’d be fishing or are you just looking for still heads or what are you looking for? 00:38:11 Elden: Basically look for rising fish, the Henry’s fork. That’s the most productive way to fish that river. If you’re not nymph fishing, is to look for rising fish. And I know on that lower stretch below Ashton Dam all the way down to Saint Anthony area, it has some very nice brown trout in there. And I’ve seen pictures of a couple of them that were pushing thirty inches. But those browns will get in like a foot of water right along the bank. And if you watch, you know, when you’re floating or even walk waiting, you’ll spot one of those fish feeding. And if you’re careful about your approach and your presentation, you usually can, you know, hook them. I’ve, I’ve had some very productive days on, you know, whether it’s the golden stones, the green drakes, the spinners, those fish will tuck right in a little place, you know, that sometimes is almost impossible to cast to. 00:39:13 Dave: Mhm. 00:39:14 Elden: You know, you get a couple of those fish like that in a day and that makes your day pretty special. 00:39:19 Dave: Yeah. Yeah. You’re probably good on that. Yeah. That’s perfect. 00:39:22 Elden: The drawback about the Henry’s fork, it’s become such a popular river during that green Drake hatch and also the Pteronarcys hatch. You you’re competing with a lot of other fishermen. Yeah, there’s people from all over fishing it. And I mean, it’s it’s developing into a problem, just like on the Madison. And I don’t know how you fix it. 00:39:48 Dave: Yeah. What’s going on in the Madison? Just where you hear about there’s so many drift boats lined up and just. I mean, it seems like the South Fork is such a big river that you can. It’s not much of a as much of an issue there. But is that the thing? It’s just too many boats. 00:40:03 Elden: Yes. Some of my friends last year, guide friends told me they waited in line for over an hour just to get their boat in the water, and that river is too small to handle that kind of traffic. But it’s been a big, hot topic for quite a few years, and I don’t know how to fix that either. It’s. 00:40:26 Dave: Yeah, I’d imagine what you see in other areas around the country, and I’m not sure if this is the fix here, but, you know, you have limited entry. You know, these places, the Grand Canyon, right, is a good example, but a lot of even the I mentioned the Deschutes. The Deschutes River is limited entry during the. There’s certain river passes, they only have a certain amount. I remember when they first were talking about implementing that back in the day, this was probably twenty or thirty years ago, and it was like, oh man, this is going to be terrible. This is going to be a really bad thing because, you know, you’re going to restrict you when you can fish. But as it turned out, it’s actually better because now there’s a limit. So you know that there’s only this many. And to be honest with you, you can usually get a pass if you plan your, you know, you plan a little bit. So it’s not obviously you might, you know, you can’t go anytime, but it’s pretty close, right? And you can still walk and wade. And so that’s the thing. You could still you don’t need a permit. It’s just the boats. So I don’t know if that would apply. If they need to start thinking, I’m sure they’ve probably talked about that, but it’s worked. I feel like it’s worked pretty well in the Deschutes. 00:41:23 Elden: What lower Henrys fork that time of the year during the green Drake hatch. The irrigation demand is such that they haven’t started drawing water out of the reservoirs. So the flows are such that you can walk wade most of that part of the river down there And so there’s tons of people walk waiting and then you add the boats to it and it’s an issue. It’s one of the big reasons why I quit guiding on the Henry’s fork. 00:41:51 Dave: Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. No it isn’t. We you know, again, it’s just more people, right. There’s, there’s a, you know, that’s part of the people love it. You know, we love to have more anglers because it probably protects it. But at the same time, yeah, it makes fishing kind of more challenging, I guess. But cool. Well tell us. Yeah. Go ahead. 00:42:09 Elden: Fly fishing. Fly fishing has become so popular the last few years, has it? 00:42:14 Dave: Yeah. Have you noticed that. Have you noticed the last few years you’ve really compared to say. Yeah. 00:42:19 Elden: What really started it was when the movie A River Runs Through it came out that that they seen a huge boom in the in the guide industry just because of that movie. And now you see it promoted, you know, look at the Yellowstone series, this Madison series, it’s all, you know, they’re focusing on fly fishing. A lot of it. 00:42:40 Dave: Are they is that Madison thing? Is that really about fly fishing or is it what is the. Yeah, I haven’t seen that yet. 00:42:47 Elden: It’s a great series. You need to watch it. He’s you know, this guy’s a New York attorney and his brother’s got a place on the Madison. And so he comes out and spends time on the Madison. You know, that’s his passion. His time flies and fly fishing. So it’s a great series. 00:43:04 Dave: So it’s about. 00:43:05 Elden: Attorney. Yeah. So I don’t want to spoil it for you. 00:43:09 Dave: Oh, yeah. We don’t want to ruin it. 00:43:10 Elden: Yeah, it’s well worth watching. 00:43:12 Dave: It’s worth watching. Okay. And who are the. I have to look at who the actors are in it. But it’s Russell. 00:43:17 Elden: Kurt Russell’s in it. Michelle Pfeiffer. 00:43:19 Dave: Oh, Kurt Russell’s in it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. God. That’s great. Okay, so now we got another series to add to the list here. So, Madison, but you’re saying that movie is or that series is about. It’s kind of focused, obviously fly fishing and everything else, like any movie or any show will be, but it’s got a lot of fly fishing in it. 00:43:36 Elden: There’s much more to it than that, but it’s based around. On his passion for fly fishing and, you know, on the relationship he has with his wife and. 00:43:46 Dave: Yeah. Do you think that Madison, I guess it’d be hard to compare to River run because that’s like the biggest thing ever. But do you think this Madison series has had an impact gotten more people out there? 00:43:56 Elden: It will. I mean, every one of those movies like that, you know, some for somebody that hasn’t fly fished, I mean, that piques your interest. And the great thing about fly fishing, it doesn’t matter what skill level you’re at, you still have fun doing it. 00:44:13 Dave: Yeah. 00:44:14 Elden: It’s a great stress reliever. It’s time for you to get out, to recharge, to re-energize, to organize your thoughts. I mean, there’s been so many times in my past when it’s like, you know, I need to go to the river and I go to the river and spend a day, half a day or whatever. And it, it does wonders for the, for mental state of mind. 00:44:37 Dave: Yeah, it does, it does. It’s good for all of us. What is the um, so ninety three or when the River Runs through it came out in that range. Ninety two. Ninety three. Where were you at. What were you doing then? Were you just had you started the Henry’s Fork guiding yet? 00:44:49 Elden: I hadn’t started on the Henry’s Fork, but I was guiding on the South Fork at the time. 00:44:54 Dave: Okay. And who was the guide shop you were with? 00:44:57 Elden: So I was with, uh, I started with John Hill. He had he was one of the original outfitters on the river. And I worked for him for one year. And then he sold the business to a guy by the name of Lon Woodard. Lon was, uh, he was played football for the New Orleans Saints. 00:45:15 Dave: Oh, wow. 00:45:15 Elden: I worked for him for a couple of years, and then I went to work for another outfitter. They offered me a better deal, so I hated to leave there. But Lon was was a great guy. Yeah, but that was one that was when I come up with my golden stone fly pattern. Originally it was called Barrett’s Golden Stonefly, and that was that was funny how I came up with that pattern. I noticed those, what they call the mutant Stonefly and see all these empty. They call the shucks. That’s the shell that they. They mold out of. They’d be all over. And it’s like, where are these bugs at? Because I kept looking for them to fly like the the Tyrannosaurus does. And. But they weren’t flying. Well, one day I was stopped on a gravel bar and I was taking a leak and I looked down and here’s these little bugs going over there and it’s like, what are them? And so I started rolling the rocks over and it’s like, wow. And I they’re quick. They’re very agile. Well, I caught a couple of them, threw them out on the water. And they, I mean, they just about skitter across the water and they didn’t go very far. And the fish grab them. And so I thought I got to come up with something like that And I could tie an invitation to it, but I couldn’t tie something that would float very good. And well, the Chernobyl ant came out about that time, and it originated down on the green River. A guy by the name of Alan Woolley was the one that came up with it, and it was to imitate a cicada pattern. And it was this black foam with black rubber legs. And somebody brought it up here to the South Fork. And the fish, they went crazy over it. Well, somebody found started tying him out of the tan foam with legs. And that that was the original pattern. So I found one hung on a bush one day, and they had wrapped the shank of the hook with a bright colored thread. And I thought, I can tie a big, fat, bulky body with that foam on it. Just add that foam to one of my existing patterns and I think it’ll work. And I did, and it was incredible how well it worked. 00:47:30 Dave: Wow. 00:47:31 Elden: And I was going home at night and tying them and come back and sell them to the other guys for at one time there I was getting five bucks a piece out of them. When you could buy a tie in the shop for a dollar and a half. So that’s how effective it was. 00:47:44 Dave: God that’s great. And this is the I see one in fully milled that just eldon’s golden. Is that the pattern? 00:47:51 Elden: And then there’s another one called Eldon’s aren’t that instead of having the the tan body, it has the red body. It’s the same pattern, just the red red body. And that was the top fly in the Jackson Hole. One fly one year. 00:48:08 Dave: Oh it was. 00:48:09 Elden: Yeah. It caught the big fish that year and it held the record for the big fish until last year. Somebody caught one last year that was bigger than that one. So. 00:48:18 Dave: Huh. So it’s a one fly. We’ve got a one fly champion fly winner here. Uh wow. And what is that. So that pattern is the it’s it’s really you see this style? You know, a lot. It’s like the, um. I mean, the double foam. Where does that come from? That double, you know, foam. Do you know the history there of when that first started coming out? Well, I got the double phone then you got. Yeah. 00:48:42 Elden: Yeah. That’s where I say the Alan Wooley come up with the Chernobyl original. That was foam body fly like that one. Yeah. 00:48:50 Dave: Yeah. That’s it. So the Chernobyl, I guess that name is interesting, right. The Chernobyl name that it’s kind of do you know the where that came from or I don’t know about Alan Wooley other than. Yeah. 00:49:01 Elden: I, you know, I know Alan, I’ve never really spoke with him about that. I’ve, I’ve wanted to, but I just time has never been, you know, right to do it. 00:49:10 Dave: But yeah, yeah. The Chernobyl. 00:49:13 Elden: It was to imitate the cicada. You know, the green River has a prolific cicada hatch. You know, every so often they’re cyclical, right. 00:49:23 Dave: The bright orange. 00:49:24 Elden: And they, they, well, they, they have different years when the hatch is bigger than others. That cicada is an incredible bug. There’s some of them that hatch every five years, some of them seven years, some of them seventeen years. So it’s some years you’ll have cicadas everywhere. And in other years, you know, you don’t see hardly ever see them. 00:49:50 Dave: Huh. Do you see them on the South Fork? 00:49:53 Elden: Yeah, I’ve seen them on South Fork. Never in great numbers. But there’s times when when they’re when they are out, you know, the fish know what they are. It doesn’t take very many of them to, to get on the water to where they start looking for them because it’s I mean, it’s a huge meal for fish fly that size. 00:50:11 Dave: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. It’s a cool obviously, I think it’s probably the Chernobyl that style chubby Chernobyl maybe is the most thing we hear most about like dry, you know, talking about the dry dry dropper, right? All that stuff. Um, yeah. So it sounds pretty good. Do you use any of the old traditional go back to the oh, what are some of the, the old style um flies. I see one of them on here of yours. It’s, it’s a little grasshopper and or big. It looks like a big grasshopper, but it’s kind of all tied in the front of the fly. Right. And it’s got like almost a bare hook. Describe what’s that style called? 00:50:44 Elden: I, you know, that was just one of those days when I was goofing around on the tying bench and I, I just took a single flat piece of foam and trimmed it to the shape of a hopper body and then tied it in at the thorax with rubber legs. I would not three of them together and and clip two of them off on the back. So it looked like, you know, the fat hopper legs with the skinny part, you know, on the lower. And then just did a parachute pattern and I took it out and fished it. And I was surprised at how well it worked And it works well on the South Fork, especially in the bigger sizes down on the the lower part of the South Fork, because there’s there’s a hopper, the hatch is down there. Some of those hoppers, they get great big. They’re big and long and tan colored. And I know that’s what they’re eating at for. And it’s. I’ve had guys tell me they use that pattern on spring creeks where the fish are real picky and selective. And there’s a couple of guys, he says. That’s all I use on spring creeks anymore. He says, catches more fish on it than anything. 00:52:00 Dave: Yeah, I could see that because it’s really it’s really kind of looks sparse, right? You don’t have a lot of it. It is. 00:52:06 Elden: It’s just foam and a thorax and legs, basically. 00:52:10 Dave: Yeah. It’s cool. It definitely sticks out. What’s the um, well now looking ahead. So you so you’re tie in. What do you have going now? I guess you got, you got you finished up the expo, you’re not guiding right anymore. Are you just kind of kicking back and enjoying retired life? Or what is your what’s your year look like now? 00:52:27 Elden: Yeah, pretty much I do that. I live in Blackfoot now, and so I fished the river down here a lot around the Blackfoot area. I’ve got a a sixteen foot powerboat and I’ve had some great times down there. There’s two or three stretches of the river down here that can be very productive at certain times of the year. There’s it’s not known for its dry fly fishing, but late in the year, I’ve got a couple of spots where the dry fly fishing down there can be phenomenal. 00:53:02 Dave: Oh, wow. And this is this is, uh, where is the Blackfoot area? Where is this part? 00:53:06 Elden: It’s between Idaho Falls and Pocatello. 00:53:09 Dave: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got you. Yeah, you’re right there. Yeah. Blackfoot. Nice. So the river’s a little bit different down there. You don’t get quite the the prolific hatches, but there’s still some action. 00:53:19 Elden: Yeah. And like I say, at the right time of the year and the right places, the the streamer fishing and the nymph fishing on the river, the I mean, all the way from Idaho Falls down. There’s places where you’ll find there’s at the right time of the day and right time of the year. There’s some great dry fly fishing. Uh, there’s a lot of big browns in this stretch of the river. There’s still some of the original native fish to find. Spotted snake River cutthroat. And I’ve caught six of them down here in probably the last fifteen years. That’s one of them was was probably almost twenty nine inches. But they’ve all been over twenty six inches. Yeah. 00:54:03 Dave: Wow. And fine. Spotted snake River cutthroat. 00:54:07 Elden: Yep. That was the original native fish in the river. They say it in the Yellowstone. Cutthroat. Genetically are identical. Their parents are. They. They have. They look different. The Yellowstone cutthroat has bigger spots on it, but they say it’s like the Alaska brown bear and the grizzly bear. They’re the same bear. It’s just the environment they’re in that their appearances look different. 00:54:34 Dave: Oh, wow. How does the snake River, the spot. It just has a lot more spots than the Yellowstone cutthroat. 00:54:39 Elden: Yeah, they’re smaller spots. And then I think there are more. More, uh, they they fight better and they get bigger than the Yellowstone cuts. That’s been my experience with them. 00:54:52 Dave: And are there cutthroat? Those cutthroats are in the Henrys fork because you have kind of you’ve got definitely, um, rainbows and browns too, right out there. But are there still cutthroats in the Henrys Fork and the South Fork? 00:55:03 Elden: There’s a few cutthroats in the Henrys Fork. Not very many. It’s mostly rainbows from Mesa Falls upstream. It’s a rainbow fishery with a few cutthroat, maybe occasional brook eastern brookie. But there’s not brown trout in that stretch of the river below Mesa Falls, all the way down to the confluence. You have, uh, a lot of brown trout and the last few years below Ashton Dam, the brown trout fishery in there has, has, uh, gotten a lot better, a lot more of them and bigger ones. The South Fork is known for the cutthroat fishery. In fact, it’s the largest remaining wild cutthroat fishery in the world. And I think it was in the late nineties, the rainbows started to show up in alarming numbers in the South Fork. And wherever rainbows are introduced into a cutthroat fishery. They hybridize with them and they’re much more prolific. And over a period of time, the cutthroats will disappear. Originally, the Henrys fork was a cutthroat fishery, but the rainbows most likely were introduced into it. And so that’s why you don’t see very many cutthroats on the Henrys fork anymore. So there’s a big concern that that’s going to happen on the South Fork. So since the late nineties, the it’s gone from a. Well, at one time it was a you go back far enough and there was a ten fish limit. And it was, you know, it was just ten trout, any size that went to a six fish limit. And then it went to a two fish limit and only two could be over sixteen inches, I believe. And the last change they made is they made it cutthroat. On the South Fork is catch and release only. You can’t reduce any of them to possession. And they took all limits off of rainbows and rainbow hybrids, trying to reduce the number of rainbows in the river. And it’s gone from that to where they’re doing electroshocking on it. They were and was removing, I don’t know, ten to twelve thousand fish a year out of the river. The rainbows and rainbow hybrids trying to keep those numbers down. They’ve tried several things, some of them controversial, but they’ve even gone to now to where when they do the electroshocking, they’ll take a certain number of fish, they’ll implant them with a microchip and release them back into the river. And if you catch one of those fish, they have a bounty on it worth anywhere from fifty to one thousand dollars. Well, the only way you can tell if it’s Beanie has a microchip in it, as you have to reduce it to possession and then turn the head in and they’ll, they’ll, you know, if you have one of the chipped fish, you get a reward for it. 00:58:20 Dave: Yeah. 00:58:21 Elden: And the latest one is one, a couple of the outfitters have bought into it. In fact, one of them proposed that to the Fish and Game. It says, hey, we will remove the rainbows that we catch on the guide trips. And if we don’t reach that target number, we will pay the Idaho Fish and Game to go in and make up the difference on the number of fish that’s, you know, that they take out of the river so they can meet, meet that objective. And and that’s been the last two years. They quit removing them with the electroshocking. 00:58:56 Dave: Mhm. 00:58:57 Elden: Supposedly they’ve met the numbers on it. But but it’s been an issue for several years, you know, and, and. 00:59:04 Dave: Yeah, the issue has been the fact that you’re noticing reduced cut throat over the years. That’s you’ve been seeing have you been noticing that. 00:59:14 Elden: There was a few years that it was that way, but it’s the the last, I don’t know, maybe ten years. The number of cut throats have increased in the river scene, a lot more of them. And seeing some bigger ones, I’ve seen through four of them that were, you know, over twenty five inches come out of the river. 00:59:32 Dave: That’s the amazing thing. I feel like you’re saying a lot of cool, like real unique stuff, right? The largest cutthroat, the cutthroat thing is unique because rainbows are found all over the world. And, you know, you can you’ve seen giant fish pictures, but to get a any cutthroat, but, you know, especially one bigger over twenty inches would be pretty much like there’s not a lot of places you can do that in the world, right? This is, this is one of those places. 00:59:56 Elden: And like I say, the South Fork is the largest remaining wild cutthroat fishery in the world. And so they they want to preserve it. 01:00:04 Dave: Yeah. 01:00:05 Elden: A lot of the fishermen hate to catch cutthroat because they say, well, they don’t fight well. They don’t fight like a rainbow or brown trout. But there’s just something unique about going out and catching a wild cutthroat on a dry fly, right? 01:00:18 Dave: Well, on a dry fly, that’s the other cool thing. Yeah. But cutthroat are known. That’s the really cool thing is they’re known to really come up on the surface, right? For dries even more maybe than rainbows. 01:00:27 Elden: And that’s what made the South Fork popular, you know, was the cutthroat fishery. 01:00:31 Dave: Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. Awesome. Well, this is this has been a great conversation, Eldon. Like we said, we’re going to hopefully see you out at the the next expo this coming year. And obviously you guys just wrapped up this one, but, um, we could send people out to s r c expo dot org if they want to check in on that. And then and you’ll be back there, right? You’ll be tying some more flies and maybe tie in if somebody came up and they wanted to see this pteronarcys pattern, you’d be able to tie it up next year. 01:00:57 Elden: Yep, absolutely. It’s a continual process. I’m continually changing materials on it, trying to make it better all the time. I think I’ve come up with a new body material. I haven’t had a chance to go out and test it, but as far as the appearance of it at the expo, everybody loved it. I mean, some of the guys that are, you know, very reputable tires, they look one of them said, can I have that? 01:01:23 Dave: Yeah. Right. Yeah. It looks like I’m definitely going to get one of them up for the Sam fly hatch there this year. This is exciting. And anybody else can check them out. And is that how that process works. Maybe just take us out on that that process with Fulling Mill you’ve got this pattern. If you tweak it, do you do you check back with them and say, oh, wow, this is even a little bit better and then let them yeah, update it. Or how does that look? 01:01:44 Elden: I do that, yeah. Anytime I make an improvement on one of my patterns, I’ll update them on it and send them samples of the new ones so they can modify it. 01:01:52 Dave: Yeah. 01:01:52 Elden: Those guys have been great to work for. 01:01:55 Dave: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, we’ve definitely been chatting with them. 01:01:59 Elden: They have some great quality of flies. 01:02:02 Dave: Yeah. When you get that pattern back from fulling mill, you update it. What’s that like? Is it when you see it, is it like, man, that’s exactly, you know, that’s pretty close to how I would tie it. Or is that how it looks for you? 01:02:13 Elden: Well, the first year they produced that, they messed it up bad. I mean, it didn’t even look right. And I told them, well, the, the very first one it was, it was okay. But I says, you need to make the head bigger on this thing. It’s not you didn’t do it quite right. Well, when it come back, instead of making the head bigger, they made it longer. I mean, it looked horrible. And of course nobody was buying them in the shops. But some of the guys, the guides, it’s like, well, that’s eldon’s fly. It must work. And so they got to using it and they were saying, boy, that thing catches fish. And I’m just like, what? It doesn’t even look. 01:02:49 Dave: Wow. 01:02:50 Elden: And I went into one of the shops and they had a bunch of the old ones in there. And I says, hey, if, if you’ll pull these out of here and get Ahold of your rep. They’ll replace them for the latest version of it, and they’ll, you know, they’ll give you credit for these old ones. So the, the shop owner, he says, yeah, okay. And so he took him out of the bins and he said, the next or a couple days later, I went back in there and he says, man, he says, all them guys come in here and says, where did all them go? 01:03:19 Speaker 6: They’re gone. 01:03:20 Elden: Things were catching fish, so he had to put them back out. 01:03:24 Speaker 6: That’s pretty. So you never know. 01:03:26 Dave: Exactly know I love it. I think it’s a cool. We’ve heard the stories from the very beginning. I think when that started, the that program for the different companies, it’s pretty awesome the way it works. You know, the fact that he’s got a few of these big companies, right? Fulling mill, MFC, Umpqua, right, that are doing this stuff and they’re given royalties. Yeah, right. People are actually tires are getting, if you have a good pattern, you’re getting some good royalties, right? If you’ve got a lot of good seller. 01:03:49 Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah. 01:03:50 Elden: And it’s, you know, my original golden stone fly over the years, I’ve got probably close to twenty five thousand dollars in royalties off that fly. 01:04:00 Dave: No kidding. That’s pretty amazing, actually. 01:04:04 Elden: There’s other guys out there with different patterns. That’s done far better than that, but still, you know. 01:04:10 Dave: Oh, yeah. No. That’s amazing. I mean, I go to the YouTube thing because I think the YouTube thing is, uh, kind of sometimes a joke. People joke about it, right? You’ve got these videos out there, which you get a commission from, from YouTube, but you know, it’s a small chunk unless you’re a big channel, right? It’s a small chunk, but if you get your channel big enough, it’s substantial. People are making a living off of this, living off of this stuff. Yeah. And I mean, I guess again, same thing with this. If you were tying enough flies, I’m sure there are people living off just the royalties, right? If they’re doing it right, maybe, I don’t know. 01:04:39 Elden: Well, the the copper John, you know, John Barr. 01:04:43 Speaker 6: Yeah. 01:04:43 Dave: The copper. John. 01:04:44 Elden: Uh, he was a dentist in Colorado and come up with that fly. There was one year he got over forty thousand dollars off of that fly royalty. 01:04:52 Speaker 6: Yeah. 01:04:52 Dave: The copper. John. Yeah, yeah. That’s right. Wow. 01:04:56 Elden: And then patched rubber legs. Pat. Bandits. 01:04:58 Speaker 6: Yep. 01:04:59 Elden: I fished with Pat when he came up with that pattern. He says, I got this new fly and I’m looking at it says, well, it’s just a rubber legs with super floss instead of round rubber legs. And he goes, yeah, but he says it catches fish. And after about half the day I says, you got something there, Pat? I couldn’t believe how well it worked. 01:05:17 Speaker 6: Pat. Pat. 01:05:19 Dave: Yeah. Wow. This is classic Pat Bennett. Yeah. We’ve heard about him for sure. Awesome. Well, this has been great. Definitely. We’ll hopefully get you back on later. This has been awesome to catch up with you and hear all the history and the tips. So I well, like I said, if anybody wants to check it out, s r c dot org and give us a heads up on Instagram, where can we follow you out there? Do you have Instagram? 01:05:39 Elden: I just it’s just. Eldon Barrett. 01:05:42 Dave: Yeah. Eldon Barrett perfect. All right. Well, we’ll follow you there. And, uh, yeah, we’re excited for the next show. And, uh, thanks again for your time. 01:05:49 Elden: Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. 01:05:53 Dave: If you enjoyed that one, please check in with Ellen. You can find him on Instagram and check in with Fulling Mill if you want to check out some of his patterns. If you’re interested in checking in with us on a trip this year, we’re going to be heading out west as well. You can send me an email, Dave at flying dot com or you can join Wet Fly Swing Pro. You can go to webflow dot com slash pro, enter your name there. We’ll follow you there. When we open up the doors for wet fly swing Pro and and we have that next cohort coming in here. Excited to hopefully see you on the water. And, uh, and hopefully we can get out and you can hit that salmon fly hatch this year. I’d love to hear how it goes. And we’re out of here. Hope you’re having a good day and hope you can experience that road less traveled. We’ll talk to you then.

Conclusion with Elden Berrett on Fly Fishing Eastern Idaho

This was a fun one with Elden. We dug into some of the biggest hatches in Eastern Idaho, the fly patterns he trusts most, and a few stories from more than 30 years of guiding these rivers.

If you’ve ever wanted to fish the South Fork, Henry’s Fork, or some of the other legendary waters in the region, there are plenty of tips here you can take straight to the river.

     

937 | Puget Sound Cutthroat Fishing with Blake Merwin from Gig Harbor Fly Shop

puget sound cutthroat trout

Episode Show Notes

In this episode, I sat down with Blake Merwin from Gig Harbor Fly Shop to talk about Puget Sound cutthroat fishing, steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula, and the small details that separate productive days from frustrating ones. We dug into beach structure, tide movement, chum fry migrations, topwater opportunities, and why standing still is often the biggest mistake anglers make.

Blake has spent decades guiding and exploring these waters. Along the way, he’s developed a deep understanding of sea-run cutthroat behavior and how anglers can consistently find fish throughout the year.


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Puget Sound Cutthroat Fishing

Show Notes with Blake Merwin on Puget Sound Cutthroat Fishing

About Blake Merwin

Blake Merwin is the owner of Gig Harbor Fly Shop and has spent decades guiding, teaching, and exploring the waters of Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula.

His expertise spans sea-run cutthroat, salmon, steelhead, and saltwater kayak fishing. Through the shop, guide service, YouTube channel, hosted trips, and educational resources, Blake has helped introduce countless anglers to the unique fisheries of the Pacific Northwest.

Gig Harbor Fly Shop and the Puget Sound Gateway

Blake’s path into the fly fishing industry was a little different than most. Gig Harbor Fly Shop actually started as an e-commerce business in 2004 before eventually opening a physical retail shop in 2009.

Located just across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Gig Harbor sits at the doorstep of productive Puget Sound beaches and within reach of many Olympic Peninsula rivers. The location gives anglers quick access to both saltwater and freshwater opportunities.

Steelhead Lessons from the Olympic Peninsula

We talked about a recent steelhead trip with guide Aaron O’Brien and one memorable fish that came unbuttoned after a commercial fly literally fell apart during the fight.

One of the takeaways from that discussion was the importance of fishing tailouts. These shallow sections often hold moving steelhead that many anglers walk right past.

Steelhead takeaway:

  • Don’t skip productive tailouts
  • Moving fish often travel through shallow water
  • Sometimes the biggest fish show up where you least expect them
puget sound cutthroat fishing
Photo via: https://www.instagram.com/gigharborflyshop/

How Sea-Run Cutthroat Follow Chum Fry

One of the most interesting discussions centered around chum fry migrations. After spawning, sea-run cutthroat stay surprisingly close to their home streams. The reason is simple: massive clouds of juvenile chum salmon provide an easy food source during spring.

As chum fry move along the shoreline, cutthroat often follow them. Over time, those fish gradually spread farther down the beach as additional food sources become available.

Popular chum fry patterns:

Blake emphasized one key point: don’t become locked into a single fly pattern. Even when chum fry are present, cutthroat continue feeding on sculpins, shrimp, and other available forage.

Finding Productive Beaches for Cutthroat

Many anglers assume they need secret locations to find fish. Blake explained that there are numerous public access beaches throughout the Puget Sound region that consistently hold sea-run cutthroat. The challenge isn’t always finding access. It’s learning how fish use those beaches. Current plays a major role.

Productive beaches often feature:

  • Tide-driven current
  • Current seams
  • Points of land
  • Large rocks and boulders
  • Downed timber
  • Structure that creates feeding lanes

One of Blake’s favorite scouting methods is visiting beaches at low tide. Seeing the structure exposed gives anglers a completely different perspective on how fish move through an area.

puget sound cutthroat fishing
Photo via: https://gigharborflyshop.com/the-neighborhood/puget-sound/puget-sound-saltwater/

The Biggest Mistake Most Cutthroat Anglers Make

If Blake could change one thing about how anglers fish for sea-run cutthroat, it would be this: Stop wading so far. Many fish are feeding in only a few feet of water. By pushing too deep, anglers often move directly into the zone where fish were holding.

His second recommendation is equally important. Keep moving. Rather than standing in one location and repeatedly casting, Blake prefers covering water and actively searching for fish.

Cutthroat strategy:

  • Wade shallow
  • Cover water
  • Make a few casts
  • Take several steps
  • Repeat

Retrieve Changes That Trigger More Eats

One of the most practical tips from the episode involved retrieve speed. Many anglers fall into a robotic strip-strip-strip rhythm. Blake prefers a retrieve that mimics a baitfish trying to escape. He starts with slower, erratic strips to attract attention. As the fly gets closer, he accelerates the retrieve to trigger a predatory response.

Retrieve sequence:

  1. Short erratic strips
  2. Occasional pauses
  3. Gradual acceleration
  4. Fast finish

That final burst often convinces following fish to commit.

Topwater Cutthroat Fishing in Puget Sound

Topwater fishing may be one of the most exciting ways to target sea-run cutthroat. Rather than aggressively popping the fly, Blake prefers creating a subtle V-wake across the surface. The presentation imitates an injured baitfish struggling near the top. His preferred pattern is a small gurgler tied on a size 6 hook.

Topwater flies:

The key is using a strip set when fish eat. Lifting the rod often pulls the fly away before the hook finds purchase.

Kayak Fishing Opens New Water

Blake spends much of his time chasing salmon and cutthroat from Hobie kayaks. The ability to quietly cover large stretches of shoreline creates opportunities that can be difficult to access from shore. Kayaks also allow anglers to fish productive water without worrying about private property or difficult bank access.

For cutthroat, the current naturally moves the kayak down the beach while anglers cast toward shore. It’s essentially a moving search pattern that covers water efficiently.

puget sound cutthroat fishing
Sept. 26, 2022 “We’re in the thick of the coho run right now. There’s fish throughout the straits, Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Never caught a coho before? Book a trip and let us get you out on the water. #kayakfishing #cohosalmon #pugetsoundflyfishing #flyfishingtrip #kayakflyfishing @hobiefishing @hobiefishing @kokatatusa” (Photo via: https://www.instagram.com/gigharborflyshop/)

Coho Salmon, Trout Spey, and Fall Opportunities

As summer turns into fall, another opportunity develops. Sea-run cutthroat move into larger rivers behind spawning salmon and take advantage of additional food sources. During this time, anglers can encounter both cutthroat and coho salmon in the same water.

Blake has also been experimenting with trout spey rods and soft hackles during fall caddis hatches on Olympic Peninsula rivers.

Favorite freshwater fly: Soccer Mom Leech

The combination of salmon, cutthroat, trout spey techniques, and fall conditions creates one of the most versatile fisheries in the Pacific Northwest.

Photo via: farbank.com/products/rio-rios-soccer-mom

You can find Blake on Instagram @gigharborflyshop.

Visit their website at gigharborflyshop.com.

puget sound cutthroat fishing

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Full Podcast Transcript

Episode Transcript
WFS 937 Transcript 00:00:00 Dave: The fish you are looking for are likely closer and shallower than you think. Today we’re breaking down Puget Sound, cutthroat steelhead and the Olympic Peninsula, and the small adjustments where you stand, how you move and how you retrieve that quietly decide whether you find fish or not. Blake Merwin from the Gig Harbor Fly Shop is here, and we’re going to talk about his program and what he does throughout the year. And we’re going to dial in cutthroat fishing. I know this is a big one. We’re going to talk about all the details today, including how Chum fry timing keeps cutthroat, tight to specific waters. We’re going to find out about the mistake of staying put and why moving definitely will change the game out there. We’re going to find out what actually makes a beach productive. Tides, currents, structure everything that’s in there. And we’re going to get one retrieve that’s going to trigger aggressive eats. Plus we’re going to find out when top water might be worthwhile out there on the water as well. Top water streamers. It’s all here today. We’re going to take out the guesswork from cutthroat fishing. Blake Merwin. You can find him at Gig Harbor fly shop dot com. All right, here we go. Here’s Blake. How you doing, Blake? 00:01:12 Blake: Great, Dave. Thanks for having me. 00:01:14 Dave: Yeah, yeah. Thanks for putting this together today. I think we’re gonna have a great conversation. I’ve been hearing from definitely a lot of listeners that are interested in Cutthroat Trout update. We’ve done a few episodes over the years, but I think we got a lot of folks up in the the northwest. So we’re going to talk about that. We’re going to talk about steelhead fishing. I was out on a guided trip with you guys and it was a lot of fun. I hit the op. We did catch a touch base on that. But then the Fly shop, Gig Harbor Fly shop, we’ve been hearing about this for years. So I, you know, we’re kind of get an update there, but maybe start off on the fly shop. How long have you guys been doing this? When did this first idea come to be for you? 00:01:48 Blake: We kind of did things a little bit backwards from a lot of fly shops where it had started with, you know, an outfitting business or retail business and then had moved to e-commerce. We started as an e-commerce business in two thousand and four, and this was while I was in grad school, and we ended up five years later, opening a retail storefront. So it was, it was kind of a little bit of a, of a backward way that that usually happens with flagships at that time. But yeah, two thousand and nine is when we opened the Gig Harbor Fly shop, and we’re pleasantly surprised to have people actually show up and come through the door. We’re only in that location for almost two years. And then there was an opportunity to move to a larger location, kind of across the street. And so we jumped at that. And we we’ve now been in the same location there since twenty eleven. 00:02:41 Dave: Okay. And for those around the country who don’t know where Gig Harbor is, describe that kind of where you’re located and how it’s connected to that area. 00:02:48 Blake: We’re in the Puget Sound area. So, uh, if people are familiar with Seattle and Tacoma, if you go west from Tacoma over the large Tacoma Narrows Bridge, where the first community out on the Peninsula. So we’re kind of at the gateway to a lot of salt water, beach fishing for cutthroat. We’re not that far from the Olympic Peninsula rivers as well. So we’re in a great little town that’s got a got a fun little harbor and a lot of life to it. 00:03:18 Dave: Nice. And isn’t, uh, sage right? And then that isn’t too far from you guys. Where is that located? 00:03:24 Blake: Yeah, the sage headquarters is about forty five minutes north from us. Uh, Grunions is also about forty five minutes north from us as well. And so, um, so we got a great relationship with those with all those, uh, people. And, and it’s, uh, it’s fun to go see them or have them come down to the shop. 00:03:41 Dave: Well, we’re going to talk definitely, uh, cutthroat. We’ll probably bounce around a little bit, but, uh, let’s get into a little bit on the steelhead we connected. Ray. Big shout out to Ray, one of our pro members in here. He was he put this trip together and and we got out on the water. The crazy thing was Ray wasn’t feeling good that day, so he didn’t go out. But, um, so I wasn’t able to fish with him. But I got out on trip with you guys and maybe talk about that. You probably heard we talked a little bit about that, but, uh, remind us again who the guide was on that trip and, uh, you know, and maybe just what your steelhead program looks like. 00:04:11 Blake: That day you fished with Aaron O’Brien and Aaron’s been guiding for us. I think it’s I mean, it’s getting pretty close to ten years now. And he’s our, our head guide and just does an incredible job. People just love his demeanor. He’s got a great sense of humor, but he’s but he’s also very, uh, non-threatening, very laid back and just, just an all around excellent human. I just, um, I get the opportunity to partner with him on, on like a lot of different group trips throughout the year. And we just have way too much fun together. I actually remember, so I didn’t, you know, Aaron was guiding you that day. Yeah. And there was a fish that you guys had hooked and, I remember him telling me we were standing on a on the shore cooking lunch for our a group trip that we were doing. We had four, four clients and he’s like, he was telling me the whole story about, about the fish. And it was like right in that same spot, which was pretty cool. 00:05:06 Dave: Oh, so we caught the fish in a similar spot to where you were before. 00:05:09 Blake: Yeah, yeah. 00:05:11 Dave: Oh, gotcha. So you know that that tail out right there. 00:05:13 Blake: Right there. 00:05:13 Dave: Yeah, yeah. And it was interesting because we had a fly. It wasn’t any anything to you guys. It was somebody, another manufacturer that tied the fly. But did he talk about that because the fly kind of that’s how the fish got away. It uh, it jumped out. And I don’t know what happened to that intruder or, you know, a shank, but it kind of came apart, right? 00:05:32 Blake: Yeah. He showed it to me and yeah. 00:05:34 Dave: What happened? Can you describe that? Because it’s something, I guess this stuff kind of happens occasionally, right? 00:05:39 Blake: It was a I mean, this was a commercial fly. So, you know, you, you would expect it to be, you know, tied up to, you know, to the standard. But the fly just totally came apart. And yeah, I don’t know, I, I gave him, I gave him a hard time for it. I’m like, dude, that’s why you tie your own flies, right? 00:05:58 Dave: Yeah. He tired of flies. I, I, it’s funny because I get it. I mean, I, I don’t tie as much as I used to either. It’s kind of one of those things where you got a limited time and stuff like that. But yeah, it was, it was cool though, because you know, definitely it was hooked. Good. It was hooked solid and I saw it and it jumped. So it was, it was all good. 00:06:15 Blake: Well, it’s an opportunity to just, you know, say how big the fish is, right. I mean, it was I mean, it was the largest steelhead anyone had seen that season, right? 00:06:24 Dave: Yeah. Right. Exactly. Yeah. That was a giant. It was definitely giant fish. But um yeah, I think, you know, and the reminder to me too was the tail out. I think for me, sometimes I forget about the tail outs because tail outs can be pretty shallow. But that fish, I don’t know what depth it was in but that’s big. Right? Do you guys find do you fish? Make sure to not miss the tail outs when you’re out there on the OP. 00:06:45 Blake: I’ve been fishing them more and partly that’s just because Aaron definitely likes to fish them. And, you know, a lot of times that’s where you find those moving fish. So, you know, it has to be the right tail out, but you find movers coming through them and that’s, you know, that’s what you’re looking for. 00:07:01 Dave: Yeah. That’s we that day, I think there was a couple of boats around and you know, they had stopped down below. They passed the tail out this tail and they were fishing the, you know, kind of where it dropped down into the bucket below. And we hit that upper spot. And it was just, yeah, it was, it was sweet, but, um, but cool. So yeah, I mean, definitely. And you guys do the op so that’s closed now, but typically are you fishing that is that a pretty big part of what you guys are doing? You know, during that season. 00:07:26 Blake: Uh, during January, February, March, it’s kind of the only thing we’re doing, uh, other than like international hosted trips, the Puget Sound fishery is, you know, it’s pretty slow during that time. You can find some fish around, but I don’t know, I mean, a lot of times in the that late winter, early spring time in Puget Sound, it’s when a lot of those cutthroat are spawning and and I’ve talked about this with one of the biologists because I was, I was thinking, you know, once the fish have spawned like they’re kind of wanting to, you know, build back their strength from, you know, that whole activity. And, and so I just feel like the fish are really aggressive and they can be, you know, easily caught. But, but I’m like, man, I, I think I want to give them a little bit of time to, to kind of like build back. But the biology biologist is like, no way, man. They’re, they’re totally good. And I don’t know. I mean, he knows a whole lot more about science than, than I do. So, but I, I don’t know, I kind of like to leave those fish alone during, during that time just to like give them a little bit of a break because we’re, we’ll pound on them all all summer and fall. 00:08:27 Dave: Right. So you’re hitting. Yeah, summer and fall and then you’ve got the winter. And I guess, I mean, that’s the thing about it. It’s interesting. I mean, we’re, you know, where are they spawning. Right. They’re spawning up higher, but then you’re catching them down in the maybe talk about that. Where are you getting these fish off the beaches mostly. Are you guys hitting them throughout the whole freshwater system and everywhere. 00:08:45 Blake: Yeah, both. So when fish are in the salt water, it’s kind of like the tide, how the tide, the tide like moves in and moves out. The fish kind of have a similar pattern. Now they’re not like if people aren’t familiar with coastal cutthroat trout, they’re not like steelhead that spawn in fresh water and then make like a, you know, multi thousand mile journey all over the place. They kind of stick closer to home once they hit the salt water. Some fish will maybe move, you know, fifteen or twenty miles from their home stream. They’ve been doing a tracking program. The Coastal Cutthroat Coalition has been and there’s information on their website that’s like pretty incredible. I definitely recommend people checking that out. But some of these fish, they will spend their salt water life just a couple miles or even sometimes a couple hundred yards from their, their home stream. And as they come out of the creeks, they’ll, they’re right there. And, uh, And shortly after they’ve left those creeks, after the spawn, the chum fry, the juvenile chum salmon from the adults that spawned in, uh, sometimes October. But it’s more like November. December. Those chum fry hatch in the springtime, actually, right as we’re talking now here in April, it’s. This is when a lot of these chum fire coming out March, April, May. And so it doesn’t really give the cutthroat a reason to move very far from their stream because there’s a huge cloud of bait. They’re very vulnerable, easy to easy for the cutthroat to pick off. And it’s a great food source because there’s not a lot of other small bait fish available to them at that time of the year, as those chum fry make their their migration out to sea, they stay kind of near shore for about sixty days as they work their way out. Well, I have found guiding for cutthroat over the years there, you know, you fish a consistent spot and and those cutthroat one spot you found him down the beach. Now, all of a sudden, like the week later, they’re a quarter mile further down the beach. You know, they kind of will spread out as we get into summer. So I think partly is just because of the the food source availability. But once summer hits, we start to get a lot of other bait available to cutthroat. There’s other bait fish species that have spawned or are going to spawn. And then there’s a lot more diversity of food for them to eat instead of just the chum fry. And even even with the chum fry, like sometimes people see fish present or they’re at a good spot in a good tide. They’ve thrown every tiny little fry pattern, but they still can’t get them to bite. And I tell people that there’s other stuff you can throw because fish are still going to feed on sculpin year round. That’s a all year present food source. There’s shrimp that are out there year round. So there’s, you know, sometimes people just, they slog away at just throwing the same fly or the same type of fly. And, and it’s always a good reminder to mix it up, try something else that that might grab that fish’s attention or that they might be keyed in on. Even though you see chum fry all over the place. 00:11:52 Dave: Right? 00:11:52 Blake: So once those fish get spread out throughout the summer, once we get into that kind of fall and winter time, those fish start to move back towards their home stream to kind of stage up for their spawning run. And that’s kind of pretty late in the year. I the kind of staging up I see that more late November, December, but that’s kind of the season of, of how they, how they kind of move in and out. 00:12:16 Dave: Yeah, that’s really awesome to hear that. So basically those chum fry, what, what’s the pattern that you’re using to imitate the chum fry. What’s your typical pattern? 00:12:24 Blake: Yeah, there’s a handful of them. There’s a like a surf candy that we tie. It’s, it’s really small and, and sparse. There’s another fly called the Small Fry. I think, you know, I came up with a couple of these. I should remember the names. 00:12:39 Dave: Right? 00:12:40 Blake: Yeah. There’s one called a Keta Rose that was originated by Doug Rose, the author. And that’s a great I really like that fly, especially out on Hood Canal. And then there’s the chum baby Bob Trigg’s fly. That’s a popular one that’s been around for a long time as well. You know, the key is small and sparse. You know, we’re really looking at stuff that, you know, it’s it’s two inches at, you know, and they do start to grow. So you, you know, you do see chum fry that will be a little bit larger. They’ll be two and a half inches. But once they start getting those fries start growing and getting bigger, they also become better swimmers and more agile and, and stronger. And they’re a little bit harder for cutthroat to track down. So cutthroat will prefer that younger, smaller chum fry over the big one. And we do see kind of two age classes out on the water, especially on Hood Canal, because there’s a summer run chum and a winter run chum. And then in the winter run, chum, there’s kind of like an A and a B run. And so those summer run chums on Hood Canal, they come back in like August. We’ve hooked them in like early part of August. And we’re like, oh my gosh. It’s crazy to find them that early because they’re the last salmon to come into our salt water. So. So when you see one in the summer, it’s kind of a, it’s kind of a, it feels out of place. But when those guys spawn, they’re there. Juveniles are leaving the streams like more like February. And then the winter runs are are leaving the streams more like late March, April. And so you see these different kind of classes of, of chum fry on the water. 00:14:16 Dave: Wow. That’s cool. Where are you catching those chum. Is that in the salt or is that in the stream. And are they, are they bright when you’re getting those early ones in August. 00:14:23 Blake: It’s in, in the salt water. And I also want to point out that they’ve been more incidental catches. So it’s been while we’ve been fishing for coho. There’s some early returning coho to like the scene up in Dabar Bay, northern Hood Canal, uh, stuff like that. Those fish have had the summer run chums have had a really, really hard go. They. Their numbers had dwindled to almost nothing through some really hard work, uh, with like the salmon enhancement group and some others, they were able to kind of replant some of these streams that had lost their runs with like the strain of remaining, uh, fish. And so they’ve, they’ve been able to bring these things back from the brink. So it’s a pretty cool conservation recovery story. And because those fish are sensitive, I don’t recommend people trying to target a, you know, summer chum, but um, but you’ll see him out, out on the, along the bank rolling when they’re starting to stage up. And it’s, it’s cool to see just that, that part of that diversity that we have here in Puget Sound with all these different salmon species and run timing and all that stuff. 00:15:37 Dave: Yeah, it’s a cool area. I mean, when you look at just on a map, there’s water and canals and, you know, everywhere. And that’s, that’s kind of, you know, it seems like one of the challenges. Where do you find these fish? Like you’re talking about cutthroat, you know, they, I’m picturing them coming out of a bigger stream, but I’m guessing they’re also up in small streams, like you’re saying, and they’re popping into the salt and then they’re going up. But describe that. How are you finding how would somebody find where these the productive areas for cutthroat. 00:16:02 Blake: They actually thrive in the really small streams. There’s like little streams all around Gig Harbor that you can, you know, you can jump across and they hold self-sustaining populations of cutthroat trout, you know, and I think one of the things that I think should happen or needs to happen is that a lot of landowners need to need to be educated about, about what they actually have, like running through their property or alongside their property, you know, because you know, people build culverts and driveways and all this kind of stuff. And, and they don’t realize that there’s these wild trout that are, you know, living in these in these streams. 00:16:41 Dave: Trout routes by Onex is built for fly anglers who want better Intel without spending hours digging for the information. You’ll get access to public land maps, stream access points, regulations, and even road and trail maps all in one place. It’s become my go to app for scouting new trips. You can check them out right now. Go to fly dot com slash routes and download the app today. Let on to Mark Lodge. Give you the Montana fly fishing experience you deserve. The gin clear waters of the Missouri River offer a world class experience with one of the finest rainbow trout and brown trout fisheries in the world. Whether you’re a seasoned angler or new to the sport, their family of guides will tailor a trip just for you. You can head over to Onda Mark Lodge dot com to fish one of the great trout streams in the country. And you’re getting some of these cuts throughout the sea. I mean, essentially they’re sea run, but like you’re saying, some just go out maybe to the salt pop in down to the estuary and back. Are you finding in the small streams there’s a decent big cutthroat. I’m not sure the size range of sea runs, but how do you describe that? Like they’re what you call them, their life history. 00:17:47 Blake: So size wise. Serum cutthroat trout run on average like ten to sixteen inches. And then we’d say that like a really nice quality fish would be in that sixteen to nineteen range. And what I would consider a trophy sea run cutthroat trout would be, you know, in the twenty to twenty four inch range, you know, I mean, you get into the twenty two, twenty three inch cutthroat range and. 00:18:10 Dave: It’s like a steelhead. You can get steelhead, small steelhead like that size, right? 00:18:13 Blake: Yeah. And they, I remember being on the water with, uh, Russ Miller. He was, he was at Rio before. Now he’s at. 00:18:20 Dave: Oh yeah. 00:18:21 Blake: Right. I took him out. Yeah. So we were out fishing, uh, northern Hood Canal and we were we’re in the the Hobie kayaks. And he had changed up to this. Um, it was more of like a steelhead fly. It was like a, like a blackened, uh, purple kind of muddler pattern. Not anything I had ever thrown for cutthroat before. And I mean, honestly, I haven’t thrown anything like that since, but I throw a lot of more like Olive and like kind of more baitfish pattern colors. But he hooked this cutthroat that we did not realize as a cutthroat until it was in the net. We thought it was a coho salmon. Oh, wow. Because it was jumping. It was I mean, it, he had it on the seven way and it was just like a beast of a fish. And yeah, I mean, they get over twenty inches and they just become a different creature for sure. Uh, and, but that’s not a fish that you find on a regular basis. You know, it’s not like the Missouri River or something like that, like a twenty inch plus sea run. Cutthroat trout is, you know, maybe if you’re an avid angler. You might get one a season or maybe two a season with a lot of hard fishing, but there’s enough in that like seventeen to nineteen inch range that, you know, kind of keep you coming back. 00:19:36 Dave: Yeah. For sure. No. That’s awesome. You know, I guess that is kind of one of those questions. So you’re, you know, maybe the water, you mentioned it a little bit. They they’re coming out, they’re chasing these chums. So it sounds like they’re following the chum run a little bit, at least in the early season. You know, finding those places of the beaches. Can you just go down to any beach probably and find some. Or do you look at where the chum are spawning? Mostly like, where would somebody find out where to go, where to start? 00:20:01 Blake: Yeah, we’re fortunate to have quite a bit of public access with different parks around our area, and a lot of those different parks are productive, cutthroat beaches. If you’re on the east side of Puget Sound, there’s so much development with, you know, the Seattle waterfront and Tacoma. And, you know, that kind of whole stretch that there’s not a lot of, you know, beaches that are intact with habitat and, you know, spawning grounds and all that kind of stuff. There’s a couple little hidden jewels in there with some cutthroat, but not a lot. So most of those anglers in the more populated areas will either jump on a ferry or drive down to the Narrows Bridge, and they’ll come over to the peninsula side that even though it’s been growing, it’s more by and large, a rural or suburban area. But but we have a lot of intact beaches and, and some of the parks that we have are, are pretty good size where you can walk a beach for half a mile. Like it’s, it’s pretty cool. 00:21:08 Dave: That’s a good tip. So pretty much you can find some public crossover, whether that’s kind of to your area or maybe Bainbridge Island, you know, anywhere in there and find a place that, yeah, a park would be a good start. 00:21:19 Blake: Yeah, that whole whole stretch. I mean, it is a little bit difficult to find spots. And, you know, some people want to try to guard those those spots. 00:21:27 Dave: Right. And that’s part of the great thing that’s part of the great thing is people can do a little bit of work here now to find some of those. But I think, you know, I think there’s that. But then there’s also the just the technique of catching the fish, right? So it feels like the spots aren’t maybe as hard. You could do a little bit of work and probably find some spots to do it. 00:21:44 Blake: We also put a bunch of spots on our website just to help people out. 00:21:47 Dave: Oh, cool. Okay. 00:21:48 Blake: Yeah. So there’s, there’s under our learn tab, there’s like where to fish. And, you know, we probably have like, I don’t know, fifteen or twenty spots listed on there with maps. And, you know, so just a, you know, I mean, we don’t want people trying to get into something new to be frustrated. Like we want to try to help them. I mean, if you have, if you’re working and you’re like, I can get out and fish like once or twice a month. And I know, you know, there’s a lot of anglers that don’t even get to do that. You know, you don’t want to go out there for that one time and be frustrated on the water. and we want to enjoy the enjoy the the environment. We want to enjoy the. These beautiful places and enjoy the fish and frustration is like, you know, I know it’s part of the game with with fly fishing, right? But yeah, but if we can minimize that, then, you know, then people have a great time on the water and that’s, you know, that’s what we want to do is try to help people as they’re out there. 00:22:38 Dave: Perfect. So good. Well, that’s a good resource. We’ll have a link out to that so people can check it out. So let’s take it now. So let’s say we’re on a beach and describe that a little bit. We’ve got you know maybe it’s during that earlier time right now, basically April May somewhere in there. What’s the technique you guys are typically doing when you’re fishing, presenting the fly or finding the fish out there? How are you doing it? 00:22:59 Blake: A couple things that that I see people do that I would recommend against, and one is waiting too far out. I think people should start. I mean, the water is big. It’s, you know, you stand on the beach, it’s intimidating. You look across and it’s, you know, no one can even swim that distance. The next landmass across. Right? It’s big water, but the fish aren’t way out there. They’re in that intertidal zone. They. They’re in that area between the very low tide and the high tide and that slope of beach. And so if those fish are sometimes in two to four feet of water, if you wade two feet out, those fish are now no longer in front of you and are sliding down the beach one way or the other. So I try to fish as shallow, wading wise, as shallow as I can. You got to get a little bit in the water because the lap of the the little waves, we don’t have surf, but little wind waves and stuff like that. If if your line spills out of your stripping basket and hits, that hits those little waves like it just makes a big mess. But so you want to be have a, you know, a foot in the water or less. And then the other part is moving. And I see a lot of anglers that just stand in one spot and cast over and over and over and over again. And that can be effective in certain areas. Like if you’re on a point of land, the beach is always changing because that water is always dropping or coming up with the tide. And, and so it’ll move fish around and on a point, you can find some productivity with that. It’s definitely effective salmon fishing doing that. But for cutthroat, I like to wade shallow in the move. And so usually, you know, we work our way down wind or down current and, you know, make a couple casts, two or three casts, strip the fly and then take a couple steps down and kind of just keep working. Sometimes I’ll do a lap where I’ll just, I’ll fish pretty aggressively down the beach and I’ll walk back up the beach to where I had started, and then I’ll fish back through it. And I kind of prefer to kind of hunt that way instead of just like standing in one spot and just slugging it out. 00:25:12 Dave: Right, right, right. That’s it. Yeah. We always go back, like they said at the start of the steelhead, you’ve got this definitely system systematic approach, right step and cast and all that thing. But and this is a little bit different because you’re out there, you’ve got you’re on the beach, you know, the tides are going up and down. So you’re trying to find the fish. Once you find those fish, let’s say you, you hook into a fish or you land a fish is that spot, you know, good for a little while or is it because of the tide? Are you still moving even after you catch a fish? 00:25:38 Blake: Yeah. Once you find one, you know, you could be into a handful of them, right, right in that one spot. And I don’t know if it’s necessarily that fish like school up together. I don’t really I don’t think that that’s really the case. I think it’s more the case that the conditions, the location, you know, all of those parts that attract that fish to that beach attracts other fish, right? Like it’s, it’s the, because the, the conditions that, um, you know, are favorable for cutthroat. So therefore there’s several. 00:26:12 Dave: And what is that in those conditions might be like? Is it kind of your typical cover, you know, food, I guess, what are the conditions that make that spot, say, within the beach, you know, the productive area for them? 00:26:23 Blake: Yeah. It might not be cover as much as it is current from the tide. And sometimes we get current moving where like it rips like, well, I mean, it’s like, you know, we’ll fish top water flies and we’ll cast them out and we’ll, we’ll swing them like a skater. And you know, we’ll have cutthroat come up and attack him on, on the surface. So we get, we get some really good, good current, but current with structure. Yeah. I think that that can be really important. And that’s that can be structure. Could be, uh, downed trees on the beach. It could be large boulders or different, uh, variable size rocks, points of land where it creates eddies or current seams. You know, those are a lot what I’m looking for a lot of stuff like that. One recommendation I would give people, if they’re going to go explore and look for cutthroat beaches, do it at a low tide, you know, how many opportunities do you get to see? You know, like the place you’re going to fish without the water and see everything underneath it? You know. 00:27:28 Dave: That’s pretty cool. That’s pretty cool. 00:27:30 Blake: I remember growing up, um, by, uh, Folsom Lake in Sacramento, and we had a couple years where the lake was so far down where it was literally a mile out to the water from its previous height, you had to hike way out there. I remember my brother and I as kids, like running to the water and yeah, it’s ridiculous, but you got to see everything. You’re like, oh man, look at all of these depressions and rocks and all this stuff. And it’s kind of like visiting a steelhead river in the summertime and, you know, getting to see like where the trenches are and the boulders and, you know, the stuff that you don’t get to see in the winter that has, you know, you know, eight more feet of water on top of it or something like that. Right. But you mean Puget Sound does it? Every day the water drops. You get to see the beach. You get to see it. Like just with all of its, uh, you know, rocks and everything. And so that’s a great way to learn beaches, to explore them, to be able to come back and be able to pick them apart where fish are going to be hanging out. 00:28:31 Dave: That’s sweet. Yeah. So it’s similar to a stream. You’ve got current structure and it sounds like you want some of the faster those places that have the faster currents are typically better, would you say, than the slower slack water? 00:28:42 Blake: Yeah. That movie, they really do like that moving water. Generally the best tide is an outgoing tide in the morning. And when you look at a tide chart, it’ll, you know, you can see what the drop is. If it’s, you know, if it’s like a, a twelve foot high tide and it’s going to like a one foot tide. So you’re gonna have like eleven feet of exchange. That’s a pretty good tide that’s going to move a lot of water. There’s going to be a lot of current. We get tides that are bigger than that. It might even be, you know, like a fourteen foot tide going to a minus two. Like that’s, that’s a massive amount of water that’s moving. But when it moves that water, it moves the bait around, it moves their food around, makes that stuff vulnerable. And then, you know, they’re on the hunt for it. What we’ve also found, though, is that the incoming tide, if it’s a really big, strong incoming tide, it doesn’t quite fish as well as the strong outgoing tide. And so for the incoming tides, we like an incoming tide that’s a little bit more gentle, a little bit less tide exchange. And the other part of it is mornings just definitely fish better than afternoons and outgoing in the morning. That’s excellent. A slow incoming in the morning with an outgoing into the afternoon. That’s a great tide to fish. You can fish that all day and that’s you’re gonna find fish on either the incoming or the outgoing. It’s going to be a good, good day of fishing for sure. 00:30:10 Dave: And what about you mentioned the, uh, the top water. Can you describe that a little bit, what that looks like and top water? And is this depending on the tides, or would it be similar fishing top water as fish in a stream? Or does it depend on like, when would you hit the top? 00:30:22 Blake: You know, so with cutthroat fishing, it’s blind casting, it’s streamer fishing, and it’s a lot of repetition of, you know, cast retrieve. 00:30:31 Dave: Yeah. Is it different? We always talk about steelhead. So, you know, they talk about blind casting. A lot of times you’re, you’re just you’re not quite sure is cutthroat like that or is it not? Are you more positive you’re going to get something. 00:30:43 Blake: Well, yeah. I mean I think that there’s just more players around. Like I think cutthroat fishing, you’re just there’s better chances of hooking fish than, you know, swinging flies for steelhead. You know, personally I’ve done a lot of saltwater cutthroat fishing. I don’t do a ton of it anymore. You know, I mean, I don’t know if that’s just because I’ve, I’ve guided it for a really long time, and I don’t know if it just kind of feels like, you know, on your day off, you’re still going to work, right? I don’t know, like that, you know, it’s, it’s a warning to all of us, right? 00:31:15 Dave: Yeah, yeah. I feel like we all evolve to, you know, there’s times where we’re into this and then you evolve into something else and then maybe you come back to it. 00:31:22 Blake: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, be careful about making your, your hobby or your passion, your job, because it kind of will take a little bit of the shine off of it. But, but with steelhead fishing, I still really enjoy fishing for steelhead. And, you know, and even though I, I guide for steelhead, if I have a little bit of time off, you know, if I’m, uh, have a day off or something like that, and then I don’t go fanatic and fish all day from, you know, you know, sunrise to sunset. But, but I love to just get out and go fish just for even just a couple hours. And swinging flies for steelhead isn’t something that has really worn off for me as like, you know, Puget Sound stuff. But the thing I’m really passionate about is fishing for salmon. I really love to fish for especially coho. I mean, I think coho is just like is an incredible fly rod. Gamefish they’re a lot more accessible than kings. You can get into good numbers of them. They fight like crazy. If you want to keep a fish, you know there’s hatchery fish and you know, an ocean bright coho is God. Oh my gosh, it’s that is a good eating fish for sure. So, you know, that’s kind of more a little bit more. My jam these days is and we love to do a lot of kayak fishing. We fish from like these pedal drive Hobie kayaks that are really stable. You can stand up in them. And with those, it opens up all sorts of salmon opportunity. 00:32:47 Dave: Mhm. It does. Now, why is the kayak so much better than say um, yeah. I mean, I guess that’s the thing. It’s small. It’s maneuverable, like versus say just having like a boat with a motor out there. Is it just being able to get the smaller places and channels and stuff. 00:32:59 Blake: A lot of times when these fish are in shallow, when they’re coming, coming through, especially these coho will will run along the beach. When you have that tide moving around, it can be a little bit difficult positioning a boat to be able to cast to them. And you know, but some of these guys with, with their, you know, the new boats have have trolling motors on them with spot lock and GPS and like, right. It’s, it’s not like, uh, like it was even just a few years ago. And that’s pretty incredible. But I love being in the kayak because it’s quiet. It’s kind of like a drift boat. And for guys that float rivers, anglers that float rivers, they when all you hear is the river and the sound of those oars, it’s peaceful. And you hear different things than when you just have like a motor running. So when you’re out on Puget Sound in a kayak, you hear the spray of bait as they’re jumping out of the water, you know, running from a seal or, you know, you hear birds crashing in the water or, you know, or you hear a cutthroat slashing bait on the surface. And like, and it’s just a totally different experience being able to, to have, you know, all of those senses. And then when you, you know, if you are fishing for salmon and stuff like that, when you hook into a nice salmon and you’re in a, you know, a twelve foot, you know, plastic boat that is one hundred pounds, you get dragged all over the place in that thing. You know, it’s, it’s just a very different experience. And it’s a lot of fun. 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You can book your all inclusive Montana fly fishing adventure today and discover why they are the premier destination for unforgettable fishing experiences. Head over to Montana Fly Fishing lodge dot com right now. What’s it like landing a salmon a coho in a kayak? Is that pretty challenging for coho? 00:35:41 Blake: You know, we have a long, long handled net. And so it’s not it’s not that hard with the coho. If you get a king on the fly by yourself trying to land a king in the kayak, that is a different experience altogether. Because, you know, if they could be, you know, fifteen, twenty pounds or more and, you know, you got the line, the leader is like, you know, reeled in almost to the tip of the rod. You’re trying to reach back. You might even be standing up like trying to, you know, reach out with the net to try to get a. Luckily, I haven’t fallen in doing it right. 00:36:16 Dave: I was gonna say, are these kayaks, these hobbies, are they pretty state. They must be pretty stable. 00:36:20 Blake: Oh yeah. Yeah. Like the Hobie Pro Angler, it’s thirty eight inches wide. Like it’s massive. Like it has a six hundred pound capacity. I mean, you could have dance parties on this thing. 00:36:30 Dave: No kidding. They’re that big. Wow. 00:36:32 Blake: Oh. They’re huge. Yeah. Yeah. No, you’re standing and casting like you can shift your feet, you know, sometimes, like, you know, watercraft, like says. Oh, yeah, it’s stable. But once you stand up like. 00:36:42 Dave: Yeah, it’s like, you got to be careful. Yeah. I’m thinking that that’s what I’m. Yeah. So this one’s stable. You can literally just stand out there all day on it. 00:36:48 Blake: Oh yeah. Totally. Totally. And the seat, like the seat sits up really high. It sits up like maybe twelve or eighteen inches. It’s got armrests. 00:36:55 Dave: Oh, man, this is awesome. 00:36:57 Blake: Yeah. So I don’t even stand up that much. You know, now I just kind of sit and cast and, and strip flies just, you know, sitting down. So. Yeah, I’m getting old, I guess. 00:37:07 Dave: Yeah. Is it kayak? Is it also good for cutthroat? Is that would it be are you fishing more? Would you be fishing more with a kayak or is it better off the beaches? 00:37:14 Blake: It’s better from the kayak. We prefer the kayak. Our guides, they prefer fishing on the kayaks. We have a few trailers that are all set up with with a fleet of hobie’s. You know you can. I mean, one of the great things is you set up with that current moving down the beach and you throw your cast in towards, you know, where you would normally be standing on the beach, you know, wade fishing, you’re casting in. And by the time that fly is retrieved back, that current has, has slowly moved your kayak, you know, in the current down just a couple feet. So it’s almost like you’re, walking in casting, but you’re just floating and casting. And the amount of, of beach you can cover is enormous. And then you don’t also have to worry about the issue with like high banks, private property houses, you know, structure that you can’t really get around or anything like that. It opens up every single inch of the shoreline to be able to fish. 00:38:11 Dave: That’s awesome. Yeah. It sounds like, yeah, kayak is definitely a good investment if you’re going to get into this fully. 00:38:16 Blake: Yeah, we sell, we sell quite a few kayaks to anglers. Yeah. 00:38:19 Dave: Nice. What is on the retreat? Just sticking on the cutthroat for a little bit. You know, if you’re out in that boat casting, what are you doing different retrieves or is it pretty much a standard type? 00:38:28 Blake: Sometimes when we’re fishing, we kind of lose our our mental focus on the retrieve and become much more like robotic, you know, almost like a metronome of just like kind of strip, strip, strip, strip, you know, and if you can stay locked in to what that bait fish should be doing. Uh, that’s on the end of your line. You know, it doesn’t want to be lunch. And so, you know, as you cast it out there, I try to make the retrieve more erratic. You know, with strip strip, strip, strip strip, you know, so I’m putting like different syncopated pauses in it. And then I’m anticipating a fish seeing my fly and coming over to the fly and possibly chasing after it. So as I my first, the first, maybe third of the retrieve, I’m kind of doing like that, that kind of syncopated, slower strip to kind of get the fish’s attention. And then in anticipation of a fish, I start accelerating my retrieve. And a lot of times that incites that predatory response where they attack that thing as it’s trying to get away from them. And so, you know, I just got back two nights ago, three nights ago from Mexico, and I was down in Lobos fishing for tarpon. And the water is, you know, crystal clear there. And, you know, so you have to do a similar retrieve where you throw to the tarpon. You’re it’s a really slow strip. And then the tarpon starts coming to the fly because it sees it from a distance. And then as soon as it starts to get closer to the fly, the retrieve gets faster and faster. The fish just can’t refuse it. Like they just have to go after it because it’s doing what the baitfish would do, you know, when it’s trying to not be launched. And so we’re doing the same thing with cutthroat fishing, but it’s all blind fishing. Like we’re not seeing the fish’s behavior and then adjusting to it. We’re having to assume that we’ve got grabbed a fish’s attention, and we’re going to try to get that fly to move it away a little bit faster. And that really ups the percentage of, of hookups for, for cutthroat. Now with the, the top water fly, it’s very different. We’re not chugging it like a bass popper though. I’ve, you know, seen seen them hit it doing that. It’s more of a long, steady pull and I just pull it so it gets like a little V wake going on the top. And it just kind of looks like, you know, I’ve, I had been taught that years ago and I didn’t really. I’m like, why that’s just such a weird retrieve. Why would fish do that? And then I remember the very first year I got into kayak fishing, this is probably like a dozen years ago. I remember seeing like a, I think it was like a herring or, or an anchovy or something like that. There was just one and it was just on the surface. And so it must have been like injured or something like that, because they’re usually all schooled up. And the thing was just kind of motoring aimlessly on the surface of the water, just creating this little V wake. And it looked just like the top water fly. I’m like, oh, that’s, that’s why we do that with the top water fly because that’s what a wounded baitfish does. So you can get that V wake in a swing or you can just just a long, steady pull. But the key is to not lift up and set the hook when they eat it. It’s a strip set when when they’re there, if you lift up, the fly just comes flying, you know, out of the water and drapes all over you. And you know, trout setting is bad. 00:42:07 Dave: What are the what’s the fly that you like for the top water? Do you have a few different types or what have you got there? 00:42:11 Blake: I tie a gurgler on a size six hook and I keep it pretty small. I actually came up this winter with a like a euphausiid gurgler. So it’s like, you know, the size of your thumbnail in the winter time we get these euphausiids that’s like krill and the fish will feed on, on those. And sometimes like right in the film. And we found actually quite a bit of success this winter. And I think it was, I can’t remember if it was December or January, but I had been working on this pattern for a while, like years and years ago, but then I kind of it was just kind of sitting in the box. And so I kind of went back to it and was working on, on it. I tied up a bunch of them. And then when customers were coming to the shop, I started just handing them out and I’m like, hey, try this fly out. Like, let me know if this thing works. Then it was, yeah, it was dynamite. Like just it worked, worked great. So, um, so we’ll have that in the bin next year. It’s, um, we’ve sent it off for commercial tying and stuff like that. But, but yeah, the growlers are great. There is a fly that is really popular from Leland Milwaukee. And you know, when people think of cutthroat fishing with Topwater, they think of his fly. We have it in the shop too. He also has a new squid pattern out as well. They’re both great patterns, but I still just kind of fish this little gurgler because I prefer the smaller, the smaller fly, it’s easier to cast. I feel like fish hit it just fine and I always fish the top water first Whenever I go to a beach, it’s the first thing I throw because if the fish is really aggressive, they’re gonna eat the baitfish pattern that’s on the intermediate line for sure. But I mean, why not give them the chance to hit it on top? And it’s just, uh, it’s just such a more exciting, you know, way to encounter these fish. 00:43:58 Dave: Yeah. It’s awesome. There’s definitely a bunch of opportunities. We touched on a few today. I mean, and the salmon I think is awesome. I think, you know, maybe on another one, we could talk more depth on that, but let’s take it and start taking it out of here with our, our wet fly swing pro kind of shout out here today. Uh, we love doing this kind of highlighting members in the group. And I want to shout out to Nick today. He, he just posted in there. He’s got a new fly tying desk. It was pretty awesome. And I’m like, man, it just reminds you, you know, fly tying. And it sounds like that’s something. Are you still out there tying a few or what’s that look like for you? First big shout out to Nick for wet fly swing pro in the community there. But but take it to that. Where are you guys. You know picking up your flies. Are you still doing a little bit of tying. 00:44:38 Blake: Yeah, I know, I, I tie a bunch. 00:44:39 Dave: Are you guys doing some stuff on, on YouTube too? Right. You’re still doing, uh, some, I guess, and you have a podcast. Maybe you can speak about that as well. 00:44:47 Blake: We post a whole lot more on YouTube than we do on like our podcast. The podcast is, uh, I mean, I, I got ADHD pretty bad. And yeah, so the podcast suffers because of that. Like, so sometimes, like we’ll have like a bunch of episodes and then it won’t be anything for six months. 00:45:03 Dave: So that’s it. But, but yeah, you’re doing some tying still and all that. Um, yeah, no, I mean, I think that the, um, you know, for me, I’m always thinking, you know, I think tying is a big part of it because like you said, there’s little tweaks that you might not be able to buy from a store. Right. Do you find like the stuff you guys have at the shop or you got a lot of stuff that’s tweaked and for your specific area, or you can you just buy stuff straight up from, you know, whoever the big manufacturer is and be good to go? 00:45:28 Blake: Yeah. The cutthroat fishery is, you know, it’s so small that it’s not really on the radar for a lot of commercial, you know, fly companies. So just out of necessity, back in the day, like we had to kind of supply the bins with our own stuff. And so we had local tires do it. And then we started working with the commercial manufacturers that would just take on custom patterns. So right now we have over, I mean, there’s over one hundred bins that are, you know, just our exclusive flies. So a lot of stuff that you can’t find anywhere else and developed in the shop for fishing the waters around the shop. And you know, it’s pretty cool. It’s, um, it’s, uh, it’s kind of exciting to have some stuff that is exclusive. 00:46:12 Dave: Exactly. Yeah. This is unique stuff that you can only get at your, at your location. What is the you’re talking salt water here. And I just want to take it out of here just with a couple more tips as we kind of focus on, you know, maybe cut throat here, but we talked to the salt water. Are you guys also fishing in freshwater? Is that something that people can hit maybe a different part a time of the year where they’re actually in freshwater? 00:46:32 Blake: Yeah. Especially in the fall. The cutthroat will a lot of times follow salmon into those larger river streams and feed behind them. And then that gives you a freshwater opportunity. The small streams, those fish, the small stream fish, just stay out in the salt water until it’s time to spawn, because there’s not really a lot of food opportunity for them in those small streams. Out on the Olympic Peninsula, there’s cutthroat out there as well. There’s there’s some cutthroat that are resident cutthroat as well as cutthroat that are run and fishing in September out there. You can you can find some really big quality sea run cutthroat. October can be great too. But then there’s salmon around. And so like it’s, you see like a twelve pound coho. Do you want to catch that? Or do you want to catch like a, you know, seventeen inch cutthroat, like. 00:47:22 Dave: Right. 00:47:22 Blake: I don’t know. So we’ve been actually doing both like, we’ll, um, and that’s something that we’ve been kind of experimenting with a little bit more is with the trout Spey rods, and there’s some really great caddis hatches out on the op in in the fall. And so we’ve been starting to swing soft tackles and stuff like that. And just to kind of do something new and explore kind of a new, you know, a new way to catch fish out there. 00:47:48 Dave: So like a two weight or something like that. What’s your Spey? 00:47:50 Blake: Yeah, I got I have a couple, three weights. I actually have one of those trout Spey HD sage one weights, but I haven’t, I haven’t really messed with it out there that much. Um, that’s, I kind of saved that one for just swinging soft tackles on the Missouri. 00:48:03 Dave: Right on the Missouri. Yeah. Nice. 00:48:05 Blake: Because coho will eat the trout flies. That’s the hard part about it. 00:48:09 Dave: Oh they will. God what is that coho like you know. Is that so you’re getting those in mostly salt water too. Or are you hitting coho throughout the system? 00:48:19 Blake: We get a lot of coho August, September into October in the salt. And then once we start to get a little bit of rain in those rivers, swell a little bit to let those fish kind of pulse in October in the rivers is is really good. November is maybe even it might be as good or better. But the later we get into the sea and those those fish too, will be around in the early December. The problem is on. The op for fly anglers is once you get into like mid November, there’s been so much rain that that the rivers are now kind of more at their like kind of winter kind of look and winter levels. And so there’s just a lot of water and you’re throwing heavily weighted flies, you know, heavy sink tip lines, you know, whereas in October, the water is still pretty low. It’s kind of got a different look to it. It’s more so when it rains. It kind of has just like a kind of a tannin stain. He stain to it, you know, and you can catch fish on, you know, really light tips. You don’t have to have like a heavy sinking tip. The flies don’t have to be really, you know, you’re not dredging with, like, a ultra heavy fly. So for the fly angler, October, especially end of October, it can be pretty incredible. And then there’s still a lot of cutthroat around as well. 00:49:41 Dave: Yeah. In October and then. And what is that? What’s the when you’re in freshwater, how are you fishing for those coho. What’s that look like? 00:49:48 Blake: I actually had a day with my son where we were just waiting the the Sol Duc and throwing like these really small little leech patterns called the soccer moms from Rio. It’s it’s one of my favorite freshwater flies. 00:50:01 Dave: Oh, cool. Soccer mom. That’s a good that’s a good name. 00:50:04 Blake: And it’s an even better fly. Like the fly is ridiculously good. And we were catching a bunch of cutthroat on, on that little fly as we were fishing the black one with the pink head and, uh, but we, I ended up getting two hatchery coho on that same little trout fly. It’s tiny. And so we’ll scale the fly for the water conditions. And so if it’s, uh, you know, if the water’s a a little bit higher, a little bit more off color, then, you know, I’ll go to a slightly larger soccer mom with a tungsten bead on it. This is one I tie. So the one from Rio, they only make one one size, but sometimes the fly will have more flash in it. Um, I don’t actually fish a ton of flash though. Um, I fish more flash in flies in the saltwater than I do in in the freshwater, but I, I love fishing black, you know, people will fish, you know, hot pink and chartreuse and stuff like that. And those definitely work. But, you know, if the water’s really clear, black just seems pretty stealthy in the water. But if the water is off color, you know, black really stands out in the, in the water. I mean, I’m just I’m a big believer in just fishing just all black and yeah, no, it works really well. 00:51:19 Dave: That’s cool. So all black within what color would your bead be? All black. Black bead. 00:51:23 Blake: You know, I usually go with a little color pop on the bead, you know, like a like a hot pink or a hot orange. 00:51:29 Dave: That’s right. Okay. And so and then for coho. So you’re, you’re pretty much are you stripping for coho in those freshwater or swinging for them or both. 00:51:37 Blake: They like that fly to drop. And so, I mean, this is something where like fishing, conventional tackle you, you learn a lot about fish behavior and fishing with like a, a twitching jig. It teaches you really how those fish like that, that hook move. And so if you can fish a fly that’s got good weight and drops, you know, sometimes it can be a little bit hard when it’s a, you know, really heavy tungsten bead. Or if you got like lead eye, uh, dumbbells on there or something like that, but that strip and pause with that fly getting to drop they that drives salmon crazy. They, they love to hit it on the drop. 00:52:15 Dave: Well that’s awesome. I think like you said, we’ll have to save maybe some of the more of the salmon talk for a later point, but let’s just take it out here. A couple of random ones here. You mentioned the podcast. We didn’t get the name. What is the name? If we want to look this up on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, how can we find it? 00:52:29 Blake: Yeah, it’s the Gig Harbor Fly cast. 00:52:32 Dave: Perfect. So we’ll have some. And did you guys cover a little bit of all these species we talked about today? Or what’s the focus and when do you think you’re going to get that next episode out there? 00:52:40 Blake: Yeah, the most popular episodes have been on Cutthroat Fishing. I did a couple cutthroat fishing overviews, and those have definitely had the most clicks. 00:52:50 Dave: Yeah. Good. Okay, so we got that resource and then your YouTube channel that, what are you guys doing over there? Describe that quickly here. 00:52:57 Blake: Yeah, the YouTube channel is really where we put a lot of our energy and we have podcasts on there as well. But we do, we highlight, you know, local fishing stuff or just trips that we’re doing. We’re working on a video right now from a trip to Honduras that I just did. We just experimented around with this new material for or this new product for welding loops on lines called restore line. And so we’re doing a video on on that. I’ll do a video for my on my Mexico trip. I just got back from, uh, we did some steelhead videos, uh, this year. Yeah, we’re trying to get creative with it and, and, um, have some fun out on the water. And we hope people, people find them helpful. 00:53:38 Dave: That’s sweet. And we mentioned obviously talked a lot of cutthroat today. Let’s just say, you know, this episode is probably going to be going out around the May June ish period. What is that? If somebody is listening now, what’s one tip you’d be telling them for that period of time? If they’re going to be on the water to find some cutthroat. 00:53:55 Blake: one tip is get on the water early and throw some top water. 00:53:58 Dave: Like what’s early. Are we saying daylight or depending on the tides? 00:54:02 Blake: It’s amazing the fish activity that happens before the sun really gets up. I mean, I’ve been on the water at like four thirty five in the morning watching fish just go just out of their mind. And then five fifteen, it’s like done. So and maybe that happens in the evening too. I’m not sure. I’m, I’m always at home for dinner with the family, so. But yeah, that early morning is. It’s pretty special. 00:54:24 Dave: Sweet. Awesome. Blake. Well, I think we can leave it there today. We’ve got a ton of resources everybody can follow up with at your website, Gig Harbor dot com. And, uh, yeah, man. Definitely. Thanks again for the trip. Uh, Aaron was like you said at the start was awesome. That guy was made the trip amazing. And, uh, yeah, we’ll definitely look forward to staying in touch with you and appreciate your time. 00:54:45 Speaker 3: Great. Thanks, Dave. 00:54:47 Dave: All right. If you get a chance, if you’re interested in finding out more information, head over to Gig Harbor Fly Shop, let Blake know you heard this podcast. Uh, definitely excited to get up there and hopefully fish out of a kayak in Puget Sound. Uh, definitely sounds like throughout the year, there’s a good opportunity there. I want to give a shout out to Phil Roy. The Stillwater School is back. Stillwater School is back. We’re going to be heading out there this year. And if you get a chance, check in with me, you can send me an email, Dave at web dot com, and we’ll let you know on details of that event. There’s a chance to win next week. The giveaway kicks off and then we’ll be talking more about the trip after that and want to leave you with one memorable quote from Blake in this podcast today. And Blake said, if you wade too far, the fish you’re trying to reach are already behind you. If you wade too far, the fish you’re trying to reach are already behind you. There we go. Uh, hope you’re having a good day. And I hope you have a great morning, afternoon, or evening and glad you had a chance to check in today. We’ll see you and talk to you on the next episode. See you then. 00:55:54 Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to the Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing show. For notes and links from this episode, visit wet fly dot com.

puget sound cutthroat fishing

Conclusion with Blake Merwin on Puget Sound Cutthroat Fishing

Puget Sound cutthroat fishing combines everything that makes fly fishing addictive. There is exploration, changing tides, aggressive fish, and endless shoreline to discover.

Blake shared a simple reminder that applies well beyond cutthroat fishing: stay mobile, pay attention to the details, and don’t overlook the water closest to you. Sometimes the fish you’re looking for are already right there.

     
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