Fly Fishing Journeys

This podcast was an absolute pleasure. Barry Ord Clark was the 2021 Fly Tyer of the Year and for good reason.  Often referred to as The Feather Bender, Barry has a passion for teaching fly tying and giving back to the fly tying community.  He has a huge fly tying channel on YouTube and a wonderful book, The Feather Bender’s Fly Tying Techniques.

What a fun conversation with Jerry Kustisch. As rod builder, both bamboo and graphic and an acclaimed author, Jerry shares a ton of knowledge on his rod building days with RL Winston, his transition to Sweetgrass Rods and some cool stories from his book Holy Water.

I am excited to bring you this chat with Nick Roberts of the Bonefish, Tarpon Trust.  Nick is a wealth of knowledge and blast to talk to about all things Bonefish, Tarpon and Permit.

And don’t sleep on him when it comes to trout and all other species. This guy loves to fish and loves to travel so I know you will love this episode.

Jeff Currier is known to be a fly-fishing lecturer and a well-known fish artist. He has instructed others in the art of fly fishing, guided fishermen in Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park, and taken fly fishermen to six continents in search of some of the world's biggest game species. Jeff's writing, photography, and illustrations have appeared in numerous publications. His expertise is frequently sought after for TV and radio commentaries.

Ken Tanaka has been a fisherman for over 35 years. He is the owner and founder of Wish4Fish. Their goal is to help make fly fishing a more mainstream sport while keeping you entertained and educated. Ken gets to share his stories and passion with everyone through his YouTube channel as well as social media. He joined us today to talk about his brand, ‘Wish for Fish’, his cultural influence as a Japanese-American, being an open-minded parent, the difficulty of building a brand, Ken’s new rock climbing adventures, and more.

Permit are considered one of the top saltwater game species.  Ask any permit fisherman and they will tell you how finicky they can be. But that’s what makes them so rewarding. Ben Furimisky and I spent a week at Tarpon Caye Lodge in Belize and were blown away by the number of Permit we saw. We had shots all day and caught quite a few, even a double.

Have you ever wanted to take that epic road trip to the special fishing destination you have heard so much about.  Maybe you have done this and it was one of the most memorable moments of your life.  David Van Wie hatched an idea to travel to some of the most fabled fly fishing destinations east of the Mississippi and then wrote a book on it. Storied Waters follows along as David chronicles 35 fly fishing destinations that have been made famous by literary giants and artists such as David Thoreau, Earnest Hemingway and Charlie Fox.  It’s not only a literary journey though, Storied Waters is also a fly fishing journey as David details some great locations and the flies and techniques that were proven successful.

On this episode of the Fly Fishing Journeys podcast, we have a very special guest, Simon Gawesworth.  Simon is the Education and Engagement Manager for Far Bank, the parent company to Rio Products, Sage, Redington and Fly Water Travel.  Simon is acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on spey casting and has taught and demonstrated spey casting around the world.  But his expertise doesn’t stop there.  In this podcast we cover Simon’s beginning outside of London, England when his father, a fly fishing instructor himself, taught him how to fly fish.  As Simon worked with Rio Products in product development for many years, I wanted to dive into different types of fly lines, and we talked about the process of making a fly line.  We finalize on a wonderful deep dive discussion on the make up of both mono and fluorocarbon leader and tippet material.  Simon’s insights here are invaluable for any fly angler.

Lou Zambello hails from the great state of Maine and runs a program called Mainely Fly Fishing. His expertise travels far beyond the borders of Maine though. He’s an author of several books, notably, In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout and Fly Fisher’s Guide to New England, the latter being part of the Wilderness Adventure Press Fly Fishing Guidebooks.  As in the other titles in this series, this has been the absolute reference material for fly fishing in the New England states.

Today, my guest is Landon Mayer. He is a premier Colorado fly fisherman, a world-class fly fishing guide, an author, and a fly designer. I have been very fortunate to get to know Landon Mayer as we travel together on the Fly Fishing Show tour. Sitting down with experts in their space is one of the joys of podcasting. Landon is considered one of the top educators in both fly fishing and fly tying today. He is a Colorado guide, the author of six books, including his latest, ‘Guide Flies’, and an ambassador for some of the finest fly fishing companies, like Simms, Fishpond, and Scientific Anglers. He is also an Umpqua Signature Fly Tier with twelve signature patterns.