A little narrative, a little informative; this layman's two cents on various fisheries in America's most beautiful places.
Welcome to “Blue Ribbon Fly Fishing”, my initial attempt to reign in my rampant attention problems to create a coherent narrative of the places and things that matter most in my small slice of the world. In the wild, a Blue Ribbon trout stream is widely known to be the pinnacle of fly fishing. They’re clear, they’re cool, and they’re usually crowded.
What I aim to do is give some “blue ribbon” advice surrounding these gorgeous areas without busting anyone’s secret spot. Although, as a Yakima River guide once told me, “there are no ‘secret spots’ on public land anymore, just well maintained ones” and I hope to be your well maintained public space for advice.
Whether it be nearby lodging that’s good, a review of the trip in, local brews to check out, or a decent burrito joint to raid along the way—I aim to capture those experiences here. With the details handled, my objective is that you, my end user have more solace alone or presence with others. Ultimately, I write so that my honest advice can lead to a more enjoyable experience on the water.
How on earth are you qualified to be giving me fly advice?
Easy enough, that’s for you to decide. What I am not, is a fly fishing guide. I said layman in the tagline and that’s not a zesty bit of flair. What I am, is a resident of the Au Sable river, licensed Teacher, and Army Sniper.
I may not be able to call myself an “expert” in this activity, but I am an expert at making information manageable, realistic and approachable. As I stated above, I hope to ruthlessly publish my rookie mistakes in the hopes you have a more complete experience on your own.
What experience do you have with fly fishing?
As Warren G once said to Nate Dogg, “you can’t be any geek off the street, gotta be handy with the steel, earn your keep.” I’d like to use that metric to say I’m somewhere between “geek off the street” and “handy with the steel”. My upbringing on the Au Sable has been under the tutelage of several Trout Unlimited board members, local guides, and generally just haunting local shops— to include Gate’s Au Sable Lodge and Ron’s Fly Shop. My opinions do not reflect theirs, Ron and Josh are just great people.
I’ve been fortunate to use my Michigan upbringing to venture into the Eagle and Arkansas rivers in Colorado, South Fork of the Boise in Idaho, the Yakima in Washington, and several lakes around the Evergreen state as well.
How often should I expect an update?
Who knows. This is a hobby, and my writing generally takes a while to distill into a somewhat coherent narrative. Mostly, I don’t exactly know what I’m trying to say until I’ve worked through the narratives I weave. This will not be updated often, but I hope you’ll appreciate the ideas when I do manage to publish.
Feel free to comment, feel free to criticize, and feel free to unsubscribe if I’m not to your liking.
In the meantime, tell your friends!