Fly Fishing Consultant Podcast

2021 was an awful year for numerous reasons. Rob wanted to end the year on a high note and decided swinging flies for steelhead in cold rain and snow would be ideal. Follow Rob's journey from balmy Northern Virginia to the snow covered river banks of New York's famed Salmon River. Rob stays in some posh digs for the first time and bumps into some old friends. Listen to the packing list and weather...

Ken Tanaka travels the planet in search of trips of a lifetime. His background in multimedia has allowed Ken document his journey in film and photograph. If there is one angler that is the antipode of the traditional/old school fly angler. He wears avant-garde colored and patterned clothes, flat billed hats, and he poses with rods on his shoulder. This is Ken’s turn to tell his story about life as...

Capt gordon has been a fixture in online forums and social media since their inception. Rob has been following his career for several years watching him fish, teach, galavant, and live a coastal Carolina life. Its Gordon’s turn to tell his story. You can purchase his book on Amazon. This episode is full of information on fishing the surf to poling boats in the flooded grasses. The fish you expect...

A few weeks ago the weather was perfect as summer turned to fall. Rob decided to grab his brook trout fly fishing equipment, some camping gear, a few supplies, and head due west on I66. The destination was Herbert Hoover's Camp Rapidan. These historic waters are where Rob learned to fly fishing for brook trout in the 80's. This is the first time Rob has fished this stream in twenty years. Join Rob...

Rob stumbled upon artist Jonathan Farmer while looking how to tie intruder flies on the OPST YouTube page. He was articulate in the well-done videos and his patterns didn’t require exotic materials or require skill levels beyond Rob’s capabilities. Rob and Producer Jason fished Jonathan’s Graboid flies two years ago for Great Lakes steelhead and the fish ate them all. Its Jonathan’s turn in the ho...

We start off with a Salmon River New York fall season prediction with Dirty Bill before the main interview. Grant Alvis would rather be driving a boat. When he’s not driving a UPS truck he’s fishing. His criteria: the species does not always matter as long as the fish are big and he can sight cast to them. Rob checks in with Grant to see how he learned to catch snakeheads over and over, the flies...

This is Misty's second appearance on the show. The first was hastily recorded a few years back in a bar. This time Rob invited Misty down to Northern Virginia to sight cast for snakehead, have lunch, and record his story. Rob started recording mid way through lunch so you wouldn't miss the amazing stories, this section will start mid story so you may be a bit confused. Misty has been described as...

Rob was recently scrolling through Twitter and came across The Caddis Fly Collective account. He immediately e-mailed the Collective to invite] them on the podcast to discuss all things caddis. This week we are joined by Kelly Murray-Stoker, a PhD student at the University of Toronto in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. (Rob was expecting a Canadien accent on the other line). Her...

John Bilotta is the Guest Fishing Director at El Pescador Lodge, a Fly Fishers International (FFI) Master Casting Instructor, FFI Two-Handed Master Casting Instructor, and a founding member of the Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders. He splits his time between Belize and Connecticut. John’s daughter Gabby introduces her dad as he tells stories from his life in fly fishing. Produced by Jason Reif WaypointTV...

Rob wanted an episode about the history and culture of fly fishing tournaments in the Florida Keys. There was a search for the most informed person to discuss this topic. The search led to the all time tarpon tournament champion, Andy Mill. Andy grew up in Colorado and was a champion down hill skier before hanging up his skis for a career in broadcasting and television. His passion for tarpon is s...

Part two of iridescence in nature is about natural and synthetic iridescent fly tying materials. This episode covers different iridescent terms used in fly tying, the history of synthetic iridescence, natural and synthetic materials, and the flies that use them. Some flies are tied with a minimal amount of flash while others may be completely made of flash. Are these flies meant to blend in or sta...

Bill Skilton grew up in Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley surrounded by spring creeks and inquisitive anglers. Rob first met Bill in 2000 at the Fly Fishing Show at the University of Maryland and they finally had a chance to sit down together to discuss Bill's life in fishing. Rob considers Bill his fly tying mentor and they have maintained a relationship for over two decades. This episode is recor...

This episode is dedicated to iridescence in nature. Rob set out to explain why some fly tying materials reflect light and why others do not. This is the result. This phenomenon of color is not created by pigments, it is created by physical structures. No organism has an iridescent color and you will find out why. Rob explains the science behind iridescence and where you can see this gift from the...

Seventeen years ago Rob was a newlywed, teaching high school, driving a two door car, and living in an apartment in the Court House neighborhood of Arlington, Va. A lot has changed since the last emergence. Rob and his family live in Rutherford, Virginia. The neighborhood was a dairy farm until the middle part of last century. The neighborhood was established in the early 1960s. Not much has chang...

What do you do when you are invited to fish private trout water? Rob started tying flies and packing bags before he hung up the phone. This is his first road trip outside of the D.C. Metro area since October 2020. This episode features Rob and some friends on a hot Saturday with an entire stream to themselves. Rob breaks down the gear he packed, fly patterns chosen vs those fished, and just how ti...

Casey has a streamlined career in fly fishing that would make anyone with aspirations in the industry jealous. He is currently employed with Buff USA. We start his story in Michigan and end up in California where we learn about the history of the original multi-functional, seamless, tubular neck gator headwear product. Casey describes his minimalistic approach to fly fishing for stripers on the we...

Tom Rowland joins this episode to discuss his life in fishing. We learn history of trout fishing out west to the flats of the Florida Keys with a brief stop in the Caymans. Tom has lived a life full of fishing. This is his chance to tell fish stories with Rob as they discuss if the good old days of the keys are just stories told by lackadaisical old men, and where things are today compared to what...

Evan Dintaman is a landscape architect that works on designing school campuses across the country. He has lived in DC area for almost 9 years and currently resides with his wife in Maryland. He fishes over 150 days a year. This episode is all about targeting striped bass from New Jersey to Virginia. Evan talks about his fishless time in New Zealand to finding the best burger in Pennsylvania, where...

Luke and Dan set out last fall to catch the official state fish of each state in the lower 48. Rob caught up with them periodically last year over the phone. We live in a small world, small enough that Luke and Dan live just a few minutes away from Rob. They stopped by the back porch to discuss their road trip ups and downs, those that have helped them on their way, where they are headed next, and...

Rob shares thoughts and reflections on his career as a fly fishing guide after nearly a dozen years and the past year in particular. Is it time for something else? Rob is currently limiting his guiding to half day trips on weekdays. Should Rob spend more time fishing and podcasting? You will hear about this and more in episode 301. Now part of WaypointsTV. Produced by Jason Reif Rob's Brood X Cica...

The 300th episode brings us to Dave Kile and his long running site PAFlyFish.com Dave discusses how his website went from the primitive days of the 90's internet to the modern internet and social media and how the community around fishing in Pennsylvania is strong a quarter century later. We learn about the different geographic ranges of Pennsylvania, the famous and not so famous streams, some his...

This episode contains everything you need to know about muskie except how to catch them. Rob starts us off with news of a fundraiser for fly tyer Justin Aldrich and fills us in on his own recent health scare. This episode covers muskie names, classification description, behavior, geographic distribution, feeding, reproduction, and miscellaneous information. Brought to you by Korkers and their new...

Phil Monahan is the man behind the Orvis Curtain. I'm not talking about the Insulated Curtains (he isn't hiding behind a curtain during the interview. He also didn't invent this curtain) but the metaphorical curtain of Orvis's online fly fishing content. Phil finally gets his own episode to tell his story after several interviews at The Fly Fishing Show. This episode starts and ends with crazy sto...

This episode is full of stories of fishing, giving back, and teaching others to fly fish. Lindsay Agness is the Vice President for Diversity Initiative for New York State Trout Unlimited and a part-time fly-fishing guide. Lindsay and her husband Dave run a fly fishing school for wounded veterans. Additionally, Lindsay volunteers and teaches for Casting for Recovery. She is a pioneer in recruiting...

Justin Miller has traveled the globe guiding and learning the The Fly Shop’s international destinations. He has guided the Kamchatka Peninsula every season since 2008, fishing the world with a spey rod, for every sea run fish he can find. Justin joins Rob to tell stories about fishing in Russia, salmon, steelhead, vodka, 'meat' and potatoes and what you should bring for your Russian guides.  Suppo...