From Flylords:
I never set out to be a fishing writer. I had my heart set on taking over the Utah Jazz beat for one of the local Salt Lake City news outlets. I even managed to work for the team as a feature writer, and later did stringer work for the Associated Press and Reuters. From college football and basketball, to Olympic qualifiers for skiing and snowboarding, I was convinced my professional life would be in the sports world.
But I grew up in a small town in Utah, where the local economy was cattle ranching and fruit farming. My dad and grandfather are both fly fishermen, and my grandpa tied flies commercially back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Fly fishing—and the greater outdoor world—had an equal foothold in my life alongside basketball and football.
The thread that joined both my sports and fly fishing lives together was writing. It gave me a chance to see basketball, in particular, up-close and personal, at the highest of levels. As part of the press scrum, I got to lob questions at LeBron James and Stephen Curry. I even argued with then-L.A. Clippers head coach Doc Rivers during a live press conference on TNT.
Covering the NBA was incredible, and I wouldn’t trade those days for anything. But I always left downtown Salt Lake City feeling overwhelmed, and never truly relaxed until I got back to my house in that tiny town where I grew up.
It was around this time that I first read Trout Bum. I realized there was a market for fly fishing stories, and made up my mind that was the sort of writing I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
When you’re young and arrogant (like I was) you assume you can make a living at anything, so I figured I’d turn into an overnight sensation. I’d take the fly fishing world by storm, write a few books, and retire early off the royalties.
I ended up living in my grandma’s basement, fishing over 250 days a year, and flat broke. I had a few half-baked columns in local papers, a mountain of rejection letters from the industry’s major magazines, and not much in the way of prospects. I felt like George Clooney at the end of O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Then, Chad Shmukler over at Hatch Magazine finally said yes to one of my pitches, and everything snowballed from there. I primarily wrote gear reviews for Hatch, but I also wrote some essays and stories. Eventually, I had bylines in Field & Stream, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and American Angler. I’m a gear junkie, and look forward to expanding my gear coverage here at Flylords.
I own too many fly rods (about 40 at last count) but I’m partial to my Winston sticks.
Right before the pandemic, I joined the team at MidCurrent, where I spent the last five years as the News Editor. For most of that time, my day job was teaching high school English here in Wyoming, where I live with my wife and two papillons. We have our first daughter on the way, set to arrive in June.
The vast majority of my fly fishing experience is chasing trout in the Rocky Mountains, although I do spend significant time in Alaska each year. My favorite way to fish is throwing dry-droppers at fish in freestone rivers, but I love my big tailwaters, too. The Green River below Flaming Gorge is my favorite fishery on the planet. I actually spent a season guiding the small streams and lakes around Flaming Gorge, which was one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever had as an angler.
Eventually, I want to make it out to Mongolia to chase taimen, the far north to catch big Arctic char, and I’d love a trip to Africa to catch tigerfish. But as much as I love to travel, I love living a half-hour from a small, second-rate trout stream that most folks overlook due to its proximity to Yellowstone National Park.
I’m excited to join the Flylords team, and can’t wait to share stories, gear, and tips with the audience here. I’ve long admired what Flylords has done, and I’m grateful to be part of it.
