AT News: 2026 Fly-fishing Trends, Lower Blue River Fishery Report, Whitefish Cover
Travel, especially international, will be as hot as the stock market...
2026 Will Be a Good Year for Fly Fishing
Last year was an average year in my book. The fishing was great in some places, subpar in others, and mostly just the same old, same old. On the industry front, we did see a number of products introduced that I think will be game changers. We saw some conservation wins, and experienced a fresh batch of threats when it comes to issues like access, public lands and so forth–in sum, very little rocked my socks, but then again, not much bummed me out either.
I actually think 2026 is going to be an “up” year overall.
Of course, a lot of that depends on weather and water. Some places like the Northeast and upper Midwest are getting a fair share of precipitation now, while much of the Rockies are needing more snow. La Nina years (what we’re in) tend to be light on snow early in the season in the Intermountain West, and heavy on snow late, and that seems to be how it’s playing out. Fingers crossed.
Some predictions for next year are easy. For starters, I know somebody is going to be thrilled to start 2026 by winning a sweet flats skiff and a whole bunch of other goodies via the Captains for Clean Water drawing. If you don’t have a ticket ($50), you can still get in under the wire until 11:59 p.m. tonight (New Year’s Eve). It’s a great cause. There’s also the Soul Fly Lodge Giveaway from Flylab. You should enter them both.
I think 2026 will be a year of elevated fishing “conscience” in general, as anglers pay closer attention to things like, catch-and-release fish handling, river temperatures, ocean pollutants, PFAS, etc. Realizing that how we interact with our fisheries is, in and of itself, a major conservation issue, I think people will start to think more carefully about the impacts they’re making. I’m convinced the smart anglers are already doing it.
I see 2026 as a rebound year for fly shops. The reason being, I sense more anglers are wanting to climb the learning curve, and they realize there is no better way to do that than through live, in-person learning. The great shops and guides have always been the gold standard in that regard.
Companies I see making sales traction waves in 2026: Patagonia, Skwala, Grundéns, Fishpond, Scott, Orvis and SA, Winston, Epic Fly Rods and Far Bank. I know for a fact that Mayfly (Abel/Ross/Airflo) has some pretty cool stuff in the pipeline. Duck Camp will continue to impress. Hardy and Greys will bring cool things to show and tell. I expect St. Croix to make more noise also.
There will be some great new books launched in 2026. I know of one in particular, coming March 10 from Rizzoli: A Fishable Feast: Fly Fishing and Eating Your Way Around the World. (wink)
Being a midterm election year, I don’t think many politicians are stupid enough to make divesting of public lands a forefront stump issue–especially considering the backlash those moves have already earned from people who fish, hunt, camp, bike, hike, paddle, off-road and more, regardless of their political leanings. But, yeah, we’re going to hear a lot about battles over public access. Those never go away (and they shouldn’t).
I will be paying close attention to what happens on the Blue River in Colorado–that’s an access issue that also involves other elephants in the angling room, like stocking fish, feeding fish, even chumming fish.
I think fly-tying is going to be a hot segment, as many of the Gen Z anglers I know are taking a shine to whipping up their own bugs–not so much as cost savings, rather, just because they can.
Travel, especially international, will be as hot as the stock market is. All you have to do is watch the Dow. In that light, I think we’re going to see more trout anglers “graduate” to saltwater fishing. The warmwater fly-fishing niches will remain just that–niches.
Most of all, I think 2026 will be a year when anglers realize (more) that they need each other. I think they’re going to be kinder to each other. We live in a time when being combative is the unfortunate norm, and I think people are going to feel like the last place they want to deal with that kind of stuff is on a river or saltwater flat. 2026 is a year for kindness and consideration.
At least I hope so.
Here’s wishing you all a prosperous, healthy, fun year filled with memorable fishing experiences. – Kirk Deeter
Mike Lee, Doug Burgum and the National Park Grift
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is attacking public lands again. This time, his focus is on our National Parks. A few Mondays ago, he introduced an amendment (#3972) to the pending Interior Appropriations Bill that would strike a section (as written) that requires the Interior Department to “maintain ownership and operation of all existing National Park Service units, national historic trails and wild and scenic rivers.”
If removed, the sitting administration would, obviously, have free reign to sell, transfer, or give away these treasured resources to the highest bidder.
That’s basically the point.
Doug Burgum, the current Secretary of the Interior, has already stated that public lands are nothing more than “assets on America’s balance sheet.”
Emily Thompson, Executive Director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, recently warned:
“Chairman Lee’s proposal could gut national parks and end the National Park Service as we know it. It could destroy more than 150 years of progress in establishing, protecting, and advancing national parks in this country. This proposal is more than just wrongheaded, it is flat out dangerous. Senators must vote ‘no’ on this amendment and once again take a bipartisan stand against selling off our national treasures to the highest bidder.”
What can you do?
You know the drill: call or email your senators and continue to voice your disapproval about the national park sell-off.
Update from Outside on Mike Lee’s attempt to strip the national parks of protections: “Earlier this week, Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee proposed an amendment to the Senate appropriations bill that critics said would pave the way for the sale of national parks. After widespread outcry, Lee has backed down, his office confirmed.” Unfortunately, this “resource extraction” political cohort is what people signed up for, as far as public lands are concerned. They’ll have to be removed from office, followed by cleaner legislative language with much sharper teeth.
Read more about Mike Lee’s proposal in Wes Siler’s recent newsletter: New Mike Lee Amendment Could “End The National Park Service.” If you’re wondering if the NPS is valuable to Americans: “NPS, which manages 85 million acres of America’s most treasured public lands and the over 330 million people who visit them each year, already operates on a shoestring budget. The entire cost-to-taxpayers is only about $3 billion per-year, or $19.50 per taxpayer. From that, NPS adds $56 billion to the economy annually, giving taxpayers more than an 18x return on investment.”
What is this whole attack on our national parks really about? Money, greed and resource extraction. More national park reporting from Re:Public: What’s the Trump Administration’s End Game for the National Parks? “In Secretary Doug Burgum’s view, Yosemite is a good park–one that attracts visitors and earns its keep. This was also how the Department of the Interior viewed national parks during Trump 1.0, the former NPS official, who I’ll call James, told me. ‘They’d look at the parks like they were a business: Yosemite gets X number of visitors, it’s a winner.’ Losers, to use the parlance of Burgum’s boss, are parks like Knife River Indian Villages, a national historic site in the secretary’s home state of North Dakota. During a Senate appropriations meeting in May, Burgum advocated giving parks like Knife River back to the states as part of President Trump’s proposal to slash over a third of the NPS budget–$1.2 billion–in 2026. Gray-haired and hawkish, wearing an American flag pin on his lapel, the secretary spent the first 37 seconds of his six-minute opening remarks thanking the committee in a gravelly voice, before dedicating the next two minutes and 51 seconds to the Interior’s plans to extract resources like coal and rare earth minerals from America’s public lands, or what he called its ‘balance sheet.’ When asked for a list of national park sites he planned to offload, he assured the Senate that he wouldn’t touch any of the 63 ‘crown jewels’ with national park designations. But parks like Knife River, Burgum said, ‘have almost no visitors, they’re cost centers.’ These are the liabilities he’d like to write off…”
Blue River Controversy: Lower Blue River Fishery Survey Report
Colorado Parks & Wildlife released its recent (December 2025) Lower Blue River Fishery Survey Report from their (CPW) Fishery Survey Summaries, and the results are fairly eye opening for groups like Friends Of The Lower Blue River (FOLBR) and Blue Valley Ranch, a 25,000-acre estate owned by hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, who are trying to make the case that floating anglers are the primary culprit in the Lower Blue River’s recent trout population drop-off.
The multi-year fishery survey report authored by Jon Ewert, an aquatic biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, flagged the Lower Blue River’s pellet-feeding programs as a top risk factor in perpetuating fish “overcrowding,” gill lice infestations and mortality within the river system.
From Ewart: “The apparent association between fed fish and heavy gill lice infestation on this reach is a major concern regarding the health of this fishery as well as the Colorado River in Grand County. Fish feeding has the potential to negatively affect both the brown trout and rainbow trout populations by overcrowding and spreading disease. When fish populations within a system are pushed beyond their natural biomass limit through artificial supplementation, mortality within the system will drive the population down to the natural equilibrium. Larger rainbow trout, which are supported through supplemental feeding, can displace resident fish and result in higher natural mortality rates within the system.”
None of these results are overly complicated from a biological perspective: humans tinkering in wild systems is generally a bad idea, and often spawns many negative and unintended consequences. This is even true when subtle modifications occur. But when you’re artificially augmenting a natural river system with non-resident fish (20-pound Hofer rainbows) and feeding them artificial food that provides for obese growth, they will, obviously, impact the biomass of native fish in the system. (Lower Blue River landowners will argue that “resident” or naturally self-sustaining fish populations in this reach of the river are historically insignificant.)
The larger concern is how the Lower Blue River fish-feeding programs are contributing to the spread of disease within the watershed, and potentially to the Colorado River system as a whole.
Potential disease vectors: “Gill lice are a highly visible indicator of conditions that have the potential to foster and proliferate other parasites or communicable diseases which may not be as obvious or detectable. The fact that these fish have direct access to Gold Medal reaches of the Colorado River intensifies this concern.”
The region’s lead aquatic biologist is being emphatically clear about a factor absent from the public Lower Blue River narrative: pellet feeding produces unnaturally large trout in densities the natural food web cannot support. And that combination is a recipe for nutritional imbalances, disease susceptibility, disease communicability and mortality spikes.
The red flag warning here, obviously, is that the consequences of human modifications upstream (communicable fish diseases incubated on the Lower Blue’s private ranches) can make their way downstream to the larger Colorado River watershed.
It’s just a matter of time.
Sources: Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Blue River near Kremmling report.
As an addendum, CPW also commented on “angler-induced” mortality rates in this section of the river: “Other sources of mortality, such as angler-induced mortality, are expected to be minor compared to natural mortality rates, especially in this stretch, which is managed using catch-and-release regulations (fly/lure only).” Food for thought as the Lower Blue River’s landowners position themselves and propose a “10-year pilot permit system” (for floating anglers) as the way to fix the fish mortality problem.
The Aspen Times is also covering the Lower Blue River pellet feeding controversy and Brien Rose, a Blue Valley Ranch fisheries biologist (and FOLBR board member), provides a response: “‘Correlation is not causation.’ Rose said that the fish survey ‘does not provide quantitative evidence that feeding causes gill lice, disease risk’ or impacts the fish populations on the Lower Blue River. He said he’d like to see a more complete analysis that incorporates how highly regulated flows from the Green Mountain Reservoir impact fish crowding during low-water periods. ‘We disagree with some findings of the author but respect the agency’s intent to protect fisheries and improve their health,’ Rose said. ‘Long-term stewardship of the Blue depends on trust, transparency and collaboration.’”
So, you have the region’s lead CPW aquatic biologist on record as saying the BVR fish-feeding program and gill lice are directly connected, and the Blue Valley Ranch fisheries biologist stating there is no correlation. End of the day, someone is empirically wrong, and this probably should lead us (the fishing license purchasing public) to the part of the divorce proceedings where you bring in a qualified (science-based) mediator to get at the truth.
But everyone largely agrees: the river has an abundance of obese, pellet-fed, sick fish and the entire fish-feeding program should undergo a thorough analysis by the state.
Lots of questions arise from even this limited survey report: 1. How are wild brown trout on the Lower Blue “regurgitating large quantities of fish feed” if “in-river” fish feeding isn’t occurring? 2. “Chumming,” or feeding fish with artificial food in Colorado waters, isn’t legal, so how is food getting into the main river? 3. Lots of conjecture about gill lice infection, but where are the fish actually getting sick: feeding pens in aquaculture facilities, the main river, or other? 4. The “angler-induced” mortality rates don’t provide any meaningful data to back up the claims. 5. Is the farmed fish food or fecal material (metabolic waste) from food influencing water quality or food web function? This can occur from excess nitrogen and phosphorus when the food decomposes, releasing concentrated nutrients directly into the river system, or localized dissolved oxygen challenges associated with the degradation of material. Basically, what happens to all the fish food that doesn’t get eaten, and what’s the impact, if it’s floating down the lower Blue and into the Colorado?
This story is slowly evolving into a PR disaster for a bunch of interested parties. – Andrew Steketee
Recent News
Letter From Montana: A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts. “Dust billowed behind Denny Iverson’s pickup as he drove past the irrigation pivot on his ranchland in Montana’s Blackfoot River valley. He was only irrigating a small strip of grass for his cattle to graze later in the season. Montana was experiencing its worst drought in 50 years, and the river was as low as Iverson, 67, had ever seen it. ‘We’re trying to keep enough water in the river to keep the fish alive,’ Iverson said. He’s part of the Blackfoot Challenge, a community group made up of landowners, public land agency partners and organizations that coordinate efforts to conserve the rural way of life and natural resources in the valley and administers federal funding to do so. ‘My hay production was at 60 percent this year. We’re in a terrible drought and getting assistance with that will be slow to come…’”
Extraction economy: As Trump green-lights Ambler Road, what’s at stake? “The Ambler Road project and the subsequent development of the Ambler Mining District, are poised to be the next domino to fall in what appears to be a calculated attempt to provide extraction access for mult-billion-dollar mining and drilling companies to public lands that belong to every single American by right of birth or citizenship. For hunters and anglers who can at least divine public access as a silver lining to other Alaskan industrial projects of the past–like the Dalton Highway that parallels the Alaska oil pipeline, for instance–the Ambler Road offers no access upside. It would be the sole domain of the mining industry. It would be a private, industrial-grade road providing access to the Ambler mining district’s four proposed open-pit mines…”
From Travis Hall at Field & Stream: Montanans Show Up in Big Numbers to Oppose Mine at Headwaters of Famous Trout Rivers. “Dr. Philip Ramsey, a local ecologist and an expert on the mining industry’s previous impacts on Montana’s landscape, said the Sheep Creek project could leach radioactive materials like thorium into the famed Bitterroot watershed. Ramsey and his wife Bonnie have been instrumental in raising public awareness about the dangers of the Sheep Creek mine project, hosting continuous community meetings throughout the area since the news broke in 2023. He also said that some of the samples that USMC has submitted for testing from their exploratory mining activities at the Sheep Creek site show significant portions of arsenic and lead, elements that Ramsey calls river killers. ‘This would be like dumping toxic waste down a well,’ Ramsey said during the meeting, adding that, ‘it’s not neighborly…’”
Western water supply in a quickly drying world: The Colorado River is on the verge of crisis. No one has a solution. “For months, the seven states of the Colorado River basin have failed to reach an agreement on new rules to share the river’s dwindling supply of water. The current rules that divvy up water among 40 million people in the West, including Los Angeles, Phoenix and farming regions that provide most of the country’s produce in winter, expire next year. By October, one of the nation’s largest reservoirs, Lake Powell, now just 28 percent full, could drop to the point where its hydroelectric plant could no longer produce power, risking the flow of water to states such as Arizona and California, according to Reclamation’s most recent projections.” Non-WAPO subscribers can read at archive.today.
Former Outside editor Chris Keyes and founder of Re:Public–a “nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated solely to covering the policies, people, and forces shaping the future of America’s public lands”–talks about Public Lands Threats and the Outdoor Industry. “I don’t think the industry is as vocal about the threats to public lands as they were during previous administrations. I suspect the combination of a president with a bully pulpit, plus the threat of tariffs, made a lot of CEOs and companies just say, ‘We’re just going to keep our heads down and not try to make anybody angry in Washington.’ My expectation is that threats to the lands where people recreate could be a galvanizing force and really codify for people why these places are so important to them. I am a little surprised that the industry hasn’t had a bigger voice in this. If the outdoor industry can’t be vocal about this, who is the consumer they’re worried about pissing off?”
The MAPWaters Act–also called The Modernizing Access to Public Waters Act–has passed the U.S. Senate and now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law. “In practicality, this wonky-sounding piece of legislation will mean boaters and anglers interested in recreating on a federal river or lake will one day be able to find that information easily from their phones or computers. So instead of towing your boat two hours into the mountains to a promising-looking lake (only to find out it’s closed to motorboats) you can find a lake somewhere else before leaving your house, says Joel Webster, chief conservation officer of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.”
Shawn Combs, formerly the Director of Product Design and Development for The Orvis Company, will join The Scott Fly Rod Company as Vice President, starting early next year. The move effectively combines two of the leading-edge fly rod design powerhouses–Combs, who spearheaded “Helios” design efforts for Orvis, and Scott President Jim Bartschi, who developed “Centric,” “Sector” and the newly-launched “GT” series for Scott–under one roof. Combs and his family will relocate to Montrose, Colorado, home of Scott Fly Rods.
More on Simms and their Transitional (private equity) headaches: Private Equity Is Ruining a Beloved Fly-Fishing Brand, Retailers Say. “The final straw for John Flick came when a $120,000 order failed to fully arrive in time for Duranglers’ annual April season kickoff event. Warehouse problems, Simms told him, caused the delay. Flick’s order was fulfilled in July, but by that point he estimates he’d lost tens of thousands of dollars in sales. Customers who purchased the newly arrived Simms products complained about poor quality. ‘It just never got better,’ Flick says. He canceled his last order with Simms before its August delivery and put what remaining Simms items he had on sale…” Non-Bloomberg subscribers can read at archive.today.
From Hatch: St. Croix’s Return To Fly: Four Years On. Zack Dalton, who came on board in 2023 as the company’s director of fly rod sales after working for Far Bank, talks about the company’s recent evolution and growth. “According to Dalton, St. Croix’s fishing rod tech–and that includes fly-rod tech–is second to none. As someone who’s worked for other fly-rod manufacturers in the past, he describes St. Croix’s technological processes, when it comes to building fishing rods (fly rods included) as ‘light years ahead’ of those employed by the competition. That’s largely thanks to [Jason] Brunner, who, over the last 30 years has not only engineered fishing rods of all pedigrees, but has installed a number of fail-safe processes in St. Croix’s rod-making facility in Park Falls. This ensures that all rods are crafted to exacting standards, from materials to production and throughout the course of any rod’s assembly.”
AFFTA, the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, is looking for feedback from members and industry leaders about the state of its mission and how they can better serve their members. From Alex Maier, AFFTA board member and CMO at onWater, “This is vehicle for guides, brands, NGO’s, or anyone in the fly-fishing industry to tell the industry association how it’s doing, why they care about it (or don’t) and what it can do to improve.” Take the survey.
Fly-fishing Media
In what has to be a fly-fishing magazine first–The Flyfish Journal volume 17 issue 2 runs a Mountain Whitefish on the cover. Photo credit: Copi Vojta. The Flyfish Journal volume 17 issue 2 (winter) issue features: a tarpon dispatch from Nicaragua, a banner Florida Keys bonefish day, the fishing correspondence of a sci-fi writer and confessions of a poacher, in addition to Argentine chinchilla fossils and river access issues in Colorado.
Greg Thomas on Dec Hogan’s A Passion For Steelhead: “A Passion For Steelhead is now 20 years old, but it’s as relevant today as it was when released in 2006. One of my favorite sections of the book is called The Four Seasons, and it details the attractions of each. It discusses how fish behave in various weather conditions and nods toward water temperature and the possibility of getting steelhead to raise to skated flies. Of course, it also details the winter season when steelhead are more lethargic and anglers mostly roll their flies deep, off sink-tip lines. This section really provides an opportunity to dream and see yourself standing in one of the Pacific Northwest’s iconic rivers at a specific time of year, which means it makes you think, I might have to clear some dates on the calendar…”
Good read from Foster Huntington on the weight and etiquette that comes with hunting: Connecting to an Increasingly Forgotten Process. “I’ll never, for the life of me, fully understand why anyone likes golf or fanatically follows a sports team. Then again, they will never understand me, so let’s call it a draw. Whenever the stars align and I cross paths with the right animal at the right time in the right place and I end up taking his life, my prominent emotion is one of weight with more notes of sorrow than accomplishment. I don’t pose for grip and grins. Generally, I am alone, and walk up to the peaceful scene wondering what his life was like.”
The International Fly Fishing Film Festival (IF4) announced RA Beattie, founder of Beattie Outdoor Productions and co-founder of Off the Grid Studios, as the winner of the 2025 IF4 Best Film for his groundbreaking film The Silent Spotter. From IF4: “The Silent Spotter introduces audiences to the extraordinary life of Tommy Batun, a deaf and mute fly-fishing guide from Xcalak, Mexico. With sharp eyes, unmatched intuition and an unshakable love for the flats, Tommy has redefined what it means to be a guide, an innovator and a hero in the world of saltwater fly fishing.”
The Hard Way: some gorgeous cinematography and another from filmmaker RA Beattie; words from Miles Nolte. “Set along Oregon’s Deschutes River, the Hard Way is a story about patience, craft, heritage and the quiet lessons a river teaches–told through the life of Warm Springs guide and tribal member Matt Mendes: ‘I’m a steelhead guide, a lifer, and this is my story…’”
Gear Buzz
We review a bunch of new gear: fly rods (Epic, Scott, Sage), the Epic Backcountry Fly Reel) and a great holiday stocking stuffer–the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. “I like the Huntsman ($52), because it has a little saw that actually comes in handy sometimes when you’re doing things like cutting thick cord, or cleaning birds. It has scissors, a bottle opener and corkscrew, as well as two cutting blades–pretty much all the essentials.”
Fishpond is collaborating with Protect Our Winters (POW): “Advocating for conservation, public lands, and science-based climate solutions is core to what we do here. We’ve joined POW to strengthen policy progress, back on-the-ground restoration, and use our voice to bring customers and employees into climate action. 50% of sales from these products are donated directly to POW. Grab yours while you can and back the mission.”
Spencer Durrant reviews the Tom Morgan Favorite (TMF) from Winston. “Released for the 60th anniversary of Winston in 1989, the Tom Morgan Favorite is described in that year’s catalog as a ‘medium-action’ rod built for fishing 15-45 feet. Tom designed the rod for fishing on Montana’s spring creeks, where the fish are picky and wary, and a downstream drift with a dry fly often isn’t possible. The rod is infamously light, with even Tom himself describing it as more of a 3.5 or 3.75-weight than a true four. That incredible lightness is a large reason why this rod retains such a great feel in-hand, and wonderful line control at 15-45 feet.”
Flylords reviews the Best Saltwater Fly Rods of 2025 (Scott Sector, Hardy Marksman Z, Thomas & Thomas Exocett 88, Sage Salt R8 all stand out) and the high-end Skwala RS Outpost Jacket. “The Outpost never bunched up while rowing, never felt too bulky underneath my waders, and I didn’t feel constricted in my movements when reaching to net a fish, bending over for a release, or loading the drift boat back on the trailer.” They’re not cheap ($649), but a warm and waterproof option for serious trips and anglers. Find one today.
From The Venturing Angler: Gear Recommendations for Yellowstone National Park. “The Madison and Firehole Rivers are among the rivers I always want to match a hatch and see what comes to the surface. Good, small Baetis, pale morning dun, Callibaetis, Tricos, and midges are essentials. A variety of caddis patterns are also important to have on hand. There aren’t many big bug hatch events these days, but some stoneflies, drakes, and terrestrials can be fun. To make things easy, the Montana Fly Assortment from Yellow Dog is a good selection of flies.”
From GearJunkie: Fight Fire With Sound–Sonic Tech Could Protect Homes From Wildfires. “According to the website, 90% of home fires started by wildfires are attributed to embers. Embers can travel long distances, and when they start to accumulate on a roof or against a wall, that’s when fires start. Sonic Fire Tech uses sensors to detect those embers, then deploys its sonic barrier–like a cone of protection–to suppress fires both outside and inside a building. It then automatically alerts fire services.”
Angler’s Academy founder John Hudgens tests out the new Scott GT fly rod (8-foot, 10-inch 4-weight) for Yellow Dog Flyfishing–he loves the upgraded performance from 25-to-50+ feet. Yellow Dog also breaks down their favorite new wading boots for 2025 (the Skwala RS Boot, Skwala Carbon Boot and Korkers Salt Sneaker). We loved these three boots as well.
From the House of Fly: Orlando Garcia, the director of operations for Abel Reels and Ross Reels, goes deep on the aluminum anodization and custom color processes, which are “critical for durability, corrosion protection and perfect color finishes.”
Fly-fishing Jobs
Skiff Supply Fly Shop: Intern (St Bernard, LA). “We are looking for a test intern for January–and possibly February–2026. If the internship goes well, it could lead to a full-time position starting in September 2026. Our ideal candidate is someone who loves fishing, has strong technical skills (especially social media and video editing), is mechanically inclined, and is an overall hardworking, friendly person. We provide room and board, and there will be opportunities for sales-based incentives.”
Buffalo Creek Ranch: Fly Fishing and Big Game Hunting Lodge Team/Couple (Rand, CO). “Buffalo Creek Ranch is seeking a dedicated, hardworking team/ couple to join our operation for the upcoming season. Our ranch hosts guests for world-class fly fishing in the summer and big-game hunting adventures in the fall. We pride ourselves on providing authentic Western hospitality, unforgettable outdoor experiences, and a welcoming family-driven atmosphere.”
Mayfly Outdoors: CNC Machinist (Montrose, CO). “Mayfly Outdoors seeking a skilled and detail-oriented CNC Machinist to join our growing team. The ideal candidate will have experience with CNC machinery specializing in metal products, strong production skills, and a commitment to quality. This candidate will be required to work on some weekends, and 2nd shift based on business needs.”
Bay Flats Lodge: Fly-fishing Guide (Seadrift, TX). “We are looking for passionate, professional, and proficient fly fishing guides to join the Bay Flats Lodge team. Applicants must have guiding experience in the relative area (Texas Gulf Coast region) and have a good grasp of sight-fishing and poling shallow flats for redfish and speckled trout.”
Job Seekers
Jake Keeler is a multi-disciplinary leader with a deep experience set and unique combination of skills. With 20+ years in the beer industry, he has succeeded as an Educator, an Operational leader, a Marketing leader, and Transformation leader; always seeing the bigger picture while breaking things down in actionable steps and measures. He has a proven record of driving and embracing change, while delivering results and moving forward through the challenges of growth and retraction. In addition to his professional experience, Jake is also a professional artist, fly angler, film producer, board member, and conservationist. He is currently looking for projects and roles that leverage his experiences and skills for purpose-driven brands, services and missions in the outdoors and conservation spaces.
Joe Fitzgerald is a photographer, social media manager and writer. After working with the Fly Fishing Film Tour and Trout Unlimited’s 5 Rivers Program, Joe is currently trout bumming around New Zealand, while continuing to work in the creative side of the fishing industry.
Fly-fishing Jobs will be updating and modernizing its platform in the next few days. Head to flyfishingjobs.com to search for any new listings.
Boats
Small Craft Sales is THE go-to marketplace for buying and selling small boats and other specialty watercraft. Read here to understand why this is THE best place to sell your boat.
Best Fishing options this week:
1955 Professionally Restored 14’ Chetek Navigator. Want to look dead sexy while you cruise your favorite lake or back bay looking for fish? The inside of this 70-year-old wooden beauty has to be seen to be believed. Comes with the original trailer, restored 1957 10hp Johnson Sea Horse and a 1987 Tohatsu 25HP + a ton of extras.
1989 Ray Heater, Mackenzie Style Drift Boat. This is a great deal for someone looking to get into a no-frills, wooden drift boat. Gorgeous little thing, that’s got fresh glass, paint and new bi-axle glassed graphite bottom.
1999 14ft 6in Hyde Low Pro. Do you like those PNW or mid-west set-ups with the two high-backed seats up front? This might be the deal for you. It’s got a “no freeze” side-anchor system, a huge custom rear dry box port side rod storage and a pile of accessories. Great deal for the right person looking for a very specific boat.
2025 Fully Loaded 13’6” Rio Craft Teton. We’re talking fully loaded! Accessories included: full fishing frame, dual lid dry box, cooler, front and rear no snag lean bars, Rod Dog rod holder, stripping basket, 3 Sawyer smoker bandits, 2:1 anchor upgrade W/ 25lb green anchor.
2025 15’ Rio Craft Colorado. This raft was “lightly used” for just one season and has very little wear. Great deal for someone looking for a solid, but basic set-up. Comes with basic rowing frame, Sawyer cobra locks and 3 Sawyer polecat oars.
2015 Old Town Discovery 169 Canoe. This canoe was built to handle real use–not a thin recreational boat. The hull is tough, stable and designed for outfitters who need durability season after season. The owner says it’s been well cared for. A high-grade boat with plenty of life left for a stupidly low price.
Boating News: A quick ripple of what’s been floating around lately. Small Craft Sales sat down with owner and self-proclaimed “head glue sniffer” Zach Sack of Inflatable Technologies to talk blown seams, bomber fixes and why he’s widely considered the national raft repair specialist. Chesapeake Light Craft dropped a must-read primer on stitch-and-glue boat maintenance. The Wooden Boat School released their 2026 course schedule. Plus, a new book on constructing a solo whitewater dory just landed, Bobby Nachos keeps getting delightfully painterly with The Outboard Originals and Hyde Drift Boats pulled back the curtain on a deep, and dangerously tempting, set of 2026 color options. – Tim Romano
Music
One of the better albums of the year: Ben Kweller’s Cover The Mirrors. Kweller has bounced around the alternative / Ben Folds neighborhood for years with sometimes great, but also derivative, album efforts to most of his critics’ displeasure. This tribute to his late, teenage son, Dorian, who died in a freak car accident, however, is a painful, cathartic reminder of human loss and its inexorable ability to fuel great art: Oh Dorian, Save Yourself, Dollar Store and Killer Bee. From Amanda Petrusich and the New Yorker’s Best Albums of 2025: “The title of Kweller’s seventh album is an allusion to a practice common among people in mourning–Kweller’s sixteen-year-old son, Dorian, died in a car accident in 2023–and, while ‘Cover the Mirrors’ is animated by the cognitive dissonance of grief (life is the same; life is not the same), it’s also an explosive, occasionally ecstatic rock record. Kweller corralled some notable guests, including MJ Lenderman, the Flaming Lips, Coconut Records, and, on the angry, cacophonous ‘Dollar Store’–maybe my favorite song of the year–Katie Crutchfield, of Waxahatchee. Kweller can sound heartsick and down bad (‘Out of the blue I feel like I am walking through tunnels down to the door / Every day I’m scared more and more,’ he sings on ‘Letter to Agony,’ a track that channels Elliott Smith). But there’s a lightness in his voice, too–something sort of like hope.” – Andrew Steketee
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It’s always always the inconvenient truth that haunts the news. The bad news about threats to habitat and access always arises with Republican originators or Republican facilitators. Pretending we don’t have a partisan problem keeps the wealthy white fly fishing clientele quiet. But it is in fact harmful to all of us to keep this blanket of silence in place. It’s time for a little courage, and it’s time to piss off the people who are supporting the degradation of our passion.