Celebrities:

Rob Anderson:  Rob resides in Reno, Nevada and currently has his own fly fishing travel business, Bucket List Fly Fishing Adventures and is the lead guide and owner of Reno Fly Fishing Outfitters. Rob currently guides on the Truckee River in both California and Nevada, Pyramid Lake, Davis Lake, East Walker River, Frenchman’s and 4 different private waters. He regularly does speaking engagements on Pyramid Lake other Northern Nevada and California waters and numerous “Bucket List” destinations around the world including an annual hosted trip to the Amazon for Peacock Bass. Rob is always willing and ready to educate fly fishing enthusiasts. Rob Anderson grew up in Virginia and was fishing from the time he can remember. At the age of 9, he learned to fly fish. From that point on he fly-fished for bass and pan fish in Virginia as much as possible. After college, Rob pursued his other passion, golf, by working in that business for 15 years. During this time he had headed west and settled in Lake Tahoe. In 1997, while still working in the golf industry, he was reintroduced to fly fishing by his friend Chris Evison. Chris taught him the art of fly fishing for trout in moving water. His love of the sport was reborn! In his free time from the golf business he regularly visited the Reno Fly Shop where he began learning how to tie flies (he is now a Signature Fly Designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants with over 20 patterns tied commercially). In the fall of 2001, the Reno Fly Shop offered Rob a part-time job which shortly thereafter, turned into a full time position managing the retail store, private waters program and guide business until the Reno Fly Shop closed in 2010. The closing of the Reno Fly Shop resulted in Rob having more time and freedom in his pursuit of design, creativity and teaching in the Fly Fishing industry. It was in 2003 that Rob pursued his interest in guiding at Pyramid Lake. Rob ultimately became the first non-tribal fly fishing guide at the Lake. Since that time has built a fly fishing specific website for Pyramid Lake, pyramidlakeflyfishing.com and runs the largest and most successful guide service there. Rob’s love of Pyramid Lake has also driven him to design Pyramid-specific flies which have increased the popularity of nymphing at the lake. Two of these flies are the Maholo Fly and the Maholo Midge which are sold at fly shops and retailers all over the West.

Dan Blanton: Dan, from San Jose, California, now living in Morgan Hill, California with his wife, Cindy, is a well-known and respected fly fishing and casting instructor, lecturer, fly fishing author and outdoor photographer. He is acknowledged to be one of the pioneers in the development of Pacific coast and Central American saltwater fly fishing. He is the recipient of the Federation of Fly Fisher’s 1990 Arnold Gingrich Memorial Life Membership award for outstanding achievement in outdoors writing as related to fly fishing. He also is the Federations of Fly Fisher’s 1995 recipient of the Silver King award for outstanding contributions to the sport of saltwater fly fishing. In April of 2002 Dan was inducted into the FFF California/Nevada Fly Fishing Hall of Fame. In October 2009 Dan was inducted into The Catskill Fishing Center and Museum fly fishing hall of fame. An acclaimed fly tier, Dan originated the Whistler Series, Punch Series, Sar-Mul-Mac Series, Sea Arrow Squid, Bay-Delta Eelet and many other world renowned saltwater fly patterns. His patterns, originated in the late 1960s and early 70s, remain popular and productive world-wide. The former Managing Editor of Angler Magazine, Dan is currently an Editor-at-Large for Fly Fishing Salt Waters magazine, Fly Fisherman magazine and the California Fly Fisher. Dan is also one of The Complete Fly Fisherman of South Africa’s International Field Editors. He was the Salt Water Fly Fishing columnist for Sport Fishing magazine and Fly Fish America magazines for more than a decade. A free-lance writer for more than 35 years and an active member of both the Outdoor Writers Association of California, and the Outdoor Writers Association of America, Dan contributes regularly to many fly fishing periodicals both in the USA, Australia, Japan and South Africa. His Book Fly Fishing California’s Great waters have received excellent reviews. Fifteen years ago, Dan published his website www.danblanton.com as a means to promote his outdoors related business. He also wanted to give something back to the fly fishing community so he included a fly fishing bulletin board, tackle and techniques fly fishing page and a hot fly page. Dan’s Fly Fishing website and bulletin board, going on their 15th year, are extremely popular, world-wide. Visit www.danblanton.com/bulletin.php.

Gary Borger:  Gary Borger is one of the world’s foremost fly fishing educators. He has taught classes and lectured internationally on all aspects of fly-fishing for trout and salmon since 1972. He is recognized as one of the world’s leaders in fly designing. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Campus in Wausau. He has published widely in sporting magazines around the world and has written six best-selling books on fly fishing. Gary pioneered fly fishing video instruction with his release of “Nymphing” in 1982. Since then he has produced 27 instructional videos and has been featured in various television programs, including his own production “The Tzar’s Trout.” Gary was a consultant on Robert Redford’s movie “A River Runs Through It.” With his award-winning CD/cassette tape, “My Madison,” he pioneered fly fishing, nature-music audios. In addition, Gary has been design consultant to a number of manufacturers in the fly fishing industry. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Federation of Fly Fisher’s fly casting instructor certification program, a member of many conservation organizations, and was a founding board member of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. He has received many awards for conservation, including the first Lew Jewett Memorial Life Membership in the Federation of Fly Fishers in 1979. Gary currently writes, lectures, produces videos, and teaches schools on all aspects of fly fishing and fly tying.

Mac Brown:  Mac Brown is the owner of Mac Brown Fly Fish and Fly Fishing Guide School in Western NC. Mac created the first full-time fly fishing guide service in Western North Carolina. The first Delayed Harvest on the Upper Nantahala River in early 1993 was also a result of his efforts. Check out the testimonials from others over the past three decades. He is the author of “Casting Angles” which is a fly casting handbook for those on the journey of understanding the mechanics of the cast. The ACA, FFI, and others have endorsed this text as a reference for instructors as well. Mac is a Master Casting Instructor through the Fly Fishers International.
Mac was inducted into the Southern Appalachia Fly Fishing Museum Hall of Fame under recreation on August 26, 2017.
Mac was “Angler of the Year” in Field and Stream in 1999. His articles have appeared in Fly Rod and Reel, Fly Fisherman, Angling Report, ESPN TV, Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, Fly Fishing America T.V., Fly Fishing the World, and many others.
Pro Staff Development of Fly Fishing Products
Mac is a pro staff member of Ross Reels, Simms, Maxima, and many other great companies since early 1990. He is an ambassador for the brands Patagonia, GLoomis rods, Regal Vise, Richardson Chest Boxes, and Scientific Anglers fishing lines. His most significant contributions have been the push to longer and lighter fly rods and fly line designs.

Frank Burr:  Frank learned Tenkara fishing in Japan in 1970 at the age of 6, followed by Fly Fishing and Fly tying the following year. A native of Southern California, Frank fly fishes throughout the United States, always looking for the elusive Heritage Trout. Although Trout is his favorite species, Frank will fly fish for any species just to get in a day of fishing, like Tilapia, Peacock Bass and native Goby in Hawaii. Frank has worked in the fly fishing industry for the past 12 years for Orvis and now for Snowbee USA, assisting in the design of Ultralight Fly Rods and other products in the Snowbee line. Frank is also a Traditional Fly Fishing and Tenkara instructor and Guide specializing in Golden Trout and other Heritage Trout species in California. Frank speaks and instructs at the Fly Fishing Show and other related events, clubs and shows in the USA on a variety of fly fishing related subjects and volunteers as many days as possible each year teaching youth fly fishing programs. He has been the Trout in the Classroom coordinator for the Pasadena Casting Club and currently the TIC Director for the Southwest Council of Fly Fishers International. You can find more information about Frank at: goldentroutdude.com, oasisflyshop.com and tenkaraguidecalifornia.com

Ed Engle:  Ed Engle’s fly fishing articles have appeared regularly in newspapers and magazines for more than 30 years. In the 1970’s his articles on short line nymphing techniques were among the first to appear in national fly fishing magazines. Since that time he has taught thousands of fly fishers the subtle art of nymphing through his books and articles, on-the-water seminars, and at his popular nymphing class sponsored by the Fly Fishing Show. Ed’s newest book, Trout Lessons (2010), considers what to do when your usual fly fishing solutions don’t work. His interest in tying and fishing small flies led to the publication of Tying Small Flies (2004) and Fishing Small Flies (2005). The two-volume set is credited with helping create the current surge of interest in pursuing trout with small flies. Ed’s dedication to fishing bamboo fly rods resulted in the publication of Splitting Cane (2002) which chronicled the life and craftsmanship of sixteen working rod makers. His first book, Fly Fishing the Tailwaters (1991), was a groundbreaking explanation of how to fish the regulated rivers found below dams. Ed is a regular contributor to American Angler, The Boulder Daily Camera and Gray’s Journal. In addition, he has written for Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod & Reel, Flyfishing & Tying Journal, Trout, Fly Tyer, Sports Afield, and Saltwater Fly Fishing. Ed’s current projects include work on a new book, coming up with new small fly patterns (he’s a Signature Fly Tier for Idylwilde Flies) guiding on Colorado’s South Platte River, and teaching at fly fishing seminars throughout he country. For more information or to contact Ed go to www.EdEngleflyfishing.com

John Field:  John Field is a writer, conservationist and fly-casting instructor. John has spent extensive time exploring the waters of the Northwest Territories and the provinces while on the mast of Canadian Sportfishing Magazine. He also filmed in the Amazonas in Venezuela and elsewhere while shooting and co-producing Hunt for Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg. John has decades of experience flats fishing the Florida Keys and striped bass fishing in the Northeast. John also makes regular fishing trips to the Balkans of Europe and the Yellowstone region. He is past-president of the New York City Chapter of Trout Unlimited and past president of the ACA (American Casting Association). John is an FFI Master Casting Instructor and author of two books; Fly-Casting Finesse- A Complete Guide to Improving All Aspects of Your Casting, Skyhorse Publishing, 2015 and ACA’s Beginner’s Guide to Fly Casting- Featuring the Twelve Casts You Need to Know, Skyhorse Books 2018. His newest book titled, Trophy Striped Bass on the Fly, Stackpole Books was released in 2024. John’s feature articles have been published in Fly Fisherman Magazine and many others and John has contributed to several books by other authors. Visit his website- fieldflyfishing.com

Tim Flagler: Tim Flagler is the owner of Tightline Productions, L.L.C., a video production company located in Califon, NJ. Although he produces video programs over a wide range of topics, his specialty is fly fishing. Tim is a well-known fly tying instructor. His YouTube videos are some of the best in the business and his YouTube channel, practicalpatterns.com currently has over 118,000 subscribers and 38 million views. Almost every week he produces a new fly tying or “how to” video which appear not only on his YouTube channel but on Midcurrent and the Orvis News fly fishing blog as well. They’re also featured on Trout Unlimited’s national website and in the Orvis Learning Center. In addition, he has a regular column “Beginner’s Masterclass with Tim Flagler” in Fly Tyer magazine, which selected Tim as their “Fly Tyer of the Year” in their Winter 2022 issue. Many of Tim’s tying videos take the viewer well beyond just the tying of the fly and show what it looks like underwater, what natural it represents and how it can be fished. Tim’s a fixture at the Fly Fishing Shows – giving presentations, teaching classes and often as a Featured Tier. He does monthly “Tie-Off’s” with Tom Rosenbauer (Orvis) and, recently, Cheech Pierce (Fly Fish Food) as well. He enjoys guiding year round for South Branch Outfitters (formerly Shannon’s Fly & Tackle)in Califon, NJ and hosts annual trips to Patagonia in the spring and to the Kootenai River in MT in the summer. He has also started hosting several trips within the year to Spruce Creek, PA and to the Erie area for steelhead in early December.

Rob Giannino:  Rob Giannino is the Founder of Fly Fishing Journeys, an online fly fishing magazine, podcasting, and curated travel company.  He is a speaker, writer, photographer, and videographer. Rob lives in Greater Boston and serves as a guest speaker at fly fishing shows, Trout Unlimited chapters, and other outdoor events. Rob owns a digital media agency helping businesses around the world promote their services online. He combines his joy for helping businesses in the digital space with his passion for fly fishing and created FlyFishingJourneys.com. Bringing fly fisherman together and sharing the love for the sport, both on the water and online fulfills a lifelong dream.

Matt Heron:  Matt grew up catching trout and bass in the historic Adirondack Mountains in upsate NY. Not long after was chasing migratory steelhead, browns and salmon in the Great Lakes tributaries every fall and spring. Little did Matt know that his first rod and reel outfit from Sage in 1991 would change his life forever.
After double majoring at University of Morrisville and University of Cortland, Matt would begin his full time career in fly fishing. He is a graduate of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) and worked for the International Federation of Fly Fishers in Livingston Montana as his first job out of college. There he also became a IFFF Certified Casting Instructor.
Currently Matt runs his Fly Fishing School and Outfitter (http://mattheronflyfishing.com/) in Squaw Valley and Truckee in Lake Tahoe, CA. The school at Resort at Squaw Creek is widely recognized as one of the premier fly fishing education programs in the country. His guide staff of fourteen primarily focuses on the Truckee and Little Truckee rivers on the north shore of Lake Tahoe year round.
During the slow season, Matt can be found exploring the world’s finest destination and lodges with his hosted travel program. Matt has fished extensively throughout the lower 48, Alaska, Mexico, Aruba, Bonaire, Cuba, Honduras, Bahamas, Chile, BC and Belize.
He also spent six years working full time for the Fly Fishing Film Tour, the #1 entertainment event in the fishing industry.
Matt’s proud to have professional affiliations with Sage, Simms, Costa and RIO.
Lastly, Matt’s proudest accomplishment was accepting the position of Regional Director for the Reno/Tahoe Cast Hope. Cast Hope is a non-profit dedicated to getting at risk and underserved youth on water by providing complimentary gear and guide trips. http://www.casthope.org/
Matt resides in Truckee California with his beautiful wife Lulana and his two sons Declan and Easton.

Maggie Heumann:

Landon Mayer:  Landon Mayer is owner an operator of Landon Mayer Fly Fishing. His angling success is fueled by an addiction to pursuing large trout with small flies and lightweight fly-fishing equipment. Mayer enthusiastically teaches and demonstrates his techniques and on-river knowledge to fellow anglers and has developed innovative strategies for sighting, hooking, and landing selective trout. He shares these tips and secrets in his books The Hunt for Giant Trout: 25 Top Locations in the US to Catch a Trophy (new for 2019), Trout Tips: A Guide’s Secrets, Tactics and Techniques, Colorado’s Best Fly Fishing, Sight Fishing for Trout, and How to Catch the Biggest Trout of Your Life, in addition to his new film with Headwater Media: Mastering the Short Game.
Landon’s passion for fly-fishing has allowed him to make several noteworthy contributions to the sport on and off the water. This has included travels to fly-fishing related organizations of the Mid-Atlantic, West, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, and Southern states, as well Landon will be sharing his teaching through fly-fishing classes, presentations, and demonstrations of his unique techniques at this year’s Marlborough, Denver, California, New Jersey, and Atlanta Fly Fishing Shows
Mayer has been guiding in Colorado full time on the South Platte River for the last 23 years, and one full season on the Nak Nek River in AK. He resides in Florissant, Colorado.

Brian O’Keefe: I have combined a lifetime of fly fishing photography, fly casting instruction with a lot of serious fly fishing. As an IFFF certified Master Casting Instructor, I enjoy teaching and demonstrating all things fly casting, and working with first time fly casters to long bomb distance casters. My most popular fly casting seminar is on distance. The double haul is critical to all distance or power casts. The same principals apply when casting big flies a moderate distance, or casting in the wind.I use a simple step by step approach to learning the double haul and improving your double haul. It’s quite easy.

George Revel:  George Revel is a three-time National Fly Casting Champion, rod designer, FFF Master Certified Fly Casting Instructor, and President of the venerable Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club in San Francisco. A well-traveled and seasoned outdoorsman, George knows the ins-and-outs of the Industry and is passionate about making the sport accessible throughout a client’s lifetime.
At the age of 13, George won his first casting competition against “industry professionals.”
Casting against competitors who were much older and stronger, George knew that an efficient casting technique and a balanced fly fishing outfit were necessary for his success.With this early win under his belt, George continued to turn fly casting heads by winning three additional National Casting Championships, setting records in the fly distance events.
George became the youngest fly caster ever to pass the Fly Fishing Federation’s casting certification process at the age of 13. Continuing this youthful theme, at the age of 19, George became the youngest, Master-Certified casting instructor. This record still stands today.
With his fly casting talents, George traveled the United States with fly rod in hand. At fly fishing shows, George presented his efficient fly casting techniques, while assisting attendees with product questions.
Today, George teaches hundreds of fly anglers every year how to efficiently fly cast and catch fish. Whether in the class room, on the waters of Northern California or at the casting ponds of the historic Golden Gate Casting and Angling Club, where he’s the current president, George loves to share his passion for the sport.
Although George has fly fished in many parts of the world, he most loves the trout and steelhead waters of the Western United States. He also applies his casting and fishing knowledge to the efficient and balanced fly rods and reels he designs for Revel Rod Company.

Philip Rowley:  Phil has been fly fishing for over 30 years. His love of fly fishing has taken him across North America pursuing trout, Atlantic and Pacific salmon, char, pike, walleye and numerous other species on the fly. But Phil is best known for his stillwater exploits. A former commercial fly tyer, Phil has written for almost every major fly fishing publication in North America. He has authored three books and numerous feature articles and two regular columns. Phil’s first book Fly Patterns for Stillwaters is a best seller. In addition to his writing, Phil has four instructional DVD’s. In 2007, Phil was a member of the gold medal winning team at the Canadian Fly Fishing championships. When he isn’t on the water Phil travels North America performing at outdoor shows, providing seminars, speaking to fly clubs and conducting fly-fishing schools. Phil also provides instructional stillwater guiding on the lakes located a short distance from his Edmonton area home. Phil has appeared on a number of T.V. shows including, BC Outdoors Sports Fishing, Sport Fishing B.C., Fishing Alberta and Fishing with Shelly and Courtney. Phil is presently one of the co-hosts of the New Fly Fisher, an educational fly fishing production. Make a point of visiting Phil on-line at, www.flycraftangling.com.

John Sherman:  John is the West Coast Sales Representative for Simms Fishing Products & Hatch Outdoors covering CA, AZ, NV and HI. John is also one of the most published fly fishing photographers who has had his work published in Fly Fisherman, Fly Fish Journal, Saltwater Fly Fishing, The Drake, Cal Fly Fisher, North West and South West Fly Fishing to name a few. John lives on the banks of the Ca. Delta in Discovery Bay with his wife Natih, and daughter Kalum and son Kasix. John teamed up with Captain Mike Costello to produce the first and only Fly Fishing book dedicated to the California Delta, “Fly Fishing the CA Delta.” He will be presenting his slide show “Elevate your Delta Fly Game” which will help you catch more and bigger delta stripers, bass, panfish and carp with outside the box tactics. John’s passion for Delta fishing began at the age of 18 on his first trip to California Delta and it now has been his “home” water since 2002.

Luong Tam: Luong Tam, trained as a design engineer by trade and the founder of Tenkara Tanuki, is a tenkara rod designer and builder. Luong has been passionate about fly fishing since the ’90s and is a member of many fly casting clubs in California. Over more than 10 years, he became hooked on tenkara and obsessed enough to start his company Tenkara Tanuki. He attends tenkara schools every year taught by Masami Sakakibara, a Japanese tenkara master who is a living legend. Luong has developed casting techniques and fly fishing methods that take advantage of simpler and more efficient tenkara rods. Over the years, He has been giving presentations, workshops, and on-water clinics and now offers Tenkara Boot Camp schools around the country.

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