Lindsay Agness Fly Fishing Guide Service covers upstate Western New York. Her volunteer work includes teaching women to fish via Trout Unlimited, guiding military veterans for Project Healing Waters, coordinating the fly-fishing program for OASIS Adaptive Sports that works with disabled military veterans, and instructing fly-fishing for Casting for Recovery that helps women recovering from breast cancer. Lindsay is a former Trustee for the Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum.

Al and Gretchen Beatty operate the family business, BT’s Fly Fishing Products, write, and operate a fly-tying and fly-fishing video production company. Al received a Herter’s fly tying kit for his 14th birthday and a month later was selling flies to his local hardware store, and has been a commercial tyer ever since – including a 1968 Army stint in Vietnam where he tied only a few dozen flies for an officer who wanted to fish the Mekong River. Al is an instructor for the Federation of Fly Fishers, and has received the Buz Buszek Memorial Award and the Man of the Year Award. He and Gretchen currently tie 500 dozen flies per year.

Barry and Cathy Beck are on the pro staffs of Sage Rod Co., Redington, RIO Fly Lines, and Smith Optics. As trip hosts for Frontiers International, they travel around the world to fishing destinations like New Zealand, Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Alaska, Bahamas, Mongolia, Russia, Belize, Christmas Island, Seychelles, etc. Beck photography appears regularly in sporting calendars and magazines, including American Angler, Fly Fisherman, Saltwater Fly Fishing, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Big Sky Journal, Afar, Overland Journal and others. Commercial clients include: Patagonia Clothing Company, Orvis Co., L.L. Bean, Farbank, & 3M/Scientific Anglers. They have written and photographed their own books which include Fly Waters Near & Far, Cathy Beck’s Fly Fishing Handbook, Seasons of the Bighorn, Outdoor Photographer’s Handbook, PA Fly Fishing Guide, and Cathy’s instructional video, “From First Cast to Double Haul.” Cathy has been teaching fly fishing for over 25 years and Barry has spent his life in the industry as fly tier, retailer, guide, writer and photographer. In 2011, they were inducted into the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum Hall of Fame and in 2013 to the PA Fly Fishing Museum.

Michael Bishop has a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia where he taught courses in writing and American music history. Today he is best known as the lead vocalist and character “Blothar” for the internationally recognized and outlandish thrash metal band, GWAR.

Robert H. Boyle is the author of the seminal river book, The Hudson River; former senior writer at Sports Illustrated; founder of Riverkeeper; and author of the 2006 definitive book, Dapping, The Exciting Way of Fishing Flies that Fly, Quiver and Jump.

Charles N. Cantella lives in western Pennsylvania with his wife Megan and their children, Colin and Anna. His work has been featured on line at http://montanaflyfishingmagazine.com/, www.ontheflycast.com, and https://hiptothestrip.com/, and published in The Drake, and Fly-Fishing and Fly Tying magazines. He’s also a regular contributor to his local TU newsletter, the 2012 Bollinger award winning Hatches & Rises. A collection of his short stories, Fins N Grins: Searching for Balance Between the Family Life and the Fishing Life, can be found on www.amazon.com.

President Jimmy Carter is author of 29 books including A Full Life, Reflections at Ninety (2015, Simon & Schuster). He wrote the Foreword for the book, Take Me Fishing (2009, Skyhorse).

First Lady Rosalynn Carter is author of five books, a worldwide leader in mental health advocacy, and, as described on the Carter Center website, “enjoys fly-fishing, bird-watching, swimming, and biking in her free time.”

Tom Derry, native Oregonian, grew up fishing the many rivers and streams throughout his home state. Ardent Steelhead angler and committed conservationist, Tom and his wife, Connie for many years owned/operated the Kokanee Cafe on the banks of central Oregon’s Metolius River. Tom joined the staff of the Native Fish Society in 2005 as Director of Wild Steelhead Funding. Through his many years as a restaurant owner and fishing addict who frequents the great haunts of the Northwest, Tom has met many like-minded people from all walks of life who share his love and concern for wild, native fish and the challenges they face. Tom’s many connections throughout the world assist the Native Fish Society in growing its membership and financial base.

Lance Egan, employed by Cabela’s, is a pro staff member for Ross Reels and Scientific Anglers, and is an Umqua Feather Merchants Signature Fly Designer. He is a competitive fly angler including winner of two Gold Medals in ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games and a Gold Medal in the Teva Mountain Games.

Hal Gordon grew up fishing the blue ribbon waters of
the intermountain west. He began tying flies at age eleven and has been tying custom fly orders ever since. Hal lives in Oregon and works on natural resource issues as an agricultural economist. He was the 2010 Oregon FFF Fly Tyer of the Year. He recently published “Drag-Free Drifts, Fifty Years of Fly Fishing Trips” on Amazon.com. Hal is currently the tyer chair at the Fly Tying Expo in Albany, Oregon and the Fly Tyers Rendezvous in Portland, Oregon.

In 2003, Sarah Grigg interned with the Henry’s Fork Foundation to research trout. The following year, she moved to Last Chance, Idaho to live in a camping trailer and wait tables at the legendary Trout Hunter, where she deepened her education in fly fishing and the culture of the lingering Wild West under the tutelage of some celebrated characters. Over the next decade, Sarah researched grizzlies and wolverines, managed a cattle ranch and fishing lodge, and completed graduate studies in Namibia. She was born in the South, raised in the North and broke in the West. She lives in Bozeman, Montana. www.sarah-grigg.com

Amy Hazel lives and works on the Deschutes River in Maupin, Oregon where she has been teaching Spey casting and guiding steelhead and trout anglers since 1999. Her love of fishing and the outdoors began in her childhood in Minnesota where she first began fly fishing in 1986. Amy spent four years at Middlebury College in Vermont where she explored the creeks and rivers of the Green Mountain state with her fly rod. After graduating from Middlebury with a degree in economics, Amy moved to Wyoming to work as a wrangler on a dude ranch. While wrangling, she led pack trips and taught fly fishing in the Bighorn Mountains. From 1997-1998 Amy traveled around the world by herself with several fly rods and a backpack, fishing 19 different countries in a two-year period. During that epic journey, Amy hooked many different species of fish on the fly including Rainbows in New Zealand, Brown Trout in India, Tigerfish in Africa, Atlantic Salmon in Ireland, and Sea Run Brown Trout in Argentina. Amy and her husband, John, have been Spey casting partners for twelve years. During that time they have been featured on several Spey casting instructional DVDs as well as in the acclaimed fly fishing film, Drift. Together they own and operate a guide service and fly shop, The Deschutes Angler, in Maupin. When she takes a break from guiding and retail, Amy enjoys filling her passport with stamps from exotic fishing destinations, tying flies, upland bird hunting, and romping around their ranch on the Deschutes with her horses and dogs.

Born in Montana to a guide and outfitter father Link Jackson was raised outdoors hunting, fishing, floating rivers, skiing and adventuring in wilderness. Link is a graduate of the College of Idaho. His career includes 20 years of commercial building and developing in Idaho, Colorado, Arizona and California. Now he owns and operates his river drift boat company StreamTech Boats (www.streamtechboats.com), as well as, Artistic ventures in Landscape Photography and Watercolor Painting (www.link-jackson.pixels.com). His award winning artistic works appear regularly on Facebook pages including “Idaho and Beyond,” “Link Jackson Art – Photos and Watercolor Paintings” and several others.

Bernard “Lefty” Kreh is a fly angler, photographer, writer, instructor, pioneer of saltwater fly fishing, and member of the IGFA Hall of Fame. His book, Fly Fishing in Salt Water, is considered the seminal volume on the subject, and his fly, “Lefty’s Deceiver” was honored by being depicted on a U.S. postage stamp.

David Lambroughton splits his year between British Columbia and New Zealand and lots of stops in between. With cameras in his pack, he searches for photos and discoveries that he shares every year in his annual Fly Fishing Dreams calendar that is sold all over the world. He’s one of those rare people where “work” and “play” have meant the same thing.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Aileen Lane first learned how to tie flies two years after moving to Idaho in 2005 before ever wetting a line. It wasn’t until after returning back to Boise in 2012 (after living in LA again for 2 years), that Aileen decided to actually put her flies to the test herself. Fly fishing and tying is a passion of Aileen’s that helped make the transition back to Idaho – it became her form of meditation. Since then, Aileen has immersed herself in the fly fishing community. Aileen is the owner and tier of MKFlies, LLC; publisher of Kype Magazine; co-owner of The Old Guys Flies; and Pro Staff of Deer Creek UK. Aileen also had the honor to be part of “The Rocky Mountain Fly Highway,” a documentary narrated by Tom Skerritt and produced by the Emmy-Award winning team of Wide Eye Productions.

Huey Lewis was born a long time ago in New York City. He was raised in San Francisco, educated on both coasts, and settled in CA after traveling through western Europe. He formed Huey Lewis and The News in 1977, releasing their first record in 1980. One of America’s great rock n’ roll bands, they continue to perform for audiences worldwide. Huey is in show business, and therefore will do almost anything for attention. To that end, he has played Billy Flynn in the musical “Chicago” on Broadway, filmed the movie “Duets” with Gwyneth Paltrow, and guest starred on the sit-com “Hot in Cleveland” several times. He has won many awards and accolades, and he’d love to tell you about them sometime. He loves to fly fish and play golf.

Tom H. Logan is a retired certified wildlife biologist from Tallahassee, Florida who specialized for more than 47 professional years in the research, recovery and management of threatened and endangered wildlife species. He enjoys tying classic trout patterns and fishing them for southern bream and bass in his home waters, as well as for trout in the Smoky Mountains, Sierras and other streams of the western United States. He also ties Atlantic salmon flies, but has a special interest in tying historic and modern soft-hackles and other wet patterns. Tom teaches fly tying classes in Tallahassee, has taught tying workshops at shows and conclaves of the International Federation of Fly fishers (IFFF) and demonstrates fly tying at several IFFF Council events each year. He also has presented programs on the “Laws Pertaining to the Possession and Transportation of Natural Fly Tying Materials.” The Southeast Council of the IFFF awarded him as the “2004 Tyer of the Year,” and he received the “Silver King Award” from the IFFF in September 2013 and the “Conservation Award” in 2015. Tom is a life member of the IFFF and an IFFF Certified Casting Instructor. He serves as Vice President of Conservation for the Florida Council of the IFFF, is a Senior Advisor to the Conservation Committee of the IFFF and serves as Chairman of the IFFF Fly Tying Group Board of Governors. Tom also is a member of the Whiting Farms, Angler’s Sport Group for Daiichi Hooks and HMH Fly Tying. He is the creator and manager of North Florida Fly-fishing Adventures and School dedicated to teach fly tying, casting and fishing activities that enhance the fly-fishing experience for anglers who fish with the artificial fly. His website is www.northfloridaflyfishing.com

John N. Maclean is an award-winning author and journalist and the son of Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs through It. The younger Maclean’s books include The Esperanza Fire, Fire on the Mountain, and The Thirtymile Fire. Before writing about fire, he worked for 30 years for The Chicago Tribune, and as a Washington correspondent was one of the “Kissinger 14,” the media who traveled with Henry Kissinger on his shuttle diplomacy. Maclean, an avid fly fisherman, lives in Washington, D.C. and has a family cabin in Montana. He maintains a website, JohnMacleanBooks.com, and is on Facebook.

Craig Mathews and his wife Jackie came to West Yellowstone in 1979. Craig was the Town’s Police Chief. In 1980 they founded Blue Ribbon Flies. Craig and Jackie have won numerous conservation awards for their environmental work such as “The Protector of Yellowstone National Park Award,” The Nature Conservancy’s “ Conservation Business” award, and The Federation of Fly Fishers “Lee Wulff Award” for their conservation and environmental work. Craig was Fly Rod and Reel’s “2005 World Angler of the Year” and Trout Unlimited’s “Stream Champion” in 2011. Craig has authored and co-authored 9 important books on fishing. His latest, Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod & Reel, was released in April 2014, co-authored with Patagonia Inc. founder, Yvon Chouinard. Craig and Yvon founded 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses donating 1% of their gross sales to researched and approved conservation causes. To date 1% for the Planet has donated over $135 million to conservation and environmental programs.

Margot Page is the author of the groundbreaking book Little Rivers: Tales of a Woman Angler (1995, 2015). The granddaughter of the legendary angling writer Sparse Grey Hackle, Margot was the first woman to write for The New York Times’ “Outdoors” column where she became a periodic contributor, and her essays have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies. Margot’s background lies in book and magazine publishing: she worked for the renowned outdoors publisher Nick Lyons Books in its early years and as editor of the American Museum of Fly Fishing’s quarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher. In 1995, Margot was a founding member of Casting for Recovery, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping breast cancer survivors. Working currently as an independent communications and marketing specialist, Margot continues to write both nonfiction and fiction from her home in Vermont. She can be reached at margot@waterlightwords.com

Rick Pope is Chairman at Temple Fork Outfitters. Here is what Tom Boyd, Editor at Large at Fly Fish America Magazine says about Rick on LinkedIn: Rick pope is an icon in the fly fishing industry. His contributions with legend Lefty Kreh to introduce quality rods at entry level prices allowed countless thousands to become fly fishermen. This had tremendous impact in what we all love to do and expanded greatly the number of us that could pursue their dream. I have written on the modern history of fly fishing and Rick’s contribution is right up there with the legends and great innovators.

Dennis Potter, aka “The Rivergod,” has been tying flies for forty years and has been teaching and sharing his tying skills for over thirty-five years. He travels extensively throughout the Midwest with the original “Vise Logic Tying Theater,” conducting patterns and techniques classes, and seminars. The state of the art macro video program magnifies the fly and puts it right it your lap. In this format, every tier has a perfect view of the fly and tying technique in great detail. An innovative tier, Dennis has designed a number of flies used with great success throughout the United States. These patterns include: the Rivergod Emerger, Opal & Elk Caddis, Opal X Caddis, Fat Head Beetle, Fat Head Moth, Tungsten Bead Soft Hackle Dark and many more. Dennis spends most of his angling time at his Riverhouse on the banks of the Ausble “Holy Water” in Michigan’s northern lower peninsula. He enjoys the challenge of the chasing trout during the little fly hatches like Tricos (Tiny Black Curse). Dennis can be contacted at ausable1@gmail.com or www.riverhouseflyco.com

John Randolph is Editor Emeritus of Fly Fisherman magazine. He attended Williams College, where he played football and in 1962 received a BA degree, with a major in English. He spent 3.5 years (‘63-’66) as a rifle platoon and company commander in the U.S. Marine Corps, 2nd Marine Division (retiring as a reserve captain). He worked for two years (‘66-‘67) in the Rickover Naval Nuclear Division of General Electric in Schenectady N.Y.; worked as a newspaper writer/editor for the Brattleboro Reformer and Bennington Banner (‘68-’69) and founded The Vermont Sportsman monthly magazine in 1969. He joined Fly Fisherman magazine as managing editor in 1978 and served as the magazine’s editor/publisher from 1982 until his retirement in 2008. During that period the magazine’s worldwide circulation grew from 95,000+ to 156,000 paid readers, the world’s largest paid-circulation magazine devoted exclusively to the sport of fly fishing. Randolph’s freelance writing also appeared in Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, Sports Afield, and Vermont Life. His books include Becoming A Fly Fisher (Lyons Press), Fishing Basics and Backpacking Basics (Prentice-Hall). He has fished on most of the world’s quality fly-fishing waters, including: England, Ireland, Scotland, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Nicaragua, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Italy, Canada, Belize, the Bahamas and most of the states in the U.S. He lives outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife Mary. He has two daughters (one deceased), a son, and three grandsons. His avocations include flower gardening, bird hunting, bow hunting for elk and restoring his farm and farmhouse in Coleraine, Mass. He has fished the Catskills since 1955, when his father wrote the daily Wood, Field & Stream column for The New York Times. In October 2010 he was inducted into the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum Hall of Fame.

Marjorie Sandor’s angling essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Georgia Review, The Gift of Trout, Best American Spiritual Writing, and Take Me Fishing, and most recently, in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Several are collected in her 2000 essay collection, The Night Gardener: A Search for Home, which won the 2000 Oregon Book Award for Literary Nonfiction in 2000. She lives in Corvallis, Oregon and teaches creative writing and literature at Oregon State University.

An award-winning writer, photographer, radio personality, and television producer, Mark Sosin has an impressive list of credits that span virtually all phases of outdoor communications. He is the Executive Producer and on-camera host of Mark Sosin’s Salt Water Journal which aired nationally and internationally on major networks for 27 years. Mark also writes and produces television commercials as well as instructional videos for private organizations, the State of Florida, and the federal government. More than 3,000 of his articles have been published in major magazines and newspapers, over 5,000 scripts produced for radio and television, and he is currently working on his 33rd book. Considered a leading educator, journalist, and one of America’s most knowledgeable fishing authorities, Mark Sosin teaches outdoor techniques through a series of seminars, lectures, and clinics, serves as a consultant to national companies, is an advisor to the International Game Fish Association, and shares expertise with government agencies and conservation groups. He is a Director Emeritus of the Billfish Foundation and a former trustee of the University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory. A past president of the Outdoor Writer’s Association of America and recipient of its coveted Excellence in Craft Award as well as its prestigious Ham Brown Award, Sosin holds membership in and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association and Florida Outdoor Writer’s Association. He has been enshrined in the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame, the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, the International Fishing Hall of Fame, and Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame.

Wanda Taylor, with over 20 years experience as a flyfishing guide and instructor, was the first female “Orvis Endorsed” guide in the Southeast and first female to receive Master Certified Casting Instructor status from the International Federation of Fly Fishers. She has been seen on TBS, ESPN II, the CBS Early Show, and OLN’s Fly Fish TV, and is a contributing editor for Fly Fish America and author of “Guide to Fly Fishing Favorite Waters” for the Orvis catalogue. She is a spokesperson and retreat leader for Casting For Recovery and a national spokesperson for Temple Fork Outfitters Fly Rods.

Rhea Topping lives in Upperville, Virginia, where she runs a Fly Fishing School from April through June, and also offers one out of Livingston, Montana in the Summer. She holds FFF Master Instruction designation. Her writings include the book, ROD RAGE, A Guide to Angling Ethics, and her DVDs include “The Double Haul.” As president of Mayfly Adventures, LLC, she takes fly fishing enthusiasts to such places as Labrador, Tierra del Fuego, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, and others. She has been an instructor at the Wulff School of Fly Fishing and also for the Mel Krieger International Schools. She is also an instructor for Casting for Recovery. She has served as a Regional and National Director of FFF and was the Federation of Fly Fishers’ 1999 Woman of the Year and in 2003 received the FFF’s Lew Jewett Lifetime Award.

For a compelling look at Paul Volcker’s relationship to fly fishing, Google the May 3, 1987 article that Nick Lyons wrote for The New York Times Magazine. It begins with this: “‘The greatest error of my adult life,’ Paul Volcker says . . . ”

Paul Volcker worked in the United States Federal Government for almost 30 years, culminating in two terms as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1979-1987, a critical period in bringing a high level of inflation to an end. In earlier stages of his career, Mr. Volcker served as Undersecretary of the Treasury for Monetary Affairs during the early 1970s, a period of historic change in international monetary arrangements. He was subsequently President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and in earlier years was an official of The Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Volcker retired as Chairman of Wolfensohn & Co. upon the merger of that firm with Bankers Trust. From 1996-1999, Mr. Volcker headed The Independent Committee of Eminent Persons, formed by Swiss and Jewish organizations to investigate deposit accounts and other assets in Swiss banks of victims of Nazi persecution and to arrange for their disposition. From 2000-2005, Mr. Volcker served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the newly formed International Accounting Standards Committee overseeing a renewed effort to develop consistent, high-quality accounting standards acceptable in all countries. Upon leaving public service in 1987, and again in 2003, he headed private, non-partisan Commissions on the Public Service, each recommending a sweeping overhaul of the organization and personnel practices of the United States Federal Government. In 2004, Mr. Volcker was asked by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to chair the Independent Inquiry into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program, resulting in identification of substantial corruption and malfeasance. In 2007, Mr. Volcker was asked by the President of the World Bank to chair a panel of experts to review the operations of the Department of Institutional Integrity. That effort has culminated in broad reform of the Bank’s anti-corruption effort. In November 2008, President-Elect Obama chose Mr. Volcker to head the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board which ended in February 2011. Pursuing his many continuing interest in public policy, Mr. Volcker among his extensive non-profit activities has been former Chairman of the Trilateral Commission and former Chairman of the Trustees of the Group of 30. Educated at Princeton, Harvard, and the London School of Economics, Mr. Volcker is a recipient of honorary doctorates from each of his “alma maters,” as well as a number of other American and foreign universities.

Award-winning novelist W.D. Wetherell writes frequently about fly fishing, including the “River Trilogy” of Vermont River, Upland Stream, and One River More. His most recent book is about fly fishing for bass, Summer of the Bass. He is the recipient of the Arnold Gingrich Angling Literature Award from the Theodore Gordon Fly-Fishers, and was awarded a genius grant in 1998 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in order to allow him to devote five years to his writing. He lives in Lyme, New Hampshire.

Joan Salvato Wulff won 17 National and one International Casting Championship between 1943 and 1960. She has cast a fly 161 feet. She and her late husband Lee founded the Wulff School of Fly Fishing in 1979, which she continues to run. She pioneered a set of fly casting mechanics in her first book, Joan Wulff’s Fly Casting Techniques (1987), with analysis of movements of each part of the arm as they relate to the elements of the casting stroke. Her fourth book, Joan Wulff’s New Fly Casting Techniques was published in 2012. She is a founder of the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum.