"It took me years to realize how gently a huge Truckee River trout can eat a nymph."

-Mike Curtis, Head Guide at the Reno Fly Shop

Today we get to chat with the Reno Fly Shop Head Guide, Mike Curtis. Mike guides full time through the shop and has spent over 7 years guiding up and down the eastern Sierra both moving and still water.

 Being raised in the Reno/Tahoe area, Mike knows our local rivers like a good friend and his favorite river to guide, float, and fish during the Winter is the Nevada side of the Truckee River. The Truckee holds a special place in Mike’s heart. It has not only helped him become a confident and successful fly fishing guide but it has also allowed him to recuperate and recover from a life threatening experience.

Mike has been a common contributor to Sierra Fly Fisherman Magazine, a photographer for Jan Nemec’s book Fly Fishing Guide to Nevada and creative and successful innovator of fly patterns for our local waters.

Mike has developed the guiding and teaching skills to work with the first time fly fisherman to the experienced angler who is looking to try and land the Truckee River trout which often produces experiences of a lifetime.

In today’s episode we get to hear Mike share what it is like to get back into fly fishing after taking a break, how much he enjoys putting guests on fish and why he is so excited about Fall and Winter fishing on the Truckee River.

Check out www.renoflyshop.com for the up t0 date fishing reports, gear arriving in the store and upcoming events and classes. Also check out our social media sites on Instagram and Facebook where Mike Curtis and Mike Anderson, both guides at the Reno Fly Shop, are providing up to date stream side and lake side video fishing reports.  It doesn't get any more real then these reports without going out there yourself.

Enjoy!

"The two most important characteristics of a fly rod are Action and Power"

-Tim Rajeff

Today's guest is none other that Tim Rajeff. Tim is a fly rod designer, instructor, national and world casting champion and owner of Rajeff Sports. Based out of Vancouver Washington Rajeff manufactures ECHO Fly Rods and distributes AirFlo Fly Lines in North America. We get to chat with Tim while he was at Katherine’s vacation home. This was a rare moment out of a very busy schedule when Tim could sit down and share his thoughts on trends in the fly fishing world, casting a fly line over 100 mph and some amazing new fly rods from ECHO.

After spending his youth fishing and casting in California and Oregon, Tim’s fishing career took a turn when he took a job working for the Fenwick Fly Fishing School in Montana during 1973. In 1985 he made the trek north and began guiding in Alaska, eventually moving on to develop and build the first fishing camps on Russia’s Kola Peninsula, 60 miles above the Arctic Circle. He spent six years managing these camps before returning to the states in 1994. Upon his return he began working for a premium domestic rod manufacturer, where he worked as head of the engineering department and the Fly Brand Manager. He worked there until 2001 and along the way learned every aspect of fly rod design and manufacturing.

Tim is also a co founder of the Fish Need Water Initiative that we highlighted in Episode 17 with Tyler Allen.

The two rods we highlight in today's episode will be available very soon here in the shop and we will have some demos for you to try out.  We are really excited about the One Hand Spey (OHS) and especially the Boost Beach which we were able to check out at this summers casting competition, Caffeinated Casting.

As always I really appreciate you taking the time to listen, provide feedback on the podcasts and support at the Reno Fly Shop.  Hope you enjoy my conversation with Tim Rajeff.