"Work hard, have humility and appreciate what you learn."
-Jeff Currier
Jeff Currier has been fly fishing the world for over forty years. Jeff's adventures to more than sixty countries on six continents has resulted in more than 400 species of fish caught on a fly. This is an amazing feat by any standard and one that would be tough to match unless one would be willing to dedicate their life to fly fishing and adventure travel as Jeff has. How does he do it? Rather simple if you listen closely to Jeff. Bring a sense of humor, enthusiasm, humility and plenty of curiousity and the rest will fall into place.
Along the way, Jeff has been in the fly fishing industry for over thirty years. He began behind the counter at a fly shop in Jackson, Wyoming. He has taught the basics of fly fishing and guided anglers all over the Yellowstone area and throughout the world in both fresh and saltwater. He is presently on the Professional Advisory Staff for R.L Winston Rod Co., Bauer Reels, Simms Fishing Products, Scientific Anglers, Costa, Yeti, Kate's Real Food, and Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures. Jeff has met thousands of anglers from novice to advanced. His greatest joy is to help folks catch fish by supplying simple advice.
Show Notes:
Jeff shared that St. Brandon's Atoll is the antipode of his hometown, Victor Idaho. Do you know where your hometowns antipode is?
Jeff's Yellow Permit from St. Brandon's
Jeff's article on
Self Promotion (source: JeffCurrier.com)
Scientific Anglers Titan Taper
SA has designed the Wavelength Titan for when you have an all-encompassing need to throw big flies for big fish.
Music generously provided by: Frog and Toad
Song: Fullers Crossing off of the self-titled album Frog and Toad - Brad Jones wrote this song about a log toll bridge over the Truckee River built by Charles Fuller, in 1859. The bridge's location eventually became a community hub and commercial center for the surrounding area. The City of Reno was founded around the bridge's location in 1868. The Reno Fly Shop is less that 1/2 mile from the bridge's original location.
"I love the fact that I can go out and learn something new each and every time on the water"
-Ernie Gulley
Today's guest is a stillwater icon of the eastern Sierra and a master of Crowley Lake. Ernie Gulley has been fishing and now guiding Crowley Lake for many many years. His enthusiasm, committment and generosity to share his knowledge and tradecraft is unique and refreshing in a popular fishery like Crowley Lake. We cover everything from the seasonal changes of Crowley to the trouts food source and how he has applied his vast knowledge of that fishery to other stillwaters like Pyramid Lake and Lake Davis.
Ernie was born in southern California, and started fishing with his Dad as soon as he could walk. At age seven, Ernie and his family moved to New Orleans where he learned how to fish Lake Pontchartrain for speckled trout and other saltwater species. Later he moved back to SoCal and began fishing Lake Crowley, Bridgeport Reservoir and many lakes in Utah, Idaho and Nevada. (Ernie currently resides in Riverside with his wife Shannon and their two children, Logan, age 13 and Aidan, age 10.)
In 1997, Ernie’s curiosity about fly fishing began and a true love affair was born. This love affair blossomed and he never looked back. Ernie was mentored by Bob Slamal, one of Ernie’s legends in the fly fishing industry, and he also joined many local fly fishing clubs to learn as much as he could about fly fishing. In 2007, Ernie won the “Double Haul in the Fall” tournament at Lake Crowley, now his home waters for guiding; this is where he has won both individual and team division titles.
Ernie is currently a professional fly fishing guide in southern California and the eastern Sierra and is known as one of the Sierra’s premier stillwater guides. Even when he is finished guiding for the day, you will find him back out on the water until sunset, always exploring, testing, observing, analyzing and putting in the extra time and effort to master his craft. His philosophy is simple: you can always learn something new every time you are on the water.
Ernie is a “Pro Ambassador” for the Hardy Fly Fishing Company and the Cortland Line Company, among others. He takes great pride in sharing his knowledge of fly fishing and his great passion is teaching stillwater fly fishing tactics.
You can learn more about Ernie and his guiding by going to:
Website: www.erniegulley.com
Instagram: @erniegulleyflyfishing
Twitter: @erniegulley
Facebook: Ernie Gulley and Ernie Gulley Fly Fishing Guide Service
Email: erniegulleyflyfishing@aol.com
Show Notes:
This is episode is packed full of information that Ernie generously shares. As we covered in the episode Ernie was willing to share his leader setups that he uses with his clients and from paid speaking engagements around the western U.S. Please take a look and if you are interested enough to download for your use please thank Ernie directly and let him know where you picked up these diagrams.
Knowing the life cycle of the insects you use while fly fishing is not only enjoyable but can help you make a choice on fly, location and depth to fish. Here is a great graphic outlining the life cycle of Chironomid (midge).
Music generously provided by: Frog and Toad - frogandtoadmusic.com
Song: Fullers Crossing off of the self-titled album Frog and Toad - Brad Jones wrote this song about a log toll bridge over the Truckee River built by Charles Fuller, in 1859. The bridge's location eventually became a community hub and commercial center for the surrounding area. The City of Reno was founded around the bridge's location in 1868.