Welcome to fish camp: trout fishing 102 Course

The 3-night, all-inclusive course is designed for the trout fly fisher who possesses basic skills, but really wants to step up their level of knowledge, understanding, and technique. Designed as a 3 night, 2 day fishing vacation, we take care of everything while you enjoy relaxing in nature.

Students will learn both on the water and in the classroom and spend time working on their casting skills. Depending on where the student is in their ability, topics may include, distance, accuracy, double haul, dealing with wind, and river-specific casting skills such as the roll cast, and fishing application casts such as the reach cast, tuck cast, slack line casts and aerial mend. For those interested, an intro to Euro-Nymphing can also be included. In addition, all coursework is done outside or on water. We will cover skills related to technical dry fly fishing, advanced streamer techniques, rigging, controlling drag, mending, and line management.

We have an IDEAL, centrally located school with a small casting pond with bass and bluegill on site. There is a dining area on site for catering every meal. From our home base near West Jefferson and Boone NC, we have easy access to an abundance of wild trout and smallmouth water.

Our schools are a short drive from float and wade fishing trips where learned skills can be applied in real life and even catch trophy fish while doing so. Students in the course will have the opportunity to try the latest Hardy, Winston and Gloomis fly fishing equipment, all perfectly paired for the surrounding creeks and rivers.

Day 1

3pm Arrival – Check in to cabin and short course overview

• meet your instructor
• establish specific customer goals

Short guided trip on the property and basic introduction to:

• Casting and line management
• reading water
• trout behavior
• approaching water

6:30-7pm – Dinner

Day 2

8 am – Breakfast and Morning Casting Class:

• Breakfast and plenty of coffee 
• Casting class in lawn (fireside) – 1-2 hours of focused and personalized casting instruction.
• Casting Q and A
  

10:30am – 12pm – Important knots and new ways of looking at your fly box

12pm – Riverside Lunch

1:00pm – Half-day guide trip (4 hrs) – on water skills: apply learned skills to real life scenarios.

6:30pm – Dinner

Day 3

8am – Review day 2 material and Q and A

9am – Morning guide trip – Go more in depth on:

• Setting up leader – one of the most undertaught parts of traditional fly fishing
• Entomology, and fly selection

12:30pm – Lunch

1:30pm – Guided fly fishing – Comprehensive review and more in depth on trout behavior, reading water and approach. Students should demonstrate guide supervised self-sufficiency using newly learned skills.

6:30pm – Dinner

Day 4

8am – Breakfast and Course Review and Q and A

9am – Half-day guide trip with focus on guide supervised self-sufficiency.

1:00pm – Departure. Thank you!

NOTE: This itinerary is only a guideline and subject to change based on water conditions, angler skills, wading ability, and weather.

Want to learn more about our fly fishing courses or guided trips? We’re here to help! Contact our team below.