Dream Stream with Landon Mayer

It's taken a minute (month +) to wrap my mind  around the fishing trip Ben and I went on with Landon Mayer. As far as I can tell Ben is in the same boat. We've spoke about it more than a few times and neither one of us can really pin the right words on it. It's been hard to write this post because every time I've sat down to do so I've had trouble figuring out where to start.

I think it's best to start with guides in general. I fly fished for over 15 years before going on a guide trip. My Old Man and I never really considered it when I was growing up and after not really thinking about it for so long it was just a thing that other people did. It wasn't that we thought we were good enough to not need a guide but I think it was just our time and didn't really want to share it. Plus I needed time to cement my bad fishing habits in my brain.

So after years of not thinking about it much Ben Lewis shook things up and we planned a guide trip to the North Platte a year and a half ago. This was my first guide trip and float trip and once that genie is out of the bottle there's no turning back. Since that trip we've been on several guide trips and I've been totally blown away at the caliber of guides we have in and around Colorado. It's staggering the amount of knowledge that's available from these guys. Ben and I have been on 4 or 5 more guide trips since that first trip and we have learned a ton and have had a blast doing it with guides like Jon Kleis, Greg Muller and Jason Booth.

Ben with a sweet bow

Ben and I have talked about trying to get a Dream Stream trip booked with Landon for pretty much as long as we've been fishing together. It all came together at the 2013 Fly Fishing Film Tour. Landon donated a full day Dream Stream trip for two to benefit Project Healing Waters. Perfect! We could donate to an amazing organization and finally get on the water with Landon. What we didn't know at the time was that we'd have to reschedule a few times due to the terrible flows coming out of Spinney last fall and a Colorado springtime snow dump the night before our first rescheduled date. Just like everyone else we wanted to hit some big spawners but the timing just didn't work out this trip.

We did have the flow on our side though. There had been plenty of water coming out of Spinney and the word on the street was that the Dream Stream was living up to it's name. I started getting that Christmas Eve type feeling about a week before the trip. Our expectations were sky high which got me thinking about how you handle client expectations when you have a reputation like Landon does. That question would be answered before our first cast.

A beaut of a brown

I have to say I was a little intimidated to meet Landon. A guy as accomplished as Landon would actually have justification for an ego the size of some I've encountered in the fly fishing world. So I admit it, I was a little nervous. It took about a minute to get over that though. We all hit it off right away. Landon is just a cool Dude. Very approachable and easy to talk to. We chatted it up in the parking lot while we were getting ready and on the walk over to the river and I knew it was going to be a fun day before we started fishing.

When we got to the river Landon gave us a quick block of instruction which totally blew me away. My expectation going in was that I was going to learn a lot but I think I identified at least 3 things I knew I could improve in my fishing before my flies even hit the water. Expectations exceeded before casting...

Cutty!

Then there was the fishing. It took one maybe two casts to get our first take. It totally caught me off guard. Usually it takes me a while to dial in on this river. I was not expecting to hook up that quickly. Landon came over and gave a play by play on what happened and what I could have done better to keep the fish on. Learning!

Ben was hooked up and moving downstream just after that. Landon coached while we made our way down river keeping ahead of the fish which was a good trout. Wow... 5 minutes and we've been hit and are now hooked up on a good fish. It just kept going from there.

One of the things I've learned since going on guided trips is that you really don't need any super secret flies to be successful on the river. There are time tested patterns that just work year in and year out. This was something that was reenforced on this trip. We didn't use any crazy patterns. Landon knew what bugs were hatching and what bugs to expect during the day and we stuck to a few tried and true patterns like Pheasant Tails and Buckskins. We saw first hand how it's all about finding a target, planning an approach, and executing on the plan. This idea is in Landon's books but it's another thing altogether to experience it on the river. Especially on a river that has schooled me time and time again. 

Finding a target.... I have spent a lot of years reading water and have relied on that for a long time. It's only during the last several years that I've really concentrated on spotting fish. Landon's books have had a lot to do with that. It's not something that has come naturally to me and I've made pretty good progress over the past few years but I think I may have improved this skill more during a single day of fishing with Landon than I had working at it on my own for several years.

Target

I know it's been said a million times but Landon really does have superhuman trout spotting abilities. It's just unbelievable. It's worth going fishing with Landon just to get an idea of what is possible when it comes to spotting fish. It was great to just stare at the trout Landon was finding in order to burn those images in to our brains. I've learned not to look for a fish so to speak but I had no idea what clues I was missing. It really built my confidence up and by the end of the day I was spotting fish I wouldn't have before.

Getting schooled by a big brown

The day just blew by in what seemed to be a few hours. We were completely dialed in by lunch.
Landon would jump between Ben and me. He stayed busy for sure! We were having a blast and it just felt like 3 old friends having an incredible day of fishing. It turned out that it didn't really matter what time of year it was. I had my chance with a big brown. Landon spotted him across the river and once my eyes adjusted I was able to pick out the form of a very large brown. He ate after a few casts but took me directly down into a gauntlet of rocks and eventually ran me under a log. Landon and I were pretty much running after him in some pretty tough current! It hurt to lose him but Landon pointed out that you learn the most on fish you lose not the ones you catch.

One thing that Ben and I have said a few times since the trip is that Landon is just on another level completely. It really opened my eyes and connected a lot of dots for me. I've used several things I learned on this trip on some recent outings and it just blows me away that I spent so many years not doing a few simple things that really can be the difference in hooking or not hooking fish and landing or not landing fish. I would recommend a trip with Landon to anyone. No matter what level you are at you will learn something new that you can apply immediately and you will have fun doing it. Ben and I are already booked for October!