www.natgreeneflyfishers.org                                               Email:  info@natgreeneflyfishers.org

2007 Annual Banquet

Ed Engle

Hi, I’m Ed Engle. I got into fly fishing the same way a lot of you did. My parents gave me a “starter” kit that included a rod, reel, backing, line, and leader. There weren’t a lot of people teaching fly casting at the time, so I pretty much taught myself. I paid for that later on, too. Fortunately, I was lucky to make friends with some great casters who helped me correct some of my idiosyncrasies. My first fly fishing trips were to the South Platte River which was about a 45 minute drive from my house. Even then the South Platte was known nationally as a “technical” river. Catching trout required small flies and good presentations. I’d go up to the river by myself and flail around trying to learn as much as I could. Once in awhile I’d run into a more experienced angler who would give me a tip. I fished the river for four months before I caught a trout. By that time I was tying my own flies because I couldn’t afford to keep replacing all the store-bought ones I was losing. I actually caught my first trout with a fly I’d tied.

I didn’t stop with just catching some trout on a fly rod. The next thing I knew I was working part time for Kent Brekke at the old Angler’s Covey in Colorado Springs , Colorado and writing a fly fishing newspaper column for the Colorado Springs Sun. Before long I was writing magazine stories for most of the fly fishing publications and guiding fly fishers on the South Platte River . Next came my first book, Fly Fishing the Tailwaters. After that I started giving slide shows to fly fishing clubs and all of a sudden I was a struggling “professional” fly fisherman. It had never been my plan to be a full time fly fisher, but here I am.

A lot of water has gone down the river since those early days. I still think the point of fishing is to catch fish, but I’m not as possessed by it now as I was when I started out. I like everything about fly fishing—the water, the places I go to catch fish, the casts, flies, boats and the friends I’ve made. And more than anything, it has always come down to the fish themselves for me. Whether it’s a trout, king salmon, bonefish, permit or bluegill---I just like looking at them, watching them swim, seeing what they do and how they act. And I like sharing all of this with others through my books, magazine stories, slide presentations, guided fishing trips and classes.

ED ENGLE

SHORT BIOGRAPHY AND PUBLICATION HISTORY

Ed Engle has been an avid fly fisherman for the past 30 years.  He has fly fished throughout the continental United States, Alaska, Mexico, Chile, and in Europe for a variety of game fish species with a special emphasis on trout.

As a fly fisherman Ed is especially interested in small fly tactics and techniques.  His small fly fishing research has taken him to a many of the West's famous tailwaters and to spring creeks across the country.  He is also dedicated to fly fishing small streams and high country lakes for wild trout.  Ed balances out his interest in the “small side of fly fishing” with the avid pursuit of king salmon on the fly.

Ed lives west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, within 40 miles of the South Platte River, one of Colorado’s premier tailwaters, where he guides and instructs fly fishers.

CURRENT PUBLICATION HISTORY AND QUALIFICATIONS

Southwest Field Editor for FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE

Strategies for Streams Columnist FLY FISHING & FLY TYING JOURNAL

Outdoor Writer for the BOULDER DAILY CAMERA

Regular Contributor to AMERICAN ANGLER

FREELANCE MAGAZINE articles and photographs have appeared in: Fly Fisherman Magazine, Fly Rod & Reel, American Angler, Trout, Warmwater Fly Fishing, Fly Tyer, Saltwater Fly Fishing, Angler’s Journal, Sports Afield, Fly Fishing Magazine, and Gray's Journal.

BOOKS:

FLY FISHING THE TAILWATERS is a how-to book about fly fishing for trout in the regulated waters that occur below dams (Stackpole, 1991).

SEASONAL: A LIFE OUTSIDE is a collection of essays about the 12 years Ed spent as a seasonal employee in the U.S. Forest Service (Pruett Publishing, 1989). 

SPLITTING CANE: CONVERSATIONS WITH BAMBOO ROD MAKERS is a collection of interviews Ed Engle conducted with bamboo fly rod makers over a period of five years. The appendix includes additional information of interest to bamboo fly rod aficionados (Stackpole, Fall 2002).

TYING SMALL FLIES is a compilation of the “Small Flies” columns that Ed has written for FLY TYER magazine for the past eight years. All of the columns have been updated with additional information for this volume. (Stackpole, 2004).

FISHING SMALL FLIES is the companion volume to “Tying Small Flies”. It details tactics and techniques for fishing small flies. (Stackpole, 2005).