Fly Fishing - Crested Butte, Colorado

Fly Fishing Photography

Crested Butte, Colorado - Summer - San Juan Mountains

Crested Butte, Colorado is hands down one of my favorite places to go fly fishing in the country. It’s just one of my favorite places period. Combine the stunning views with their mountain town culture and access to all sorts of fly fishing, and the place is hard to beat. Summertime anywhere in the San Juan mountains will seduce you whether you’re aware of it or not. The images are from a recent backcountry fly fishing trip with friends to a small creek that shall go unnamed for obvious reasons. There is plenty of easy fishing access around around Crested Butte on the Taylor River, East River, and Gunnison River, so blowing up such a remote spot like this would cause me to lose sleep. Just looking at these photographs is FOMO inducing. Can’t wait to get back out there.

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Summer fly fishing near Crested Butte, Colorado

Fly fishing in Crested Butte, Colorado

Photograph of two friends fly fishing a small creek in Colorado

Fly fisherman wading up a river in Crested Butte, Colorado

Photograph of a fly fisherman climbing over a pile of logs along a stream

A fly fisherman climbing over a pile of trees and branches on the side of a river outside Crested Butte, Colorado

Photograph of a fly fisherman casting in a beautiful section of stream near Crested Butte, Colorado

Fly fishing a picturesque stream in the San Juan Mountains

Photograph of beers cooling off in a pool off on the side of a stream in Colorado

Cans of Coors Banquet chilling in river water during a fly fishing trip in Colorado

Catching trout on a backcountry stream in Colorado

Backcountry fly fishing in Colorado

A fly fisherman netting a trout in a small stream surrounded by canyon walls in Colorado

Fly fisherman laughing after a fun day on the river in Crested Butte, Colorado

Fly fishing wading boots and wading socks drying on a tree

Fly Fishing in the Colorado Backcountry

Black Canyon of the Gunnison Fly Fishing

Backcountry Fy Fishing - Photography

If you’re looking for a special place to fly fish and have considered the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, just do it. Just go. Stop screwing around and do it. Be warned though, it’s not for everyone. You’ve got to like getting your ass kicked. We did the S.O.B Draw route, and don’t mind saying it’s a tough hike with a full pack. Technically you can’t even call it a hike because there is no path, just a scramble the whole way up and down, with several places that will require taking off your pack just to get down those sketchy sections. They say it’s 2.1 miles with 2,000 ft of elevation, but it seems like that’s just to where the “trail” hits the river. From there you’ll need to keep following the river to find the designated camping spots. If you’re a psycho, you could make it a day trip, but what the hell is the point of that? We did 2 nights and wished for a 3rd.

A guy backpacking down S.O.B. Draw into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison near Crawford, Colorado.

Fly fisherman backpacking into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado

Camping in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison near Crawford, Colorado

Fisherman making camp at the bottom of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

The bastard of a hike in is what makes the whole experience great because very few people actually want to work for it. So you could potentially have the entire canyon to yourself. In my opinion the first campsite is the best one, and makes for a great base camp to take day hikes from. There is plenty of fishing to be had right in that area, which we did on day one. Depending on the time of year, it can be hot as hell. We expected the nights to cool off, but they did not. It stayed hot enough in mid August to sleep in only underwear and no blankets. Sticky. The nights were sticky. Fortunately, the water was very cool.

Fly fishing the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon near Crawford, Colorado

Fly fishing in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

A fly fisherman jumping from rock to rock on the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon near Crawford, Colorado

A fly fisherman navigates rocks while looking for trout in the Gunnison River

A fly fisherman pulls out his net for a rainbow trout on the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon near Crawford, Colorado

A fly fisherman prepares to net a trout in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Leaving camp the next day was great. We packed enough food for the whole day and a Grayl filtration water bottle which eliminated the need to carry large amount of liquids or a separate filtration system. Even with the hot temperatures, waders are a must as there is Poison Ivy EVERYWHERE. A miracle that none of us got it! (It’s worth bringing some Poison Ivy soap and washing off a few times a day)Getting to the river from the top doesn’t mean that the work is over. Everywhere you go requires hiking on primitive trails or scrambles, but it’s all worth it. No matter the location, you’re always surrounded by 2,000 ft rock walls. It reminded me a little bit of Glenwood Canyon without a highway running through the middle of it.

Fly fisherman hiking along the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon near Crawford, Colorado

Two fly fisherman hiking over large boulders on their way to the Gunnison River

A fly fisherman climbing over boulders along the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon near Crawford, Colorado

A fly fisherman climbing over large boulders on the side of the Gunnison River

The fishing was awesome. Lots of action. Tough at times, but a ton of fun. Without mentioning any names, one of us had a tough time with fish aggressively swimming down river and breaking the line. We really should have kept a tally on that. Probably just the time of year, but we never even thought about throwing out a dry fly. It was all about Perdigons on the bottom. All 3 of us put some stunning Browns and Rainbows in the net, which honestly, is almost just a bonus. The overall vibe in that canyon is spectacular. A really special part of Colorado, the country, and a unique place to fish without any crowds. Before leaving we were already excited to do another trip. Now that we’ve digested things bit, going at a different time of year seems better, when the water is a little higher and the temps a lot lower.

Fly fisherman hanging out at camp in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Two friends laughing together after a day of fly fishing on the Gunnison River

Fly fishing in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

A fly fisherman prepares his gear for a day in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

A fly fisherman walking over a tree bridge in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

A fly fisherman navigating difficult terrain in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Fly fishing for trout on the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon near Crawford, Colorado

Fly fishing the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado

A brown trout caught on the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon near Crawford, Colorado

A trout caught by a fly fisherman in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

If you’re planning a trip and have any questions, reach out to my buddy at Slackwater Co, he’s got tons of expertise to share on fly fishing in Colorado.

Click here to see more of my fly fishing photography. And contact me directly to purchase prints of my fly fishing photography.

Alaska Fly Fishing Photography

Alaska Fly Fishing - Drake Magazine

Fly Fishing Photography - Adventure - Culture

Another post about personal projects…….

If you’re a fly fisherman then you know The Drake for it’s exceptional photography and writing. So I’m very proud to say that this article you see from the latest issue contains not just my photographs but my words as well. A first for me. Beyond that I’m also grateful that the article is about my friend Zach Benson - an Alaskan fly fishing guide, hunter, duck decoy artist, father, and New York State Trooper. It would be hard to find something more satisfying than hanging out with a friend in Alaska and turning that experience into something like a magazine article, ad campaign, image license, etc. As my career goes on though, this type of thing has become a huge focus. Using my passion/skill as a means to help people I care about. People that deserve it. People as passionate about their craft as I am about mine. For many years I got paid to photograph famous athletes, which is really cool as a young photographer looking to make a name for himself. Then as time goes on you realize it’s all bullshit. And most of the time clients want to create boring images that will do nothing but sell a boring product. That’s not to say there aren’t some really great brands out there that are fun to shoot with. For the most part though, nobody wants to take any chances. They want to play it safe. I don’t know what the Drake’s circulation is? Minuscule when compared to that of a company with reach like the Nike’s of the world. Still though, I’d rather shoot this stuff 8 days a week. And just for the record, The Drake didn’t hire me to shoot this story on Zach. It was a self assigned project that I pitched to them and they bit. No pun intended.

Long live the personal project.

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Fly Fishing - Crested Butte, CO

Taylor River Fly Fishing

Fly Fishing Photography - Colorado

Sometimes you think the sun is going to help with the cold and on certain days is does. For all the rest of the days, it’s easiest to just accept the fact that you won’t feel your hands again until you get back to the truck. At which point you’ll need to put a koozie around your beer just so they don’t get any worse. Thankfully this wasn’t one of those. It’s only the middle of October but that doesn’t matter. If you spend time in the mountains then you know an early summer morning can feel oddly similar to winter. It’s got to be part of that whole love/hate thing.

It’s safe to assume that most western fly fisherman, in the beginning at least, are only concentrated on the rainbow trout. It’s put up on a pedestal. The trophy. The goal. Won’t deny having those same feelings, but that’s all changed over time, as everything does. Now, in my opinion, brown trout are king. Their colors and markings are really special.Now, In the name of transparency this isn’t my fish, but my friend caught it while I was shooting. Which means I was sort of catching it vicariously through him. That’s the only way I’ve found to calm the urge to set the camera down and replace it with a fly rod. It’s a vicious cycle that I’m trying to be at peace with. On the scale of problems, it’s a good one to have. Snowboarding is the only thing I do that absolutely won’t involve a camera unless it’s the one on my phone. Fly fishing on the other hand is a constant battle.

Good times on the Taylor River that day.

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11 Mile Canyon - Fly Fishing

Fly Fishing Photography

11 Mile Canyon - Colorado - Trout - Fly Fishing Culture

The last 2 months of travel/shooting have been so full that I literally forgot about these images for a while. My turnaround on posting images is usually 6 months to a year though, so this is uncharacteristically quick. These are from a rare trip to Colorado when I opted for a plane instead of driving, if that tells you anything about my recent schedule? Not complaining at all. The last two months have been great and I couldn’t be any more grateful to be busy after the black hole of 2020 which consisted of almost zero commercial work. Enough of that talk. 11 Mile Canyon near Lake George is a special place, but don’t tell anyone. I’ve been hearing about if from friends for years and was finally able to experience it first hand. All the guys in our crew were catching monster Rainbow Trout. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get up close to photograph them, although I don’t care much about those kind of images. There are more than too many of them on the internet as is. Hope to make a yearly trip to this canyon.

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Fly Fishing the Owens River

Owens River Fly Fishing

Mammoth Lakes, California - Winter

Some time over the past couple months has been spent archiving my library of images which is a hell of a process. Sorta seems like moving houses in that you have no idea how many stuff you’ve accumulated over the years until it’s necessary to move it. Archiving my library is daunting but necessary. Should have been doing it all along. A lesson I’ve learned during this process is how easy it is to forget about images once they sit on hard drives for a certain period of time. Life goes on. You get busy. Commercial shooting and other paying projects get put on the front burner. So now I’m faced with having to archive 10+ years of imagery onto a separate site that will allow the images to be licensed instead of collecting dust on a shelf. That aside, it brings a lot of joy to see images from trips past that I haven’t looked at since they happened. Also brings the thought of travel to the forefront and what COVID has done to the possibility of doing it at all. Internationally at least.

The images you see here are from a camping trip last year to Lone Pine, CA in the Alabama Hills. On the way out we hit the Owens River briefly to see if there were any trout hanging out in a particular section we’d never been to. Turns out, there weren’t……

Click HERE for an archive of fly fishing imagery which will is still a work in progress and always will be as my library continues to grow.

FLY FISHING PHOTOGRAPHER

Winter Fly Fishing - Photography

The only thing greater than fly fishing is fly fishing with two feet of fresh powder. This was a hell of day that was originally supposed to start with backcountry snowboarding. That is until a slide shutdown I70. It happens. What are you gonna do. We tried taking every backroad available, but they were all shutdown. This is why, no matter the season, you keep your fly fishing gear in the truck too.

To see more from this series click HERE.

Click here to purchase one of my fly fishing prints.

Fly Fishing Photographer

Eastern Sierra Fly Fishing

When my obsession with fly fishing first started it was just a warm weather thing. A fun pastime to do on a sunny day while camping or backpacking. Fast forward X amount of years and I still have trouble figuring out what the best season is for it. I’m currently leaning toward winter, but it’s still up for debate. Furthermore, my appreciation for the Eastern Sierra grows immensely each time I visit. It’s a massive playground that is always showing you new places to play as you get deeper into it.

Click here for more fly fishing/adventure images.

The Drake Magazine

The Drake Magazine

Fly Fishing Photography

As a photographer I’m very confident in my abilities but rarely fully satisfied with results, always thinking they could be better. Which, in my opinion, is a positive thing. This is one of the rare exceptions that I was very satisfied with an image, so to see it go to a great home is also very gratifying. If you know fly fishing then you know The Drake Magazine and it’s high standards for writing and photography. They aren’t like most other publications that just post pics of people holding the big fish they just caught. You also have to appreciate their style of shit talking to the rest of the industry. They know their niche. In the upper right corner of every cover it reads “Seven bucks. $14 for bait fisherman”. The other thing that makes me really happy about this shot is it was made during a great day on the river with friends, not a set-up photo shoot.

Click here to order a copy of The Drake or hit me up if you’d like a print.

Click here for more of my fly fishing photography