Submitted by Jim Craig
What happens when you bring together Jason Randall, one of the nation’s foremost experts in euro nymphing and fly-fishing education, Pat Dorsey, a legendary guide and master of indicator nymphing and dry/dropper techniques, and Nicholas Conklin, an accomplished streamer fishing specialist and fly rod designer to deliver an unmatched combination of classroom instruction, hands-on demonstrations, and personalized coaching on one of the most beautiful and productive rivers in Colorado?
The result was a fly-fishing educational experience unlike anything FATC has ever offered to its members. It far surpassed everyone’s expectations.
Add the expertise of supporting instructors Kenny Klimes and Dale Coy, and the organizational and logistical design of the school’s founder, Jim Young, then you have a true Dream Team. Together, they created an environment that helped every participant become a more skilled, knowledgeable, and confident angler.
Planning for our June 1–4, 2026, FATC trip to the Advanced Fly Fishing Skills for Western Waters school began more than a year earlier, in May 2025. At that time, Kenny Klimes, John Muckerman, and I attended a previous version of this unique school to determine whether it was something we could confidently recommend to our members.
The experience was amazing. Convinced that it would provide tremendous value to FATC members, we promoted this school to our members and the response was outstanding. Interest was so strong that we filled all but two of the available spots in the school.
Twelve FATC members attended this 3-day school – Al Blair, Jim Peterson, Stephen Avedisian, Larry Mangels, Tony Kalinowski, Bob Hassett, Charlie Trankler, Bob Born, Denny Garner, Greg Krochta, Glenn Haake and me, Jim Craig. Nine of us flew on the same flight directly from St. Louis to Denver, and three guys made the trip by car. We rented three cars for our daily travel needs and we stayed in two very comfortable VRBOs near our central location for meeting, eating and fishing. All meals and drinks were provided.
Breakfast started at 7 AM every day then our morning classes started at 7:30 AM. We were at the river for on-the-water demonstrations and fishing by 9 AM. After the morning demonstrations, we split into two groups and headed to our assigned beats with our instructor/coaches on the private waters of Abell River Ranch. We had exclusive access to this beautiful 3-mile stretch of the South Platt River. We found it was home to LOTS of healthy wild rainbow and brown trout, and it wasn’t uncommon for us to catch 20+” fish. The two groups came together each day for lunch on the river, then back out fishing until 4PM. Throughout the day, the instructors spent one-on-one time coaching each participant as they practiced reading the water and fishing the technique we were focusing on for that day. Guys said this exponentially improved their fishing skills. Happy hour, appetizers, and dinner ran from 4-6PM. From 6-8PM we had our evening classroom sessions.
Throughout these three days, our curriculum focused on basic Euronymphing, competitive Euronymphing, traditional nymphing, streamer, and dry/dropper techniques. Plus, we had various presentations on reading the water, rigging, gear care, knot tying, etc. One of the highlights was the knot strength competition the last night. If you don’t know how, you better learn the 16-20 knot. You really could not fit more information into these three days. To keep our energy up throughout this trip, we had the most delicious meals and desserts provided by Janine Young and her family friend Rebecca.
I’ll let the pictures and feedback from some of the participants close out this report. Just remember this quote from Jason Randall, “If you stop learning, you’ll never be any better of a fly fisherman than you are today.”
Denny Garner – Great value: Excellent classroom presentations and the water coaching. Exceeded my expectations, absolutely would do again. Outstanding advance fly fishing school! Highly recommend to FATC members.
Tony Kalinowski – Accommodations and food outstanding to go along with expert instruction. I took away many tips to improve my results on the stream.
Bob Hassett – As I said to a few others, this trip was a steal for the laughs and scenery alone. Not to mention what I learned!
Larry Mangels – Great instructors and a beautiful fishery make for an excellent three days! Whether new to the sport or been at it a long time, everyone walked away learning something new!
Al Blair – I think the trip was a good/great value. The opportunity to attend in the same part of Colorado next year would be, to me, a “plus.” All teachers/guides were excellent. All were knowledgeable and patient, I learned a lot from ALL OF THEM. Quality of food was also excellent/delicious. I caught some very nice fish, mostly on streamers. Thanks for the memories.
Glenn Haake – Jim, as I told you, I had low expectations going into the fly-fishing school, since I have seen Jason Randall’s information two times prior. I was wrong, it takes several times to sink in and you pick up a little more each time. The time on the water with Jason, Pat and Nick was invaluable, I learned an incredible amount about reading the water and the techniques they were teaching. The amount of fly-fishing knowledge that Jason, Pat and Nick have is incredible.
Everyone wants to do this school again! Will you join us next year?
Submitted by Kenny Klimes – from an Instructors view:
Well, it never ceases to amaze me how much we ALL can learn every time we get fly fishing experts and not-so experts together to discuss the ways to become better fly fishers. Well, it happened again at the Advanced Fly Fishing Skills for Western Waters school in Lake George, Colorado. We had fourteen fly fishers attend with twelve being FATC guys. This was an intense all day “learning” school with classroom discussions and on the water training. As you can see from the above comments no one was disappointed. As Jim stated we were able to fish on the famed Abell River Ranch which would cost over a $1000 per day to get the opportunity. Of course the school with meals, instruction, and fishing was half that much!!
The school taught us not only how to fish particular waters but where to fish and why. Everything from streamers, dry-dropper techniques, ESN techniques and more were all covered. It was awesome to see the wide eyes and big smiles when guys fought and netted big over 20 inch trout consistently. And for those that lost the big ones (like me) all we could do was smile and try again. As Jim mentioned, don’t miss the opportunities to attend these special schools if you want to make fly fishing more of a sport than just a hobby. If you want to be “good” at your sport you must continue to learn and adapt. A wise man once told me, “Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong!!”
