Thank You and Farewell.

Big Sky

So this post has been a long time coming. There has been a noticeable lack of updating lately. We’ve been fishing and guiding, and minus a small hiccup in water flows a couple weeks ago, it’s been a great spring. The Upper Andro has been fishing like a house on fire. My clients actually hooked-up on EIGHT doubles yesterday. In the end, we caught a lot of fish. It was an absolutely insane day! I don’t deserve all the credit by any means, it didn’t hurt that these guys were good anglers. Sure you can learn new tricks from a guide, you can spend a day taking in a scenic river, and you can have a great shore lunch- but at the end of the day, when the buck stops, 90% of people who have hired you have done so because they want to catch fish.

I’m always a little reluctant to put up numbers, because I don’t keep fish tallies. I think it misses the point and detracts from the heart and soul of what fly fishing is really all about. But at some point during the day, when it’s been really good, the conversation often turns to “how many fish have we caught?", and sometimes it helps to convey how good things were in numbers. Then again, you can get burned with that stuff, because we’ve all seen big days followed by really shitty ones. But if you need an update- go fish, it’s still really good.

As for the lack of updates- it’s for good reason. We haven’t been trying to promote the business because for the time being, we are done, and moving on to new adventures.

It feels kind of strange to write that, considering all the energy that was poured into Wild River Angler over the last four years, but it is official. WRA will be guiding its last trips this week.

It’s for good reason. I’m heading west, to the ‘last best place’- Montana. I'm dropping everything and starting over. That leaves a lot of room for a pretty big: Why? After all, Maine is a pretty nice place to live. There is not an easy answer, and the truth is, it wasn’t an easy decision. But in reality it’s a move that has been a long time in the making- and finally the time was as ‘right’ as it ever will be. Montana is not for everybody - but for some who deeply love to trout fish and have spent time there, it really needs no explanation. There are few better places to build a life around fly fishing.

No, fly fishing is not the most important thing in my life, but it’s right up there behind my wife, daughter, immediate family and friends.

I know some of you that have fished with us here have expressed interest in fishing out West. As calls and emails continue to come in about fishing here in Maine, we will be referring people to our friends that we made along the way. I’ll keep in touch as things come together and maybe even post an update here now and then. Being a Wild River Angler is more than a place, or a business- it’s a state of mind that can go anywhere you happen to be standing or floating in water.

So, Thank You! To all of you who started as ‘clients’ and became our friends- you made WRA possible. Many, many, many thanks. There truly would have been nothing without you.

Keep in touch, and see you under the Big Sky!

Tyler