The LFFE Blog

Greetings from Maine!, 

After all the students cut their teeth with their first fish of the trip on the Magalloway river we made our way to the Historic Lakewood Camp on the banks of the Rapid River.

Greetings from the Maine Advanced Expedition! As we continue our adventure up to Maine after wrapping up the Massachusetts Pike floats, everyone is getting excited for the trophy Brook trout fishing and reminiscing about monster pike fought, caught, and lost.

It has been an eventful few days since you last heard from us here in Mexico. Our first two full days of fishing this trip were amazing, so it was only fair that our third day slowed down a bit. Thursday presented us with some adverse conditions. The winds picked up making casting a challenge, and high clouds rolled in making it difficult to spot fish. In order to alleviate these conditions we decided to go after the big bonefish that inhabit the sheltered lagoons that makeup the southern rim of Ascension Bay. We ended up bringing in much fewer fish that day, but the overall size of the fis

We have our first two days under our belts here in Punta Allen Mexico, and it really could not have gone any better. Arrival day was admittedly a bit of an ordeal. It seemed as though half of the US tried to get into Cancun yesterday. The guys valiantly battled the extremely long customs line, which was taking about 1.5 - 2 hours to navigate. Once we were all through, we made the trek down south to Punta Allen in record time due to the road having been recently repaired.

When planning new trips on public land it sometimes takes years of planning before we even mention the likelihood of the trip taking place. Our Yellowstone trips are the perfect example. After several years of leading commercial trips and personal expeditions into the park, we knew exactly what a world-class teen fly fishing trip in Yellowstone should look like.

It is hard to believe it, but summer is almost here! We are getting excited for another summer full of adventure, learning, and of course, lots of spectacular fishing. As always, if you ever think of any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 828-577-8204 or send me an email at [email protected] In the meantime here is some information to help you or your child prepare for the adventure of a lifetime.

From roughly June 1st through the middle of September, I live a nomadic life, sleeping steps from some of

Teddy came on his first LFFE trip in 2016. His fly fishing experience was limited at best, but it didn’t take long to realize fishing was part of his DNA. In 2017 and 2018 Teddy came on two trips per summer, including the 2018 NC Blue Ridge Adventure as a Intern Trip Leader. His drive and dedication has transformed him into a true expert. He proved this point on the 2018 Yellowstone Expedition where, as a LIT, he caught some of the biggest wild fish ever caught on a LFFE trip. All with his signature fiberglass rod.

I’ve always been okay being that “fishing guy” pretty much everywhere I go because after all, that’s’ who I am. 

Every year we get a ton of participants, parents, alumni, and friends who ask about buying LFFE shirts, hats, hoodies, etc. We are in the process of building a new website which will hopefully include a complete online store. Our immediate plan is to stick to LFFE branded apparel, and we hope to grow those offerings based on your feedback. If you have something you would like to see please let us know. For now we have a limited supply of hoodies, t-shirts, and hats which you can order by giving us a call at 828-577-8204.

Our first day here in Colorado was largely a travel day, but because everybody got in pretty early in the day we were able to get in some quality fishing.  After leaving the airport we drove a few hours to camp near Granby, Co right on the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).  We quickly set up camp then drove into the park to fish the headwaters of the Colorado River.  Everybody managed to put multiple fish to the net, and Noah got his first several trout on the fly!

Dear parents and friends,

It has been non stop action since our last update. Fishing, backpacking, service, and more fishing!

Greetings from Mammoth. The Yellowstone Expedition has spent the last few days fishing the front country of Yellowstone after exiting the Snake River Backcountry. The fishing has been fantastic, and we are looking forward to heading into the Slough Creek backcountry. 

Greetings from Slough Creek,

The Yellowstone Adventure has been busy soaking in the Boiling River and fishing hard in the  Slough Creek front country and backcountry since exiting our last backcountry.

It sure is good to be back to civilization!  We have had quite the week since you last heard from us.  This past Saturday we worked with the Crested Butte Land Trust for our service project.  We spent the morning pulling invasive weed species from the banks of the Slate River just outside the town of Crested Butte.  After breaking for lunch we spent the afternoon demolishing unwanted social trails from the popular hiking/mountain biking/horse riding area known as Snodgrass.  After a hard days work, we retired to town to restock on fishing supplies at a local fly shop, then treated ourselves

Greetings from Yellowstone. The last few days have been action packed and full of adventure in the backcountry and frontcountry of Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley.

It is hard to believe that our first Yellowstone Adventure of the summer is coming to an end. The last few days have been spent fishing the backcountry of the Lamar Valley. Today we will fish inside Yellowstone National Park one last time before we head back to Jackson for our service project, whitewater rafting, and a float fishing trip down the Snake River.

Greetings from Yellowstone National Park, We have just exited our first backcountry section of the Yellowstone Adventure! Before I go into the details on the backcountry, I’ll sum up what we did leading up to it. We tuned up our fishing skills the day after arriving in Jackson Hole with a knot tying and casting seminar along the Madison River, which is inside Yellowstone National Park. Later that day we fished the difficult Madison, with lots of action on grasshopper fly patterns. That night we ate a delicious meal of fettucine alfredo with s’mores for desert.

The Yellowstone Expedition got off to an early ‪start on Monday morning‬ as we prepared our belongings and broke down camp at the Gros Ventre campground near the Jackson Airport. We were getting ready for our entrance into Yellowstone. On our drive up to the backcountry office for permits and a lesson on bear safety, we were able to enjoy the scenic Snake River Valley and Grand Teton Mountain Range. Many of the rivers we passed on the way looked excellent for fishing which just made everyone more excited than they already were for the next couple days in the park.

Hard to believe that the Rocky Mountain Expedition has come to a close. It seems like only yesterday that the trip was just getting started. Since exiting the backcountry for the last time, the nature of our fishing has drastically changed. We swapped the high alpine creeks and lakes of Rocky mountain National Park for the low desert scrubland of the main body of the Colorado River. While we left behind the hungry bro trout and colorful cutthroats of the high country, we got to meet the large and predatory brown trout of the bigger water.

After we exited the backcountry on Monday July 9th we had our day of community service. Before getting to work we cooked a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage. For our service project we picked up trash and other debris along the banks of the Colorado River. We worked with the Bureau of Land Management on the project, who manages this specific area. The location is called “Pumphouse Recreation Area”, which is a very popular boat launch, fishing, and camping site just below Gore Canyon outside of Kremmling, CO.

It has been an action packed six days since the beginning of the Rocky Mountain Expedition!  Its hard to believe that less than a week ago we were hanging out in the airport considering all we have done and seen.

Greetings from LFFE.