What we cover
Weekly flow data, water temps, and exactly what's hatching right now. Every section, every week.
Only gear we own and have fished hard. Buy once, cry once. If it's not worth the money, we'll say so.
Access, hatches, best beats, and what makes each section worth the drive — with live flows.
The writer
I didn't grow up fly fishing. I found it, fell hard, and never looked back. Now I'm on the water as often as I can talk myself into it — impressive or alarming, depending on who you ask.
Home base is Colorado Springs, which keeps Deckers within striking distance and puts the Arkansas at Pueblo, the Dream Stream, and Eleven Mile in reach when I've got a full day. The South Platte is the water I know best — but I'm just as happy chasing the small blue lines that don't show up in most fishing content. I tie most of what ends up on my tippet.
I'm particular about gear — buy once, cry once, own it right. Or so I tell myself. The quiver runs from a Scott Centric 5-weight for most days, to a little 3-weight for tight creeks, to a long rod for euro nymphing technical tailwater — plus a few more I can justify one at a time but never all at once. I preach owning less. My closet didn't get the memo.
By trade, I'm a developer and marketer. Off the river, I'm in the Colorado backcountry chasing big game — bow in hand, same tunnel vision, different terrain. Winter just means ice fishing. There's no off-season.
My son's already caught the same bug — which makes me either a great dad or a very persuasive one.
The best days usually end the same way: last light on the water, a cigar on the bank, no hurry to leave. That's the part all the gear is really in service of.
No best-of clickbait. No padded reviews of gear I've never touched — I fish what I write about. If something isn't worth your money, I'll tell you. The South Platte deserves better writing than that.
Brands we fish
Gear and shops we actually use, and the partners we work with. A few of these links are affiliate — that's covered in the disclosure below.
Reader discounts
Codes from partners I work with — these ones are for you, not just me. Use them at checkout and save.
Affiliate disclosure
Some links on this site are affiliate links — if you buy through one, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That's what keeps me in tippet and the truck pointed at the river. It doesn't change what I cover or what I say about it. Full disclosure →