What’s up blogosphere? I thought I would put a word in here and introduce myself. My name is Andy and I will be a frequent contributor to the Duranglers blog. Some of you may have met me while in the shop, if not, well then hopefully someday. I am a frequent lounge about at Duranglers, attempting to soak up as much info as possible. There is a lot I could say about myself, but I will keep it short. I love my family, I cherish the outdoors, and I am constantly trying to find the next best run to cast a fly. I try to have those three passions coexists in my life as often as possible.
My journey into the fly fishing world began when I was 11. Casting buggers to bass and panfish in the large pond behind my grandparent’s house and slinging hack job dries to skittish trout swimming in NW Iowa spring creeks; not the epic fly upbringing of some, but I would not trade it. Shortly after, my interest in tying my own flies blossomed into a full on obsession and I would drag my grandfather off to a weekly tying night at a local business filled with middle aged men; tying and fishing gods in my eyes (My grandfather didn’t have one care about fly tying or fishing, but he did care about me, and…well…he could drive). Since then, I moved to Denver for a handful of years to stumble through that dog and pony show called college. I then got married, moved to Durango, had 2 kids, and settled into a quieter life than Denver could offer. All the while toting my fishing and tying gear, slinging flies at any spot of water that looked promising.
This may be a brief history of my fishing upbringing perhaps: however the point is where it all brought me: Southwest Colorado. Working with Tom and John and the guys at Duranglers has helped me realize one thing: my fly fishing education has just begun. With the unreal amount of water within a 2 hour drive from Durango (most of it being under a half hour); I am daily learning something new. High mountain creeks and lakes of a million different flavors, wilderness areas, larger rivers, tailwaters (The San Juan in itself could take a lifetime to truly understand), flatwater, and warmwater; this area has more to fish than could be accomplished in a few lifetimes. Although I am no self-proclaimed expert unless you count falling in and losing flies as expertise, I spend as much time on the water or with the true experts at Duranglers gaining new insights. These insights I will be bringing to you all, the blog reading faithful.
