Summary: Fly Fishing in Maine with LL Bean’s Macauley Lord...Part One This week I welcome Macauley Lord to the show. Macauley is the Head Instructor at the LL Bean Fly Fishing School in Freeport, Maine where he has taught since 1986. In 1993 the Federation of Fly Fishers officially certified him as an instructor, and in 1995 he passed the rigorous exam to become a master fly casting instructor. In addition to being an Emeritus Member of the Federation of Fly Fishers Casting Board of Governors, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from them in August of 2011. He trains and certifies fly-casting instructors around the country making sure that they not only know how to fly cast, but how to teach the art of fly casting effectively to students everywhere. If you have read the American Angler magazine, Fly Fisherman magazine, or the Saltwater Fly Fishing magazine, chances are the fly casing articles were written by Macauley Lord Although he has not guided professionally for several years now, Macauley shares his incredible amount of knowledge and know-how about the sport we pursue with such a passion. Surprisingly to me, small mouth bass fishing is Macauley’s fish of choice. I was expecting to talk about trout fishing with him, but small mouth bass is in abundance in his part of Maine, and I learned a lot about fishing to them. Listen in as Macauley tells the story of his meeting with Bob Clauser, the inventor of the iconic Clouser Minnow and find out one of the things bass cannot resist. In Part One, Macauley tells us how he started out fly fishing on his family’s farm pond for bass and bluegill, to being a trout bum out West for a while, to fly fishing in Maine, and his grand journey ending (or beginning) that lead to LL Bean, and that is just for starters. Fly Fishing Flies... Flies for Spring, Summer, Fall: Gartside’s Soft Hackle Streamer in White and in Olive [I can’t find these for sale on the web. The ones I tie are embarrassingly simple: a single marabou plume palmered up the shank from bend to eye. That’s it.] Bead-Head Wooly Bugger #8 in Olive Flies for Summer: Chernobyl Ant #6 in Black/Orange [It’s the only dry fly I use for bass anymore: I quit using bass poppers years ago because they are so wind-resistant and therefore tiring to cast for very long.] Lake Dragon #8 in Olive The Androscoggin, Kennebec, and the Penobscot Rivers are where Macauley puts in his kick boat and chases the bass and stripers. No wade fishing done here, if you go fly fishing with Macauley, it will be the both of you floating down the river in kick boats. Also in Part One, Macauley gives us a very insightful views of fly guiding, the flies for all seasons, respecting the fish you want to catch, tactical fly fishing, dry fly and nymphing the proper way for bass, fly casting for bass, fishing to the water and not sight-fishing, and so much more…and then some! In Part Two, I ask Macauley how to be a more efficient fly caster and we talk about his book, The LL Bean Fly-Casting Handbook and how he approached the challenge of putting fly casting it down on paper. He also gives us a great fly fishing guide tip and tells us a fly fishing guide story that shows us a side of Macauley you may not know about. Tight lines! David Darling Tweet // Call Macauley at LL Bean: 888-552-3261 Email: 4mlord@gmail.com Facebook: Facebook.com/Macauleylord Take a fly casting class with Macauley LL Bean's Fly Fishing Outdoor Discovery School L.L. Bean Fly Casting Handbook by Macauley Lord (affiliate link) Music provided by JewelBeat.com
