James is a recent graduate of the Sun Valley Community School who will attend Vanderbilt University in the fall, sees the poetry in fly fishing each time he steps into a river. He described his favorite hatch of the year, the legendary Brown Drake on Silver Creek, “Standing in the 50-degree spring fed waters of Silver Creek, casting size 10 and 12 flies to lurking Brown trout suspended beneath the sunset pigmented, glassy waters is magical to say the least. As the thousands of Brown Drakes dance across the night air, you can almost sense the fishes’ energy reverberating within the water, not to mention the bubbling excitement and anticipation shared among the anglers who all know a fish of the lifetime may just be within one lengths cast.” Originally from Los Angeles, James has spent the past 11 years between LA and Sun Valley. He explained, “My parents wanted to try the mountain lifestyle for a year, and this ‘trial’ continues on 10 years later.”

Guiding Style

I consider my guiding style a hybrid between a “catcher” and a “teacher.” While my goal is always to bring as many fish, especially big fish, to the net, I also find value and enjoy teaching anglers the subtleties of fly fishing, from reading the water to fly selection to entomology. Overall, I seek to support my clients’ definition of success. If that means breaking a 30 fish day, great! If they want to learn a new technique like euro-nymphing, and catching fish happens to be a bonus, I’m totally on board!