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About Rob

Rob’s Mission

To get you to fish locally. To make you a better and more competent and self sufficient angler. To make fly fishing easy, approachable, and less intimidating.

Washington D.C is full of consultants. Rob just happens to be one that focuses on fly fishing, providing expert knowledge and advice to fly fisherman in Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and beyond. Rob offers guided trips in Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. Think of him as a personal trainer, coach, concierge, or tutor for the angler, specializing in urban and suburban fly fishing for warm water species like bass (striped, largemouth, and smallmouth), northern snakehead, carp, catfish, bluegill, sunfish, crappie, gar, and walleye. Rob is the only guide who has federally issued permits for working along the tidal and non-tidal sections of the Potomac River between Great Falls and Mount Vernon on the Virginia shoreline. There are no guides for fishing the other side (Georgetown DC to Hancock, Md)

We will work on your casting, identifying fish and insects that fish eat, where the fish are and why they are there, and how to catch them. Through my instruction you will learn how to fly fish while you are fishing. Catching fish is not guaranteed.

Rob’s background in consulting, education, fly fishing, and biological sciences gives him a unique approach to fly fishing education and instruction. You will gain a whole new perspective on fly fishing that you will not gain from a local fly shop, magazine, book, or TV show. Rob’s goal is to make you a competent, successful, and self sufficient angler. Sign up today to let Rob better plan your trip.

Background

Four Mile Run, Alexandria VA

Rob grew up in Reston, VA where he had a warm water lake across the street and beaver ponds in his backyard. Rob spent his time after school and on vacations fishing on the lake and along the nearby creeks.

First bass on new Orvis rod 1995

His dad would take him and his brother (Andrew) to the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers on weekends where they would fish for smallmouth bass. His grandparents lived in Florida. His mother’s parents lived along a coral reef on the ocean. His father’s mom lived inland amongst tea-stained canals.

Rapidan 1989

Rob’s vacations were based around family but he made them about fishing. Rob fished the coral reefs for jacks and what ever else would bite and golf course canals for monster largemouth bass.

Rob started off with a hand line from the Boston Aquarium at age four and graduated to a Zebco push button rod by age 6. By fifth grade he was using a spinning rod with lures and bait. Rob says that Spam is the best fishing bait. Although Rob has been fishing since he was four, he didn’t pick up a fly rod until 5th grade or so . It was his brother’s rod. The first time he used it he broke the tip in the front door and from then on it was his. In fact, he still fishes that Cortland rod.

Fly Fishing Rapidan 1989

Rob’s dad started taking him to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the summer where he learned to fish for brook trout. Rob began to drive to the middle Potomac river at ‘Seneca’ and nearby office park ponds after school when he got his drivers license in 1993.

1994 Potomac Camping

In the summer of 1993 he went on a trip to Ecuador where one of his fellow travelers had a fly rod and butterfly net. During that summer Rob began to focus his interests from spin and bait to fly and eventually fly tying. It was that trip in 1993 that inspired Rob to pursue entomology in college.

Potomac 1994

August of 1995 Rob went to college at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA . It was on the Rappahannock river where he was introduced to tidal and anadromous species such as shad and striped bass. Rob fished the spring runs for these fish and fished the summers above town for smallies. Rob’s life changed dramatically on May 4, 1999 when he caught his first striped bass on a fly rod, “I never touched a spin rod again.”

Falmouth Flats 1999

Rob graduated in 1999 and began working for the local Orvis store in Tyson’s Corner and then Key Largo, Florida.

My winter in the Keys 1999

That is where his life changed. Since July 1999 Rob has dedicated his life to fly fishing. It has changed who he is in almost every aspect. Rob’s solo career in fly fishing began in the winter of 2006 when he left his part time job at Hudson Trail Outfitters. Rob left corporate life in the spring of 2010 to pursue fly fishing as the focus of his career.

Blood’s Dot Steelhead

Rob now wears flip flops and shorts or waders to work in stead of wingtips and a suit. For more information, please read below. He is the only guide authorized to guide the shorelines of the Tidal Potomac in and around Washington DC. He is obsessed with northern snakeheads.

Rob is featured in the short film “Urban Lines, Fish Where You Are”

Urban Lines – Fish Where You Are from The Fly Fishing Film Tour on Vimeo.

Affiliations

Patagonia Pro Athlete
Stealthcraft Boats Pro Team
Supported by Simms, Orvis, Costa Del Mar, Chaco, Reddington, Sage, Rio, Buff, Temple Fork Outfitters, Ariat, SIMMS, Hareline Dubbin, Korkers, Mountain Khakis, Yeti Coolers, Kast Gear, Douglas Outdoors
Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders
Trout Unlimited
American Fly Fishing Trade Association
Federation of Fly Fishers
Potomac Conservancy
Project Healing Waters.

Other

Red Cross C.P.R. , AED, and first aid certified
Insured
Commercial use authorized for George Washington Memorial Parkway National Park.

Fishing

Fly Fishing Consultant, LLC, Alexandria, VA  05/10 – Present Owner/operator
Fly Tying Instructor, Arlington VA 01/12-Present Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders monthly tying class instructor
Breckenridge Outfitters, Breckenridge, CO 06/05 – 08/05 Sales associate and fly fishing instructor Breckenridge Outfitters won the 2005 Orvis Endorsed Outfitter of the Year Award!
Hudson Trail Outfitters, Fairfax, VA  12/03 – 05/05 Sales associate
Orvis Company Store, Tyson’s Corner, VA 7/99 – 5/03 Sales associate and fly fishing instructor
The Mountain Lake Lodge, Harpers Ferry, WV 08/02 – 06/03 Head Guide and store employee . Lodge and store destroyed by arson, 06/03
Grand Slam Outfitters, Key Largo, FL  12/99 – 02/00 Sales associate and fly fishing instructor.

Consulting

Booz Allen Hamilton, Arlington, VA. 05/08 – 05/10
Provided financial business management and post-award grant monitoring support to the National Science Foundation Division of Institutional Award Support

Teaching

Biology Teacher, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA 03/04 – 09/07 General and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Biology Classes
Developed instructional materials, including visual aids, hand outs, curriculum, computerized lesson plans, and assignments to meet individualized learning needs of a multicultural diverse student body based on my background in education and biology. Closely collaborated with department teachers to share personally developed instructional materials and common assessments to ensure all students learned and were uniformly assessed
Demonstrated expertise in using technology-based instructional materials, including extensive use of Blackboard.com as learning platform, Power Point, and various tactile and auditory medium. Used inspirational techniques focused both on classroom learning and scientific application in the real world.

Education

B. S., Biology, Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA  05/99
Coursework included: Animal Ecology, Botany, Cell Biology, Chemistry, Entomology, Environmental Science, Human Anatomy, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Zoology, Parasitology, Statistics, Tropical Ecology, Vertebrate Zoology, Physical Geography, Genetics.

States & U.S. Territories Fly Fished