High Country Glass

A couple weeks ago a series of photographs were posted on social media of a day in the Colorado high country with Fishpond founder Johnny Le Coq, Kirk Deeter of Trout Unlimited, and Kara Armano of Backbone Media.

If you look closely you'll see the dark yellow glint of a Redington Butter Stick in a few of the photographs.  Fishing glass in the backcountry for dry fly sipping brook trout is a natural choice.

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with both Johnny and Kirk to get their perspective on the day.  It was a day about dry flies, a deserved cold beer at days end, and about bringing everything important about places like this into perspective as well.  

For Kirk, this last day in the backcountry was about his season coming full circle after a year of extensive traveling with a fly rod all over the world.  It was good to come home to Colorado and be reminded of the essence of fly fishing with a hopper and a glass three weight.  Kirk is also taking his position as editor of Trout Magazine seriously and sees the responsibility of Trout Unlimited to work with more of the fly fishing industry to address conservation issues such as habitat preservation and clean water issues together as opposed to going it alone separately.

In speaking with Johnny, he highlighted that this high country stream, which can be stepped over in some places in a single stride, is a perfect example of special places that need to be taken care of and protected.  This day was also about something larger in his mind as he, Kirk, and Kara had begun working out details on a possible summit involving the "heavy hitters" from across the fly fishing industry, along with conservation groups such as Trout Unlimited, to come together for a few days to formulate a plan that isn't about a company writing a check but instead is about educating customers, addressing legislative change, and being environmentally active as well.  This is about land preservation, a balanced ecosystem, and always having places like this high country stream to hike into.  

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

Photo Copyright - John Land Le Coq - All Rights Reserved

It's days like this that remind us what fly fishing is all about and it's really neat to see the beginnings of Trout Unlimited and the fly fishing industry taking steps to be forward thinkers and problem solvers together.

It will be interesting what this meeting in the high country develops into in the coming months.