What an outdoor classroom looks like.

“Before guiding and starting On The Water Education, I was a firefighter for 17 years and found that working in a fast paced, high stress environment, the only outlet I had to slow me down and clear my mind was being on the water fly fishing. The opportunity to get away from screens, phones and hustle, even for a few hours, was the reset I needed in the world I was living in. I am recharged when I hear the wind through the trees, river flowing over the rocks, accompanied by the smell of deep woods.”

“To venture onto the water and cast a fly line slows the world down for me. It allows me to be able to savor the moment and experience nature on a personal level. Each outing seems to be unique in its own way. Every cast presents the potential for something big. It builds hope and purpose. You never know what’s possible… just one more cast, one more drift through that pool or let’s just see what’s around the next bend on the river. Anything is possible.”

“To put what Fly Fishing means to me in words is very difficult. But everything I do in life revolves around two things friends and family. I have so many great memories of fishing with my dad at a very early age and now passing that tradition to my son is absolutely priceless. I think of how lucky and how fortunate I was to be one of three generations on the Miramichi River many times. To me this is what life is all about. I simply want to be able to spend as much time with my boys, my wife and my friends doing what I absolutely love to do. Some people call it making memories, I refer to it as my therapy session. I would consider myself a very anchored adult with my oars firmly in the water. If I did not take time, have it be on the water or in the water with my fly rod, I would simply be incomplete.”

“Fly fishing for me works my body and mind. There’s no greater feeling for me than wading a river and just taking it all in. Reading the river, looking for fish activity, trying to match the hatch, in and on the water, the fresh air, and trying to make every cast count. It puts me in a calm state of mind. If I catch a fish, that’s just a bonus to my day.”

“I’ve recognized the value of being present riverside. There are times I don’t even fish. I observe without distractions. And although my responsibilities still wait for me, on the river, everything is momentarily quiet, and that’s what I needed. What is the saying? “Peace like a river.” It has offered me perspective I wouldn’t otherwise know. Sometimes I think that peace could be what the person next to me on the river might also be discovering.”