Who is Leland?
Leland is the Grandfather I never met. Unfortunately he passed away before I was born, but through bed-time stories told by my father, his life, and most memorably his passion for fly fishing, were not lost. A man, whose face I only knew 
from black and white photos taken along the Owens River, was slowly becoming a legend in my mind. As I grew older and came to understand that fly fishing was more than just a pastime, these photos and stories began to resonate. Sadly, I thought fly fishing was a mystery whose complexity and history had to be learned from a sage like my Grandfather; a man who now only lived in lore and legend like the sport itself.
While conventional fishing with my father on the banks of the San Joaquin each summer, I watched the wielders of those long rods paint the water with their protracted lines and clever flies. These fly fishermen were free to search every nook of the stream for the native, colorful, and wily trout. I feared this type of angling freedom was not available to me. Luckily, driven by the legacy of my Grandfather and images of these "free" fly fishers, I challenged my apprehension and picked up a fly rod.
Twenty years later I named my retail fly fishing business after this angling legend, Leland Frazier. This was an obvious and easy decision; as it was he who lead me to fly fishing and his memory that lent me the courage to return to the river after those challenging days when I caught more trees on my back cast than fish on my forward cast.
It is true that with Leland by my side it would have been easier to paint the water with protracted lines and clever flies. I worked very hard to become a fly fisherman by reading, fishing, researching, and cornering any one who even knew of the sport. It was a long road, but I learned that with hard work, fly fishing, like anything in life, is attainable.
I am now the luckiest guy I know. Whether teaching a lesson, opening the shop, researching equipment, or fishing myself, I feel like that boy I knew in my youth. That naive excitement still floods my body, like that first step into a cold stream, bringing me back to a time when the world was full of wonder and every morning was fresh with dew.
We at Leland Fly Fishing Outfitters want to make it easy for you to become a fly fisher … as easy as if a wise grandfather was at your side every step of the way. I welcome and encourage you to let fly fishing connect you to your proud history, create history of your own, or perhaps give you the opportunity to fill your grandchildren with the same wonder, possibility, focus, and joy that Leland gives to me.
– Josh Leland Frazier
pictured above: my Father, L. Scott Frazier,
and my Grandfather, Leland Frazier