leland's evan P. lebon
I was originally introduced to the sport of fly fishing after graduating high school, when my parents moved from St. Paul, Minnesota to Naples, Florida. During my first visit to their new place, I was able to hook up with a guide who gave me a crash course in fly casting and took me on my first trip to the mangroves of the 10,000 Islands of southwest Florida’s Everglades region. There, I hooked into my first snook, and, for me, the rest was history.
Although I'll fish for just about anything that swims, I’ve come to love fast and remote steelhead water. Plop me into a steelhead wilderness any day of the week - long runs and broad tail outs get me stoked. When I'm not working, I’m always on the lookout for nervous water I like to call a “steelhead jacuzzi," and if you ask me, the gnarlier the wading situations, the better. Not surprisingly, the steelhead is my favorite fish and here’s why:
“We met because she crossed thousands of ocean miles to negotiate this narrow corridor of freshwater currents … These few minutes become our first and only meeting, and I always find in that bittersweet fact the ultimate wildness of these remarkable creatures. Once you have caught a steelhead you can’t go back to the river and say, ‘This is where my steelhead lives,’ for the fish of your memory may be ten miles upstream or thousands of miles offshore, near lands you’ll never know.” - Trey Combs, Steelhead Fly Fishing
My Favorite Flies
My favorite flies are giant blue water streamers and flat wing striper flies for their sleek and airy profiles, when properly tied. I also love the swept back and stoic elegance of traditional Spey and Dee flies tied with Paul Miller Super Spey feathers.
My Best Fly Fishing Adventure
My first trip to the Deschutes River in central Oregon was with my best friend from college and a great steelheader, Justin Seconi. We spent lots of time fishing Great Lakes steelhead while at Colgate University in Central New York State, so naturally we decided to make the trip to Central Oregon's famous steelhead water for a first taste of Pacific Northwest chrome.
What a trip it was. We hiked the train tracks for 10 days, tied classic steelhead flies at camp, met grizzled hardcore steelhead bums, were chased away from a great run by cows, chased the same cows away from our camp and gear, discussed the finer points of maintaining cattle fences with a couple of Oregon high desert ranchers, caught plenty of steelhead both wild and hatchery-born on the swing, drank beer and grilled burgers and sausage over an open fire, told stories, stepped, casted, and mended until it was too dark to see a thing, chased our tent into the river as a wicked wind storm swept through the basalt canyon, and we only left that beautiful and wild place because our time was up and the “real world” called us back.
My Next Outfit
I’m planning on upgrading my steelhead gear with the Sage Z-Axis 7136-4 Spey Rod. It’s powerful and fast. Technical Spey fishing on smaller steelhead water has never been better. Period.
I also need a complete C & F Designs fly organization system… I know, it’s embarrassing, but my flies are currently in disastrous disarray…
My Ultimate Fly Fishing Adventure
The Utkholok River in Kamchatka, Russia is where I ultimately want to end up some day. Giant rainbow trout and the wildest of wild steelhead swim there. The tundra of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula is the last wild frontier remaining on the planet. Fly me in on a Mi-8 helicopter from Petropavlosk with a light and heavy Spey rod and week’s worth of provisions (i.e. a good bear repellent) and I’ll have found my Valhalla. (A nice, long Christmas Island bonefish trip would be okay with me as well - a lot warmer, that's for sure).