The Leland Fly Fishing Ranch is now open!

 - 10AM to 6PM, Wednesday - Sunday

    - Monday and Tuesday by appointment.

 

The Leland Fly Fishing Ranch is a state-of-the-art fly fishing education facility in a stunning setting. Situated in a broad winemaking valley, a few hundred yards from the steelhead running in Sonoma Creek, the Ranch is the product of years of design, planning, and construction, and boasts countless educational opportunities for beginning, intermediate, and expert anglers.

In addition to a tremendous slate of learning opportunities in fly fishing, visitors to the Leland Ranch will find a full service fly shop loaded to the gills with the best fly fishing gear, apparel, flies, and accessories.

At Leland, we are devoted to quality fly fishing education, with the best instructional staff and program methodologies in the country. We offer a host of different classes at the Leland Sonoma Fly Fishing Ranch for all skill levels, whether beginner or expert. Our classes are affordable, fun and relaxed, yet we are able to teach fly fishing skills quickly and efficiently, due to our decades of experience. We have shared our knowledge and our passion for fly fishing with thousands of individuals who are now out on trout and steelhead rivers and saltwater flats, enjoying the excitement and pleasure that their heightened fishing abilities have brought them. Why wait? We’re a short drive from San Francisco in the beautiful and pastoral Sonoma Wine Country. Here’s our Leland Class line-up:

MOST POPULAR - The Leland 2 Hour Introduction to Fly Fishing

 
If you’re a beginner, or haven’t fly fished in a while, the easiest way to get started is our Leland 2 Hour Introduction to Fly Fishing that will give you the skills to go out and fish a dry fly on a small Sierra trout stream, all on your own. We teach this Class EVERY SATURDAY from 9 to 11 am., right here on our private streams and 3 acre trout lake at the Leland Ranch, and the cost is only $60. You’ll learn about the tackle, the proper technique to cast a fly and how to read a trout stream, so you’ll know where to find the fish. You’ll have a good understanding of the strategies on how to approach, and make casts that are most likely to succeed. We’ll demonstrate the methods for hooking, playing, landing, and safely releasing trout so that they may swim away to fight another day. You’ll learn the essential knots for rigging and maintaining your own line out on the water. Lastly, we’ll show you the best resources for finding the best trout water closest to where you live, so that you can get away and enjoy fly fishing for trout, whenever you get the urge. Again, why wait? Fly fishing a small stream is tremendously seductive: an activity that draws you closer to Nature and keeps you coming back for more. Give us a call at 707-939-6910, and we’ll sign you up.

When: EVERY SATURDAY from 9 to 11 am.

Where: Leland Sonoma Fly Fishing Ranch

Age: Ages 10 years to Adult. Children under the age of 17 must be accompanied in class by a parent or legal guardian.

Cost: Only $60

ROD & REEL DAY AT the RANCH

 

Rigging, casting, reading water, getting the proper drift, plus a rod and reel to keep!

A more comprehensive program, the Sunday seminar begins with the basics of tackle selection and designation, and moves into rigging, leader theory, and finally, casting. (READ THE FULL DESCRIPTION AND SEE THE VIDEO HERE) Other topics include general entomology, a fly tying demonstration, reading water, fly selection, and “playing” fish. Included in the cost of tuition is a Redington Crosswater 9052 rod/reel/line/leader package* which anglers can keep for their first forays onto area waters, or trade in for full retail value toward a new purchase within 90 days. This is a relaxed approach to learning that has worked well for hundreds of anglers around the world. We finish the day pursuing trout in our private 3 acre trout lake with the latest in fishing conservation using T.A.G flies, perfecting our casting and sharpening our fish-fighting skills. Snacks, beverages and a tasty lunch included.

WHEN: The Second and Last Sunday of Every Month from 9am-3:30pm

2009 SCHEDULE; August 30, September 13 and 27, October 11 and 25, November 8 and 29, December 13.
 
WHERE: The Leland Sonoma Fly Fishing Ranch

Age: Ages 10 years to Adult. Children under the age of 17 must be accompanied in class by a parent or legal guardian

Cost: $360.00, which includes your own fly rod, reel and line to keep. 

 

LELAND PRIVATE CASTING CLASSES

Some individuals, couples, or groups of friends, beginners or otherwise, prefer private casting instruction, tailored specifically for their own needs. We can easily cater to groups with mixed experience levels within this venue, all at an affordable price.

 

Our Private Classes are also the perfect choice for the more experienced fly anglers seeking to add to their skills. Do you want to tack on 15 to 20 feet to your cast? Learn or improve your Double Haul? Make a successful transition from delicate trout streams to the burly saltwater theater? Tighten up your cast before you go on that trip of a lifetime. Being the best caster you can be will not only improve your angling, it will make your fishing day much more enjoyable...even if the fish are scarce. At Leland we teach vertical casting, which is highly efficient and easy to learn. All fly rods today are designed to perform best with this modern style of casting. With this class you will be able to appreciate the engineering of your fly rod and have the rod perform better for you with less effort. If preparing for a trip, we recommend investing the time to learn to cast accurately and efficiently at various distances and in wind. Better casting will pay dividends in fish caught and overall enjoyment on the water.

 

WHEN: Arranged around your schedule. Class duration is 1 1/2 Hours

 

WHERE: The Leland Sonoma Fly Fishing Ranch

AGE: Ages 10 years to Adult. Children under the age of 17 must be accompanied in class by a parent or legal guardian

COST: $100 for individuals, or $80 per person for a group up to four

 

For more information, please call 707-939-6910 or toll free at 866-672-1959.

Check out the latest press on the Leland Fly Fishing Ranch!

From the Sonoma Tribune Index, August 13, 2009, online edition

Leland Ranch: A Fly Fisher's Dream

By Bill Lynch

Landing "softly" in the Valley of the Moon, like a well-placed dry fly on a crystal-clear spring creek, Leland Fly Fishing Ranch on Arnold Drive, just south of the Schellville Airport, opened its doors for business last month, and has already been "discovered" by many local fly-fishers and others wishing to become fly-fishers.

For those who fish with feathers it is better than Disneyland - a place in which anglers could spend hours, and then come back again and again. There is nothing like it in the fly-fishing world anywhere.  It is the dream come true of Josh Frazier, owner of Leland Fly Fishing Outfitters, whose shop at 463 Bush Street (at Grant Street) in San Francisco, has been serving the Bay Area since 1985.  Eddie Schoenbien, who has been in the fly-fishing outfitting and guiding business for 19 years, is general manager of Leland's Sonoma Valley Ranch, and actually lives on the property, which is nestled between wineries making vintage wines and aviators flying vintage aircraft.



The 13-acre ranch features a 1,200 square-foot retail store carrying top-end fly-fishing rods, reels, apparel and related merchandise, a large casting green, a man-made stream, a large instructional "barn," and two lakes, including a three-acre gem stocked with trout on which many casting seminars will be held. Dean Schubert, an experienced guide and fly-fishing instructor, is the director of the Leland Ranch School. A basic, two-hour "Introduction to Fly-Fishing" lesson costs $60. A private, one-on-one casting lesson that is at least one-and-a-half hours costs $100.

On the last Sunday of each month (note: due to the popularity of this class, we've also added the 2nd Sunday of every month too) Leland offers a special full-day session that covers everything from tackle selection and knots, to casting instruction, accuracy, reading the water, fly selection and lots and lots of practice on the big lake, where special flies tied to "tag hooks" (rounded on all sides) are used so the fish can hit the fly, but not actually be hooked.

The full-day session, which costs $360 a person, also includes a brand new fly-rod, reel-, line- and leader-package that anglers keep. Plans for the future include special fly-fishing classes taught by, and for, women and classes for kids. The fly shop carries Sage, Winston and Scott fly-rods; Able, Sage and Hatch reels; waders, jackets, vests, boots and other apparel by Sims, Rio and Scientific Angler lines; and lots of other fabulous fly-fishing stuff.

In addition to Eddie and Dean, the store staff is rounded out by Art Hau, another fly-fishing pro, ready to assist shoppers in fulfilling their fly-fishing dreams.

For now, the Leland Fly Fishing Ranch team is letting the word drift out naturally through the grapevine, through conversations with pesky fishing writers like me and their Web site.  Their grand opening won't even happen until next spring, by which time many of the dozens of trees they planted and all of their other incredible landscaping should be in full bloom.

Right now, Sonoma Valley residents should know that Leland's invites locals to come out now, meet them, browse through the store, take some fly-fishing lessons, and maybe even consider the Ranch as a great place to find the perfect gift for a fly-fishing friend or family member.

The Ranch is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and Monday and Tuesday by appointment. Phone 939-6910 or 866-672-1959. You can find out more about the store on the Leland Web site at www.flyfishingoutfitters.com.