Fly Fishing Guide
My name is Darryl Dagen and I have been a Fly Fishing Guide with Fly Fishing Outfitters for the past 17 years. I am passionate about inspiring clients to learn all the reasons for loving, not just the sport of flyfishing itself, but also the fish themselves and the importance of cherishing the environment they live in.
I got started fly fishing when I first borrowed and fly-fished with my Dad’s Wes Jordan-built bamboo fly rod at the age of 10. My motivation was to emulate my Dad’s mastery of fishing in general and to embody his ethos and sense of adventure.
My favorite place to flyfish is exactly where I am heading to on any given day, whether with clients, friends, or on my own and in both fresh and saltwater. Having said that, the Vail Valley is a great place to fish because the Eagle River and its tributaries are an important freestone fishery.
They are vital not just to trout and other species downstream but, with its diverse wide-gene-pool population of often opportunistic-feeding wild and native trout, is likely to produce a future disease-resistant trout that could save a fishery in an entirely different watershed.
The Vail Valley offers a fun way to learn all about why this is an important resource worth protecting while fishing for, catching, responsibly handling, admiring, documenting these beautiful and wondrous fish that share the environment with us.
The best part of sharing my knowledge and experience with others is experiencing the new and renewed love affair we can all have with these fish and the fishery while creating memories that will last lifetimes.
