History of the Day on the River

The Day on the River program started as way for a group of my friends to learn how to Speycast and use each other's rods to experience different rod/line combinations.

Out of these special times with friends came two important aspects of the day on the river: an opportunity to polish instruction skills, and an opportunity to create the "Tryrack." Both adhere to my philosophy of "try before you buy."

The "Tryrack" affords the customer a chance to pick a rod and line most suited for their casting style before they lay out hundreds of dollars for equipment that may not be compatible. The "Tryrack" contains rods of all weights, lengths, and tapers. Makes range from Meiser, zpey, Winston, Sage, Echo, etc. The "Tryrack" also contains lines ranging from longbelly, midbelly, scandi heads, skagit heads, and various custom lines.

To recap the history of The Day on the River ... I started it in October of 1995 shortly after moving to Washington from Ketchikan, Alaska. The late Bob MacGloflin was working at Swede’s Fly shop in Woodinville, Washington and one day ask me for speycasting instruction. I was honored by the request and said that I would gladly give him a hand with his casting. I added that anyone else who wanted to learn should be there also. The first class of casters from the original "Day on the River" were Bob MacGloflin, Rusty and John Reid, and John Peterson. John Reid is now a FFF Master Certified casting instructor. Over the past 14 years, quite a few speycasters have participated in the "Day on the River" and I have gained a great deal of knowledge from them. The "Day on the River" is popular with both novice and experienced spey casters. I would invite anyone who is in the area on a Saturday morning to join us.