Fly Fisherman's Loop to Loop Podcast, Season 1, Episode 23: Landon Mayer

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Colorado guide Landon Mayer grew up in Colorado Springs and was mentored by his local fly shop (shout out Angler’s Covey) and local fly tier John Barr. He became a pro fly tier and one of the leading experts on sight-fishing for trout. In this episode of Loop to Loop Landon explains how to look for telltale trout signs—a hint of color, the noticeable  “potato chip” of a brown trout’s pectoral fin, or the giveaway of a ghostly shadow. He also explains why he is crazy about leeches, how he prepares for every day of fishing by tying at least a dozen flies as part of his routine, and how a golden dorado in Argentina changed his life. Ross and Landon also dive into the Clean the Dream project started by Landon and his friend Brandon Kramer 10 years ago. The annual event in 2025 had 300 volunteers that included 100 different families and 75 kids picking up trash from Colorado public lands.

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Truncated transcript: 

00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:48.060: Learn so much more from seeing a fish in the river versus just fishing to the river itself. And then on top of that, what we discussed in the article as well is there's more to sight fishing than even just delivering flies to a trout sight fishing. Reading body movements during the fight, sight fishing's angling your presentations, where to get the right proper drift. There's so much more that you're visually taking in outside of just seeing the fish and casting to the fish. And that's what becoming a hunter, I think is about. And that's why that article's, it's gonna be awesome with influence from your knowledge. My knowledge. Our travels…

00:00:48.060 --> 00:01:22.710: Loop to Loop is sponsored by Patagonia, high performing outerwear made responsibly for our planet. G Loomis, American-made fly rods manufactured in Woodland, Washington. Abel Reels proudly designed, machined, anodized, and assembled in the USA. Crafted for Chaos. Renzetti, the Vise of Legends. Airflo, next-gen PVC-free fly lines with new tech, new formulas, and the same obsession.

00:01:24.810 --> 00:01:52.320: Hi, I am Ross Purnell, editor and publisher of Fly Fisherman magazine. Welcome to Loop to Loop, where we make deeper connections with the people behind the magazine. Our guest today is Landon Mayer. Thank you so much for coming all the way. It's a from Colorado to join us in our studio and talk about basically everything. Cheers. Thank you brother. And doing it late in the afternoon so we can have a cocktail while we're doing it.

00:01:52.320 --> 00:02:21.510: Absolutely. Landon is a, yeah, he's a Renaissance man. Landon is a longtime guide in Colorado, has fished around the world, has written 10 articles for Fly Fisherman, many books, many videos. He's a presenter at the fly-fishing shows and other shows all across the United States. So it's a pleasure to have you here.

00:02:21.510 --> 00:02:39.510: Thanks brother. It's great to be here. In the home office and be a part of the podcast and giving back. And what we love sight fishing. I'm really excited about this. Unfortunately we are not sight fishing because it's the middle of winter and there's a big winter storm coming in. Oh yeah. But we can talk about it. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

00:02:39.510 --> 00:02:54.450: Back home there's some going on. We haven't had as much weather. You're getting the snow that we want in Colorado, so it's nice to see some snow falling. But sight fishing's a winter theme for us back home in the tailwaters, which is fun too. So hopefully it's warm when I get back.

00:02:54.450 --> 00:03:25.660: You born in Colorado, are you a Colorado boy? Yeah. Born and raised in Colorado Springs. Oh. Yeah. Yep. You didn't stray too far from the, I didn't. The old stomping grounds, the travels put me in other places, but I'll, I'll never leave Colorado. Yeah. I love the South Platte, how close it is to Colorado Springs, you know, 'cause you have ties and connection. Lived in Colorado for many years. It's so much diversity in the state. Tailwaters, freestones, stillwaters. It's, it's great to be there. The home base of the Springs in Woodland Park now is awesome.

00:03:25.660 --> 00:03:48.760: So the places you guide are really places you grew up. Yes. Yeah. I started fishing when I was a kid. I think my first experience was Deckers on the South Platte River and then started migrating up 11 Mile Canyon and then into South Park, which is primarily what I call home office now with the rivers and three still waters. It's, it's a giant playground for anglers, 200 miles…