Fly Fisherman's Loop to Loop Podcast, Season 1, Episode 7: Eric Naguski

A lot of fly fishers like to occasionally drop the Latin names of insects, and some of them are amateur entomologists with a layman’s knowledge of aquatic insects. But Eric Naguski is a trained, professional scientist with a BS in biology from Millersville University with a focus on aquatic entomology and ecology. He’s studied these bugs for more than 30 years and is one of the most meticulous fly tiers alive today. He knows that insects of the same species can vary in size and in color from stream to stream, and a lifetime of research has led him to some very precise conclusions. If you want to know more about insects, and how to elevate your game in terms of matching the hatch both at the surface and below, there’s a lot to learn from Naguski, who is the author of Favorite Flies for Pennsylvania: 50 Essential Patterns from Local Experts, and a guide and owner of Riseforms Fly Fishing in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania.

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Truncated transcript: 

00:00:03.460 --> 00:01:01.280: Hi, I'm Ross Purnell, editor and publisher of Fly Fisherman magazine. Welcome to the Loop to Loop podcast, where we make deeper connections with the people behind the magazine. We're sponsored today by Patagonia. Our friends at Patagonia have introduced a new line of waders called Swift Current Waders. There's an expedition model and a traverse model. They look great. They're super durable. I've worn them all over the world from Patagonia to Canada. And they are awesome. They're our go-to waders right now. And they are PFAS free, so they don't have those nasty forever chemicals that get into the waterways. So if you're interested in keeping the waterways clean and having a pair of waders that doesn't leak. Look at the Patagonia waders.

00:01:01.280 --> 00:02:19.080: We are also sponsored today by G. Loomis, American made fly rods manufactured in Woodland, Washington. I've been fishing G Loomis rods for 20 plus years now, got started on them from my friend and mentor, Steve Rajeff. The current rods right now are NRX, NRX Plus, IMX Pro, and Asquith. I've got different models of those for almost every purpose from saltwater to smallmouth bass fishing and trout fishing. Check out G Loomis rods. And if you enjoy this podcast, please support our sponsors. And you can support us by subscribing to Fly Fisherman magazine. You can go to our website, flyfisherman.com, click the little link at the top right hand corner to subscribe to the print magazine. You can also follow us on social media. On Instagram, we are @flyfishermanmagazine, on Facebook @flyfisherman. And hopefully you are watching this podcast in its YouTube format on our YouTube channel it's @flyfisherman magazine. Please subscribe and follow us there.

00:02:19.080 --> 00:03:03.520: Our guest today is Eric Naguski, an amazing fly tier, author, guide. And I think one of the most interesting things about our interview today is that Eric is actually a professional ecologist and entomologist. Everybody in the fly-fishing community, including myself, thinks we're some sort of an amateur bug guy, but really we don't know squat. This guy, however, he does know. So it's, it's awesome to have the bug master on loop to loop today. Thanks for coming, Eric.

00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:43.800: Thank you very much. It's a truly an honor to be here. Thanks. Uh, I guess my first question is about your real job. I mean, apart from the fly fishing stuff, like you're an actual scientist who studies aquatic entomology or water quality. What, what exactly is it that you do? Water quality mainly. Um, at this point in my career, I don't do as much field work as I used to, but, um, when I was in the field, um, as a field biologist, we did a lot of, um, well, let me back up. I started out as an aquatic insect taxonomist, uh, just strictly in the lab…