Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Spencer Durrant is the news editor of MidCurrent, a gear reviewer and a bamboo rod builder based in Utah. He came to fly fishing writing from NBA reporting, publishes two to three stories a day, builds bamboo rods that take 80 to 100 hours each, and argues the sport teaches newcomers badly.
Spencer Durrant is the news editor of MidCurrent, a fly fishing gear reviewer, a bamboo rod builder and an Associated Press stringer based in Utah.
Also on Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube
How did an NBA sportswriter end up writing about fly fishing?
Spencer Durrant started writing about his high school basketball team for the school paper after being the only one of his friends cut from it. That coverage led to work for local Salt Lake City outlets, which led to a job with the Utah Jazz, where he interviewed players including LeBron James and Kevin Durant. He still works as an Associated Press stringer covering NBA games and college football and basketball, but stepped back and decided to write about fly fishing instead, describing it as taking the only job in the world that pays less than sports writing. Gear reviewing became his niche.
What does the news editor of MidCurrent do all day?
The job is two to three published stories a day, seven days a week, year round: new gear releases, conservation news, how-to material and industry news. Recurring features include a Monday column where he editorializes deliberately, a Tuesday fly tying feature highlighting different tiers, and a Thursday throwback pulling old fly fishing footage off YouTube. Stories get sourced from across the fly fishing and outdoor press rather than competed for, and submissions from outside writers are actively wanted because there is always room for another story.
What makes the Green River below Flaming Gorge worth the drive?
The Green River below Flaming Gorge is his favorite water anywhere, on the grounds of fish density and average size rather than scenery alone. His figure is roughly 12,000 fish per mile averaging about 17 inches, which he does not believe is matched anywhere else he has fished. It also fishes technically enough to matter: in a long flat section during a PMD hatch, a rainbow came up, nosed his mayfly imitation, inspected it and swam off, which he treats as the exception rather than the rule.
What rig does he fish across the Rockies?
The default is a dry-dropper-dropper wherever three flies are legal, which they are in Utah and are not on some Montana rivers. A dry fly rides on top, usually a family variation on an Adams or a caddis pattern handed down from his grandfather, with hare's ears and Frenchies below because there are always mayfly and caddis nymphs in the water, swapped for a zebra midge when the mood strikes. His position is that on maybe 99 percent of Rocky Mountain rivers the depth and the presentation decide the outcome, not the pattern.
What should a beginner spend on a first fly rod?
Cost of entry is the real barrier, and his answer is that a beginner needs a rod good enough to cast with and nothing more. He names a Fenwick at $189 and an updated Orvis Clearwater outfit that includes rod, reel and line for about $300, and says he has fished the Clearwater on water where people assume a much more expensive rod is required. He also recommends walking into a local fly shop with $50 and asking for a casting lesson, whether or not lessons are advertised, on the grounds that the shop wants the customer back.
What actually goes into building a bamboo fly rod?
One rod takes 80 to 100 hours. The bamboo comes from a 25-to-50-square-mile area of China where the straightest, strongest and still flexible culms grow, imported by a handful of US brokers who sell it on to builders. A culm is flamed, split into quarter-inch strips, then sorted so no two nodes touch, because a node is the weakest point and two together create a break. Strips are cut to size and rough planed to a true 60-degree equilateral triangle, then glued, heat treated, bound, reglued, straightened and flattened. Ferrules, reel seats and guides are all sourced from US makers.
How is the sport failing new anglers?
His complaint is that newcomers get one of two bad treatments: everything at once, or nothing but an indicator and a mend. Indicator fishing is a legitimate way to start someone, but it cannot be the only thing they are taught, any more than a beginner should be handed a 17-foot 8X leader and a size 28 parachute midge. Real instruction means matching the method to the water and recognizing the moment to change. His example is a guided day of nymphing where PMDs came off unusually late at around three in the afternoon; he cut the nymphs off both clients' rods and put them onto dries, and they landed fish of 20 and 18 inches.
Key takeaways
- MidCurrent publishes two to three fly fishing news stories a day, seven days a week, and takes submissions from outside writers.
- The Green River below Flaming Gorge holds roughly 12,000 fish per mile averaging about 17 inches.
- A dry-dropper-dropper is legal in Utah but not on some Montana rivers, so check local three-fly rules before rigging.
- On most Rocky Mountain rivers, depth and presentation decide the day far more often than the specific fly pattern.
- A capable first rod costs $189, or about $300 for a rod, reel and line outfit, and $50 handed to a fly shop usually buys a casting lesson.
- A bamboo rod takes 80 to 100 hours: flaming, splitting into quarter-inch strips, staggering the nodes, planing 60-degree triangles, then gluing, heat treating and straightening.
