Discovery Trips

A Discovery “Trip” is a day-long, on- the- road seminar that actually takes you to the fishing locations, allowing you to learn about an area from someone willing to share a lifetime’s worth of information on all the spots worth (and not worth) fishing.

We do this by taking a chartered mini-coach to numerous fishing locations in the area. During this informative ride, with bankside walks, you’ll enjoy a hands-on seminar about where to fish, when to fish, and how to fish each area.

You will be given a informative book including detailed maps, literature and regulations for each area. DON’T BRING YOUR FISHING GEAR, JUST BRING YOUR DESIRE TO LEARN AND HAVE FUN!

How “Discovery Trips” came about;

Back in the mid 90’s, I was managing the fishing department at the Orvis shop, in Beverly MA and one of the popular things we offered were the Orvis Fly Fishing Schools in the Spring. This was shortly after the movie “A River Runs Through It” came out, and many people wanted to learn how to fly fish. After learning how to cast and fish, all the new students were excited to get out on the water and start fishing! Fall would arrive, and these students would stop in the shop and I would ask how their summer of fishing went. Too often I was told that they did not get out that much. The students would often explain that they just did not know where to fish… A problem that many anglers have and it is not made any easier with the average American moving every 5 years… So, I had this idea. I would take a van and fill it with anglers and we would drive through an area, covering things like, going over all the spots to fish, where to park, what is the best time to fish each spot and much more. In-short I made it a day long seminar/school on the road! We would do this trip in the early Spring, before the fishing season started, and with no fishing on a “Discovery Trip”, we had time to cover more areas.

The first trip I put together was “Central MA Trout”. With just word of mouth in the shop, I had so many anglers sign up, I chartered a Mini Coach that seated 21 people. Then, I filled another for the next week! The trips were a great success, we covered over 30 spots to fish for trout. We would stop at many of the different waters, talking about the best way to fish them, times of year to hit them and what you could expect to catch there. We would turn over rocks and talk about what we would see and the best flies to use…

We had box lunches at a set of 5 waterfall with 20-70ft drops just an hour from Boston (the roast beef with Boursin Cheese was my favourite). We made plenty of “pit stops” and covered a lot of area, completing a trip all the way around the Quabbin. It was not just me rambling on all day, everyone contributed. A key part of the day was a 3 ring binder that I supplied with maps and info of the area we were covering. As the day would go by, most everyone would mark the waters we traversed and take notes on what they learned, it would be just too much to try and remember it all, over the course of a long, fun day.

A few weeks later before the stripers showed up on the coast, I put together a “Discovery Trip” for “North Shore Stripers”, covering the coast line from Salisbury MA to as far South As Beverly and it was another great success!

The next spring I did even more “Discovery Trips” with the added surprise of how many anglers, did the same trip a second time. They told me they had so much fun and covered so much information, they wanted to go again! I put together many different trips, including trips like “The Merrimack from start to Finish”, “Cape Cod Trout Waters” and more. When I did not have the expertize to cover an area, I would invite along an area expert, most often a writer, to share their local knowledge!

I also had many different clubs, organizations and even businesses have me set up “Discovery Trips” for their members and employees.

Most often now I do “Discovery Tours” with one to three anglers in their private vehicle, customizing each trip to there individual’s needs. Some trips we do a “half and half”, were we cover a smaller area, but spend some time fishing with on the water instruction.

The way I most often do “Discovery Tours” is we meet and I ride in your vehicle (to keep the lawyers happy). It can be just yourself ($325) or up to 4 people, including myself ($400). Most often we find some place for lunch on the road. The day is customized your personal interests, fresh or saltwater and areas that you want to cover.

A “Half and Half Discovery Tour” is the same price; $325. For a single angler and $400 for 2, besides myself. All trips are guaranteed that you will catch fish (or the next trip is free) and I do not touch a rod, other than for instruction…