The George Daniel Presentation I Didn’t Expect

I was pretty excited to learn George Daniel would be the guest speaker at last night’s local Trout Unlimited chapter meeting. The Donegal Trout Unlimited chapter meets here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, so having someone like George come speak in such a small venue was a pretty big deal for me. His book, Dynamic Nymphing, is one of the most influential fly-fishing books I’ve read, and I’ve followed his work for years.

I also have a little personal connection to George, although he has no idea.

My daughter graduated from Penn State University and has honestly never disappointed me once in her entire life. Except for one time. While she was a student at Penn State, where George is the instructor and director of the Joe Humphreys Fly Fishing Program, I encouraged her to take his course. I even told her I would do all of her assignments.

She didn’t take the class.

I was crushed.

I still remind her about it.

I’ve seen George’s casting demonstrations at The Fly Fishing Show and watched most of his YouTube videos. I even met him once in the parking lot of a stream in Central Pennsylvania. But I’d never had the opportunity to hear George Daniel give a presentation in a small setting like this.

So I was excited.

In my mind, I had a pretty good idea what the evening would be about. Tightline nymphing. Central Pennsylvania limestone streams. Maybe some leader adjustments. Probably some techniques I could try the next time I get out.

Instead, George started talking about streamer fishing.

I’ll admit it. I was a little disappointed.

I’m Not a Streamer Guy

Streamer fishing is the biggest hole in my fly fishing skill set. I don’t particularly like tying streamers, and I don’t particularly like fishing them. Aside from the occasional attempt with a jig streamer, I generally avoid them. At some point, I apparently decided that I was simply not a “streamer guy,” and I’ve been perfectly comfortable with that decision.

Then George Daniel told the group that, despite being known primarily for nymphing, it is actually his least favorite way to catch fish.

That hurt a little.

Well, I figured that, at the very least, I’d get to hear about how he chases Central Pennsylvania trout with streamers. Instead, he delivered the next surprise. George spent all summer chasing smallmouth and largemouth bass with streamers. Now that fall is approaching, he’s planning to spend every chance he gets in a boat, slinging an eleven-weight for muskies. He talked about carp and even bowfin. It was pretty clear that his interest in streamer fishing goes well beyond trout. At one point, he joked that if he ever gets divorced from his wife, it won’t be for another woman. It will be to pursue a giant musky with a streamer.

What is happening here?

I thought this was Trout Unlimited, not Musky Unlimited!

I continued to listen anyway.

George Daniel Is Still Learning

George talked about a progression that many anglers go through. First, you want to catch a fish. Then you want to catch a lot of fish. Then you want to catch big fish. Eventually, you get to the point where you start thinking about catching fish the way you want to catch them.

I thought that was an interesting way to look at an angler’s progression because it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with getting better at one particular technique. It’s about figuring out what keeps you interested.

George has certainly reached a place in his fishing where he has plenty of options.

He spends around 300 days a year on the water. He’s fished more places than most of us will ever fish and has pursued more species using more techniques than most of us will ever have the opportunity to try. Yet he hasn’t reached the point where he simply settles into what he already knows.

He keeps looking for something else.

He hires guides three or four times a year specifically to learn. He talked about fishing Lake Champlain for bowfin. He’s spent the last five summers fishing for smallmouth. Instead of automatically heading west every summer, he’s found challenges closer to home. And now he’s spending his fall chasing muskies.

The interesting thing wasn’t simply that George Daniel had developed a passion for streamer fishing. It was that he was willing to keep putting himself in situations where he had something new to learn.

And he wasn’t presenting himself as some kind of streamer fishing expert, either.

He talked openly about what he’s learned from other anglers and the guides he’s hired. He mentioned Kelly Galloup as one of the anglers he has learned from. He was essentially sharing what he’s picked up along the way.

That was probably one of my favorite parts of the evening.

Here’s George Daniel, someone who has spent decades becoming an expert fly angler, and he’s still hiring people to teach him.

What George Daniel Taught Me About Streamer Fishing

As George got into streamer fishing, I became more interested.

He talked about fishing small streamers on lighter rods, including a three- or four-weight. He talked about fishing them upstream and using the rod tip to animate the fly. He also talked about combining that movement with a hand retrieve and changing the fly’s angle to create different actions.

One thing that really caught my attention was his discussion of watching behind the streamer. Fish will often follow a streamer without immediately eating it, so instead of staring only at the fly, George watches three or four feet behind it to see what might be following.

He also talked about the tracer concept. The idea is to use a bright fly that you can easily see so you can watch how fish respond to the presentation. You can see a fish follow, change direction, or react to a change in the fly’s movement. That gives you information you wouldn’t otherwise have.

He talked about changing the rod position to create lift and trigger a strike, and he demonstrated the figure eight used when a musky follows a fly right to the boat.

None of this was presented as some magic formula for catching fish. George was simply sharing what he’d learned and was still experimenting with.

Maybe the Limitation Was Mine

George also showed us his streamer box, and it was another example of something that sounded familiar. He’s narrowed it down to a handful of patterns he trusts. He isn’t carrying a box full of every streamer ever created. He has patterns he knows work and has confidence in.

That’s something I’ve come to appreciate in my own trout fishing. A smaller box of flies you trust can make things simpler. You spend less time standing there deciding what fly to use and more time fishing.

He also showed us some of the individual streamers he fishes, including one of his favorites, Chuck Kraft’s spoon fly. He jokingly said it’s getting pretty close to gear fishing.

That made me laugh.

But it also made me think about my own fishing.

I’ve spent a long time avoiding streamers, and I’ve been pretty comfortable with the idea that I’m just not a streamer guy. But maybe that’s not really a preference. Maybe it’s a limitation I’ve placed on myself.

There’s a difference between saying, “I don’t particularly enjoy streamer fishing,” and deciding, “I’m not a streamer guy.”

The first is a preference.

The second can become a limitation.

I’m Still a Trout Guy

That’s the thing I keep coming back to after hearing George Daniel speak.

I don’t need to become a streamer guy. I don’t need to start chasing muskies. I don’t even need to spend every Saturday throwing streamers at smallmouth.

Just like I don’t need to become a “Euro nympher.”

I don’t need to fish every technique, chase every species, or carry every kind of fly. But I also don’t need to decide that something isn’t for me without really giving it a chance.

George’s own fishing seems to reflect that.

He’s still chasing the next challenge. He’s still hiring people to teach him. He’s still willing to be the beginner. He’s still curious.

That’s remarkable, given how much he’s already accomplished as an angler and instructor.

Maybe that’s the real lesson in the cycle he described. It isn’t a ladder that you climb until you reach the top. It’s fluid. Where you are today doesn’t necessarily have to be where you are five years from now.

You can go back and learn something new. You can become a beginner again. You can find a different challenge simply because you’re curious.

George Daniel Isn’t a Trout Snob

Had I known before walking into the Donegal TU meeting that George Daniel would spend the evening talking about streamer fishing, bass, bowfin, and muskies, would I have gone?

Honestly, I might not have.

Admittedly, I’m a trout snob. George Daniel is not. Maybe I need to rethink things.

I’ve always been skeptical when fly anglers talk about the virtues of bass, carp, or other species. Even muskies. I’ve sometimes wondered whether part of the motivation was simply to expand their reach to other groups of anglers or sell more products.

But that’s not what’s happening with George.

He’s for real.

He genuinely enjoys chasing these fish. He loves to cast, and streamer fishing gives him another way to do something he enjoys while pursuing larger fish and larger food. More importantly, he’s found something that challenges him again.

But there was another reason for his approach that I hadn’t considered.

George talked about his students. Many are engineering majors, and most will probably never become avid anglers. Some may take what they learn in his class and carry it with them for the rest of their lives. Others may not. And for those who do continue fishing, there’s a good chance they’ll eventually live somewhere that doesn’t offer the kind of coldwater trout fishing we have in Central Pennsylvania.

That has changed the way George thinks about teaching.

The skills he teaches aren’t really about trout. They’re about learning how to fish.

Maybe fishing shouldn’t be defined so much by the species we’re pursuing. Maybe I need to not only fish streamers, but try fishing them for some other species.

I probably won’t be chasing muskies this fall. I’m not trading my four-weight for an eleven-weight anytime soon. But I may start tying more streamers. And I may actually use them.

Fishing isn’t always about catching the most fish. It’s about the pursuit. It’s about learning something, applying it, and seeing where it takes you.

George Daniel is at a much different point in his fishing journey than most of us will ever reach, but he’s still looking for something new to learn. And as a teacher, he’s trying to make sure his students have skills they can carry with them wherever their own fishing takes them.

Maybe I should do the same.

I’m just going to need a little more time to get over the heartbreak of learning that nymphing is George’s least favorite way to catch fish.

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