“Two Days With Harry Lane” or
“You Have How Many Flies In That Box”
by Bert Neville

I'm not fond of the old cliché, "it was like drinking from a fire hose", but there's no other way to describe the Harry Lane Fly Fishing School held the first weekend of February on the Guadalupe River.  Trying to pack the experience of over 40 years of fly fishing into a measly 16 hours was an impossible task.  With that said, Harry did his best for the lucky six of us sitting around the living room of his cabin at the "Lazy L & L",  as he presented an absolute wealth of information about the sport itself, regaled us with fishing stories, and opened our eyes to the "other side" of trout fishing----the side that Harry referred to as "looking at fishing from the fishes perspective instead of yours".

We were lucky to catch Harry during the two months out of the year when he offers his guide services on the Guadalupe River. We were unlucky to have found "the Guad", as it's known locally, flowing at an extremely high (read "almost dangerous") rate due to heavy Winter rains.

Harry's journey has been an interesting one.  He grew up in Chicago and started what he called "warm water fishing" at the age of four.  Once he got his driver's license, he and a friend head to Wisconsin to fish in the summers.  Then came the life-changing event-- he and his pal discovered a trout stream running through an Army camp. They tried fly fishing and Harry has never looked back.  Professionally trained as an electrical engineer, he worked for Lockheed-Martin, combining the traveling required by his job with fishing in different parts of the United States.

Through a chain of events probably too circuitous to go into, Harry eventually ended up near the San Juan River in New Mexico, running a woodworking business and learning the fishing guide trade.  Today, with over 25 years of guiding under his belt, he has fished in 13 states, two Canadian Provinces, and "the salt" in Belize, Cancun, and Mexico.  Through his company, San Juan Troutfitters, he guides on both the San Juan and Dolores Rivers, averaging about 120 guide days per year.

Harry taught us his beautifully simple "put the hammer down" casting technique, but realized he wouldn't change habits already formed. His casting was effortless and lovely to watch.

To Harry, fishing is no longer an endeavor that results merely in the catching of fish---he said he has one fly rod he figures has landed 14,000 fish!!  No, this fly-fishing-for-trout gig is a much more esoteric activity to him.  He told us of one time when he spent over two hours working on a single trout, trying fly after fly, presentation after presentation, until he finally found the right combination and caught the fish. Of course he released it.

Harry's approach to sharing his knowledge with us was methodical, complete, and extremely understandable.  No doubt about it, this was a beginner class from the standpoint of Harry's assuming our baseline of knowledge, but don't be deceived by that title. While Harry threw information at us like a machine gun, he still took time to answer any and all questions in the process, illustrating each answer with some real-life experiences.  He reiterated several times that he wanted us to feel we'd gotten our money's worth by the end of the second day.
Three of us "suiting up" for our in-river experience.

Harry normally teaches 3-day classes:  1 ˝ days of background and theory, and 1 ˝ days of practical application on a body of water.  The shortened "weekend friendly" format allowed for 1 ½ days of theory and ½ day on the river.  Because of the difficult river conditions, the ½ day of application was shortened to a few hours and the rest was made up with additional theory.  By the time we packed up and departed, we knew we'd gotten a good value for our money.

The curriculum was an ambitious one:

  • Equipment

  • Rigging  (both dry-flying and nymphing)

  • Knot-tying

  • Stream dynamics (how to find fish, primary and secondary places, "non-classical" water---situations that totally defy textbooks)

  • A casting seminar, where Harry taught his "put the hammer down" methodology.

  • Hooking, playing, landing, and handling fish on different tackle

  • Stream etiquette

  • Entomology

  • Some in-the-water time teaching nymphing

  • And finally, reading rise forms
Harry explained stream dynamics to help us understand where trout position themselves to intercept food.


I left feeling enlightened about the whole new world of technical fishing. That is, fishing with midges and nymphs and larvae and emergers, and worrying about what insect was hatching at the moment.  {Sidebar:  when Harry held up a fly box the size of a pack of cigarettes and told us it contained an astonishing 600 flies, I knew I'd better not show him the Wooly Boogers I had recently tied!}  And I now understand why dedicated trout fishermen are also environmentalists and naturalists.  If you want to maximize your trout fishing experiences, you must know what trout eat and why.  Since they primarily feed on insects in one or more stages of development, you'd better be an amateur entomologist.  And to understand entomology, you have to get in touch with the natural environment where trout live and reproduce.

Harry was in his element on the river. The beautiful weather made it pleasant, but the river flow, not immediately evident in these photos, was a bit stiff.

(Left) Note the wading staff. In swiftly flowing rivers Harry highly endorses their use.

(Above) Harry explains the current flow and "seams" where currents meet and diverge....a good location for food and thus trout.

I could write pages about the school but you need to experience it yourself.  If you are serious about this thing called fly fishing, especially for fresh water trout, and you have the opportunity to attend one of Harry's schools, don't miss the opportunity.  It's well worth the money and time. Take a tape recorder, don't expect a languid learning experience, cinch up your wading belt and hang on!