2023 Headlining Presenters – Backup

Landon Mayer’s angling success is fueled by an addiction to pursuing large trout with small flies and lightweight fly-fishing equipment. Mayer shares tips and secrets in his books Guide Flies: Easy to Tie Patterns for Tough Trout (Stackpole/Lyons 2022), The Hunt for Giant Trout: 25 Top Locations in the US to Catch a Trophy, Trout Tips: A Guide’s Secrets, Tactics and Techniques, Colorado’s Best Fly Fishing, Sight Fishing for Trout, and How to Catch the Biggest Trout of Your Life, in addition to his new film with Headwater Media: Mastering the Short Game. Mayer has been guiding in Colorado full time on the South Platte River for the last 25 years, and one full season on the Nak Nek River in AK. He resides in, Woodland Park, Colorado.

Steve Ramirez is an award winning outdoor and conservation author who lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country. Steve’s first book, Casting Forward - Fishing Tales from the Texas Hill Country, was featured in the film Mending the Line starring Brian Cox and Sinqua Walls. His second book, Casting Onward – Fishing Adventures in Search of America’s Native Gamefish has received critical acclaim as an important work of outdoor adventure and conservation literature. Casting Seaward, the third book in the Lyons Press Series will be released in 2023. Steve currently writes the Seasonable Angler column for Fly Fisherman Magazine and his work has appeared in various journals including, Fly Fisherman, Trout Magazine, The Flyfish Journal, American Angler, Tail Magazine, Hallowed Waters Journal, Under Wild Skies, and many more.

Grant Anderson, originally from Minnesota, has been a resident of Alaska since 1999. He started guiding in 2001 in the Bristol Bay area and then started “Alaska Fly Fishing Tours - Sport Fishing Guide Service.” In 2009, Grant opened “The Fly Box” Fly/Tackle Shop in Anchor River, AK, where he ties local flies. Grant's guiding experience ranges from local riverbank fly fishing to remote hike-in fly fishing and fly-out fishing trips. Grant's greatest passion is guiding drift boat trips on the famous Kenai River and 7-10 day float trips out in the bush in the Bristol Bay area. Before guiding in Alaska, Grant was the athletic director at the Boys and Girls Club in Homer, AK, and a professional racquetball player, teacher and coach in Minnesota. Grant has been a private pilot since 1988 and loves to fly.

Evan is the owner and head guide of Fishing For All LLC. He has been fishing locally his whole life and guiding for over a decade. He has guided and fished everywhere from Minnehaha Creek to Montana, and back again. Whether it’s trout, bass, pike, muskies, sunnies or carp- he loves targeting all species of fish and helping others catch them. He is also a passionate educator and community builder, and has a long career of teaching people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. At the end of the day, Evan wants you to be as excited about fishing, fish, and their ecosystems as he is.

In spring of 2021 Stu became the owner of the Hayward Fly Fishing Company, after eight seasons guiding. He happily gives back to the rivers by serving on the board of directors at the Wild Rivers Conservancy of the St. Croix and Namekagon, and makes his home on the banks of the Namekagon River in Hayward. Stu believes that a healthy river starts with a healthy watershed and an engaged, caring river community.

Matthew is a smallmouth bass and trout fishing guide, as well as an educator who uses his ecology background to conduct a myriad of outdoor-based classes in Circle Pines, MN. Matt cut his teeth as a young man trout fishing the Driftless area of southeast Minnesota in the mid 1990s. He has since aided his brother’s guiding business on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, and and has his own Twin Cities-based guide service, Mahigan Outdoors, which specializes in trips for trophy brown trout on the Vermillion.

Carl Haensel is a fishing guide, biologist, photographer, writer and educator. He has guided and taught fly fishing since 1996 and has authored dozens of articles on fly fishing techniques, tips, flies and locations. His guide service, Namebini, operates out of Duluth, MN and covers both the North and South Shore of Lake Superior. Currently, he serves as the Northern Minnesota Vice Chair for Trout Unlimited, MNTU Newsletter editor, Chair of the Lake Superior Coldwater Coalition and as a coordinator for the Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo.

Dan is the author of ``The Orvis Beginner's Guide to Carp Flies`` and served as the the fly fishing editor of the magazine CarpPro. Growing up searching for fish to catch on a fly rod in South Dakota, Dan was one of the first to seek out carp on the fly. He has traveled the US fishing for carp nearly exclusively ever since. Dan has been a featured guest on the Orvis podcast and speaks regularly on fly fishing for carp across the country.

Brent's photographs and articles about exploring the Northwoods with a fly rod have appeared in the Boundary Waters Journal and other publications. He is co-author with Carl Haensel of a forthcoming guidebook about fly fishing the BWCA and Quetico. Brent has directed numerous films and videos, including a few about fly fishing, and currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Minnesota Trout Unlimited. A Professor of Film and Video at University of Wisconsin-Superior, Brent lives in Duluth with his fishing, canoeing, and life partner Cheri Henderson.

Rob Kimm is a writer, editor, speaker and multi-species angler who began fly fishing and fly tying at age 12. A former instructor at the In-Fisherman's Camp Fish and former Alaskan guide, his pursuit of trout and salmon has led him to numerous locations across the western US, Canada, and New Zealand. A native Minnesota, Rob now currently lives in St Paul Minnesota.

Mel Hayner is the owner of the Driftless Fly Fishing Company in Preston, MN. He grew up fishing the Au Sable in Michigan, and Oregon and Washington coastal streams. He has fished around the country and has been published in various fly fishing magazines. He has been fly fishing and tying flies for over forty years. Mel has been fishing in Southeast MN for over twenty years and guiding others for over a decade. His passion is showing others the joy of trout on a fly and the beauty of the Driftless Area.

Scott's love for fly tying began as a child over 40 years ago. However, he feels he's still learning new things every day. Scott enjoys instructing others to perfect their skills and especially helping others overcome their tying problems. Minnesota having so many lakes has given Scott an outstanding opportunity to create panfish and bass flies that really work. The vast array of rivers and creeks has made Minnesota trout a great target as well. Scott loves realistic fly tying and now, over the last decade, tying with foam has become a passion.

A St. Paul native, Brian grew up fishing Northern Pike and giant Bluegill in Northern Minnesota's Iron Range. After moving to River Falls, Wisconsin in 2001 he began working at Lund's Hardware & Fly Shop which introduced him to Brook & Brown Trout fishing on the Kinnickinnic River. Fishing for stream trout in the Northern Driftless Region broadened his love for fly fishing and fly tying. In 2011 after the hardware store closed he opened Lund's Fly Shop, just one block away from it's original location and only a few hundred feet from the banks of the beloved Kinni.

Paul owns PVS Angling, a guiding service, and has over forty years of angling experience on Lake Superior tributaries. He specializes in spey casting for trout and salmon on the Minnesota North Shore and Wisconsin's Brule River. Paul had a long career with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and has always strove to improve the health of our streams and rivers. He has an intimate knowledge of the area rivers, watersheds, flow patterns, hydrologic characteristics and factors this information into his angling strategies.

Paul lives and works in Waconia, Minnesota, the unofficial fly fishing capital in Carver County. He likes to say he was a productive member of society until he discovered fly fishing. When he is not at his desk at the bank, he might just be at home behind his fly tying desk. Paul started tying flies over twelve years ago with a basic fly tying kit from Cabela’s. He was able to take what he started to learn from some books and an old Jack Dennis fly tying tape and expand on that with fly tying classes taught by John Mowery and Andy Roth at Bentley’s Fly Shop. Paul shares his passion for tying and continues to learn new patterns and techniques as part of the Laughing Trout Fly Fishing Club. Much of his tying output is donated to local Trout Unlimited chapters to support their fundraising efforts.

Luke has been targeting carp for over ten years, and 2023 will be his fourth season as owner and head guide of Freshwater Flats Guide Service, LLC in southern Wisconsin. What initially attracted Luke to carp was their notorious power, but their enduring appeal for him has been their particular behavior and the places they take him. Luke is passionate about helping customers appreciate Wisconsin's incredible wetland resources and the unique fishing opportunities presented by carp.

Scott Hanson has been tying flies and fly fishing for over 35 years. After spending 12 years working in the fly fishing industry, he has spent the past several years teaching his Fly Tying Essentials classes via community education departments throughout the Twin Cities. He also ties commercially for local fly shops and has authored dozens of fly tying articles for regional and national publications, including Fly Tyer and The Drake. He considers the fly rod to be the coolest tool that mankind has ever invented, and is a certified fiberglass fly rod junkie. Check out his new YouTube channel, CheckYourFly, for tying tutorials and more!

Tim pantzlaff is the the maker of Speyco Fly Reels based in Oconto Wisconsin. His company was founded in early 2006 and provides a custom high quality U.S.A. made classic style reel series.

Zach is owner and founder of TroutRoutes, a mapping platform intended to help anglers find and explore trout streams with an emphasis on public access. Zach is a long-time resident angler in the Driftless with a technical background in engineering and software development. He started the TroutRoutes project in 2018 with the vision to help flyfishing become a more accessible sport through improved access to information and maps in particular. Zach has also served on the board of Trout Unlimited in the Twin Cities chapter and continues to contribute to Trout Unlimited National through the TroutRoutes project as business members and annual contributors.

Mike Dvorak is a professional photographer living and working out of Minneapolis Minnesota. Having grown up in Dillon Montana, he learned to fly fish on the rivers, creeks and high mountain lakes of the area. Dvorak guides in the Wisconsin and Minnesota Driftless region when he’s not on assignment or in his darkroom. Follow him on Instagram at mikedflyphotography.

Monta is a teacher and guide at the Driftless Fly Fishing Company in Preston, MN. She grew up trout fishing with her family in Michigan and Oregon. She took up fly fishing in 1998 after discovering the trout streams of the Driftless area. She has since spent many years fishing the streams of SE Minnesota with her brother, Mel Hayner. Since joining Fly Fishing Women of Minnesota she taught beginning fly-fishing classes and became a mentor to club members and a mentor with the DNR Minnaqua fly fishing program. She is currently on the board of the Lew Jewett Fly Fishing Club as well as the Women Connect Liaison for the Fly Fishers International Upper Midwest Council.

John is the executive director for Minnesota Trout Unlimited and an absolutely tireless advocate for conservation. Each year he secures millions of grant dollars for MNTU to work on habitat improvement, advocacy and youth introduction to fly fishing. His lobbying each legislative session has halted many destructive policies as well as pushed through key conservation legislation. Aside from his advocacy, John is also the last one off of the water in the evening and a superb angler.

Ger Moua a trout guide for Lund's Fly Shop. Born and raised in west-central Wisconsin, he has been fishing the Driftless region almost all his life. He has thoroughly explored the Driftless, including Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, spending countless hours chasing trout. Ger has also spent time acquiring new techniques in California, South Dakota, and even Ireland. Although Ger always enjoys learning new ways to catch trout, his biggest passion is hunting big Browns throughout the region.