David Johnson moved to the valley in 1991 and started his guiding career 25 years ago under mentor Roy Palm.  After working for many of the local shops, DJ started Independent Fly Fishing Guides in 2005.  In 2006 he started Crystal Fly Shop in a tiny suite on Main Street, which was moved in 2007 next to Fatbelly Burgers.  We moved again in 2011 to the current shop in the old City Market Plaza.  In 2016 DJ bought the Redstone Company Store building, which is his home and now operates as Redstone Mountain Mercantile–a unique gift shop with a small fly fishing section.  In 2020 DJ was named the River Conservator of the year by the Roaring Fork Conservancy, which was a truly humbling honor.  It’s been a wild ride with CFS for the past 15 years, that he wouldn’t have traded for anything.  2020 saw DJ return more to his guiding roots since it was such a busy year on the water, and he plans to do a fair amount of float and wade trips again this season, retail schedules permitting.  In addition to retail and outfitting, DJ enjoys playing rock guitar, hunting, and gardening.  And when he grows up, he still wants to be a big boy…

Kirk Webb has quite the fan club here and around the country. His first job was in a fly and tackle shop at age 15 teaching casting and fly tying on the Front Range. Foregoing a formal education, Kirk stayed enrolled in TroutBumU and has since managed several fly shops and guide services throughout his blossoming career, settling in the Roaring Fork Valley in 2002.  Don’t let Kirk’s laidback and easy going style fool you – this dude truly walks-the-walk and embodies humbleness in a sport driven by ego. An accomplished outdoors writer and photographer, he has been published in numerous newspapers and magazines. Kirk is the first to admit that his success is largely due to having some of the best mentors in the industry including luminaries Tim Heng, Roy Palm, Paul Brunn and Frank Moore. Kirk now spends much of his time teaching and mentoring guides and customers throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, “paying back” the sport that he loves and has made a career of. You will not find a cooler cat and fishier dude around than this guy!

Ernie the Ermine sometimes pays us a visit through the back door of our shop which we open in the morning in the summer.  He’s in his summer attire here–in the winter he wears a white coat with a black tip on his tail.  He’s a very efficient shipping manager who can fly all around the shop quickly to fulfill orders.  He’s the main reason why our customers receive their internet orders so quickly.

When he’s not working, Ernie can often be found on the banks of the Crystal River here in town at Staircase or RVR looking for birds, sculpins, mice, and whatever else he can get his fuzzy little paws on.  Here he is again–sitting in the bosses chair, and then back in the shipping room exhausted after a busy day of filling orders:

Andrew Clingman moved to Carbondale in 2015 from New Hampshire, and was such a fanatic that I knew I had to hire him as a guide.  His shop tab was about 10 times more than his income that first season guiding, and Andrew’s enthusiasm and skills have only grown greater now in his 7th season as a guide.  He has built up a great list of repeat clientele because he is such a fishy guy, and he has become an accomplished oarsman as well as our top wade guide.  Andrew’s style is anything but conventional, and his biggest thrills in life are catching trashfish like carp, suckers, black drum, etc. on the weirdest fly rigs possible.  He has also become a very good teacher of czech nymph styles.  Infectious and tons of fun, Andrew has lifted the spirits of countless clients and people around him.

David Santini has been guiding in the Roaring Fork Valley for 15 years, and started his guiding career on the Deerfield River in Massachusetts where he is from.  David served our country in the Marines with 2 tours of duty in Fallujah, Iraq, and he volunteers regularly to guide in local Wounded Warrior events and Project Healing Waters events.  David is strictly a float guide, and he has an infectious personality that is full of energy.  Don’t let all the good humor fool you—Dave is also very skilled at getting techy out there on the river and getting people into fish when it’s later in the season and the fish have seen it all.

John Hunt has been guiding for 8 years in the Roaring Fork Valley and lives here in town, and he prefers to spend his time behind the oars on float trips when guiding.  John has a great dry sense of humor, which is what brings his clients back to him–one of our clients books John 3 days a week all summer.  John is fortunate enough to have spent more time than anyone on our staff the last few years on saltwater fly fishing trips, and I was fortunate enough to witness his salty skills firsthand when we shared a boat one day on our shop’s annual trip to New Orleans for redfish–not too bad for a Packers fan…One of the pics below is of a double that he and I got that day:

Chris Swallows began his guiding career with us in 2018, so this is Chris’ 4th year as a fishing guide.  He has been fishing western trout streams for a long time, and he lives in Carbondale.  Chris has progressed quickly in a short amount of time and already built up a steady stream of repeat clientele because he is such a nice guy and great teacher.  He is intelligent and patient, and great with anglers of all skill levels.  His expertise is wading the Roaring Fork and Crystal–and he knows our private water accesses on the Crystal intimately.  Here is a picture of Chris with his daughter Josie on the river, followed by a picture of his wife Gina:

Taylor Logsden has been a fly fishing guide in the Roaring Fork Valley for over 20 years, and most of that time has been spent in his drift boat.  He knows our seasonal hatch patterns just as well as he knows every nook, cranny, shelf, trough, and pit on the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers–as well as all the techniques needed to help you pull a lot of fish out of them.  Like many guides who have spent so many days behind the oars, 20 years of rowing has taken a physical toll with aches and pains and arthritis.  Taylor has cut back on his guiding for 2021 after taking a full time job with Koru building associates, but will still be somewhat available Fridays-Sundays.  Taylor has a loyal following and is pretty well booked looking ahead, but with advance notice or possible cancellations, we might be able to squeeze you into his boat on one of those weekends.

Chris Thomsen has been a guide in our valley for about 25 years.  Like many fly fishing guides who live in seasonal resort areas, Chris wears a lot of hats.  Chris has been a wine and spirits rep to area restaurants for the past several years, but he still finds time–mainly Fri-Sundays–to row clients down the Roaring Fork or Colorado Rivers.  Because of Chris’ expertise and charisma, he has a loyal following of clients who still come back to fish with him every year, so if you want him, you’ll have to book him with us in advance.  His prowess selling wine is just as great as his prowess on the water, because he always seems to win trips to exotic places by being a top salesman.  Pictured below is Chris with a massive brown trout he caught on one of those trips to New Zealand.