There's a stretch of the country in the Midwest that most people drive right past.

Flat farmland, long highways, nothing to see.

But tucked inside that landscape is something completely different.

A maze of cold, clear, limestone valleys, and more trout streams than most people will ever fish in a lifetime.

Today's guest has done more than just fish it.

He studied it, written about it, mapped it out, and helped tell the story of a lifetime. Today's guest has done more than just fish it. He studied it,

written about it, mapped it out, and helped tell the story of a place that's quietly becoming one of the most interesting trout fisheries in the country. This is the Wet Fly Swing podcast where I

show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools

to prepare for that big trip, and what you can do to give back

to the fish species we all love. John Van Fleet is here today and we're going to be breaking down

how to approach small streams and spring creeks that sometimes might even look too small to hold

fish. We're going to talk about the species that they're fish in there and how you can find

20 plus inch browns and rainbows in some of these streams. We're going to find out about the simple that they're fish in there and how you can find 20 plus inch browns and

rainbows in some of these streams. We're going to find out about the simple shift that will help

you find fish faster in these small creeks. We're going to get a handful of go-to flies and

tactics that work anywhere around the country and how tools like trout routes are opening up water

most people never find. We're going to get into that today. Plus, you also find out which of his books hit $100,000 in sales and how this has been a go-to for fly tires for many years. This is a great one. Glad I could share it with it. You can find John at Trout Run Press.com. Here he is, John Van Fleet. How are you doing, John? I'm doing great. How are you doing today, Dave? Not too bad. Not too bad. Yeah, we're going to talk about you've got a wide-ranging background. I'm excited about this because we're probably going to go back a little ways and hear about what you've written. You've got a ton of books out there.

You know, the Drifflis is a special place for us. I've been there once and fished it. It's amazing. And we're going to connect with Trout Routes. You know, fly tying. You got a fly tying book out. We just had a boot camp we did, which we had some great fly tying sessions and all that stuff. Very cool. Dave, once in the Driftless is not enough.

So you have to come back there once isn't enough yeah yeah what how many times do you have to fish

the driftless before you feel like you've got it you you got to feel for it always one more yeah

yeah there's never enough yeah it's pretty huge right Maybe you can explain that about the Driflis.

Is it, how would you, for somebody who's never been there, how do you explain the Driflis?

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