Steve Harry

Steve started the school with Dusty a dozen years ago and his easy-going nature and quick wit have made him a student favorite.  He is from the Chambersburg, PA area of the Cumberland Valley, home of some of the best limestone streams on the East Coast.  For fifty years, he has fished some twenty plus streams in this trout rich area, both mountain freestone and valley limestone waters.  Steve now guides our clients on these waters.

Teaching Biology, Environmental Science, Stream Ecology and Entomology was Steve’s profession for thirty-two years.  He has a B.S and a M.Ed in Secondary Education from Shippensburg University with a concentration in Biology.  He also did advanced studies in Aquatic Entomology at the University of Maryland.  Now retired, he still enjoys teaching stream ecology and aquatic entomology at our school - particularly since he does not have to grade papers.

Steve has a passion for fly-fishing, especially for wild trout and his passion is contagious.  Besides guiding our clients and seeing them catch fish, teaching the “art of fly fishing” and preparing sumptuous stream side lunches, Steve loves sharing his knowledge of the ecological interdependency in the “world of the trout”.  One of his favorite sayings is “Trout don’t live in ugly places.”  His favorite fly is the Black Ant.

Robert DeAngelis

Robert lives in Louisville, KY and has been trying to scare up bluegill on farm ponds inthe central part of the state since the late 1980’s. In recent years he has focused his fly-fishing energies on guiding in locations such as Depuys Spring Creek and theYellowstone River in Montana and fishing in the Florida Keys. His enthusiasm for fishing and teaching have made him one of the most well respected instructors in the East.

Robert teaches private lessons and casting clinics at fly shops in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio where also works with Boy Scouts from several councils. He and Dusty have been teaching together for six years, first at L.L. Bean’s Fly Fishing School and currently at The Wulff School of Fly Fishing in New York.   They also teach casting workshops on a regular basis at the annual Federation of Fly Fishers Conclave. Robert is a Life Member of the Federation and an F.F.F. Certified Casting Instructor. He is also a member of the Scott Fly Rod Pro Staff. In his spare time Robert is an attorney.

Tom Sadler

Tom has taught with both Dusty and Robert at the L.L. Bean Fly Fishing School and has guided fly fishermen on rivers from Virginia to Montana. He brings with him years of experience and a warm sense of humor that makes him one of our most memorable instructors.

Tom is the Director of Program Development in the Federal Affairs office of the Trust For Public Land. He works with congress and the administration building federal support for TPL's land conservation projects and with hunting and fishing organizations in identifying critical land conservation opportunities that support recreational hunting, fishing and provide improved access.

Before joining TPL, Tom was the Conservation Director for the Izaak Walton League of America where he was responsible for planning, oversight and implementation of the League's conservation education, advocacy and outreach programs. Tom was also the President of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation assisting congress and the federal government on critical issues affecting America's hunters and anglers.

Tom is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Fly Fishers and chairs the Government Relations Committee. He is also on the Board of Wildlife Habitat Council. He has served on the boards of the VA Council of Trout Unlimited and the Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group. After 12 years in the US Navy Reserve, he was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant Commander in 2002 although he still doesn't like to wade above his knees.

Tom and his labrador retrievers, Berkeley and Ashby, live in Alexandria, VA with his beautiful and talented wife Beth. They are often part of his fishing, hunting and SAR adventures.

Jerry Armstrong

Jerry got his first fly rod fifty years ago and has been fishing the famous limestone streams in the Cumberland Valley ever since. Before retiring Jerry was an educator and this gave him the opportunity to fly fish the Rocky Mountain West every summer for forty years. For the last 14 summers he worked as a guide in Montana at the Upper Canyon Ranch (one of our destination trip locations).

Jerry began teaching fly tying and fly casting in 1977 for his local Trout Unlimited Chapter and has taught with us since the second year of the school. When not teaching or guiding, he still finds time to pursue his favorite native brook trout on our local streams.

Lisa Wissmath

Lisa grew up in Wisconsin and spent every summer as a child at the family cabin on a lake in the northern part of the state. She began fishing under the tutelage of her older siblings at about the time she was able to walk.

She learned casting from some of the best, spending a great deal of time with Lefty Kreh over the past ten years and graduating from Joan Wulff's Fly Casting Instructor's School in 1998. Lisa's job as a neonatal intensive care nurse keeps her quite busy but she still finds time to guide in Virginia, Maryland and Montana. She's taught casting clinics from Nantucket Island, MA to Ennis, MT and is now preparing to host a trip to Austria.

When it comes to fly fishing, Lisa doesn't listen to her husband.


Art Overcash

Art is our newest instructor and was born and raised just a few miles from the school. He's been in law enforcement for 27 years and began teaching and guiding to share a sport that he loves with other people and to balance the stress that he faces during the week. He's fished all his life and began tying flies in his teens. At that time he wasn't confident in his own fly fishing ability so he gave his flies to friends and had them report back to him on their success with his patterns. Ten years ago Art became a commercial fly tier. He doesn't give his flies away anymore.