Meet Our Team - Joel Taillefer

Joel joined the team in 2026 after getting to know the shop as a customer. Joel's been through our fly tying courses and has progressed to be an accomplished tier. His fishing experience is varied and includes species like carp, large and small mouth bass, bonefish, trevally, and more.

More about Joel: 

How long have you been fishing?  I’ve been fishing my whole life, although I only started fly fishing about 2 years ago (2024). 

How did you get started in fly fishing? I was invited to float the Elk in 2024, I had learned to cast when I was a kid but never really stuck with it. After the first cutthroat ate my dry fly, I fished almost every day that summer, and haven’t stopped.

 Favorite species?

                Freshwater - Carp

                Saltwater - Bonefish

 Favorite water? Small creeks with big brown trout. Anywhere with carp and bass. Sight fishing on flats

 Favorite technique? Dry fly fishing, sight nymphing is a close second.

 Favorite flies?

Freshwater:    

• Corn Fed Caddis                                                          
• Hare and Copper                                                       
• Double Deceiver         

Saltwater:   

• Gurgler
• Arctic Fox Crazy Charlie
• Bucktail Deceiver

Favorite fishing book or DVD

• Bonefish Fly Patterns (Dick Brown)
• Lords of the Fly (Monte Burke)
• Trout Bum (John Gierach)

Favorite Vise (as in the tool.) Renzetti Presentation. Holds everything from a #24 to a #4/0, and the base is heavy enough that I can put as much pressure on my thread as I want.

Favorite pattern to tie? Deer Hair Crabs. Time consuming, but I like making them look perfect. I also love tying big bucktail deceivers for bass.

Favorite material and why? 

• Hare’s Ear Dubbing for trout. Most of my nymphs use hare’s ear and one or two other materials.
• EP Fibres are my favorite for saltwater patterns, you can use it to make just about anything.

Prefer to fish alone or with friends? 

It’s best with one friend, but I love fishing alone sometimes as well.

 Two things you wouldn’t go fishing without (aside from rod, reel, line, flies) A pair of quick-dry pants, and a big bottle of water.

 Interesting anecdote: I caught my personal best smallmouth when I was messing around in the shallows waiting for my dad to finish setting up his rod. I wasn’t expecting to see any fish because there was no structure around, so I was absolutely shocked to see a huge mouth inhale my frog popper on the first or second strip. A few minutes later, and a 20-inch smallmouth was in my net. 

Most interesting (remote, distant, crowded, etc.) location you’ve fished. Triangle flats in Honolulu Hawaii. It’s located right in the big city, accessible by a rather sketchy boat launch, and absolutely loaded with huge bonefish. Somehow, there wasn’t a single other fisherman there either. I never imagined that there could be such good bonefishing available in the middle of an urban area.

The mangroves around it had loads of trevally and barracudas as well.

 Your destination/species wishlist:

• Okinawa, Japan. Titan Triggerfish, Permit, and Bream on beautiful white sand flats.
• Florida Keys. So many interesting species, and the birthplace of modern saltwater fly fishing.
• Great Lakes. Sight fishing for carp, drum, bowfin, and bass sounds like a blast.

Given the opportunity who would you choose to fish with? Or someone who has inspired you as an angler/tyer/teacher/guide.

• Dick Brown. He wrote the book on bonefish flies, and I’d love to get shown around Florida’s water.
• Alex from Trippin on Trout. He knows what he’s doing when it comes to sightfishing big trout in small water, which is my favourite way to fish.
• Bob Popovics. All of his patterns are so distinctive, and I don’t think seeing a fish eat one of his foot long Beast Fleyes would ever get old.