Trout Unlimited and Orvis Partner to Teach Fly Fishing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Erin Mooney, TU National Press Secretary (703) 284-9408

Trout Unlimited and Orvis Partner to Teach Fly Fishing

Fly fishing classes open to the public at Orvis stores around the country.

Arlington, Va.—Trout Unlimited (TU) has joined together with The Orvis Company to teach fly fishing at Orvis stores throughout the country.

The classes are free and will be held weekends through mid-July.  Flyfishing 101 teaches the basics of fly fishing—from casting to gear selection. Flyfishing 201, the second class in the series, takes participants on the water to put the new skills to the test.

Reservations are required for attendance and there is a15-student maximum per class.

Volunteers from TU chapters around the country are supporting the instruction efforts in local areas.

Participants in the Orvis classes will receive a free, one-year membership to TU.

"Trout Unlimited is proud to again partner with Orvis in this widespread effort to introduce people to the sport of fly fishing and the importance of coldwater conservation," said Chris Anderson, Corporate and Direct Marketing Manager of TU. "Good fishing is synonymous with healthy fisheries. It's our hope that anyone who comes to enjoy fishing for trout also understands the need to protect those resources," Anderson said.

"In 2010, we successfully launched our inaugural Fly Fishing 101 program with over 5,000 students attending a class at an Orvis retail store or authorized dealer," said Tom Rosenbauer, Marketing Director of The Orvis Company. "Never before has there been such an organized effort at so many locations across the U.S. to bring new entrants to the sport of fly fishing," Rosenbauer said.

TU and Orvis sponsored the classes last year and taught flyfishing to over 5,000 people. This year, the effort hopes to teach 10,000 people.

Found in 1856, Orvis pioneered the mail order industry in the United States, operates more than 80 retail stores in the U.S. and the U.K. including its Flagship store in Manchester, Vt.; and maintains a network of over 400 dealers worldwide. Orvis donates five percent of pre-tax profits each year to protecting nature. You can read more about Orvis on their website at www.orvis.com. [1]

For more information about the classes, go to:  www.orvis.com/flyfishing101 [2]

Trout Unlimited (www.tu.org [3]) is the nation's largest coldwater conservation organization, with 140,000 members dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds.