What people are saying about Rob

I have been fishing with Rob since the early 1990's and would not want another guide. He has the highest level of experience and enthusiasm an angler should expect and recieve from a guide and he knows his fishery inside and out. Like a resident trout, he knows how to catch fish given a variety of weather, water, and insect conditions.

I've fished the United States, Canada, Argentina and New Zealand and can say truthfully that Rob Nicholas is one of the most enjoyable guides with whom I've fished.

 
He is knowledgeable, committed to getting fishermen into position to catch fish and instructive about how to fish — all without being pedantic. Rob relaxes and helps his clients do the same. When there is an occasional problem in the boat — tangled lines, for example — he cheerfully deals with the situation and gets everybody fishing again quickly.

 
A guide must be knowledgeable about the sport and the river, but Rob does more. He adds a level of comfort that makes the fishing experience particularly rewarding. One feels as though he is fishing with a friend. Rob takes a pleasant experience and creates another dimension of enjoyment because of his easygoing personality and his attention to detail.

 
At its core, the chief reward of fishing is relaxing.and reveling in the mood and the beauty of the river, Rob Nicholas raises the sport and the guiding to an art form.

The first time I floated the Housatonic with Rob was 5 years ago and it was one of the most enjoyable days I've had fishing. He is an experienced, enthusiastic guide with vast knowledge of the river and the methods that work best to catch fish.

 
Rob has showed me a variety of techniques for fishing dry flies, nymphs, and streamers and also has pointed out a number of different areas that I go back to frequently on my own with great success. Over the years we have fished the Farmington, a few local streams, and even a pond for huge largemouth bass. In short, Rob works hard to show me good fishing and from all the guides I have fished with in the US and Canada, Rob is the best.

Fishing with Rob is always a great experience. His knowledge and expertise have made me a client for over 10 years. I am always ready for his flexibility due to conditions, our interesting conversations, his wonderful sense of humor, and some of the most productive fishing days of my life. If you are an accomplished flyfisherman or a beginner if you like to wade or float you cannot find anyone that will work as hard as Rob in providing a wonderful day.

I've fished with Rob for 6 or 7 years. Rob knows every eddy and pool in the area. I ventured out alone once and caught one rainbow. With Rob and his guides I'm always in the double digits. Unless you're a knowledgeable local you can't effectively fish these CT rivers without a guide and Rob Nicholas is the absolute best.

I began flyfishing approximately 15 years ago, and have fished with Rob at least once each year. Rob has helped me progress from a beginner, when he spent more time patiently untangling my line than we did fishing, to my present status as an advanced intermediate fisherman. Each trip has been thoroughly enjoyable, instructive, and in the vast majority of cases very productive. On those few occasions that we didn't catch many fish, Rob was probably more disappointed than I, since he works extremely hard to put you on fish in a situation within your skill level.

 
Rob is a patient teacher who gently offers advice, without ever belittling your shortcomings. Over the years we have met each other on the river several times when we were fishing alone. Rob has been just as generous with his time, advice, and flies as when I have paid him for his services. My experience suggests that Rob is more interested in providing a successful and enjoyable trip, than he seems to be concerned about earning his living. He has several times, including as recently as last November, contacted me to suggest that we either postpone or cancel a trip, due to weather, water or poor fishing conditions.

I've traveled all over North America in search of good trout fishing — Montana, Northern California, Colorado — but never really explored the Housatonic. Last summer, I decided to see what it offered, closer to home, found Rob Nicholas on the web and booked him for a day. We met in the park, waded for a little while in mid-day, catching fish below the surface with streamers and nymphs, then got in his vehicle, drove up to near the Cornwall covered bridge, put in and drifted back to where we'd left my car.

 
We stayed with steamers and nymphs into the afternoon, then went more and more to dries as the day went on, and finally fished them exclusively until it literally became too dark for me to see. He rigged my 4-weight with two parallel alderflies and taught me how to "skitter" them across the surface so the trout thought they only had one slim chance to get one. The takes were ferocious. I must have caught 30-40 fish over the course of the day, mostly rainbows, some browns and a few smallmouth bass, none smaller than 14", some as large as 18-19". It was glorius.

 
A few weeks later, on a whim, I emailed Rob to see about a half day, drove over, put in a little after noon, and hit the white fly hatch. The fish were going crazy, practically jumping out of the water.

 
Either would have been an excellent day on the Bitterroot, or the Clark Fork, with me having spent a day flying there and another flying back. That it was an hour from my house in Dutchess? Priceless.

It is coming on five years that we have fished together on the Housatonic, the Farmington and in Patagonia. I always look forward to going out with you because I know with your experience, enthusiasm and knowledge of the the eddys and riffles we are going to have fun and catch fish.

 
I'm continually amazed that when the usual flies aren't working you come up with the one that does work. It's also good to know that if the conditions are lousy you're not going to drag me out there!

I believe you've guided me the last three seasons and I keep coming back because, (i) every time we are in the river you teach me a bit of everything: river etiquette, casting, presentation, reading the water, where trout lie, striking when trout bite, etc. so catching fish almost becomes an afterthought for me as I enjoy so much the experience (it's the quintessential enjoyment in the journey, not the destination), (ii) you know what you are doing, i.e., you are a pro, you know all the technical aspects, and you know the river, (iii) you don't need me to tell you this, but you are good and fair person.

As a local who frequently fishes the Housatonic, Rob's reputation as the best guide on the river preceeded him. When I finally got around to booking a trip on the river, Rob didn't disappoint. Despite high water and dwindling visibility we managed to pound them with streamers and pull up some monsters on dries. In difficult conditions, Rob's knowledge of the river helped turn a day which could have been a skunk into a memorable day, and even went the extra mile(s) to float the Farmington!