Red's Fly Shop
Ellensburg, WA
joerotter@hotmail.com
www.redsflyshop.com
“For me the choice is simple, my LPC is the most nimble and maneuverable boat on the market, and that helps me keep my clients’ flies drifting drag free and allows us to fish pockets that other boats and rowers leave behind. I love the fact that when I make a heavy pull on the oars my boat responds immediately and keeps gliding well after I have finished my stroke. Switching banks on wide rivers is a cinch, big wind is less of a factor, and holding up in fast water to make a few extra casts behind that big boulder is just another day at the factory. I guide the Yakima and Klickitat Rivers which are tough on both boats and rowers, and I wouldn’t want guide them out of anything less than a Hyde! ”
-Joe Rotter
Joe began rowing drift boats and guiding while studying for his degree in Geography and Environmental Studies at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. After finishing college, he stayed with guiding and worked for several outfitters including his own guide service. Eventually, he met up with Red’s Fly Shop in the Yakima River Canyon where he manages the guide staff and helps develop new adventures and programs. His first love is with the Yakima where he still guides most of the year, but he cannot help but turn to summer steelhead on the Klicktat, Methow, and Grande Ronde rivers in the fall. His newfound passion, is casting a spey rod and he jumps on any opportunity to hook steelhead, especially if it is on a swinging fly! Joe has appeared in Fly Rod and Reel, Fly Fisherman, Field and Stream, and Outdoor Life. Someday he hopes to begin writing articles or even a column for these magazines, but he is just too busy chasing fish to sit down and write about it just yet. Joe’s favorite “off river” activity is just goofing off around the house with his wife Kelly and two young children, Faith and Jensen.
