for more than 50 years, starting in the Manchester retail store before becoming an instructor in the Fly Fishing School. Today, Rosenbauer creates instructional videos for Orvis and hosts The Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast, which has run weekly episodes for more than 15 years and has been downloaded more than 28 million times.
“ The school’ s gotten a lot more sophisticated, but the basic framework is not that much different. People learn how to cast, then how to tie the essential knots, and how to identify the various aquatic insects. Then, it’ s lots of practice,” Rosenbauer said.
The combination of the Orvis store and factory, its corporate offices, the Orvis Schools( which also include its Wingshooting Schools), and the proximity of the Battenkill, the legendary trout river which flows from Vermont into New York State, make Manchester the epicenter of the fly fishing world. For more than a century, Orvis has been a major employer in Southern Vermont.“ The Battenkill and Orvis go hand-inhand like peanut butter and jelly,” said Peter Kutzer, who taught in the Orvis Fly Fishing Schools for more than 20 years. He is currently Orvis’ Endorsed Operations Manager for the Eastern United States. He works with lodges, outfitters, and guides that have Orvis’ seal of approval. Worldwide, there are more than 300 Orvis endorsed operations.
“ The school was the brainchild of the late Lee Perkins Sr., who purchased the Orvis company in 1965,” Rosenbauer said.
Back then, it was difficult to learn fly fishing if you didn’ t know someone who did it already. There were no books or films, let alone the internet to show you how to fly fish. Starting a school made good business sense for Orvis.
“ There were people back in the 1960s that wanted to learn fly fishing that had seen it on TV on the American Sportsman. They’ d seen Ted Williams and Curt Gowdy do it on television,” Rosenbauer said.
People have been casting in the style of fly fishing for centuries, but the modern sport of fly fishing emerged in the late 19th century. Slowly but surely, fly fishing became a popular American pastime. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a well-known enthusiast of the sport. People who gave fly fishing a chance loved the challenge it presented.
“ You’ re holding the line; you feel the fish more. The fight with the fish is much more exciting with a fly rod,” said Kyle Leard, who became manager of the Fly Fishing School earlier this year. Leard, who grew up fly fishing with Kutzer in Southern Vermont, has worked for Orvis for more than 20 years and recently returned from a four-year stint teaching for the company in Colorado.
Those interested in a deeper dive into the history of the sport can head to the American Museum of Fly Fishing, also in Manchester.
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