HAYWARD — After people realize just who he is, the first question they ask Jeff Currier is “Why did you move to Hayward?”
People ask not because there is anything objectionable about Hayward. The “why Hayward” is because Currier is a world-famous fly fishermen who has lived in the heart of trout mecca, eastern Idaho. He was known as an expert operating out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming and he was even on a team of fly fishermen who won an international gold medal, the first ever for an American team.
Currier has fished in the middle of the Indian Ocean, cast a line in the heart of the Amazon jungle where tides drop water 40 feet, brought in fish from the shores of Baja, Mexico, had a run-in with a BBC fishing star and stared down an injured, man-eating Bengal tiger.
The answer to why Currier is in Hayward is twofold — friends and, of course, fishing.
Currier is an East Coast kid who in the 1980s journeyed west to attend Northland College, where he also meet his wife, Yvonne, also an Easterner from New York City.
“That was my first time ever living in the Midwest and having pike and muskies and walleye around mixed with good trout fishing,” he said. “So those four years were just phenomenal. It’s amazing that I graduated because all I did was fish. You know, especially with ore dock there, I walked down there every single morning to just fish for the pike.”
Before even stepping on the Northland campus, Currier had his mind up that as soon as he had his degree as a naturalist he was going to pack his car and drive to Wyoming to fly fish for trout, and after he graduated in 1987, he ended up working in a prestigious fly shop for more than 20 years out of Jackson Hole and living in Victor, Idaho for 34 years.
Over the decades the quaint “A-River-Runs-Through-It” esteemed fisheries began to draw Californians who drove up property values and turned trout streams loved by dedicated fly fishermen into travel destinations for those checking off a bucket list.
In 2009, Currie stepped away from his fly shop to create his own enterprise as fly-fishing expert, artist, blogger, author and advocate for fishing.
“I had a great time in Jackson Hole and I wouldn’t trade a minute of that experience,” he said. But at the same time both he and Yvonne sensed something was missing.
The couple had stayed in contact with many of their Northland College friends who lived in Northern Wisconsin, including Tom Smedley, the manager of Nelson Lumber in Hayward. Currier would often come back to the area a couple times a year for ice fishing with friends and of course the muskies.
The couple decided they wanted to nurture their relationships with friends and made the decision to move back. They originally had their heart set on either Bayfield, Washburn or Ashland to be close to Lake Superior.
Hayward was off the list because in 2017 they had traveled through the city in March. It was cold and didn’t leave a good impression.
“I told my wife we couldn’t judge that town by that cold day in March,” he said.
The couple eventually found a fixer-upper on the southwest side of the city.
Friends were definitely one of the reasons the couple came back, but there is also the fishing.
“You know Wyoming and Idaho have the best trout fishing in North America, but we were bored with it,” he said. “I know people think it was ridiculous for me to have left that area, but you also have great fishing here too.”
“Fly fishing is not just for trout,” he said. “You have some of the best fly fishing for muskies here, and I am happy to get up at 4:30 in the morning in June and go catch bluegills till noon. I just love it.”
In October, Currier was preparing to travel to Borneo in November to catch a Giant Red Kaloi.
“Very few people have ever caught that fish,” he said. “It only lives in the jungles of Borneo and I have to use a 60-lb test line and a big fruit fly.”
After Borneo he was scheduled to travel to Bhutan in 2024 to shoot a movie, a conservation documentary.
Currier wrote on his website he has caught 460 different species of fish and his goal is to catch 500.
“It’s not even that important to catch a fish; it’s the quest; it fills a lot of my niches,” he said. “I love to travel. I love adventure. And the reason that allows me to get those two things is these crazy fish.”
As a youth, Currier started off spin casting, but his father and grandfather were very good fly fishermen who inspired him to focus on casting a fly.
“I like the challenge of fly fishing, “ he said, “But I also think when you’re qualified with the fly rod, when you get good at it, you have you can do better than a spin rod. like you can fish so many different kinds of flies and you get them in different levels of the water column easier than a lure for the most part.”
There is a perception that fly fishing is very difficult, but Currier said one can get the basic skills down in a couple of hours and they continue to improve over their life.
“Even for me who has been doing this for a lifetime, I’m improving and that’s what I love about it and then you have to figure out the different species,” he said, “I have to figure out the Red Kaloi.”
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