For years now, those partial to Thomas and Thomas rods have connected Joe Goodspeed with the brand, and for good reason. Joe was fundamentally involved with the brand’s resurgence due in large part to their release of their “Contact” nymph rods that delivered high end tight line sticks to the market that became a leading favorite amongst anglers dedicated to the method. His involvement in developing the ESOX series and developing big-game rods for off-shore fly opportunities is also well acknowledged within the industry. However, what most don’t know is that Joe Goodspeed recently made a move to Diamondback Flyrods in the 2021 year. The brand is a throwback favorite that got lost in the noise over the years as the flyfishing market grew and became more competitive. Veterans of this sport will fondly remember the brand from a sentimental standpoint via a rod they owned back in the 1990s or earlier, while newcomers to this sport will have to Google the brand to look up who they are. The move of a rod designer from one company to another wouldn’t be worth writing about ordinarily. However, Joe himself is perhaps the most mysterious character in fly-fishing that is known for his intense and always unique approach to whatever fish he is pursuing. As a Fly-fishing industry professional, he is a rare breed that tries to fly under the radar and go un-noticed, rather than promote himself as an “industry” guy and expert angler. However, his impact on the sport and next level ability as an angler in numerous species ranging from Musky, big browns, and inshore/offshore salt species has gradually caused him to become a known quantity in this sport. I consider myself fortunate to know him and find his move to a throwback brand favorite interesting and a story worth telling based on my own personal experience in seeing the talent he possesses. I don’t often promote brands, but also like to pick my spots in supporting great anglers and what they are doing. Particularly in situations where I think the angler involved is not naturally a self-promoter. All of that applies here.
5 or so years ago, my dad gave me George Daniel’s book “Strip Set” as a gift for Christmas. Later that day, I started reading it and came across a chapter where George credited Joe Goodspeed as being “one of the best big fish predators” he had ever met, who was holding a large brown in a photo on the same page. The water looked like Catskill water, but the brown looked too large to be a Catskill fish. This was the first time I had ever heard or seen Joe’s name referenced in the sport of fly-fishing.
Curious, I reached out to Joe that next season. We spoke in generalities for much of that first season. Sure, I was intrigued by what Joe was doing just like everyone else that has come to know of him in the sport, but also respected his closed-lipped nature and agreed with his reasons for being that way. I didn’t cross the line until an ongoing struggle began to frustrate me-that struggle being catching my first musky. I had tried for over a year to get one, and hadn’t even had a close encounter. Frustrated with this, I one evening shot out a desperate message saying something along the lines of “dude- I’ve entirely blanked on trying to get my first musky. Give me one day on the water to pick your brain if you ever have room in the boat.” Knowing Joe’s reputation as a rogue angler that kept his circle small, I expected my message would be ignored. However, I was surprised when he got back to me shortly after that same evening and said I could meet and fish with him the following morning with the meet up time being 5am. I said I’d be there. Little did Joe know that based on where I lived, that meant me getting in the car an hour after I received his response and driving through the night to get there on time for what I knew was a punctual 5am starting time. I didn’t want to push my luck and treat his responsiveness as short notice on my end, so I told my wife I was packing a bag and driving north to meet up with a stranger to get my first Musky. She was concerned, but knew the drill by this point. That next day, I broke Joe’s rod and destroyed a fly line of his in the trolling motor within the first two hours of the day. BUT, I did later land my first Musky that day. Coincidence I think not. Enough went right that day that the lines of communication remained open moving forward.
The next time we got out was on a Musky turned trout day that accidently developed after an intended all day musky outing was ended early. On that day, Joe got sawed off by a large fish at the boat that was just out of reach of the net, and I wasn’t sure if deep down he held me responsible for a slow net job attempt regardless of the fact I was fully extended out of the boat. Reason being, I had been criticized earlier that same day for not being quick enough in grabbing the net when Joe had snagged a log that for a brief moment he thought was a fish. To me, it had seemed obvious that he was hooked on a log. Regardless, Joe said in frustration “That coulda been a fish, you need to be quicker with the net”. I took my lashing somehow without laughing and we fished til the sun/warmth made us concede the day. After we called it quits, we went back to cook dinner and were eating on my back deck when I noticed sulphers were starting to come off heavy in the early evening. I pointed it out and said let’s wade down. I rigged up my 9ft 5wt with a sulpher emerger and Joe rigged up his 10ft 9’’ euro rod with a series of small mayfly nymphs. When we got down to the water, Joe didn’t looked pleased as the water was flat with limited current, while I only saw the rings that were being made by fish rising there. Joe waded up out of view for the remainder of the evening, while I moved no more than 50 yards the entire evening. That night reinforced how different our approaches were on the water. While it felt good to for once be in my element and comfort zone while on the water with Joe, I also realized I learned nothing doing what I already knew. I made a mental note of this and knew diverse water types where flies that float and sink could coexist needed to be the plan moving forward.
ADJUSTING THE PROGRAM:
That following spring, I was mindful of how focused Joe was on his subsurface approach and pushed to get out early when the nymphing was good, and the surface fishing was bad to ensure my dry fly tendencies wouldn’t distract me. We set up a float in late march that following season where I brought my “nymphing set up”, a 10ft 5wt with a floating line and indy rig. I had the same dozen or so pheasant tails with slightly rusted hooks that I had kept in my box for probably 3 years running, and had a couple random stones and other stuff in the mix. We anchored in the first pool and I hooked a couple fish early on. Joe did the same. I then noticed Joe changed flies and seemingly rebuilt his entire set up 2-4 times in a matter of 30 minutes, despite his initial success. He then proceeded to hook and land perhaps a dozen fish in that first pool. I thought Jesus, this day is going to go the way I thought. For the remainder of that day, Joe landed perhaps 20-30 trout, most being quality fish, to my maybe 6 fish that I had grinded out. Joe used 3-4 rods on this day, changing between various tightline rigs, indy rigs, and continuously re-rigged his set up in every place we stopped. When the day ended, I had a lot of questions and asked them. This time Joe was slightly more open about what he did and what his thought process was- however his answers were so complex that I had trouble even understanding what he was talking about on several occasions mid-way through his answer. A few things stood out though from his comments and caused me to on the spot change my mind about how I viewed nymphing and its complexities.
After a couple later outings where the same story played out, Joe offered to play guide for a morning and set me up with a tightline rig of his. He set me up and by the end of that morning, I had landed some nice fish in a section of water that I had fished for many years, but landed very few fish in. It was an eye-opening day that gave me some context when it came to all of his prior difficult to understand explanations he had previously offered to my questions on our prior outings. I learned more that day than I had on perhaps any other day on the water.
After getting an initial intro into his approach to nymphing, Joe forced me to expand upon what he had showed me by putting me in situations where there was no other choice. One day in particular stands out in my mind where I recognized how creative and effective his approach was on the water. We were on a small stream that he said held big fish. The stream was very high and admittedly I doubted there were actually big fish there. I reverted to my traditional indicator set up and couldn’t get a drift that felt like the fly was in the zone given the conditions. Streamers as my fall back approach just felt like going through the motions in meaningless fashion due to the cold 40 degree water/high flows while being on foot as I watched my fly get swept out of the pocket I thought could hold a fish almost immediately after landing it there. Joe seemed content with the conditions though and confident. His enthusiasm when fishing anywhere is always 10/10, so I wasn’t sure if it was just cabin fever playing out, or that he legitimately felt confident in what we were doing. I then watched him pick apart a stream that I viewed as borderline unfishable as he landed several big fish that were 20’’ or better in short time, which was a turning point for me. That day caused me to more seriously start applying what he had showed me and becoming at least functional at the unconventional methods he had shared with me.
LEARNING FROM OBSERVATION
As a dry fly first angler trying to apply what I had learned, I started thinking about sections of water I had struggled on that I knew held good fish that had eluded me because of the fact the water didn’t play into my strengths. I revisited several of them and found some initial success. Success and becoming comfortable in situations that I previously avoided on the water made me more curious. As a result, I naturally asked Joe more questions each time revolving around unique food items to fish and where they made sense, and even gradually was able to pry a few from his box…something that you come to find is a sign of a developing friendship when dealing with Joe.
Watching Joe fish after I started to develop these nymphing skills also benefitted me more. I came to realize he was a hybrid of all forms of fly-angler when it came his style and approach on the water. He did not traditionally do anything. He didn’t tie flies like anyone else did. He didn’t grid water like a traditional tight line angler often does, and in fact often fished in a hyper focused fashion where if a fish wasn’t in the spot he believed the best fish should be, he was over the entire pool and moved on. He didn’t present flies in category form such as dead drift, strip, jig, etc- but merged a hybrid form of it all depending on what he thought his fly should be doing for that fish he thought was in that spot. It was all very personalized, instinctual, and unique to what he felt was right at the time. He could cast a musky fly the entire length of a fly line if he had to by even just water-loading it, throw and present a dry well to a fish at 60 feet, yet could also be content and willing to fish 5 feet off of his rod tip with just the right amount of leader out if he felt that was where the best fish was and that was how he had to approach the pool. I even watched him once get on a boat on a day we were going for false albacore where he pulled out a reel with a fly-line he had built himself, cutting and attaching the head he wanted onto a running line made of cloth like tubing that was memory free that he fused to the shooting head with UV glue. The line worked flawlessly on a day that we were fighting heavy winds and line tangles on my end all day. I over time have come to accept you cannot replicate the fishing instincts that Joe has. His engineering-minded thought process coupled with his generally critical and curious mind produces a level of genius that I’ve just never seen before in another angler. This ability along with the added willingness to experiment and test concepts before narrowing them down/ruling them out as a refining process to develop his ideas is what ultimately gives rise to Joe’s breakthrough concepts on the water. His process is one where he may have 10 ideas, 8 end up being ridiculous that he later hates and throws out, but 2 are later found to be pure genius. This includes all ends of the spectrum ranging from fly design, method, water explored, presentation, equipment, rigging and everything in between. Joe challenges every established fact or belief in this sport, then tests and ultimately develops a new one of his own. This being for every species he targets that includes everything from Trout, Musky, and a variety of inshore-offshore saltwater species. No exaggeration. On any given day fishing with Joe he is using a rod he made himself, with a fly he tied that looks like nothing you’ve ever seen, on a leader formula that is nowhere near the norm. What he does is often simple and makes sense-common sense after you’ve seen it and understand why he has it set up that way. Yet, you never thought to do it that way before he showed it to you.
JOE’s CONCEPTS EXPRESSED THROUGH HIS PRODUCT DESIGNS:
Joe’s attention to detail and nuanced way of fishing is not something that is limited to the flies and way he fishes, but rather includes the rods and set ups he uses. The intuitive component to how he fishes causes him to think about things that even the above-average angler just doesn’t consider when on the water. Feel-flex to load the rod for the flies used, weighing the need to set/sink the hook on the target species versus what’s needed to load the rod for various flies and leader set ups and combining that in a rod formula is what runs through his mind simultaneously while fishing all day. I know this because his ideas randomly come out of his mouth throughout the day. Too many times I’ve seen him change a rod, rip a line off the reel he was using to literally re-rig a new fly line on the reel at his car or stream-side, and then suddenly connect with the fish he was touting he knew would be holding there shortly after. The same goes for situations where he has observed something on that water when it comes to bugs and fish behavior and he realizes its something that his current patterns and approach is not capable of. I’ve never met an angler that takes constructive criticism from a river better than Joe. Never have I seen an angler take repeated beatings on a place that most never fish in the first place because its just not a good statistical chance that you are going to be successful. Joe refuses to accept that, learns more each time, and after as many sessions as it takes, eventually comes up with the set up, fly, approach, and ultimately the fish he is after. Anyone can have ideas and a lot of anglers over complicate things with ideas that at the end of the day have no real positive consequence on the water when they are applied. But, I’ve seen Joe’s ideas and decisions lead to results immediately after making them too many times to conclude his ideas weren’t directly responsible for the outcome. Bottom line, very few anglers, if any, develop more truly original and effective concepts in this sport today than Joe Goodspeed.
Bringing this article full circle, many anglers today that started fly-fishing after 2000 have never heard of the brand Diamondback Fly Rods. I expect that to change this year as Joe’s involvement and rod concepts hit the market. I have never promoted products on this page, and I won’t go as far as to say go out and buy their rods in this article. But I will suggest to you that you give this brand’s rebirth a chance after knowing who is behind the new concepts and rods to be released. Behind every great rod design is a great angler. Behind every flawed rod design, is a fly-fishing company that somewhere along the way forgot about the fishing.