Announcing the Winner of Our “Where Would You Go?” Contest!

Here’s Erik with a sweet brown he caught while nymphing on the Farmington River last weekend.
Photo courtesy Erik Reed

Last month, to celebrate the second year of the Helios 2, we launched our “Where Would You Go?” Contest, which asked blog readers to write a comment about their dream trips. Almost 1,400 people told us where they would like to fish, which species they would pursue, and which Helios 2 model they’d like to bring along. Reading through these comments offers a wonderful series of daydreams about the sport we all love.

The winner of the contest—chosen at random from all entries—was Erik Reed, of Rhode Island. We asked him to tell us a little about himself, and here’s what he came up with:

I’m a 32-year-old pharmacy student living in Rhode Island, and I’m seriously addicted fly fishing and fly tying. I started fishing with my old man when I was very young and living in Arizona, mostly for bass and some trout, all with spinning rods. I always wanted to get into fly fishing, but it just didn’t happen until about two years ago when my buddy and I decided to give it try. Since then, trout fishing is all we can talk about, think about and do.

Despite this professed love of trout, Erik’s entry was all about saltwater off the coast of his adopted state: “10′ 9 wt for stripers in Rhode Island!” But when it came time to actually choose the rod he’d won, he picked a trout rod, the 10-foot 4-weight tip-flex.

Thanks to all who participated. I hope that expressing your fly-fishing dream will serve as an impetus to make it come true.