Whitlocks' Fly Fishing School Named "Best" School by Outside Magazine, April 2002

Whitlocks' Fly Fishing School Is
A 'Best' Pick by Outside Magazine

April 2002

The Dave and Emily Whitlock Fly Fishing School near the White River in the Arkansas Ozarks has been chosen the "best" fly-fishing school by Outside magazine. The magazine's choices, called their O List, consist of "the best of everything outside." Choices reflect the opinions of the magazine.

The Whitlock Fly Fishing School was selected as a "best" choice in the Sports Camps division, a subcategory of "best" Places. There are 20 "best" Places, in diverse subcategories of eco-lodges, mountaineering, city escapes, mountain huts and others.

Outside magazine says of the Whitlocks' fly-fishing school at Midway, Arkansas, "The Whitlocks' 30 years of combined experience is put to use in the Ozark Mountains where they'll teach you how to double-haul cast to German browns in no time."

"Dave and I feel very honored to receive this recognition from such a fine publication," said Emily Whitlock.

Just a short distance from the White River, which Field & Stream magazine called America's No. 1 river for trophy trout, the Dave and Emily Whitlock Fly Fishing School offers three-day sessions in the spring and fall months of the year. Enrollment is limited to eight students per session, often representing a variety of ages and many states. Individual instruction is also available with either Dave or Dave and Emily at daily rates when three-day schools are not in session. "We both love to teach and strive to create a school that makes it both easy and fun for our students to learn the basics of fly fishing or fine-tune their existing skills."

The campus features a three-acre spring creek pond where students practice fly casting techniques and still-water fly fishing along with classroom instruction. Then, they move to the White River, North Fork River or Spring River, or nearby spring creeks to learn the skills of flowing-water fly fishing.

Before founding their own fly fishing school, Whitlock designed and directed the LL Bean Fly Fishing Schools for 10 years. He has devoted himself to fly fishing since leaving his first career as a research chemist 30 years ago. Whitlock creates fly-fishing and fly-tying instructional books, articles, videos, and has taught around the world. He has written four books, including the LL Bean Fly Fishing Handbook, and co-authored or contributed to many other books. An artist, he illustrates many of his own and others' writings. He was chosen to illustrate President Jimmy Carter's book, Outdoor Journal.

Whitlock has received many awards for his contributions to fly fishing and fly tying, including induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, and the highest honor in the fly-tying world, the Buz Buzeck Flytyer's Award. A Whitlock-improved invention, the Whitlock-Vibert Box, an in-stream trout egg incubator, is used worldwide under the sponsorship of the Federation of Fly Fishers to introduce or enhance wild trout, char, or salmon stocks.

Mrs. Whitlock, a conservationist and naturalist, holds degrees in botany and biology. She lectures, co-teaches the Whitlock fly fishing school, instructs fly casting at outdoor events, is a photographer with credits in several national publications, and assists Dave in all his writing and video projects. The couple teamed up to start their own fly fishing school in north central Arkansas nine years ago. For additional information about the Dave and Emily Whitlock Fly Fishing School, visit their Web site at www.davewhitlock.com or call 888-962-4576.

Outside magazine is based in Santa Fe, N.M. and circulates to more than 1.5 million readers. It is the only magazine in the history of American publishing to win the National Magazine Association's General Excellence award three years in a row. Its Web site, Outside Online at www.outsidemag.com. is highly honored, having received a Webby Award in 2000 for Best Travel Site. The Webby is called the "Oscar of the Internet."