We're just like you.  We're fly fishing junkies.  We love the sport, and try to fish as much as we can.  We love to fish wherever we can.  We fish locally, we fish in exotic destinations.  We also love helping people enjoy the sport.  We understand the mechanics of fly casting, and the techniques that make fly tying easier and enjoyable.  We have over 100+ years of combined fly fishing experience, knowledge, and expertise among our staff.

FLY FISHING THE NATION’S CAPITAL


​Photo Credit: Peter Hellberg

Richard Farino is a Bronx resident of over 30 years who relocated to the Washington DC area and founder of District Angling.  An avid fly angler who spent most of his free time fishing the fresh and salt waters of the NYC metro area, the Catskills, and the Pocono mountains, he spent 15 years in the fly fishing industry working for retail shops and catalogs.  When the northern Virginia area was suddenly without a full service fly shop, he created District Angling - a fly fishing retail, travel, instruction, and guiding business servicing the DC metro area.

Known to his employees as "El Jefe" and the rest of the world as just Farino, he is a registered guide, runs our fly fishing travel, our outreach programs with non-profit organizations, is one of our casting and fly tying instructors, and is also one of our custom fly tyers bringing specialty patterns and durable flies to our vast selection. He also has an unhealthy fascination with wristwatches and fantastic photography.

He is the District Of Columbia board member for the American Saltwater Guides Association, and supports many organizations including Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Trout In The Classroom, Trout Unlimited, Friends Of Fletcher's Cove, the Cape Lookout Albacore Festival, Izaak Walton League, and the Horological Society Of New York.


Ivan, a native of Bogotá, Colombia, has been fly fishing since he was 13, traveling the country catching peacock bass, golden dorado, and trout in high mountains streams and lakes.  He became a guide while he was an Evinrude importer and salesman, enabling him access to different types of water and countries, traveling extensively throughout South America.

He is an accomplished fly tier and fly caster and has written a few articles for This Is Fly Magaine, and was also filmed in an episode of The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg in Colombia.  Ivan ties our staple patterns for local fishing as well as specialty patterns, and also teaches our Tie-Along patterns on weekends in the shop. 

Ivan is a Virginia resident and is well versed in fly fishing the local waters in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  He enjoys drinking coffee, tying flies, drinking coffee, international travel, drinking coffee, and drinking coffee.


​Photo Credit: Mitya Ku

David "Grizzly" Lambert is a lifelong Virginian, fisherman, photographer, and bamboo aficionado. Having worked in the fly fishing industry for over two decades, he enjoys building split cane bamboo rods, and is a bamboo rod and classic tackle expert: his bamboo history and knowledge is second to none.

He also has a passion for sharing his knowledge and expertise of all things fly fishing with others, and is in charge of all the educational curriculum building and community outreach we do. He also is a volunteer for the Trout Unlimited Tri-State Conservation & Fishing Camp each year.

He occasionally performs appraisals of antiquated equipment by appointment only, or by bribery with a Mountain Dew.


​Photo Credit: dimnikolov

Alan Short is a Virginia native and in certain circles is known as Mr. Pennsylvania.  He has fished anywhere and everywhere in the Keystone State, as well as all of Virginia and Idaho.  He is an amazing teacher and one of the best fly tyers in the industry.  Alan ties many of our specialty patterns and is our group fly tying instructor and one of our in-home teachers.

When not at home creating new patterns, Alan can be found running his home-grown supply of dubbing material (his Golden Retriever named Luke) along the Potomac looking for stray tennis balls and squirrels.


Gabby is a DC-based angler who learned how to fly fish as a kid from her well-renowned casting instructor dad, John Bilotta. She’s a well versed angler who enjoys plying local waters with a fly and has travelled west for trout and south for bonefish. Her greatest joys as an angler are fishing with family and friends. While she has caught some great fish, Gabby and her fishing buddies have decorated countless trees with flies over the years.

Gabby is an accomplished photographer and videographer to show our customers both the highs and lows of the sport we love.


Growing up in Colorado, Regan enjoyed the dark side of the force fishing spinning rigs in the Centennial State's high country.  While attending graduate school in Georgia, he was bitten by the fly fishing bug chasing trout in the southern Appalachians and eventually found two-hand fishing spey casting to be a way of solving certain fishing problems.  Regan’s passion is swinging flies utilizing both two-hand and single-hand spey casting techniques.

Regan is a Certified Casting Instructor with Fly Fishers International and has a passion for chasing sea-run brown trout in southern Patagonia, but is frequently found most weekend mornings at Fletcher’s Cove waving a very long stick in the pursuit of casting the sexiest loops south of the Mason-Dixon line.


Bob Smith is a northern New Jersey boy who has been in love with fishing his entire life.  A master craftsman and fine wood restoration specialist, he is especially fond of restoring and repairing classic and antique fishing tackle for collectors and those that want to fish them.

Bob is well known in fishing circles as a shad addict and you will either find him most mornings from April to May down at Fletcher's Boathouse, or somewhere sampling one of his 2 other addictions - fiberglass rods, and creating culinary works of gastronomic pleasure and posting it on our secondary Instagram profile DistrictAnglingEats.


Raised in northeast Ohio, Brett began guiding fly fishermen on Lake Erie’s tributaries in the spring of 2004. He was the general manager at the Cleveland area’s best fly shop - Chagrin River Outfitters. Brett has guided and fished across the United States and the world.

Whether he’s rowing his drift boat down the Bighorn or North Platte, hosting a group of anglers to a remote Mexican lodge, or swinging a fly through one of his favorite runs on the Chagrin with his friends, nothing makes Brett happier than spending time on the water with other anglers who share a passion for fly fishing.


Harry Lambert has been our shop carpenter and contractor for the last 3 locations that you've visited us in.  He is the reason our shop idea was able to become a physical reality, making sure our new retail store is the epitome of the vision and feel that you've come to expect when you visit your local fly shop.  Our business does not exist without him.

Despite being Grizzly's brother, Harry has little interest in fly fishing, but is our advisor for all conventional fishing, particularly the local largemouth bass fishery.  He is well traveled and competes in local and remote location tournaments, and is our liaison with all Potomac River bass organizations and fishing tournaments.