If you’ve spent a day on the North Fork with Ryan Kloberdanz, you already know he didn’t grow up with a fly rod in his hand. Most people assume the guides out here were born on the water. Ryan wasn’t, and that’s exactly what makes him one of the more relatable fly fishing guides on this water.
He grew up on a farm in northeastern Colorado, moved to the Denver area in the late ’90s, and didn’t pick up fly fishing until his late twenties, and only then because a job move to Wisconsin left him without a single friend in Madison. “You better get a hobby,” he told himself, “because I didn’t know one person.” So he grabbed a fly rod and started fishing every stream in the Driftless Area he could find. He went a whole year without catching a fish.
There was no YouTube or TikTok how-to video to bail him out, either. So Ryan learned the old-fashioned way with library books, diagrams, trial and error. Eventually he hired a guide for a day, and those eight hours changed everything. “We absolutely kicked the crap out of fish,” he says, “and I obviously was doing everything wrong.” From there, it clicked.
From the Orvis Counter to the North Fork
How did Ryan go from client to guide?
Ryan’s path into guiding started at an Orvis store where off-season guides would come through to work retail. He met Jeff Poole, who runs the show here, at a class at Orvis. After a little time, Jeff asked Ryan if he wanted to guide. That was 2018. Ryan’s about to finish his ninth season on the North Fork.
What a Guide Day Actually Looks Like
How much prep goes into a single day on the water?
Before Ryan ever steps foot on the ranch, he’s already gone through detailed notes that Jeff and Julie put together on every group’s skill level, right- or left-handed, physical limitations, and the group’s goals for the day. Thanks to those, he never walks in blind, and he’s able to prep everything: what rods he rigs, what gear he grabs, whether the group needs wading staffs.
He gets to the ranch early, 7:00 or 7:15, because Denver traffic can be unpredictable and he doesn’t want to be late. The eight-mile drive up the valley doubles as a scouting report: water clarity, flow, whether it rained overnight. Colorado had a rough water year overall, but the North Fork Valley draws from a reservoir, so the flows have stayed steady, a real advantage compared to rivers that swing wildly week to week.
Each day has an assigned trip leader who makes the calls when things go sideways, an extra angler shows up, plans change, whatever it is. It has to run tight. North Fork Ranch guided over 3,700 anglers last year. This is a complex operation here, and it only works if everyone’s dialed in. Which they always are.
A Favorite Stretch, Sort Of
Does Ryan have a favorite piece of water?
Ask Ryan his favorite piece of water, and he’ll tell you it’s a trick question. His real answer: wherever he’s fishing next. Every property has its own character, the North Fork Ranch proper is easy walking, quiet except for the river and the horses, and stunning in the fall colors. The South Fork water is wide open, meandering through treeless valleys, about as Colorado as Colorado gets. But for Ryan, the place is secondary. The people make the day. Good attitude, a willingness to learn, and you’ll have a great time regardless of what’s happening upstream.
What Makes a Good Day on the Water
What actually separates a great guided day from an average one?
Ryan’s honest about this one: the biggest factor isn’t skill, it’s whether you’re willing to listen. His logic makes sense: if you’re paying for a guide, you’re paying for someone who’s on that water every single day. You can listen to him, learn a thing or two, and have a great day on the water. And numbers aren’t really the goal, according to Ryan. He wants people to have a good day, whatever that means for them. Some corporate groups often want to be out of the office. Some guys want full nets. Most days, it’s somewhere in between, and Ryan reads that and adjusts. But Ryan really loves seeing folks get a fish on the line.
Why Hire a Guide at All?
What does a guided day actually teach a new angler?
If you’re new to fly fishing, Ryan’s take is straightforward: a guided day is where you find out everything you’ve been doing wrong. You get eight hours to ask questions, watch someone rig a rod and explain why, and understand why you’re fishing one stretch instead of another.
Even once you’ve got some experience, a guide earns their keep the moment you travel somewhere new. Ryan’s fished the Driftless Area of Wisconsin hard for years, and if he went back today, it’d still take him a few hours to relearn where the fish are holding, because western rivers and spring creeks don’t behave the same way. If you’ve only got a week to fish somewhere new, spend at least one of those days with someone who fishes it every day of the year.
The Conservation Issue That Matters Most
What does Ryan see as the real threat to this fishery?
Ask Ryan about conservation, and he doesn’t overthink it: it’s water, cold water, present water. Everything else, the fish, the fishing, the whole operation, depends on that one thing being there. Colorado just came off two brutal snowpack years, among the worst on record. Reservoirs like Lake Powell and Lake Mead are so far below where they used to sit that it would take fifteen consecutive years of average snowfall to get them back. It’s a number that’s hard to wrap your head around. Ryan’s hope is simple: two or three good snow years in a row, and the system starts to recover. Until then, water conservation isn’t an abstract talking point out here. It’s the whole ballgame.
Want to fish with Ryan? He’s out on the North Fork most days from spring through fall, running everything from beginner-friendly float days to full-on technical water for anglers chasing their next lifer. Reach out to North Fork Ranch to book your day on the water with him.