MidCurrent Welcomes Phil Monahan as Editor-in-Chief

MidCurrent is proud to welcome Phil Monahan as our Editor-in-Chief.

Phil joins the MidCurrent team after a 14-year run with Orvis, where he launched the Orvis Fly Fishing Blog. That blog played an influential role in fly fishing media, and Phil oversaw its consistent success. In the summer of 2017, Phil published the 10,000th post on Orvis News, which he says “felt like a real milestone.”

Then, as part of the Orvis Commitment, Phil conceived the entire Following the Water campaign, which involved a major video project and microsite, dedicated to education people about Everglades restoration.

Before his time with Orvis, Phil edited American Angler for ten years, eventually becoming that publication’s editorial director. He had a hand in producing Fly Tyer, Saltwater Fly Fishing, and Warmwater Fly Fishing magazines as well. This allowed Phil the chance to meet “pretty much everyone in the fly-fishing industry,” as he puts it.

This is a homecoming of sorts for Phil, since he authored the “Ask the Experts” column for MidCurrent between 2009-2010.

Phil is a native of New Hampshire, which is where he learned to fly fish. When he went home to get a Master’s degree at the University of New Hampshire, he and his brother Brian “got serious” about fly fishing, which led to Phil exploring all corners of the Granite State. As Phil says, he fished “such unfabled waters as the Isinglass River and Stonehouse Pond.” He took regular trips to Maine to chase landlocked salmon and brook trout on dry flies, as well.

Then, during summers while working on a PhD (that he never got) Phil spent summers guiding in Alaska and Montana. Of that time, Phil says, “I was able to fish with anglers of all skill levels and in all kinds of situations—surrounded by brown bears in Alaska, surrounded by Winnebagos in Yellowstone National Park, and surrounded by incredibly finicky trout on the spring creeks of Paradise Valley. Best of all, I got to be on the water almost all the time, in some of the most beautiful settings on the planet, and I got to hang out with fellow fly fishermen.”

In addition to his work at American Angler and Orvis, Phil has also freelanced for publications like Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Rod & Reel, Outdoor Life, USA Today, and Game & Fish. His first book, The Orvis Quick-Start Guide to Fly Fishing, is due out next August from Lyons Press.

Phil’s wealth of experience in many areas of fly fishing, as well as his excellent skills with the written word, will be an enormous asset to the MidCurrent audience moving forward.