Level Up
Fly Fishing School in Maryland The Orvis Chesapeake Bay Fly Fishing School
Level Up Your Fly-Casting and Fly-Fishing Skills
The Orvis Chesapeake Bay Fly Fishing School offers professional fly-fishing instruction in Maryland for beginners and anglers looking to improve. We teach the Orvis Progressive Method of Fly-Casting Instruction, a proven system designed to build confidence, accuracy, and real-world fishing success.
Our fly-fishing schools focus on more than just casting. Students learn modern fly-casting techniques, proper equipment selection, and how to truly fish a fly—reading water, presenting flies, and landing fish effectively. Instruction covers both freshwater and saltwater fly fishing, with skills that transfer anywhere you fish.
Skills Apply Whether You’re Targeting:
Trout on small, pristine streams
Steelhead on large rivers
Striped bass on the Chesapeake Bay
Tarpon, permit, and bonefish on tropical flats
No matter the species or location, Orvis school instruction helps anglers cast farther, fish smarter, and catch more fish.
1-Day and 2-Day Fly Fishing Schools
Our clinics combine classroom learning with extensive hands-on instruction:
1-Day Schools provide a strong foundation in casting, gear, and fly presentation.
2-Day Schools go deeper, including video casting analysis and a guided fly-fishing trip, allowing students to apply their skills on the water and finish the school with real fishing experience.
Where and When
The Orvis Chesapeake Bay Fly Fishing Schools are held in:
Kent Island, Maryland
Solomons Island, Maryland
Both locations are easily accessible from major airports, including Baltimore–Washington (BWI), Ronald Reagan (DCA), and Dulles (IAD). Each airport is a short drive from our venues.
Our schools are hosted at family-friendly waterfront resorts on the Chesapeake Bay, offering comfortable lodging, waterfront dining, and nearby attractions—ideal for both anglers and families.
Why Orvis Chesapeake Bay Fly Fishing School?
All our instructors are experienced freshwater and saltwater anglers and love passing on their knowledge and helping you to develop the skills and artistry to be a successful angler. We keep the classes small, and the staff-to-student ratio allows for personalized instruction.
You will have hands-on instruction in:
- Fly-Casting Techniques – including the double-haul, plus video reviews of your casting.
- Rods, Reels, Lines, and Fly Selection – specific to both freshwater and saltwater fishing.
- Knots, Knot Tying, and Fly Tying.
- Hook Setting and Fish Fighting – with an emphasis on “BIG” fish.
- Practice your skills with optional guided fishing on the famed Chesapeake Bay with Rock On Charters.
Our Instructors
Duber Winters
Capt. Duber is an expert angler and fly-tier, a licensed captain, and a certified fly-casting instructor. He spent more than a decade as a professional guide in Florida, where he led fly anglers of all experience levels to successful land saltwater fish such as tarpon, sailfish, snook, and permit-only species. He joined the Orvis Company as a store manager and guide in the Florida Keys.
Kaitlin Groundwater
Kaitlin began fly-fishing at a young age, chasing smallmouth bass in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. She furthered her fly-fishing pursuits after college working at the Orvis Store in Woodbridge, VA, where she taught several fly casting and tying courses. During this time, she also taught several water fly-fishing schools, instructing on both trout and bass fishing techniques. Kaitlin then headed West, where she managed the Orvis Endorsed fly-fishing lodge Madison Valley Ranch in Ennis, Montana, and explored Southwest Montana’s finest trout fisheries, including the Madison, Yellowstone, Big Hole, and Missouri Rivers. Kaitlin has since come back to her fly-fishing roots and is eager to share her favorite Virginia streams with anglers of all skill levels.
Henry Lingenfelder
Henry Lingenfelder has fly-fished fresh and saltwater destinations from Cape Cod to Key West for more than 60 years. He has been fishing the Maryland and Delaware shores since he was a kid. Few know the region’s coastal waters and how to get a fish to eat a fly, like Lingenfelder, 70, fly-fishing manager at Tochterman’s Fishing Tackle on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore. Henry is excellent at helping anglers learn to fly-cast and find the best equipment to suit them. He has extensive knowledge of both salt and freshwater fishing opportunities and locations in the mid-Atlantic region.
Joe Evans
From 1999 through 2006, I served as an Orvis-Endorsed fishing guide on the Chesapeake while freelance writing for various publications and producing film packages for National Geographic Today and other outdoor media outlets. I taught at the Orvis Saltwater Fly Fishing Schools on Cape Cod and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I worked for The Orvis Company and Bass Pro Shops, and then, the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources Fisheries Service. I was editor-in-chief at Chesapeake Bay Magazine for a while. Now, I fish, teach, learn, write, and occasionally produce material for Curiosity Stream.
John Bilotta
Certified master casting instructor (MCI) and two-handed Spey casting instructor (THCI) , hosts destination fly fishing experiences around the world, from Christmas Island to Alaska, India to Greenland to Mexico. Plus, Las Buitreras Lodge: Fly Fishing Argentina. John also was the fishing director of El Pescador lodge for Orvis in Belize
Scott Allen
Orvis Leesburg VA. Store Fishing Manager
United States Air Force veteran, world traveler, FFI-Certified Casting Instructor, and fly-rod builder in his spare time, Scott Allen relishes any opportunity to introduce people to fly fishing, to teach, and to talk about the lifestyle he loves. Though he’s spent the greater part of the last two decades fishing the local waterways of Virginia and Maryland, Scott has hosted fishing trips to Montana and Belize, and has had the opportunity to fish all around the world, wherever his work, whether in the Air Force or as a private contractor for Northrop Grumman after his service, took him. But as he told us, “I will travel anywhere there is water.”
Mark Peeler
Dr. Peeler is a second-generation Annapolis physician who has practiced vascular surgery in Annapolis since 2000. He has fly-fished all over the world and is a VERY patient casting and fly-tying instructor. False Albacore and Bull Redfish in North Carolina, Roosterfish and Marlin off Baja, Giant Peacock bass in the Amazon River, or just casting flies to striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay, Mark is happy to share his knowledge with other anglers.
John Adametz
John Adametz has been passionate about teaching fly fishing and has been fly fishing around the globe for more than three decades. As a navy vet, he says “every new assignment involved an opportunity join a new club and fish new species!” John is a credentialed Master Casting Instructor with Fly Fishers International and serves as Vice President and Casting Chair with Virginia Coastal Fly Anglers. He is Founder of Hawaii Fly Fishers Club and Adametz Fly Fishing Academy. As a volunteer, he is involved with Brotherhood of the Junglecock, Project Healing Waters, and the Virginia Beach Schools Environmental Studies Program, where he teaches fly casting. Favorite fly: the one that fish are eating. Most memorable trip: Taimen in Mongolia. Most challenging fish to catch: bonefish in Oahu. Motto: Any fish caught is a good fish, any day fishing is a good day!
Brian Bennett
From the banks of the Shenandoah River in Berryville, VA, to the vibrant waters of Belize, my lifelong love for fishing has evolved into an exciting adventure. Fishing was my vice from a young age, with countless days spent bass fishing during the day and catfishing at night. My modest collection of six rods quickly swelled to 35 when I discovered the thrill of surf fishing.
A pivotal moment came when my fiancé and I planned a diving trip to Belize. Eager to try fly fishing, I visited my local Orvis, purchased my first rod, and took casting lessons. With the guidance of a local expert, I hooked my first Bonefish—and my passion turned into what my fiancé and kids humorously refer to as a “problem.”
After a Fly-Tying 101 class at Orvis, I found myself with yet another “problem” at home—an overwhelming collection of fly material! My fiancé, noticing the situation, playfully suggested I turn my obsession into a business. Thus, VICE Fishing Co. was born.
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