Welcome to Feather Water.com, your online fly fishing community.
With words and images, we recognize and share the engaging aspects of fly fishing; those magical areas in nature that lend themselves to chasing fish with fur and feathers, the skills fly fishers display, the spirit they share, and the gear they crave.
We celebrate great writing, especially how-to fly fish, where-to fly fish and fly fishing narratives.
We specialize in introducing new anglers to this beautiful addiction and providing the lessons to help them improve.
Chris O'Byrne is a teacher, angler, fly fishing instructor, and author.
A fulltime teacher for over 20 years, Chris combines this experience with decades of coaching and over 15 years as a fly casting instructor.
His love of the water began as a boy when he was sent to the New River, in eastern North Carolina, to swim, catch crabs on chicken bones from strings, and fish with crickets from cane poles. Then, as an energetic preteen who no longer wanted to sit on a bucket, he took his father's Shakespeare WonderGlass fly rod and learned to play the game with flies.
In 2006, he began instructing fly fishing. He earned the Casting Instructor certification from Fly Fishers International in 2011. He was the Director of Fly Fishing Schools at The Andy Thornal Company, where he wrote the school’s notebook, Begin the Adventure.
Several magazines have published his writings on fly fishing and other topics. He contributed to Craig Crumblis's book Fly Fishing Central Florida's Freshwater.
Noticing that beginners from all over the country had similar needs and similar opportunities, he wrote The Beautiful Addiction, published by The Peppertree Press.
In 2021, Fly Fishing and Tying Journal recognized Chris's fiction writing by selecting his short story "The Surrogate" as a Finalist for the Sheridan Anderson Memorial Short Story Contest.
