Orvis Sandanona Shooting Grounds — Local services in Town of Washington

I went solo to the last school of the year in Millbrook. I am an avid lake fisherman with no fly experience. I own a retail store and have zero to do with the Orvis organization. 50 year fly fishing pro, Bob Meyen was the instructor of our 3 student class. The school is located in a pure country, woodsy setting on 450 acres of country heaven. The structure is cabin like and fitting to the environment. A modest Orvis store that sells more hunting than fishing supplies and decent variety of clothing is the hub of the facility. Before class, we first placed our order for lunch(which is included, prepared there and wonderful!) then we proceeded to the classroom out back. Bob is so much into fly fishing and sharing his knowledge but never once got ahead of our learning curve and made sure we used his building block technique of teaching to get us from A to Z. After introductions and a basic fly fishing intro and casting skills, we proceeded to the fishing pond which is stocked. Without flies, Bob taught us casting skills that are pure and without bad habit. Once we groomed our casts, lunch then back to class, more casting technique on video shown, back to the pond. We worked on more technique and were filmed to view on second day. Through the two days, we learned most everything you need to know about the sport. From the actual flies trout love and what stages through the seasons they feed, to the tied flies used to replicate them. we viewed our video taken the day before and Bob pointed out and corrected any bad habits that could arise. We learned the basic knot tying techniques and practiced them until Bob gave us the thumbs up. We went back to the pond and practiced casting and catching small fish with flies. The day ended at Wappingers stream for the final test of our newly acquired skills. After learning about wader set up and stream management, we looked at rocks in the streams that had critters on them such at caddis that trout feed on. After Bobs demo in the stream using various flies, the three of us were positioned and were coached, putting it all together. Three rainbows later with proper catch and release, and nothing but the excitement of it all, the weekend sadly ended at the school. Orvis offers the students 20% discounts on merchandise during the two days, but make sure you ask what is NOT discounted as they are not completely clear communicating this offer. I totally recommend this school to newbies and those needed to brush up on their skills and basics. Pros might find this class a bit elementary for the majority of material covered. There was a bit of sales pitch during the school, but not annoying...

Free Fly Fishing Class. Great Deal!!

I recently attended Orvis’s Fly Fishing 101 class at the Millbrook, NY location. It was fantastic! And it was free!!

The class was taught by the store manager, Maria. She was extremely knowledgeable, approachable, and enthusiastic. Maria simplified fly fishing by teaching us that there were only two knots that we needed to know. She also simplified the process of choosing flies by explaining the broad categories into which they fall.

Maria even gave us the experience of fighting a fish by grabbing the end of our line and running around with it. As she was running in all different directions, she would shout out instructions to us about how to fight a hooked fish. She really was wonderful and went above and beyond.

This class is a great way to learn about fly fishing without having to spend any money. Orvis provides all the equipment. And it’s their top of the line gear: the rods we used retail for $1,000!

Maria’s expertise and enthusiasm made it a fun two hours. It was a great learning experience, and I highly recommend it to newcomers and to people like me who used to fly fish, but who haven’t done it in a long time and need a refresher. I’ve signed up for the follow up class, Fly Fishing 201, and it too, is free. And they give you discount coupons for gear and classes.

Orvis made some of their money back because I bought two rod and reel combos and two assortments of flies. Plus I had lunch there. Very good burger!

The entire Orvis staff at Sandanona make you feel like you own the place. I can’t...

My partner and I visited this location last weekend with much anticipation and excitement! It was the last stop of our weekend before heading back home.

Upon walking into the store we were immediately met with looks of disgust and terrible attitudes from numerous employees. Choosing to ignore this, we moved forward and decided to continue shopping. The second and I mean THE SECOND I tried on a jacket, I was approached by an older shirt woman with glasses who proceeded treat me as if I didn’t know how to size my clothing properly. Again, thinking nothing of it, we continued to shop. My partner then noticed that the short women was sneaking around corners and watching our every move as if we were trying to steal. We were followed throughout the entire store and went left alone one single time. All we wanted to do was PURCHASE some clothing. At this point it has been forty minutes of this and we decided it was enough so we put our items back on the shelves and walked to the car to leave. We were ready to spend thousands in that store that Saturday 10/19/2024. Multiple jackets at $300 each, many items for our dogs and many pairs of jeans. We will take our business to L.L. BEAN where we are accepted as we are being covered in tattooed and with shaved heads.

This is hunting cosplay for rich New Yorkers who want to be seen but can’t afford to polo club. Do...