Alyssa began fly fishing at the age of nine in the small streams of Asheville, North Carolina chasing wild brook and rainbow trout. Transitioning to Boone, North Carolina in 2015 to enroll at Appalachian State University, she actively pursued involvement in her local fly fishing community, serving her junior year as the App State Fly Fishing Club President, sitting on the board of the High Country Trout Unlimited Chapter and working for a local fly shop.

Since graduating, Alyssa works as a full-time guide for Boone’s Fly Shop + High Country Guide Service, spending part of the season providing float trips on the Watauga and South Holston tailwaters in Eastern Tennessee as well as hosting overnight floats in southwest Alaska on the Kanektok River.

Fly fishing has given her the opportunity to travel and pursue a variety of fish- smallmouth, trout, musky, tarpon, redfish, snook, bonefish and permit; and she enjoys the challenge of tying new flies for each species. Alyssa has developed a deep appreciation for river ecology and takes special interest in migratory birds; you can often find her boat stocked with a pair of binoculars or an aquatic insect collection kit.