It all began when Joey Puettman was 9 years old and broke his dad’s fly-fishing rod.
Desperate, Puettman tried to fix it and, when that failed, he blamed his little brother.
Puettman would eventually confess, and his parents responded by buying him a Cabela’s fly rod building kit.
It was a simple kit and Puettman had to use a heavy dictionary as a tensioner for his thread as he wrapped that first rod on his mom's kitchen table.
“This was in the day before YouTube and I just taught myself how to weave with what I had,” Puettman said. “I started learning how to build fly rods and it turned it into a lifelong passion."
He has turned that passion into a business and owns two companies, Joey’s Fly Rods and the Sheridan Fly Rod Co., where he's creating premium fly rods sought after by serious fly fishers.
He has invented his own rod cradle and turner that he is getting ready to put on the market.
Over the past 20 years, Puettman has also taught more than 3,000 people how to fly fish and build their own rods. He works with state agencies, schools, mental health center, veterans, and senior centers.
“There's nothing more rewarding than handcrafting a fly rod and then trying to go and catch a crazy wild trout with it,” Puettman said. “It's absolutely rewarding and fun.”
Fishing with Joey Puettman fly rods. (Courtesy Joey Puettman) 
Fishing with Joey Puettman fly rods. (Courtesy Joey Puettman) 
Fishing with Joey Puettman fly rods. (Courtesy Joey Puettman) 
Joey Puettman of Sheridan, Wyoming, teaches kids to fly fish and once they are hooked, he will teach them to build their own fly rods. (Courtesy Joey Puettman) 
Joey Puettman grew up fishing the Platte River in Casper, Wyoming. He now owns his own fly rod companies and helps people build their own custom rods. He said that there is nothing more rewarding than catching a crazy trout with a rod you built yourself. (Courtesy Joey Puettman) 
Joey Puettman took his two loves, helping at risk youth and flyfishing, to start two businesses where he teaches others how to build fly rods. (Courtesy Joey Puettman) 
Joey Puettman took his two loves, helping at risk youth and flyfishing, to start two businesses where he teaches others how to build fly rods. (Courtesy Joey Puettman) 
Joey Puettman of Sheridan, Wyoming, has turned his personal passion of fly rod building into a business. He not only sells custom rods but helps people build their own, especially at risk teens. (Courtesy Joey Puettman)
Sharing The Skill
Puettman was raised in Casper just two blocks from the Platte River, and now lives in Sheridan.
He grew up fishing or dreaming about fishing. When the ice was too thick, Puettman would be tying flies or building a new fly rod, waiting for the chance to get back on the water.
“It creates an outlet for me,” Puettman said. “It is about attention to detail and pattern behavior, and I can also connect to other people when I teach them how to weave their own patterns.”
Before he began working full-time as a fly-fishing guide and building fly rods, Puettman was a title one educator and the program director at Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center.
He started his company Joey’s Fly Rods in the summer of 2000 when he was 23 years old by hitting every garage sale in Natrona County with his parents.
“We just started buying as many fly rods as we could,” Puettman said. “I fixed them, and then I gave them to the youth so they would have something to take home with them at the end of their fly-fishing class.”
By teaching fly-fishing, he said, Puettman would get his clients hooked and would next get them to build their own fly rod. He said that the process is especially healing for his at-risk teens that he works with all over the state and
“At first they're intimidated, especially the kids because they don't know how to work with their hands and connect it to that sensory,” Puettman said. “It's called sensory integration, and the reward is daily because they get to see something evolve and they're building it themselves.”
No Phone Zone
Puettman said that building a fly rod is tedious and hard. It also means putting your phone down and connecting with the real world.
“They're working through their frustration and whatever they're dealing with,” Puettman said. “Time passes by and you're slowing your brain down because everything in our world is so fast, so instant.”
Puettman is working with the Youth Alternative Program and their drug and alcohol awareness program in Worland to help the kids learn how to craft and build their own fly rods.
“It’s just another way to try to keep them out of trouble,” Puettman said.
He is also working with 12 high schools around Wyoming and calls his program “applied science.”
“CTE (Career Technology Education) is a huge push right now in the school districts,” Puettman said. “I've got two interns as well that are seniors in high school.”
Puettman said that there is nothing more rewarding than watching his students go from being nervous or indifferent about building a rod to excited about being in class.
“Is about connecting to people,” Puettman said. “Getting them off their phones and working with their hands.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
