Pro Shop | John Bond | Rena Fiskecamp
Pro Shop | John Bond | Rena Fiskecamp
John Bond grew up in a flyfishing family. Both his mother and father were anglers and he accompanied them on numerous flyfishing vacations around the East coast. Bond caught his first fish at age 7 and was fishing on his own by age 11. Flyfishing has been a daily part of his life since 1995.
In 2010 Bond moved to Montana to fulfill a life-long dream. Several years later he was guiding for the Yellowstone Angler. After marrying Silje, a beautiful Norwegian woman and starting a family, they heard of a fly-fishing lodge coming up for sale on the River Rena in Norway. The decision was made to move there to raise their children.
John and Siljie are now the owners of Rena Fishcamp (www.renafishcamp.com). The River Rena is one of Europe’s most prolific dry-fly fisheries and harbors record-size grayling and brown trout up to 10 kilos (over 20 pounds!). They have accommodations, guide service, rental boats and a fly shop. Scientific Anglers is among the various brands that they sell.
2021 is their first season as owners and they are coping with the challenges of running a business during Covid restrictions. Both John and Silje are staying optimistic. They look forward to raising a family and hosting anglers from across Europe and beyond.
For dry fly fishing on the Rena, John favors the Amplitude Infinity line in camo. He has found this line to be super durable and has had it last a full season with 180 plus days on the water. The VPT has proven to be a great choice for dries and nymphs in tighter areas where roll casting and single-hand Spey casts are needed. Depending on depth and speed of the current, Bond fishes a Sink 6 Sonar Titan Sink Tip or Sink 25 Cold to effectively present streamers.
John has become a big fan of the new Absolute leaders and tippets. The Absolute Supreme Fluorocarbon has been a game changer for him in chasing the big browns of the Rena. He will often add a few feet of fluoro to the end of a leader when fishing larger dries (size 12 and up). He feels this gives a stealthier presentation with the bigger flies and the browns are being fussy.
