S2E6: Macauley Lord, the “Instructor’s Instructor”

MACAULEY LORD is quite possibly the most prolific living and contributing member in the Maine Fly Casting Community. Macauley lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife Carol and their two labrador retrievers. He has worked for LL Bean, teaching Fly Fishing professionally for over 37 years. Macauley is a Registered Maine Guide, the author of 2 books on fly casting, and has trained fly fishing guides and fly-casting instructors on four continents.

Macauley has always had an acute interest in developing and teaching techniques that simplify the sport, making it approachable and understandable for his students in a way that has led him to developing a teaching style that makes the sport as easy as possible for people to engage and grow with quick success and immediate and positive results.

Through this careful influence, Macauley was able to develop a teaching program for LL Bean that transformed the approach of learning to fly cast in a way he was able to prove and implement, and continues today as the template the program utilizes because of the success this unique approach has earned.

In that process, Macauley authored the LL Bean Fly-Casting Handbook, widely regarded in the fly casting instruction world as a staple study of proper fly casting technique. He also developed a revolutionary approach to casting instruction by utilizing film and video to capture a student’s fly cast, to offer immediate positive feedback as well as first-hand examples of where potential improvement could be achieved.

Macauley has run the gamut in the International Fly Casting world, serving at almost every level for the Federation of Fly Fishers; now known as Fly Fishers International. Macauley has served on the Board of Governors for the organization along with the likes of Lefty Kreh, Joan Wulff, Mel Kreiger, Steve Rejeff, Gary Borger, and David Whitlock, just to name a few.

Ultimately, Macauley was awarded the highest distinction in the fly casting world, the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by Fly Fishers International. This award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the world of fly casting instruction, and Maculey is, was and will always be deserving of that distinction. His name will go down in Maine Fly Fishing history as a person that shaped and developed the sport and industry through his careful influence and professionalism.

In addition to his work with fly fishing and fly casting instruction, Macauley has taken on a life interest in supporting his larger community by studying at the Bangor Theological Seminary and regularly volunteers as a Chaplain in many capacities that he will share in this captivating conversation.

I have know Mac for almost thirty years and he has taught me a ton over those years, at times, always knowing what I needed to learn to become a better instructor, guide and influence in our shared community.

As a result of his careful mentoring, we have become friends, fished together, shared concepts, ideas and places that we mutually enjoy fly fishing. I consider Macauley to be one of the major influences in the success I have garnered in my own career as a Fly Fishing Professional.

Macauley is regarded as a man of great conviction, a person capable of achieving anything that he sets his mind to, and above all, Macauley is ultimately a shining light in the fly fishing community, as well as the Maine living community that we all love to be a part of.

Check out these links:

Macauley Lord’s Amazon Book Store

FFI Teaching Workshop for Certified Casting Instructors

Macauley’s Sermon—The Whispers of God

Dave Whitlock’s Guide to Aquatic Trout Foods

Curtis Memorial Library

Secrets of Fly Casting, by Jim Green

The Essence of Flycasting, by Mel Krieger

Freshwater Fishes of Canada

Tom Ackerman’s Episode

Rod McGarry’s Episode