Ron Belak is an award-winning writer and photographer from Evergreen, Colorado. He has fished the Colorado backcountry as an adult for 45 years. In that time, he has fished about 600 different high lakes and small reservoirs in Colorado, as well as a number in Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, British Columbia and Argentina. Educated as a scientist with degrees in geology and significant coursework in the biological sciences, he approaches fly fishing from an analytical perspective, trying to decide what strategies, techniques, equipment and patterns work and what is the scientific basis for why they work. In addition to Colorado Outdoors magazine, Ron Belak’s writing and photography has also appeared in Fly Fisherman and American Angler magazines. He is a frequent presenter at chapter meetings of Trout Unlimited, other fly-fishing clubs and the Fly Fishing Show in Denver.