Clearwater Chapter Trout Unlimited

College of Saint Rose fly-fishing instructor Mike Walchko shows student Jessica Bishop, 23, of Albany, the proper technique at the Barber Florio Water Treatment Plant reservoir in Cobleskill on Saturday.

When Jack Fragomeni died in April 2009, the Capital Region fly-fishing community lost a friend and guru, Goldstock’s Sporting Goods lost its fishing department manager and The College of Saint Rose lost the instructor for its fly-fishing course.

As it happened, someone was available to take over at Saint Rose in mid-semester: Mike Walchko of Cobleskill, a retired science teacher in the Cobleskill-Richmondville school district and avid angler.

Walchko finished the spring 2009 semester and has instructed the course ever since, teaching Saint Rose students — most of whom knew nothing about the sport — the basics of casting, fly selection, fly-tying and conservation.

The half-semester course carries only one credit these days — it was two when Fragomeni was teaching — but it’s still a rare example of a for-credit college course in fly-fishing. Many colleges and universities offer non-credit continuing education classes in fly-fishing, but only a handful offer courses that actually count toward students’ degrees.

“Most of them are completely uninitiated. They have no experience,” said Walchko, who is also president of the Clearwater chapter of Trout Unlimited. “If you have one or two who have ever fly-fished, that’s about par. About half the class are girls.”

The class meets once a week for seven weeks, starting in March. In the classroom, the students learn about knots, mayflies and drag-free drifts. Out on the college green, they practice casting. Saint Rose supplies rods and reels for the students, as well as vises on which they tie a fly each class.

The textbook is a classic that sits on many anglers’ bookshelves: “The Orvis Fly-Fishing Guide” by Tom Rosenbauer.

“The girls really like the fly-tying. The boys like the casting,” Walchko said. “You know how when you’re learning to cast, at first, it’s difficult, but when it clicks, it’s suddenly easy? When some of the boys hit that point, when they get the timing down, they really get into it. They start acting macho and want to see how far they can cast.”

Amanda Kopet of St. Johnsville is part of the small minority of students who had experience with fly-fishing when they signed up for Walchko’s class. Originally from East Stroudsburg, Pa., she’s been fly-fishing for nearly half of her 20 years with her grandfather, Robert Drugac of Rockaway, N.J.

“I knew what I was getting into,” the sophomore biology major said. “It’s pretty much just basic stuff that I already knew. I figured that it would be pretty easy, since I already knew how to fly-fish. A particular interest for me is the entomology of streams, the insects in it.”

Fly-fishing is “really enjoyable,” she said. “It’s a nice, relaxing thing to do.” Her grandpa was proud she took the course, and he found it interesting that such a course was offered.

Emma Fulciniti, on the other hand, had never cast a fly-rod before taking the course. She sounded almost surprised at how much she enjoyed it.

“I think it’s awesome,” she said. “There was water aerobics and body sculpting, and then I saw fly-fishing, and I thought it sounded like a great time.”

A freshman forensic psychology major from Orange County, Fla., Fulciniti said she was even considering purchasing a rod. She enjoyed the scenery when the class had an outing Saturday at the Cobleskill Reservoir, and she appreciated the assistance of Walchko’s wife, Kimberly, also an angler and retired teacher, with the casting.

“It turned out more than all right,” Fulciniti said. “I’m really glad I took the course.”

Penn State led the way in higher fly-fishing education, offering courses as far back as the 1930s and the first fully accredited course, taught by George Harvey, in 1947. A course in the literature of fly-fishing is offered at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Fly-fishing is all over the University of Montana, including classes and promotional testimonials from students who say they chose college in Missoula to be near the great fishing, while Montana State has a huge fly-fishing literature collection at its library in Bozeman. Gonzaga College in Washington state and Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania have offered fly-fishing courses.

Walchko’s course addresses conservation topics, including the potential for widespread drilling for natural gas in the southern half of the state, which critics say could have detrimental effects on waterways and fishing.

“It may be the biggest environmental issue ever to hit New York,” Walchko said. “I’m originally from Pennsylvania, and I still fish down there. It’s kind of depressing what’s happening there. I’ve seen just how the character of the land has changed, with all the drilling and the tank trucks and everything. It just changes the whole rural character of the area.”

The course is part of Saint Rose’s physical education curriculum. As such, it’s supposed to address students’ psychological and emotional wellness. (The students even take their blood pressure and heart rate at one point.) Fly-fishing would seem to fit the bill. It’s absorbing, contemplative and relaxing — as long as casts aren’t going haywire and fish aren’t being too fussy.

“I’m a little prejudiced, but I think fly-fishing fits right in,” Walchko said.

NO EASY TASK