The show
Two guys, one river, occasional facts.
Risers & Lies is a video podcast about fly fishing in Colorado — every kind of it, though the dry fly is the love. Which water, exactly, stays between us and the fish. Every other week, two close friends sit down over a beer (and sometimes a cigar) and talk rising fish: the hatches, the drifts, the refusals, and the stories that get a little better every time we tell them.
We take the craft seriously and ourselves much less so. Between us we guide this water for a living and write about it for a living — and the river still humbles us weekly. When we want even more, we bring it on: other guides, fly tyers, and shop owners who fish it more days a year than we get to dream about.
The studio
Episodes are recorded in person at a Colorado fly-shop studio — surrounded by rod racks and fly bins, which keeps the conversation honest-ish — and out on the river, where it belongs. Video first: full episodes on YouTube and Spotify, audio everywhere you listen, and clips where the algorithm lives.
Renato Vanzella
Half the lies
Renato writes about this water for a living — an established Colorado fly-fishing publication, weekly hatch reports and all. He also carries some 300 fly boxes and will cast every last one at a single rising fish. Every refusal is personal, and the trout know him by name — they warn each other.
Cole Atchley
The other half
Cole guides this water for a living — thirty years reading it, eight guiding it, with a nose for picky, selective fish. He's also the one who lands them while Renato is still retying, and he measures everything in "honest inches," a unit he invented and refuses to define.
Frequently asked
- What is Risers & Lies?
- Risers & Lies is a video-first fly-fishing podcast about dry-fly fishing in Colorado, filmed at Peak Fly Shop in Colorado Springs. New episodes release every other week.
- Who hosts Risers & Lies?
- Renato Vanzella and Cole Atchley. Cole is a working Colorado fly-fishing guide — about 30 years reading water, 8 of them guiding. Renato writes about Colorado fly fishing for an established publication and carries around 300 fly boxes.
- What is the show about?
- Dry-fly fishing done seriously and talked about un-seriously: hatches, drifts, refusals, and gear, plus the stories that grow an inch with every telling — and interviews with guides, fly tyers, and shop owners.
- How often do new episodes come out?
- Every other week.
- Where can I watch or listen?
- Full video episodes on YouTube, with audio on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen once Season 1 launches. Clips live on Instagram and YouTube.
- Where is Risers & Lies filmed?
- At Peak Fly Shop in Colorado Springs, Colorado — and out on the water. The home water itself stays undisclosed.