Anthony Naranja - Competitor, 2008 World Fly Fishing Championships

Anthony Naranja was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. He was raised in North Dakota and Arizona as his parents military orders moved them between the two states. His father is a retired Air Force Colonel and psychiatrist, his mother is an honorably discharged Air Force Major and a family physician, and his older brother is an honorably discharged Major in the Air Force and an orthopedic surgeon.

Growing up in an overachieving Filipino family, Anthony was taught to focus, learn and excel. He was not a stranger to high expectations. He was strongly influenced to focus his future on medicine however, finding a way to serve his country wasn’t a bad idea either. Luckily it wasn’t all work and no play as his father taught him to fish at the age of four and still continues to fish with him regularly.

Upon graduating from Jamestown High School in North Dakota, Anthony headed to the city of Lawrence, KS and the University of Kansas. It is there, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in cellular biology. Anthony then found his way to the Rocky Mountains of Denver, CO where he earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Currently, Anthony is in private practice in General Dentistry in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Anthony has been fishing for 30 years and fly-fishing for the past 15 years. The waters of Western Colorado are no stranger to him as he typically has an opportunity to fish well over a 100 days per year! Nearly every weekend (which is usually a three day weekend,) is spent at the family getaway in the beautiful Roaring Fork Valley near Carbondale, Colorado. It is here Anthony hones his skills and befriends the local fly shops and trout populations. He enjoys taking out friends and family or just about anybody who’s willing to fish his backdoor waters of the Roaring Fork River and Sopris Spring Creek.

Often his wife, Julie, four-year-old son Brendan, and six month old daughter, Emily, accompanies him.

Over the recent years, Anthony has participated in many of the fly-fishing and fly-casting competitions throughout the country. He competed in the 2003 and the 2004 OLN’s Flyfishing Masters. He has participated in the ISE Best-of-the-West Distance Competition. He won the unrestricted division of the 2004 Federation of Flyfisher's Conclave Casting Competition in West Yellowstone, Montana. For 2005, Anthony plans on being involved with the North American Fly-Fishing Classic and the Mercury Redbone @ Large Rocky Mountain Fly Celebrity Tournament.

Anthony will have the honor to represent his country and fulfill a dream while joining the Fly Fishing Team USA at the 2005 World Fly Fishing Championship in Lapland, Sweden as an assistant coach.