JT Nichols

Publisher of Headwater Books, fly fishing editor for Stackpole Books. Northeast Field Editor for Fly Fisherman magazine. 

Jay Nichols has been a full-time editor, publisher, photographer, writer, and media specialist in the fly-fishing industry since 2001. He was the managing editor for Fly Fisherman magazine for 6 years and remains the Northeast Field Editor and Contributing Photographer for that magazine. Nichols is the fly fishing editor for Stackpole Books, the premiere publisher of fly fishing and fly tying books, and the Publisher of Headwater Books (www.headwaterbooks.com), a boutique book publishing company specializing in fly fishing and fly tying titles written by experts, which is distributed by Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group.

Nichols has written several books, including Tying Dry Flies and the best selling 1001 Fly Fishing Tips, and has coauthored or been the lead photographer on a number of fly fishing books with the sport’s legends, including Casting with Lefty Kreh (Kreh and Nichols), Fundamentals of Fly Casting (Kreh and Nichols), Clouser’s Flies and Fly Fishing for Smallmouth (Bob Clouser and Nichols), Fleye Design (Bob Popovics and Nichols), and Game Changer: Tying Flies that Look and Swim Like the Real Thing (Blane Chocklett and Jay Nichols). His photos have appeared in hundreds of books and magazine articles and he has been the project manager/editor on more than 50 of the best selling fly-fishing and fly-tying books published in the 21st century.

Nichols is also the principal of Headwater Media Group, an integrated media company specializing in instructional video and ebooks. On the Water with Landon Mayer: Mastering the Short Game was released in 2019 to critical acclaim (www.mastertheshortgame.com) , shortly followed by the first video in a new Masterclass Series: Fly Tier’s Masterclass: Tying and Fishing Favorite Nymphs with George Daniel.

In 2018, Nichols was awarded the Charles K. Fox “Rising Trout Award” from the Cumberland Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, which recognizes citizens who have made significant contributions toward the world of fly fishing and/or fly tying, while not losing sight of the protective and conservative measures necessary for the advancement of the sport.

In fall 2018 Nichols was named one of the 50 most influential fly fishers in the last five decades by Fly Fisherman magazine. Here’s what editor Ross Purnell had to say: “It is  because of this “man behind the curtain”  that many of the finest books  of the past decade have come to fruition.  Of note, more than 2,000 of  his photos illustrated Casting with  Lefty and he shared a byline in Fleye  Design (with Bob Popovics), Bob  Clouser’s Fly Fishing for Smallmouth,  Keystone Fly Fishing, and he was the  editor and a silent and often unrecognized  driving force behind dozens  and dozens of other distinguished  books. If fly fishing is truly special  because this is a literary sport, then  people like Nick Lyons, Charlie Fox,  and Jay Nichols have played a vital  role over the past 50 years. “

Nichols lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, not far from the legendary streams and spring creeks of the Cumberland Valley.