If there is one commodity in Montana that there is no shortage of it is Fly Fishing Guides! Where we live it seems that just about everyone has a drift boat, and sometimes it seems that just about everyone with a drift boat thinks they can be a guide. Just as in any profession there are a few great ones, a bunch of mediocure ones and more than there should be of just "OK" ones. Being a good guide takes more than just a few years of fly fishing experience and being able to get a drift boat down the river. There is a huge difference between getting a boat down the river and rowing a drift boat so that even a first time fly fisherman can get into some fish. Being a good guide takes more than a basic knowledge of the river. It takes knowing the river like your backyard. A good guide knows all the little, out of the way and often very subtle places to put their fishermen. A good guide will know not just their favorite, or closest to home, stretch of river, they will know the entire one hundred and twenty plus miles of the Yellowstone River. A good guide will know where to take you on the river if you want to catch mainly Cutthroats on dry flies. They will also know where to go if you want to go after a trout of a lifetime. If your main concern is to be away from the crowds a good guide will know where to take you, and be willing to drive a little more. A good guide will start much earlier in the day and stay out much later than the other guys.
A good guide will posses and do one or two of the above. A great guide will strive every single day on the river to achieve all of the goals and expectations mentioned. We take your fun very seriously and we put in every effort possible from the moment the boat leaves the put-in until the boat is parked at the take-out. We have the patience to laugh away the inevitable tangles, since we know that we have them too, and we are just as (well almost) excited as you will be when you catch your first trout on a fly or the trout of a lifetime. In a nut shell: We love what we do and we appreciate the fact that it is you, the people we fish with, that allows us to keep doing what we love so much to do!
There is a huge difference between us and many of the fly-fishing lodges out there. Obviously there are some first rate lodges in Montana and many fishermen go to the same lodge year after year. There is nothing bad or wrong with many of the fly-fishing lodges. The fishermen who go there like to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast and then get on the river by nine or ten in the morning. They like to float the same stretch of river year after year. Most of the fishermen who stay at the fly fishing lodges like the fact that they know that they will be off the river at four in the afternoon and back in time for diner at six. That is all well and good, if that is what you expect from your fly-fishing trip to Montana.
However, if you have always envisioned your fly fishing trip to Montana to be centered around the fishing and not a fixed diner schedule then we are the guides for you! Very early in my guiding career I learned that one of the most important questions I needed to ask of all my fishermen is, "Do you need or want to be back at any certain time"? That was because the kitchen staff at the lodge I guided for was very mad at me for getting my fishermen back hours after all the other guides. I remember asking the lodge operator if the fishing will be at its best from five in the afternoon until dark, why do all the guides still start at nine in the morning and get back to the lodge or shop before five? The answer stunned me and I still do not get it. "Because that is just the way it's done". So, if you want to plan your fly-fishing trip to Montana around the fishing and not the 9 to 5 world back home, then we are the guides for you! Having said all that, we do realize that many of our guests are on vacation with their families and that they do need to be back at a certain time. If that is the case, we assure you that we can hit the ramp within minutes of the planned on time.
