A Chicagoan turned Pro Montana Fly Fishing Guide
Garrett Munson
Guide Zone: Helena, Mt., Missouri River, Blackfoot River,
Yellowstone River
Target Species: Rainbow
Trout, Brown Trout, Cutthroat
Trout,
Carp
Business Info: Montana Fishing Outfitters,
406-431-5089
The Chicago native talks Islamorada slams and Montana
streams with GoFISHn's Ashley Stites.
GoFISHn:
Montana
Fishing Outfitters is based out of Helena, but you’re not from
Montana,
right?
Garrett Munson: I
grew up just outside of Chicago. I was kind of born and raised a city
boy, and
I moved out here about 15 years ago.
GFN: If
you grew up
a city boy, what was fishing like when you were young? Did you do much of it ?
GM: It
was mostly
traveling fishing, and it was all with my grandparents. My father’s
parents
lived in Islamorada, and I’d usually go down a few times a
year for a week or
two at a time, and we’d fish around the clock. My grandparents were
serious
ocean anglers. Then my mother’s parents lived on a lake in rural
Wisconsin,
about an hour and a half outside of Milwaukee, so I’d spend time
there
fishing for bluegill, crappie,
trout,
and bass. My grandparents were my mentors
with fishing, and they got me pretty darn hooked on it at a pretty darn
early
age.
GFN: It
seems like
you mostly fly fish, do you ever use spinning
tackle?
GM: I
grew up
spin
fishing and bait
fishing, and that’s pretty much completely gone now. Not
that I have anything against it, I just don’t do it anymore. I started
fly
fishing when I was about 12, and in my early 20s, I got real serious
about it
on my way to becoming a professional guide. Spin
fishing pretty much just went
by the wayside, and now it’s fly
rod or nothing. I definitely made the
conversion somewhere along the way without even thinking about it very
much.
GFN: Going
from spin
to
fly seems like a natural progression for people. Why do you prefer fly
over
spin?
GM: To
me,
fly
fishing is more challenging. The correlation in my life is a lot
like
telemark
skiing compared to alpine skiing. It’s much more difficult to learn
than regular skiing, but once you get it, it feels completely different
and
it’s so cool. To me, fly
fishing is the same thing, much harder to learn but the
reward is greater.
GFN: So
it’s more
about the challenge and sport of it for you?
GM: Fly
fishing is
the most complicated way to possibly figure out how to catch a fish, and
that’s
what’s so great about it. It’s because you have to problem solve, test
your
abilities and practice that makes it rewarding.
GNF: So
you’ve been
fishing seriously since your younger 20s, did you always know you wanted
to be
a guide?
GM: I
moved to
Montana in 1995. Basically the first five years I was here, I went from: "I
fly
fish some" to "now that’s what I do." Any time that I wasn’t working
or sleeping,
I was fly fishing. You kind of get to that point where
you’re so into it, and
you’ve invested so much time and money, that you say to yourself I kind
of have
to start guiding. Before you know it, you’re a guide. And then before
you know
it, you’re not fishing anymore, you’re teaching people how to fish,
which
luckily I like.
GFN: Do
you find a
lot of your guiding charters involve teaching people to fly
fish?
GM: Ten
percent of
anglers are going to be really good, very experienced, technically savvy
fly
fishermen. Forty percent fall into the category of fly
fishing maybe for 20
years, but they don’t do it that frequently. They take a trip or two
every year
and have their own gear, and can get to a certain point. Almost 50
percent fall
into completely novice and know nothing, or do it so infrequently that
that’s
basically where they’re at. I love novices. I love fishing with kids and
adolescents. And women are great students of fly
fishing.
GFN: Regardless
of
skill level, what do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of
guiding?
GM: It’s a
coin
toss. One is the teaching and sharing that sort of exciting experience
for
people. This thing we do pretty regularly results in people having
awesome,
feel-good experiences, whether it’s catching fish or bonding with
family. You
help make some dreams come true, and when your job is to do that, life
is
pretty cool. The other thing that’s rewarding for me is that my 16-foot
drift
boat is my office. For 6 months of the year, my job is to be hanging out
in
some of the most beautiful countryside on this continent. I get paid to
hang
out in a place that I love.
GFN: That’s
certainly
not the average office.
GM: It’s
worth
everything I have to give up by having an unconventional work life. Some
of
that unconventional is just downright sweet.
GFN: Do
you have a
favorite river where you like to take people?
GM: I
have my
favorite places because the fishing is great. I have my favorite places
because
I don’t care about the fishing but it’s so amazingly beautiful. The
reality is
though that our home river, the Missouri River, is frickin' awesome. It’s
incredibly beautiful, has an amazing fishery for inexperienced anglers
and the
most experienced angler in the world. I’ve spent thousands of days on
this
river, and I never get tired of it.
GFN: What
species do
you target there and even everywhere you guide?
GM: We
pretty much
fish for
trout. I have this thing for native fish. Basically our native
species
are Westslope cutthroat trout, and I love them. Our non-native
species are
pretty much rainbow and brown
trout, and those are the main species in the
Missouri River. Those are the big three.
GFN: You
mentioned
that when you’re a guide you don’t get to do much fishing. When you do
get a
chance though, where do you like to go?
GM: You
have to fish
the rivers you’re going to be guiding on because you’re scouting. That
being
said, I really like to fish alone or with my wife. I really enjoy hiking
in to
a mountain stream somewhere and maybe catch one fish that’s a really
great
fish. I don’t need to catch a lot of fish anymore to feel fulfilled.
GFN: If
you could
catch a trophy fish, what would it be?
GM: The
funny thing
is that I spend all my time fishing for trout,
but what really gets me excited
these days is saltwater fishing. Tarpon
and permit,
I can’t get enough of them,
and that partly is because I can’t get to them here.
GFN: What
do you
think of GoFISHn so far?
GM: What’s
really
interesting to me is the thousands of Facebook fans in a relatively
short
period of time and the number of people it looks like view mine and
other guide’s
profile pages. Just the fact that Google picks me up through GoFISHn is
really
good stuff. The downside is that we have yet to get any actual business
from
it. There’s a lot of attention there, but we’re still looking to find
the right
kind of attention.
GFN: Do
you think
the site is effective in finding new clients?
GM: GoFISHn
for me
is a place to meet new people more than keeping current clients
interested, so
hopefully yes.
Check out some of Garrett's GoFISHn updates:
Florida Keys Fishing Trip 2010
Montana Fly Fishing Photos
Winter in Montana
