People of Fly Fishing: 10 Question with Joe Willauer, Evolution Anglers, Twin Bridges (Part 2)

It’s our pleasure to present the second half of Joe’s interview this morning; read the first half here. It’s worth a click just for the tail shot.

Sounds like you’re still spending a couple of months guiding back on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington; what keeps you going back?

I fell in love with steelhead fishing after the first time I went, and ever since have chased them wherever I could. The peninsula has everything a steelheader could want. The rivers are gorgeous, full of great water, and change every year (sometimes within the same year). The fish are the best steelhead you can find anywhere, really bright and really big. And the people you meet out there are awesome, because the fishing conditions are so nasty but so rewarding, that anyone spending serious amounts of time out there is incredibly passionate about steelhead.

You’ve been putting together some well done short videos lately; what’s spurred your interest in videography and have anything interesting planned for next year?

My brother and I grew up watching ski and snowboard videos, and so I have always had an interest in making my own. I also get to spend so much time in cool places watching awesome fishing that I wanted a way to start capturing it aside from pictures. I’ll be back in Forks again this winter, so I will have some more steelhead stuff coming out this spring. I also want to get better footage of all of the cool fisheries we have around Twin.

Winters of late have been long and cold in Southwest Montana. What’s your recipe for sanity during the long, cold days?

Keeping busy is the key to surviving the winter in Twin. I spend my winter tying flies, substitute teaching, reffing basketball and hanging with my wife and two dogs (a rat terrier and a lab). Good food and cheap wine help the winter go by faster as well. My new gig for this year is Twin Bridges Junior High basketball coach, which is going to be a blast. I’ve always loved basketball as much as fishing so am excited to get involved in the game again.

Many fly fishers have a mentor or two or other fishers who have been really influential in their past; who do you admire and look up to in the fly fishing world?

Although not in the fly fishing world, my Dad had the biggest influence just by teaching me how to fish, and taking me a lot. We would go on a camping/fishing trip every fall, and traveled all over Eastern Washington wade fishing everything from small creeks to big rivers like the Methow and Yakima. As far as industry people the first would be Jack Mitchell who gave me my first guide job and had faith in me when I was fresh out of Ephrata High School. The biggest influence in my fishing would be my good friend and mentor Jeff Brazda. Jeff took me under his wing when I first started guiding and has taught me everything he knows about fishing and guiding. His passion for the sport and knowledge is unmatched. The biggest impact he has had on my fishing though is that whether fishing is awesome or shitty, he is always having a great time out there, and has a true passion for the sport.

If you could encourage fly fishers to do just one thing in terms of stewardship this next year, what would that be?

Donate money/time/whatever you can to Native Fish Society, Wild Steelhead Coalition, or any organizations that are helping protect wild salmon and steelhead.  Many people know they are in trouble, but don’t realize how close to extinction they are in many NW rivers. On top of that they are still getting netted and sold to market (don’t ever eat wild steelhead!!!).  There are tons of different reasons that they are in trouble, and it’s easy to point fingers, but giving time, money or whatever you can is the only way we will ensure their future

Tags: People of Fly Fishing

Tagged as: Montana, People of Fly Fishing, Steelhead, Twin Bridges, Washington