A beauty of a W. Fork cuttbow
We’ve been chatting off and on for months with Tony Reinhardt of Montana Trout Outfitters in Missoula about doing an interview for our People of Fly Fishing series and it’s our pleasure to present this first installment today.
Tony and his family live year round in Missoula and stay danged busy corralling their guide crew and embracing all the seasonal adventures Montana offers; as always we love learning a bit about what makes successful folks in the business tick and more about their regional fish and fisheries.
Thanks Tony for sharing your thoughts and images (all images are Tony’s).
You live in what we think is one of the niftiest fishing towns on the planet – Missoula, Montana. Please share a bit about your path to settling in and calling Missoula home.
I moved to Missoula sight unseen, in fact I had never even been to Montana before. I grew up in Iowa and picked up a fly rod as a teenager after watching some fly fishermen on an outdoors show (back when you had to get up early on Sat. morning to see any outdoor programming). I caught bass and panfish for years before going with my grandfather to Alaska for 3 months after my freshman year. We had a truck, an Airstream, and a canoe and we fished all over the state. After that I knew I had to move out west. Missoula was the obvious choice because of the U of Montana and most importantly, all the nearby rivers.
A lot of our readers are going to read this and think, ‘dang it, I should move to Missoula’; what do you like and dislike most about Missoula?
There’s not much to dislike about Missoula. The grey winters due to frequent inversions is the biggest negative. The list of likes is a long one because this town has so much to offer. The outdoor options are obvious as we have great fishing, skiing, rafting, hiking, and biking only minutes from downtown, but we also have plenty of culture with events at U of M, excellent restaurants, trendy breweries, and more. The climate is a bonus too with the mildest winters in the state. I honestly can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Skwala fishing on the Bitterroot
You’ve been guiding in Western Montana for a while now; tell us a bit about Montana Trout Outfitters.
I started guiding in 1998 and I have always approached guiding as a profession, not just something to do in the summer. Anglers from all over the world dedicate a lot of time and money to come fishing in Montana each year. For many it is an absolute dream trip, and it bothered me to see some outfitters book clients with subpar guides just to sell a float. I have fished with those types of guides on my own destination trips and it’s a miserable experience. As a result MTO is not the biggest outfitter in the area, but I am fortunate to call most of the veteran guides in Missoula my friends. The average guide working for me has been guiding for 10 years or more. They have a healthy list of repeat anglers and provide a very high level of service. Our goal is simple, to provide the best fly fishing experience in the Missoula area.
There’s more water within a two-hour drive of your front door than you could really learn well in a lifetime of flinging flies and streamers. What water(s) do you really consider your home waters – the one(s) you just couldn’t live without?
All of them…That’s why I live here, and frankly why an experienced guide matters so much in Missoula. It takes a lot of time to learn all these rivers. I looked back at my fishing reports from last year in June and I had a week where I fished 6 different rivers in 7 days. My home waters are the Clark Fork, Bitterroot, Blackfoot, and Rock Creek which seems like a simple list. But you have to realize that there are 80 miles of Clark Fork east of Missoula and another 70 west of town. The mainstem Bitterroot is 84 miles with another 25 or so miles for both the East and West Forks. Add another 75 for the Blackfoot and 45 for Rock Creek and you have a lot of river miles not to mention the dozens of tributaries in each drainage. I know I’m spoiled but I wouldn’t want to give up any of them.
Part 2 follows tomorrow.
Tony with a dry fly rainbow.
