It’s our pleasure to post this interview today with Joe Cummings, another long time Missoula based guide we’ve corresponded with over the years and enjoyed a number of killer videos that Joe and his team have produced.
Joe grew up on a cattle ranch in the Bitterroot Valley, played football for the University of Wyoming Cowboys and later in the NFL before returning to Missoula to open a guide service. He initial worked in Montana and Belize though later focused on Montana and eventually came to own a nifty property on the Clark Fork, the Missoula River Lodge. Here’s a vid with a more expansive biography.
All images are Joe’s.
Your years spent growing up in the Bitterroot Valley were no doubt very special; what did you miss most about Western Montana during your college and NFL football years?
Access. Quick jaunts to fishing has always been my outlet either creatively or just to blow off some steam. There are so many quick 2 hour wade spots you can sneak off to and knock out some fish at the end of the day or during a long lunch. We are rich in outdoor options right in the lap of Missoula, and the lifestyle in Bitterroot is very casual. I enjoyed my time living in fast paced cities and playing in stadiums, but a quiet home in Montana fit me the best.
We know you spend a fair amount of time on the Clark Fork with your Missoula River Lodge group; what do you consider your home water these days – the Bitterroot or Clark Fork?
My all time favorite piece of Montana water is the Middle Bitterroot. I like the big hyper technical fish that live there and being bracketed by the Bitterroot and Sapphire ranges giving tall walls to the fly fishing arena. That water has thirty years of living in it for me that will always give those floats a deep human hue. She can kick you in the teeth and then slide you a big wet lunker trout smooch in the same day. From an adult working guide standpoint the water from Missoula to Alberton on the Clark Fork is our backbone. My office is 75 yards from the river and I see her everyday in one manner or another. Many a lunch break trout has met my flies out of Homepool in Huson.
You’ve been guiding in Western Montana for a while now; please tell us a bit about Missoula River Lodge and your team there.
The Missoula River Lodge is the full service luxury side of our business. We own 100 acres of Clark Fork riverfront with three lodges. The property is exceptional, but like all businesses our biggest strength is our people. Our guide staff exemplifies what a professional, talented, and patient hard working guide should be. Carrie and Kelly prepare a dining experience that I would stand up to any in the country and always has an organic farm-to-table flair. Most of all though is everyone on our team enjoys what they do and take very seriously our guest’s experience with us in Montana.
There’s more water within a two-hour drive of your front door than you could really learn well in a hundred years of fishing hard. What water(s) have you found yourself on most the last two seasons?
The last two seasons we have kept pushing deeper into the Upper Clark Fork. That particular water is in a major transition as the State of Montana rebuilds the upper reaches. It is a fickle fishery that has kept the veteran guide mind stimulated with new challenges.
If you’re not fishing Western Montana waters, where are you headed to spend a day or two on the water?
The last three seasons we have been putting together a winter steelhead trip on the Olympic Peninsula. I am a neophyte steelheader and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about and fishing one of the great wild steelhead fisheries in the United States.
Part 2 to follow tomorrow.
