Okay, so you’re wondering why we would include a Montana fly fishing guide in our Forest Artisans section.

Well, it’s simple. Dave Blackburn is a big time artist with a fly rod – and he has a degree in forestry from the University of West Virginia. Back in the 70s, before the fishing bug bit him good, he fell timber for Champion International in northwest Montana. He has been fishing – and guiding – ever since.

To tell you the truth, I can’t remember when Dave and I first met, but it was sometime in the early 1990s. I’d stopped in at his Kootenai Anglers fly shop in Libby, Montana on a warm summer morning. I was in the hunt for hot tips on where the action was on the Kootenai – a river that I first saw from Montana’s Highway 2 in 1951. I never forgot its deep green pools or its rushing rapids gleaming in the noon-day sun. Now I was going to fish it for the first time in my life.

I liked Dave from the moment we shook hands. His grip was firm and his eyes literally smiled back at me. We talked for quite some time about the river, and I bought some flies – wets and dries - from him. Come to think of it, I also bought one of his ball caps. Hey, when in Rome.

Almost as an afterthought, he mentioned that he ran a guide service on the river, and if I wanted to see the Kootenai up close and personal, he could fit me in two days later. I hesitated for a moment before answering, mainly because I wasn’t sure I wanted to fish with anyone but myself. My life had been pretty hectic for several months running and I needed some time alone.

Thank goodness I changed my mind at the last moment. “Sure,” I replied as I walked out the door, “I’d love to go. See you in two days.”

Dave and I had the time of our lives. He knew the river very well and he handled a drift boat as well as I’d ever seen it done. We didn’t miss a single pocket in a river filled with pocket water. Apart from his professionalism, there was something about the guy that made me want to get to know him better. So I came back the next year, and the year after that and the year after that and, well, you get the picture. Dave and I have been fishing together every year since that very first August in the early 90s. Last summer we fished together 12 times.

You might be surprised to learn that fishing isn’t always the focal point of our days on the river. Sometimes we talk about forestry. The Kootenai flows through big ponderosa and western larch country. Years ago, big log drives were commonplace and there were several sawmills downriver from Dave’s place,  but they’re all gone now, much to the detriment of the Kootenai National Forest, which would benefit mightily from a large scale, long-term thinning program.

If you enjoy photography, the Kootenai and the Bull [another great river on Dave’s spring and summer itinerary] are photographer’s dreams. Few places in the West offer more haunting color changes than the rocky gorge below Kootenai Falls. Eagles live all along Kootenai, as do osprey. Their “dogfights” in the skies above the river are really something to see. You’ll also see moose, elk and deer along the Kootenai, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a peek at a grizzly along the Bull, which is a spectacular brown trout and cutthroat fishery.

It’s been a real thrill for me to watch Dave’s business grow. Where once there was only one drift boat, - and old green fiberglass blister of unknown origin – there are now half-a-dozen Hyde’s – all piloted by fine guides, including Vince Rossi, a friend from back home in Kellogg, Idaho. Vince is a couple of years older than me, but we’ve known one another pretty much all of our lives. Both he and his brother were in my mother’s fourth grade classes, and we both enjoy good wine and fine cigars, especially after a day on the Kootenai.

Blackburn’s Kootenai Angler now includes a new fly shop and three beautiful log cabins right on the river – all products of Dave’s craftsmanship. And there is a very comfortable restaurant too, run by his wonderful wife, Tami. The steaks are great and the drinks are embarrassingly cheap. It a terrific place to spend an evening watching the stars or swapping stories about another great day on the river.
    
Click here to run through a series of beautiful photographs taken last summer by one of Dave’s photographer friends. And for more information about Dave’s fine guide service, which I recommend highly, log on to www.montana-flyfishing.com.You’ll be glad you did.

Thanks,

Jim Petersen
Executive Director
The non-profit Evergreen Foundation