Joel Thompson
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Kevin I think you were set up there so Hippie man could just show off more of his fish porn! 😉 The word on the street is the guy has an entire room in his house filled with the stuff! 😀
Joel
PS- Sure hope we will be adding to that collection sometime in the near future…..
Dusty, I am not worried to much about finding clientele. Right now 100% of them come from here. http://www.rockcreekcattlecompany.com This is something I will be growing slowly so that if I ever need too I can fall back on it.
Orvis does a great job promoting their endorsed guides! There is no doubt about that!
Joel
Good job on the test Joel…I have no doubt that you are going to be one hell of an outfitter…certain people have a gift to do that, and you are one of them.
Nice name for the biz as well
Thanks Mike! You don’t have to say those nice things if you don’t want…I will still let you use the cabin! 😉
Joel
Rocky and Phil that is great advice. You can be a great fisherman and be a crappy guide. People skills with good communication skills are a must! Being able to roll with the punches and not getting frustrated will definitely keep you sane a lot longer!
Keep in mind you could fish all summer and be a ski bum all winter! 😉 It doesn’t get much better than that!
Joel
Kevin,
Not that I am trying to steal any IA thunder here, but will we be able to buys these hats/shirts?
DustyDusty, I do plan on having hats, shirts, tee shirts, and Jackets for sale with the logo. I don’t know how soon but I will keep you posted. I also don’t want to make the IA my market place out of respect for Zach and all that he has done here. Perhaps I will put a notice in the garage sell section when they become available and people can contact me about it directly then.
Joel
Nick this is the school I went too. http://www.troutcountry.com/Guideschool/ I found it too be a great school with great instructors that covered all of the bases. I ended up benefitting a lot more than I thought I would.
Check out their website and let me know if you have any questions.
Joel
I plan on hooking up with Hippie man and “Bill” to learn their syncronized casting technique.
And fishing with Kevin Powell this fall.
Another than that I just plan on having a fun fishing season.
Joel
If I wasn’t so pumped to have this logo I would be sad that the process is over! Kevin is a logo master! The guy has so many great ideas it can be hard to choose just one because you like them all. At one point I told him it was like being a kid in a candy store or a grown man in the beer isle at the super market! 😀
It was a great process and I can’t wait to put this logo on some hats and shirts!
Joel
You’re welcome Neal! Believe me I have learned much along this journey but still have a lot to learn. Let me see if I can find the right words to answer this next question of yours. (Zach or anyone else feel free to jump in here if you know better than I do) To become an “Orvis endorsed” lodge or outfitter you have to meet a certain standard that Orvis has put forth. By doing so Orvis gives you their endorsement and in return they put you in there adverticing and such encouraging loyal Orvis customers to use you for your services.
Know I think as a whole the fly fishing industry wants all good guides and outfitters using their products because they know that if you do than your clients will also want to use it because the outfitter and the guide are the so called experts and people tend to want the best. For instance I have been asked to be on the Montana Fly Company pro staff. For accepting this invitation I get dozens of free flies and different tools and stuff that Montana Fly Co. makes. In return I give them feed back on their products.
I think there are as many kick backs out there as you are willing to ask for. I choose to build a good relationship with the companies I think do a great job and go from there.
Nothing can do more for an outfitter than positive feedback from his customers! If you get that positve buzz because you worked hard to give someone a great experience than good things are going to happen.
Joel
What waters will you fish in case I’m in the area which is usually every summer? I plan to be in Kalispel and Missoula next summer.
Drifter, on my outfitters plan right now I have the Clark Fork, the Blackfoot, the Bitteroot, the North Fork of the Blackfoot, the little Blackfoot, the Missouri, Rock Creek, Rock Creek Lake, and Flint Creek.
If you come through Missoula be sure to call and we will at the very least meet up for a beer.
Clint, you keep catching those toads and I will keep taking your picture! 😉
Joel
Nice job. Â To celebrate, I will head up there and let you row me around. Â Cool?
That’s cool Hippie Man. I will row you down the river and you can row us back up! 😉
All right Neal let me see if I can answer your questions and have them make sense. The test was multiple choice and there were two parts to it. The first part was 50 questions and dealt with the general outfitting rule and regulations and the laws that pertain to outfitters in the state of Montana. The second part of the test was on laws dealing with fishing.
The difference between a guide and an outfitter? Guides work for outfitters. Montana defines a guide as a person who is employed by or who has contracted independently with a licensed outfitter and who accompanies a participant during outdoor recreational activities that are directly related to activities for which the outfitter is licensed.
An outfitter is any person, except a person providing services on real property that the person owns for the primary pursuit of bona fide africultural interests, who for consideration provides any saddle or pack animal; facilities; camping equipment; vehicle, watercraft, or ther conveyance; or personal service for any person to hunt, trap, capture, take, kill, or pursue any game, including fish, and who accompanies that person, either part or all of the way, on an expedition for any of these purposes or supervises a licensed guide or professional guide in accompanying that person.
So basically if you want to be a guide you have to have the blessing of an outfitter and than that outfitter is responsible for that guide and how he or she conducts their business. The outfitter also gets a cut out of every trip that guide does for him. (A booking fee if you will) The whole reason I became an outfitter is so I could be the outfitter of record for Rock Creek Cattle Company. This gives me more control over who will be guiding for us. I also plan on having a small business on the side. I have a couple of really good guides that want to work for me and I would be a fool not to utilize their talents. I plan on keeping this end of things very small as I have plenty on my plate as it is.
As for the kind of question they ask on the test go, in the general outfitting part of the test it was a lot of law. This is an example of a typical question on the test. “Investigations and arrests for violations of any hunting or fishing law may be made by”? And then there would be four very similar answers to choose from.
The fishing side of the test involved a lot of questions on boating laws, stream side access law, what do when with the entrails when you clean a fish (which by the way is different when you are on shore or in a boat) how many fish you can catch in a certain area, and various other questions related to fishing practices. I breezed through that part of the test and scored a 96 on it. The general outfitting part kicked my butt and probably took me 3 1/2 hours to complete. I scored well on it too (92) but too be honest as I was waiting for my scores I was really wondering if I passed or not!
Andrew, they did give us a couple of books to study. The one book, Montana fish wildlife and parks Statutes, was extremely boring and very hard to get through. The other, Statutes and Rules Relating to Outfitters, was a little more interesting as it dealt with more of the things that will affect me as an outfitter.
As far as other study material go we were encouraged to pick up the 2008 fishing regulations and the Montana access guide.
Congrats Kevin! I am sure that it is a great feeling with each piece of the puzzle that is put back into place! Now it is time to start getting that new baby on the water! Cameron does it with his little girl all the time and she is turning into quite the fishhead! You have to start them young!
Joel
It is really dirty right now Clint. There is about 300,000 cubic yard of sediment on the Blackfoot river side that is eroding away right now so there is a lot of fine silt in the river. I talked with a friend of mine in Superior (which is a town 70 miles down stream) and the river is stained down there now as well. I am certain that as soon as run off occurs and is over with the river will clear up nicely. So far the reports have been that there has been no fish kill with the caged fish down stream of the dam.
Clint what is your schedule like this week for fishing?
Joel
I would have to be pretty darn sick, but I don’t know if I am quite the bad ass that Kevin Powell’s dad was! That is a great story Kevin!
Joel
The Kootenai is what I was going to recommend Rick. If you are looking for a nice drive you could try the Flathead below Kerr Dam. Flathead lake is really drawn down right now in anticipation of a huge run off. It may fish really well and it does not get much pressure. You can even catch smallies. Keep in mind you will need a rez permit to go along with you fishing license. You can always send me a P.M. before you take off and I will be happy to give you a more accurate fishing report at that time and maybe some more options.
Joel
Mike you could always go to a scrap yard and find a chunk of metal to use. The one good thing about lead is it is soft and won’t bogger up the boat too bad. I had a buddy make one out a coffee can, concrete and an eye bolt once. It worked pretty well.
Joel
 And of course…thanks for the food photos.  You know I alway like to see the local fare…and that bowl of rice and beans looked damn good.  Â
Cam those rice and beans ARE damn good! He makes them with pigs feet and some plantain along with the other traditional ingredients and lets it simmer all day long! I could eat the stuff three meals a day easy!
Jay I assure you I will never leave with out my gear again! The funny thing is I had it all packed too and I took it out at the last minute because I was told I wouldn’t need it. :'(
The fishing in Montana this season should make up for it Jay! 🙂
Joel
