Teaching a new line of work

For the past 15 years people have been coming to a little cabin nestled amongst the pines on the bank of the Clark Fork River near the border of Sanders and Mineral counties to receive guidance on how to be a guide.

Donn Dale, owner of the Clark Fork River Outfitters, has been teaching the Fly Fishing Guide School two times a year for the past 16 years. During this time, Dale said he has sent almost 200 people out across the world to become guides. Dale said with connections with outfitters in Chile and Alaska, anyone who graduates from his school can become a guide. “This class has a 100 percent success rate. Anyone who wants a job can get one,” Dale said.

Dale, a 67-year-old who has been fly fishing since he was 8, tries to cram as much as he learned in his nearly 60 years of fishing in the 12-day school. “This is the most comprehensive school in America. It covers more material than any other school. It covers everything involved in fly fishing,” he said.

There is no need for the people arriving at the school to hurry and unpack their reel and rod, the first half of the first day is spent in the classroom. Dale spends the first part of the day teaching his students the history of the sport, from its origin in Macedonia, about 4,000 years ago up to modern times. The second half of the first day the students get to get outside to improve their casting. The students spend the second day continuing to practice their casting.

On the third day, the students are back in the classroom learning knot tying. They spend the fourth day in the classroom learning about the aquatic entomology, or learning about the flies they try to represent to catch fish. They are able to get out of the classroom on the fifth day, but not to fish. The fifth day is spent on the river collecting and identifying the flies they learned about the day before.

It’s back in the classroom for the sixth day, where the students practice tying the flies they have been studying the past two days. The seventh day is spent on the river learning how to handle the boat. The students areback on the boat the eighth day learning guiding techniques with the boat. The rest of the time at the school is spent practicing and reinforcing what they’ve learned the first eight days. The 12-day school culminates with a comprehensive five-page test written by Dale. “The exam tells them what they’ve learned or what they forgot,” Dale said.

Dale said “there’s a big change” in his students from day one until the final day. He said the school is constantly adding and improving on the knowledge they had on the sport. He said while most people wouldn’t want to spend their time on a fishing trip in the classroom and end their vacation by taking a test, his students want to become guides. “These guys aren’t fiddling around, they’re here to become guides,” he said.

Dale said people have come across the world to attend his school. South Carolina was the farthest somebody traveled this year to attend Dale’s spring class. Johnathon Simmon, from Walhalla, S.C., was one of three students to graduate from the guide school Friday. The 29-year-old has been guiding the past couple of months and said the class was a big help to him. “The entomology was the big thing for me,” he said.

The big thing for Paul Strickland was the boat handling session of the school. The 24-year-old from Grand Junction, Colo., said after learning how to handle the boat he now can become a guide. He said he plans to be guiding on the Colorado River this summer.

“There’s always more to learn,” said student Damian Ross. He said the challenge of fly fishing is what he enjoys about fishing. Ross, who has been fly fishing since 1970 and has been teaching a class on fly casting and tying for seven years in Ontario, Calif., said he learned a lot from the 12-day school. “There was a lot of hands-on training,” Ross said.

Dale said the three students in his spring class was the fewest in the school’s 15-year history. He said the school averages six to eight. students.