Schools & Instruction
“Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” - A Major Success!
In 2007 we introduced Greg Lilly and Bill Kemph’s “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School”. It was an unqualified success. For the 2008 season we have expanded the number of schools available to meet the demand.
We have guided anglers on the rivers of Montana, Yellowstone Park, and Idaho for almost 60 years. We have enjoyed the job and taken great satisfaction in helping a lot of people enter the sport of fly fishing. However we have often been frustrated by the perception of many anglers that fly fishing is a matter of having the right fly in a hot spot and you are going to be successful. Fly Fishing has never really been given the credit that it should as a “skill sport”.
Accomplished fly fishing guides do not rely on “hot spots”, “best times of the year”, “secret flies”, and “under pressured water” for their success. Guides rarely have poor days of angling unless unusual water or weather conditions occur. They know: where to find fish in all seasons and under various water conditions, what those fish are feeding on, and how to present the fly so it appears like the natural insect. Guides don’t let wind hamper their casting and they have a repertoire of specialty casts that assist them in presenting the fly correctly. Guides are masters of any method of fly fishing; be it dry fly, nymph or streamer fishing.
As outfitters, one of our requirements for the guides who work for us, is that they be good teachers of the sport of fly fishing. A guide’s primary job is to produce fish for his clients. This very often restricts his ability to assist his clients in becoming better anglers. There are only so many hours in a day to “teach” clients more advanced “guide type” skills. When push comes to shove most guides are going to do what is easiest to see that their anglers catch fish and the lessons fall by the side of the river. The result is that many people never improve their fly fishing skills. Instead they choose to blame the slow fishing they experience on the weather, the wrong flies, the wrong time of year, the water conditions or very often, the guide.
Over the past several years in our Greg Lilly’s “Schools for Professional Fly Fishing Guides” we discovered that about half of our students had no real interest in becoming guides but just wanted to become better fly fishers. They viewed our guide schools as advanced fly fishing schools!
For those anglers who want to truly get better as fly fishers, we are very excited to again offer “Learn to Fish like a Guide School.”
These schools are five days in length. The schools are designed to raise your fishing skills to a level that enables you to fish anywhere in the world for trout and be more effective.
Lilly’s & Kemph’s “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” will work on making you a much better fly caster. You will learn to deal with wind from all directions, specialty casts such as the left and right hand reach casts, downstream slack casts and double haul. Reading water is a very difficult skill for many anglers to master. It is one of the most important skills every fly fisher should have. For five days you will work on understanding where trout are found at all times of the seasons, at different times of the day and under various water conditions.
Fly selection or “hatch matching” is another important part of the fly fisher’s arsenal. You must be able to choose a fly from your box and then understand how the insect that you are imitating with that fly, acts in the stream. You must be able to “present” the fly in a natural manner. We will work on streamside entomology and fly presentation everyday. If you want to be successful day in and day out as a fly fisher, then you must be willing to give the fish what they are eating. If there is no top water dry fly fishing then you want to be able to fish nymphs both with indicators and without. You also need to be able and willing to fish streamer flies effectively.
We believe that when you leave the Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” you are going to be a much improved angler. You will find that your success on the water whether with a guide or on your own, is going to increase. This school is designed to assist you in becoming a skilled fly fisherman who takes the “luck” out of the sport. It is not five days of guided fishing even though you are going to catch trout. This is a chance for you to acquire new tools and hone your existing skills. Catching fish will be the secondary goal of the school.
The Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” is held in the spring in SW Montana for a number of reasons:
First, April and early May actually provide some of the finest fly fishing of the entire season. Water temperatures are warming and the fish are very active.
Second, for many years all of us have encouraged anglers to visit SW Montana during the spring. The weather is not at all what most people visualize. You may have some rain and temps may be in the 40’s and 50’s but you can also find temperatures in the 70’s with beautiful spring days.
Third, you have all the rivers of SW Montana to yourselves. There just is not the pressure on the streams that you will find in June, July and August.
Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” #1 (March 31 through April 4)
Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” #2 (April 7 through April 11)
Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” #3 (April 14 through April 18)
Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” #4 (April 21 through April 25)
Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” #5 (April 28 through May 2)
Lilly & Kemph “Learn to Fish Like a Guide School” #6 (May 5 through May 9)
School Cost: $1495 per angler
Included with the school: Five days of instruction, private water access two days, lunches and beverages each day on the water, use of classroom, class manual, and graduation dinner