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Boom times on the river: Outfitting industry grows as Montana becomes a fishing destination
By ROBERT STRUCKMAN of the Missoulian
FRENCHTOWN - Five Canada geese honked overhead. John Herzer walked past a swing set and a foam deer bow-hunting target.
Herzer opened the door to his garage to reveal camping gear, sleeping bags, Dutch ovens, coolers and other equipment for the business he co-owns with his wife, Terri, Blackfoot River Outfitters.
He loves the wintry solitude of the public land along the Clark Fork River behind his rural home.
But these days, Herzer becomes a traveling salesman, visiting New Jersey to Washington, Texas to South Carolina. His destinations are fly-fishing expos and other venues, where he pitches western Montana with boxes full of brochures and other advertising materials.
Over the past two decades, fishing and hunting in Montana has exploded from a niche into an industry, bringing in almost 16 percent of the tourism dollars in the state in 2005. Fly-fishing has by far become the most lucrative business, according to data collected by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana.
Vacationers attracted to Montana for fishing spent more time in the state and more dollars per day than any other type of visitor, said Norma Nickerson, head of the institute.
Fishing visitors account for just
4 percent of all out-of-state vacationers in Montana, but their overall dollar contribution is 10 percent of the state's travel income, Nickerson said.
“Fishing across the nation is one of the fastest growing outdoor recreation activities, up there with bird-watching,” said Mac Minard of the Helena-based Montana Outfitters and Guides Association.
“Montana happens to be pretty well positioned to benefit,” he said.
In the past few years, the Missoula area has matured into a fishing destination. Other parts of Montana - including the Madison and upper Yellowstone rivers - had that reputation in the 1980s and 1990s, said Robin Cunningham of the Gallatin Gateway-based Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana.
But it's not a simple boom story, Cunningham said, especially where outfitters are concerned.
The outfitting business in Montana took off in the mid-1980s with the popularity of the Norman Maclean story collection “A River Runs Through It.” The craze hit a fever pitch in 1992 when the title story was made into a movie - “the movie,” as far as Montana fishing is concerned - Cunningham said.
Since then, the number of outfitters in the state has steadily grown by about two dozen every year. This year, the number of licensed outfitters stands at about 360, Cunningham said.
Yet Cunningham cautioned against attributing the revenue growth of fishing in the state solely to outfitting and guiding.
In the past few years, an increasing number of fishing parties have begun to do the outfitting work themselves. Back in the 1990s and before, outfitters made something of a joke of their role: If three guys were in a boat, the guide was easy to spot. He was the one pulling at the oars.
“That's not the case anymore,” Cunningham said. More and more people own the equipment themselves, he said.
Still, outfitting and guiding has grown at a modest pace.
Within the state, the outfitting business has matured in some areas and pushed into other, previously untapped areas. That helps explain the enthusiasm of some of the Missoula-area outfitters, Cunningham and others suggested.
The financial side of outfitting is fairly simple, he said. Outfitting requires a $300 state license; guides work for the outfitter. Outfitting also requires insurance, which costs $325 per boat per year to members of the Fishing Outfitters Association. Membership is $125 per year.
On top of that are the standard expenses of trucks, boats, equipment, food and other related costs, he said.
The price tag for two guys in a boat for a day generally ranges from $300 on up to $450, he said.
For longtime outfitters such as Cunningham, the math works out pretty well. His boats and other equipment have long been paid for. He charges between $325 and $350 a day and his expenses might total $50 per day.
But most outfitters haven't been in business as long as Cunningham. For the newer guys, such as Herzer, the business of outfitting can seem, well, a little bit like a grind. That's not to say that Herzer doesn't love it enthusiastically.
“If I had to stay indoors in September, I think I'd go postal,” he said.
But ask him what he'll do when he retires, and he'll laugh. After the garage sale, he won't have much left.
That's why Herzer is in the final stages of opening a fly-fishing store in Philipsburg called Flint Creek Outfitters.
Outfitting is a great way to make a living but a tough way to get ahead, Herzer said.
Eddie Olwell, a Stevensville-based outfitter, doesn't mind the limited room for upward mobility. He's a veteran of the high-stress world of East Coast banking; he escaped to Montana to guide and ski for a living. He concentrates his marketing closer to home, mostly at fly-tying events in the Missoula area.
The outfitting business is getting more competitive every year, Olwell said.
He hopes to carve himself a niche by staying small and personalized. While other outfitters hire extra guides in order to grow business, Olwell wants to keep his operation tiny, going out maybe 150 boat-days a year, with 100 days guided by Olwell himself. By comparison, Herzer sold about 1,300 boat-days and hires five or six guides a year. He was on the river 120 days last year, he said.
And year after year, the rivers get more crowded.
Most of the crowding comes from non-guided fishing parties, according to state and industry figures. But that doesn't keep the public from blaming the problem on commercial use, Cunningham said.
Still, the crowding has had a major effect on guiding. Some waterways require permits, and the value of some of the permits has grown exorbitantly.
One rumor in the outfitting world is that one of four 50-day U.S. Forest Service permits for Rock Creek sold recently for $40,000.
“It's ridiculous,” Cunningham said.
It all adds up to a simple conclusion for Herzer. The fishing world in Montana is maturing. In the coming years, it will get harder for new outfitters to enter the industry. It's a shame, he said, but also a paradox.
“I know I'm part of the problem,” he said.
Still, Herzer will be in Seattle next week at another fishing expo. He'll shake hands and smile.
In about a month, Herzer will return to his wife and two young children from his last marketing trip.
Herzer will be home one day before the season starts. Then he'll be on the water straight until hunting season - just the way he likes it.
“I want to do trips,” he said.
By ROBERT STRUCKMAN of the Missoulian
FRENCHTOWN - Five Canada geese honked overhead. John Herzer walked past a swing set and a foam deer bow-hunting target.
Herzer opened the door to his garage to reveal camping gear, sleeping bags, Dutch ovens, coolers and other equipment for the business he co-owns with his wife, Terri, Blackfoot River Outfitters.
He loves the wintry solitude of the public land along the Clark Fork River behind his rural home.
But these days, Herzer becomes a traveling salesman, visiting New Jersey to Washington, Texas to South Carolina. His destinations are fly-fishing expos and other venues, where he pitches western Montana with boxes full of brochures and other advertising materials.
Over the past two decades, fishing and hunting in Montana has exploded from a niche into an industry, bringing in almost 16 percent of the tourism dollars in the state in 2005. Fly-fishing has by far become the most lucrative business, according to data collected by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana.
Vacationers attracted to Montana for fishing spent more time in the state and more dollars per day than any other type of visitor, said Norma Nickerson, head of the institute.
Fishing visitors account for just
4 percent of all out-of-state vacationers in Montana, but their overall dollar contribution is 10 percent of the state's travel income, Nickerson said.
“Fishing across the nation is one of the fastest growing outdoor recreation activities, up there with bird-watching,” said Mac Minard of the Helena-based Montana Outfitters and Guides Association.
“Montana happens to be pretty well positioned to benefit,” he said.
In the past few years, the Missoula area has matured into a fishing destination. Other parts of Montana - including the Madison and upper Yellowstone rivers - had that reputation in the 1980s and 1990s, said Robin Cunningham of the Gallatin Gateway-based Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana.
But it's not a simple boom story, Cunningham said, especially where outfitters are concerned.
The outfitting business in Montana took off in the mid-1980s with the popularity of the Norman Maclean story collection “A River Runs Through It.” The craze hit a fever pitch in 1992 when the title story was made into a movie - “the movie,” as far as Montana fishing is concerned - Cunningham said.
Since then, the number of outfitters in the state has steadily grown by about two dozen every year. This year, the number of licensed outfitters stands at about 360, Cunningham said.
Yet Cunningham cautioned against attributing the revenue growth of fishing in the state solely to outfitting and guiding.
In the past few years, an increasing number of fishing parties have begun to do the outfitting work themselves. Back in the 1990s and before, outfitters made something of a joke of their role: If three guys were in a boat, the guide was easy to spot. He was the one pulling at the oars.
“That's not the case anymore,” Cunningham said. More and more people own the equipment themselves, he said.
Still, outfitting and guiding has grown at a modest pace.
Within the state, the outfitting business has matured in some areas and pushed into other, previously untapped areas. That helps explain the enthusiasm of some of the Missoula-area outfitters, Cunningham and others suggested.
The financial side of outfitting is fairly simple, he said. Outfitting requires a $300 state license; guides work for the outfitter. Outfitting also requires insurance, which costs $325 per boat per year to members of the Fishing Outfitters Association. Membership is $125 per year.
On top of that are the standard expenses of trucks, boats, equipment, food and other related costs, he said.
The price tag for two guys in a boat for a day generally ranges from $300 on up to $450, he said.
For longtime outfitters such as Cunningham, the math works out pretty well. His boats and other equipment have long been paid for. He charges between $325 and $350 a day and his expenses might total $50 per day.
But most outfitters haven't been in business as long as Cunningham. For the newer guys, such as Herzer, the business of outfitting can seem, well, a little bit like a grind. That's not to say that Herzer doesn't love it enthusiastically.
“If I had to stay indoors in September, I think I'd go postal,” he said.
But ask him what he'll do when he retires, and he'll laugh. After the garage sale, he won't have much left.
That's why Herzer is in the final stages of opening a fly-fishing store in Philipsburg called Flint Creek Outfitters.
Outfitting is a great way to make a living but a tough way to get ahead, Herzer said.
Eddie Olwell, a Stevensville-based outfitter, doesn't mind the limited room for upward mobility. He's a veteran of the high-stress world of East Coast banking; he escaped to Montana to guide and ski for a living. He concentrates his marketing closer to home, mostly at fly-tying events in the Missoula area.
The outfitting business is getting more competitive every year, Olwell said.
He hopes to carve himself a niche by staying small and personalized. While other outfitters hire extra guides in order to grow business, Olwell wants to keep his operation tiny, going out maybe 150 boat-days a year, with 100 days guided by Olwell himself. By comparison, Herzer sold about 1,300 boat-days and hires five or six guides a year. He was on the river 120 days last year, he said.
And year after year, the rivers get more crowded.
Most of the crowding comes from non-guided fishing parties, according to state and industry figures. But that doesn't keep the public from blaming the problem on commercial use, Cunningham said.
Still, the crowding has had a major effect on guiding. Some waterways require permits, and the value of some of the permits has grown exorbitantly.
One rumor in the outfitting world is that one of four 50-day U.S. Forest Service permits for Rock Creek sold recently for $40,000.
“It's ridiculous,” Cunningham said.
It all adds up to a simple conclusion for Herzer. The fishing world in Montana is maturing. In the coming years, it will get harder for new outfitters to enter the industry. It's a shame, he said, but also a paradox.
“I know I'm part of the problem,” he said.
Still, Herzer will be in Seattle next week at another fishing expo. He'll shake hands and smile.
In about a month, Herzer will return to his wife and two young children from his last marketing trip.
Herzer will be home one day before the season starts. Then he'll be on the water straight until hunting season - just the way he likes it.
“I want to do trips,” he said.
