flyfishing, fly fishing, missoula, montana, mt, bitterroot, rock creek, clark fork, smith, river, georgetown lake, guides, outfitter, guiding, herzer, john herzer Expert fly fishing guide with clients on Montana’s Clark Fork River
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At Blackfoot River Outfitters, we don’t hire guides based simply by their Montana fishing experience - but rather their life experience.

Your time on the water is valuable. Too valuable to waste on a guide who thinks your trip is about them instead of you. Our guides will put you on fish, improve your angling skills and increase your fly fishing knowledge. Just as importantly, they enjoy sharing a good story, lay out an exceptional lunch spread and generally make fine company. Some of our guides have fished the world over, others grew up in Montana and find it hard to fish elsewhere. We have guides in their 50’s and others in their 20’s. They are students and parents, Easterners and Westerners, musicians and mechanics. All are special and go about the art of guiding in different ways – and all are hired to make the most of your time on the water.

Dan Milligan James Johnsey Stan Anglen Jason Coates Adam Spenner Mark Elliot Jamie Rodgers Leo Larson Clayton Paddie David Morris John and Terri Herzer James Johnsey
James Johnsey is a West Tennessee native who grew up in the southern traditions of fishing and hunting. His passion for the outdoors, instilled by his father, grew into an obsession for hunting big bass and other quarry. Starting to fly-fish at an early age, his desire to see and fish the Rockies, with their trout and the waters he'd only heard about, became his goal.

At 16, he landed his dream job, guiding week-long horseback trips to high mountain lakes and streams to pursue the wild trout of Wyoming. Returning to Tennessee to finish school, the mountains were already deep in his blood, and James began planning to make the Rockies his home. After finishing his high school career he left home and came west.

James has spent the last seven years studying the rivers, lakes and streams of the area he now calls home. When not on the water, James enjoys hunting — for antler sheds in the spring and the actual critters in fall and winter. He spent several years studying photography at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography, and excells in the art of outdoor shooting (especially the waters he fishes). His knowledge of the area and of the trout he pursues is something he loves to share with other anglers. James and his wife, native Montanan Patti, reside in Lolo just outside of Missoula..