Hilary Hutcheson Featured on the “Fly Fisherman Loop to Loop” Podcast

DENVER (July 22, 2026) - On a recent episode (#34) of the Fly Fisherman Loop to Loop podcast, Ross Purnell, Publisher/Editor of Fly Fisherman Magazine, sits down with Hilary Hutcheson, renowned fly fisher, whitewater fly fishing guide, environmental steward, owner of Lary's Fly & Supply in Columbia Falls, Montana, board member of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, and active member of a host of other organizations dedicated to sustainability and conservation, and author and co-director of the Yeti Presents film The Tengu Club, an acclaimed film exploring-in a very personal way because Hutcheson is of Japanese descent-the story of Japanese American fishing history, cultural heritage and resilience.

A frequent contributor to Fly Fisherman magazine, Hilary Hutcheson made the trip from northwest Montana to visit with podcast host Ross Purnell and tough out the Keystone State's greatly changeable summertime weather to fish for smallmouth bass on one of Purnell's favorite local waters, and she also took time to record a podcast at a rustic cabin.

Purnell was quick to thank Hutcheson for her regular appearances in the magazine and point out that she's never writing about herself but always bringing to light the good work being done by others. "I definitely want to be able to key in with all of the stories that guides, especially, have to tell and try to bring those to the forefront," said Hutcheson. "You know, not everybody has the opportunity to be able to tell their story, so trying to go out and help them get their story out there is pretty important to me. Especially when it's conservation-based and helps other people. Like people read the magazine and hear about the awesome things that guides and outfitters are doing to protect the resource, then they're like, 'All right…we're on a team out there.'"

Hutcheson grew up along the water in the West Glacier area-her father was a biologist there working for the National Park Service. ". . .Where I live in the Flathead Valley, we've got the North Fork, Middle Fork, the South Fork, and the main stem of the Flathead just right there in your backyard. Super fun, dynamic water that you can go to and swim and berry pick and run your dog and hike and also, of course, you can float the whole thing and fish. And so, we all, my friends and I, were always at the river, and my sister and I loved to be at the river, and so it was starting to run the river, starting with Lower McDonald Creek that went into the Middle Fork of the Flathead, at a young age, and fifth and sixth grade, and deflating our inflatable kayak and hitchhiking back before my parents knew we had left the lake. Because they let us paddle around on Lake McDonald when my Dad was at work - he worked at headquarters in Glacier National Park; he was a biologist - so he'd bring us up in the summertime and let us mess around on the lake, but the lake runs into the creek and the creek runs into the river, and we started to get proficient at running the river. And I think we always wore life jackets because we were like, 'We're definitely getting caught if we have an issue out here. If we almost die, we're gonna get caught, we can't get caught."

"And then we kind of just fell into fly fishing . . . my buddy I was floating with, his grandparents lived along the river, and we floated up to their little trailer on the river and we were messing around with a Frisbee or football, I can't remember actually whether it was a Frisbee or a Nerf football, but we got it stuck in a tree and we went into the shed to get something to get it out, and it was this long-I think bamboo-fly rod, and we start jabbing at the tree to get it out, and his uncle came running down like, 'Be careful, like don't break that! It's a fly rod!' I think this was in fifth grade or something like that, and so he's like, 'This is what you do.' And it had a fly on it. It had really old line and leader. It was a super old rod, and we just went out right there and started messing around with it and caught a fish immediately. I was like, "What is this? What are we doing?"

After that experience, Hutcheson did everything should could to learn about fishing, and then as a teenager she began to work at the Glacier Raft Company (at that time the company was serving as technical director/advisor for the film The River Wild, starring Meryl Streep) and Hutcheson worked as a nanny for the owner's children during filming, then as a "barn boy" doing all sorts of chores, and eventually she began to help guide whitewater trips. A couple of years earlier the movie A River Runs Through It had been released, and interest in fly fishing surged. Soon the owner of the rafting company was looking for guides who could fly fish. "Suddenly it was gangbusters," said Hutcheson, "and then we were fishing guides!"

Listen to the Fly Fisherman Loop to Loop podcast, in partnership with Patagonia, G. Loomis, Mayfly Outdoors, TroutRoutes and Cigars International, on Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, and at FlyFisherman.com.

Hutcheson has been guiding on the Flathead off and on for more than three decades and had the following to say when asked to describe the amazing cutthroat trout fishery:

"Oh my gosh, it's a dream. The North Fork, the Middle Fork and the South Fork are the three forks of the Flathead, and they're all part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and it's really special because fewer than one-half of one percent of the nation's rivers have this level of protection that we have on three of our local rivers. So, for starters, it's very pristine. It's very low on phosphorus and nitrogen, so it's nutrient-poor. We don't have big hatches, but you're not going to see a ton of algae, and it's just really gin clear. So, we have all the bugs. We just don't have, like you go to Missoula in April for the Skwala Hatch, or you know, you go to Gunnison for the salmon flies or something in June, we don't have that destination hatch that the people are coming for, but we have all the bugs and the fish eat all of them. So, it's really fun because we fish a lot of attractors . . ."

"You mentioned cutthroat. It's native and wild, black-spotted Westslope Cutthroat Trout in an intact ecosystem. So, when I first started guiding, people just wanted to catch a fish, and then they wanted to catch big fish, and then they wanted to catch a fish on a dry fly, and now the bucket list is: I want to catch a wild and native cutthroat trout in an intact ecosystem. It's a relatively intact ecosystem. We've had some non-native plant species, and we've lost a couple inland animals that have gone off into the prairie. So, relatively intact. But now people know what that is. So, I'm stoked because people are like, 'Yeah, I'm here to catch this fish in this place because it's one of the world's last remaining strongholds.' That's epic to me. I've been here for so long, but to have people like now want to do that is, for me, very special. And, I see it outside our fishery too, like wanting to catch Mayan cichlids now that are native in a certain spot, or like Guadalupe bass or something, you know, looking for native fish in places native and wild and meeting the people who care about that and protect them. I think that people are seeking that out now."

"It was so much fun to spend time with Hilary Hutcheson and to catch smallmouth bass with her and get to know her a little better," said Purnell. "I can't believe that she made the trip all the way from what many would consider to be the premier fly-fishing destination in America to spend time with the Fly Fisherman crew, but I'm sure glad she did. I think our audience is going to love what Hilary has to say about life on the water in Big Sky Country and I strongly urge them to check out The Tengu Club on YouTube."

Available on Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, and at FlyFisherman.com the latest episode of Fly Fisherman Loop to Loop podcast is a must-listen for fly fishing enthusiasts of all levels who want to stay informed.

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