For the past 28th years Orvis has held a Guide Rendezvous, an event for Orvis-endorsed guides to network and compare notes. A plethora of seminars and workshops take place over the course of the three-day gathering, covering topics from CPR, to boat and vehicle safety, habitat protection to social media and casting instruction workshops.
This year Orvis is throwing the gates wide-open and all professional guides, Orvis-endorsed or not, are welcome to attend the seminars and Guide Olympics, taking place April 3-5, 2014 in Missoula, Montana.
For the record, Simms will not be hosting its Ice-Out Event this year. Angling Trade editors Kirk Deeter and Tim Romano will be at this year’s event, and we look forward to meeting with our guide “sources” and gathering insights and ideas that help shape our editorial work at AT, in TROUT magazine, with Field & Stream’s “FlyTalk” blog, on MidCurrent, and elsewhere.
From the Orvis announcement:
“Missoula is once more the host of the Rendezvous. With its strong fly-fishing culture, collegiate atmosphere and outdoors heritage, “Zootown” is the perfect stage for a gathering of guides.
“After the business part of the Rendezvous, join us on Saturday, April 5, 2014 for a celebration worthy of Montana’s fly-fishing culture. The entire town of Missoula – and anyone else who cares to join in – is invited to the Down the Hatch festival at Caras Park. While fly fishing was once the province of tweedy old guys smoking pipes and sipping Scotch, it has been energized in the past decade with a strong youth movement.
“We celebrate that movement – and nod to the past – in a party alongside the mighty Clark Fork River. Down the Hatch vendors include various food peddlers, Smith Optics Sunglasses, Big Sky Brewing, NRS, Scientific Anglers, Sawyer Paddles, Hog Island Boat Works, Adipose Boatworks and many more. Performances by the popular local band “Lil’ Smokies” promise to create a ruckus and encourage dancing.
“Saturday evening will be topped off with the Orvis Fly Fishing Film Festival at the Wilma Theatre. Hank Patterson of YouTube fame will kick off the evening, encouraging anglers and guides to learn to laugh at themselves before we get into the depths of fishy filmmaking. A modest $10 donation enters participants into a raffle for a variety of “big kid” prizes, including a Helios 2 rod outfit, a trip to El Pescador Lodge in Belize and various guided trout fishing trips in Montana. All proceeds go directly to Montana Trout Unlimited for their habitat protection work.”
For further information on the Guide Rendezvous, visit www.orvis.com/ogr, or for the Down the Hatch Fishing Festival visit www.orvis.com/dth. Or contact Tom Rosenbauer at [email protected] or 802-362-8521.
