Ryan Gabert

My name is Ryan Gabert, and I live in the Black Hills of SD with my girlfriend Lexy and our Brittany, Finn. I’m originally from Rapid City, SD, and still live here. I’ve been guiding the streams of the Black Hills since 2007, and I truly enjoy showing people the great small stream fly fishing for wild trout that the hills offer. When I’m not guiding or fishing on my own, you can find me following my Brittany around the prairie searching for Sharptailed Grouse.

1. Home Water – I live in Rapid City, South Dakota, and have fished the trout streams of the Black Hills since I started fly fishing in middle school. While South Dakota probably isn’t on most people’s radar for wild trout fishing, we have a lot of fantastic small streams!
2. Favorite Lines – We have some really nice pike in some of our Black Hills reservoirs, and I’ve really gotten into chasing them over the past few years. The Sonar Titan Int/3/5 has quickly become my favorite predator line – they shoot line exceptionally well and can carry some really big flies. The hook sets are solid, and I’m convinced I lose less fish with the sonar lines. They’re very easy to teach clients to cast as well. For trout fishing I have been using the Amplitude Smooth Infinity – you really can do everything with it. A lot of our fishing in the Black Hills is pretty close quarters, most of your fishing is done under 30’. The Infinity loads great close and rolls casts well, which makes for a fantastic small stream line.
3. Where would you most like to fish – Anywhere there’s wild steelhead would be pretty high on my list, but I’d like to fish the Skeena River drainage in the fall. Alaskan pike look pretty rad as well.
4. Two truths and a lie – I’m an avid upland hunter with my Brittany. I’m a big fan of rattlesnakes, which we have plenty of in SD. It took me six months of flailing around on my own to finally catch a wild trout on a fly rod.