Pro Shop | Hilary Hutcheson | Larys Fly Shop
Pro Shop | Hilary Hutcheson | Larys Fly Shop
Hilary started her fly-fishing career as a teenaged guide in West Glacier, Montana on the famed Flathead River system at the southern and western boundaries of Glacier National Park. She guided through college, then took her journalism degree to Portland, Oregon where she worked as a television news anchor and reporter. She eventually returned to Montana to guide and co-own and operate Outside Media and Trout TV for nearly a decade. Today, she’s still guiding on the North and Middle Forks of the Flathead River as well as the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho and owns and runs a fly shop called Lary’s Fly & Supply in her hometown of Columbia Falls, Montana. She is an instructor at School of Trout and the SheJumps River Finishing School, serves as a North American board member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, sits on the advisory committee for Guiding for the Future, serves on the Northern Rockies River Council, is a climate activist with Protect Our Winters and is a contributing editor for Fly Fisherman Magazine. She is an ambassador for YETI, Orvis, Costa, Patagonia and Scientific Anglers. She loves hanging out with her three-legged yellow lab, two teen daughters, Ella and Delaney and her partner, Ebon, especially when they volunteer on the oars.
Hilary specializes in several freestone rivers protected by the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, specifically the Middle Fork of the Flathead, North Fork of the Flathead and Middle Fork of the Salmon. Each of these rivers is home to native westslope cutthroat trout.
Thoughts on SA as a brand and favorite SA products: “Trusting the best available science makes even more sense when the solutions are coming from anglers who speak my language. I love that the people behind the brand know what I’m going through as a guide and they work to keep me from worrying about whether my gear will perform. Building excellent fly lines is complex, but choosing to use them is easy. Especially when I know the science behind it is centered on addressing specific issues anglers and guides face on the water.”
“I’m really digging the SA Absolute Tippet. The higher wet knot strength is unmatched. Every guide should be confident in their knots, but this gives me an extra level of certainty when my clients are fighting bigger fish in rowdy pocket water in the whitewater canyon stretches. I like how the material stays supple in glacial runoff, rather than stiffening or coiling, so my clients can get the best drift in dynamic water”.
Tips to share: “It took me years to practice the concept that a guide day isn’t over until the next day’s guide trip is fully prepped. Meaning, before I go to bed at night, I make sure all my lines are cleaned and my leaders, tippet spools and flies are resupplied for the next day. I clean my boat, check in with my clients, look at the weather forecast and scout certain stretches of river. I check in with other guides to see where they plan to go the next day and swap intel with them. This year I’m trying to also do a better job of taking time before bed to stretch, hydrate and treat any sore muscles or minor injuries.”
