Kimberly is the Montana Women’s Fly Fishing School Director and Women’s Program Director at Gallatin River Guides. She comes to us from her work with Warriors and Quiet Waters, Simms Fishing Products, Treasure State Ladies on The Fly, and Mystery Ranch Backpacks.

She was born in Wyoming, where her deep-seated love for the wilderness started. Long days and nights were spent outside, tagging along with her older brothers. She got the fishing bug when she was knee high to a grasshopper, catching bluegill while eating hot dogs over a campfire. She has had fish on the brain ever since.

After studying fashion design in Las Vegas, her sewing skills and passion for the outdoors, brought her back to the mountains and rivers of her childhood, to work at Simms Fishing Products. With inspiration from women in the community, Kimberly started a Bozeman-area women’s fly fishing club, Treasure State Ladies on The Fly, and has honed her skills teaching local women fly fishing. At Treasure State Ladies on The Fly she ran weekend fishing outings, fly tying nights, and casting lessons. Her passion for teaching and having fun matches her knowledge of our local fisheries.

Kimberly uses her enthusiasm for teaching to help more women become self-sufficient anglers. She hopes to continue to get more women comfortable out on the water, and come together to have a bigger presence in fly fishing world.

When not leading one of our schools or guiding for GRG, she can be spotted chasing the next hatch or innovating new products.

You can read more about Kimberly on the Gallatin River Guides website.

For over thirty years, Gallatin River Guides—the creators of the Montana Women’s Fly Fishing School—has been a leader in creating opportunities for women anglers. From the early days in the 1980s when Gallatin River Guides founder Betsey French taught local ladies, to present day and beyond, we are working towards 50-50 on the water. Our guides and instructors are a team of dedicated professionals who strive to educate, enlighten, and inspire women fly fishers in a supportive, noncompetitive environment.

Male or female, the Montana Women’s Fly Fishing School guides and instructors are all exceptional teachers, they all like to fish and have fun, they all are professional fly fishing guides and stewards of the resources we all enjoy. They all will ensure your safety and comfort are enjoyed throughout the day. After spending one of our three day schools with them, they will probably also become your new fishing friends.

To view our team of professional guides and instructors, visit their profiles on the Gallatin River Guides website.

All of our guides are licensed with the state of Montana and trained in First Aid and CPR.

Pat Straub grew up in Bozeman, learning to fish on Sourdough Creek. He left Montana for college, knowing he would eventually return. After earning a degree in writing from Beloit College and a stellar career on the soccer field, he returned, ready to take on Montana’s trout streams. After spending one day on the water as a guide for Parks’ Fly Shop in Gardiner, he knew his work lay in guiding. For several seasons he guided for Destinations and the Yellowstone Valley Ranch, one of the West’s premier lodges and operations at the time. A move to the Missouri came a few years later and the rest is history.

Since then he has managed a private angling and hunting club, written a half-a-dozen books, including the forthcoming Everything You Wanted to Know About Fly Fishing But Where Afraid to Ask. His guiding has taken him to south Florida, Chilean Patagonia, and southern Africa. He and his wife own and operate Gallatin River Guides in Big Sky, Montana