Bill Fraser, President

Bill grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and spent part of his early youth fishing and hunting with his family in Patagonia, the Andes and on the Argentine frontier with Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil. The region’s vast landscapes, pristine wildernesses and contact with native communities instilled in him an early sense of respect for the land and the diverse peoples that used and occupied it. Bill finished High School in Princeton, New Jersey in 1969 following a move to the U.S. with his family in 1962. The experiences of his youth in both Argentina and the U.S. eventually led him to seek an education in a wildlife-related field. In 1973 he received a B.S. degree from Utah State University in Wildlife Management, and in 1989 a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Ecology. In conjunction with these degrees, Bill was offered opportunities to work in Alaska, Colorado, and Antarctica. Research in Antarctica became Bill’s career, and in 2000 he and his wife, Donna, formed Polar Oceans Research Group, a private, non-profit research organization based in Sheridan, Montana. The organization’s work focuses on climate change and its impacts on Southern Ocean ecosystems. Its primary operational region is the marine environment of the Western Antarctic Peninsula, which is located about 1000 kilometers south of Argentina. Bill currently spends 3-5 months a year in Antarctica, and is restoring an old ranch homestead when back in Montana. He is an active member of the LCTU and also represents TU as a member of the Ruby River Watershed Council. A focal and exciting project for both organizations is the reintroduction of threatened Arctic Grayling to the upper reaches of the Ruby River.

Donna Fraser, Secretary/Treasurer

Bio is pending

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Delisi, Board Member

 

Attracted by the world-class Big Hole River, Dave Delisi and his wife Carol moved to Melrose, MT in 2000.  After five years of small town living along a Blue Ribbon trout stream, they moved to a place in the Ruby Valley with enough elbow room for their two horses, two labs, and five chickens. While in Melrose, Dave's passion for flyfishing became something of an addiction, as he spent nearly 300 days on the water in 2002.  Rain and snow, he learned, ensure a solitary fishing excursion.  It is his passion and deep commitment to conservation that led Dave to join LCTU in 2007. After a year on the Board, and a year as Vice-President, Dave spent 2 years as the Chapter's president. Dave's passion for fishing marries well with his career as he toils happily in the shop as an employee of Sweetgrass Rods in Twin Bridges.  When not working, you can find Dave caring for the animals on his place, gardening (both hops and garlic grow really well at 600 feet!), hiking with Carol, or plying the waters of the halcyonic Ruby River in search of finny prey.

 

Tom Forwood , Board Member

 

Tom makes his home in the Ruby Valley with his loving wife, Alice. Tom ties the finest flies you have ever seen...truly rivaling the best flies on the planet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rick knight, Board Member

 

Rick has been an advid fly fisherman for the past 35 years, growing up in Connecticut he found himself always looking for the next day off or few hours to stop at the trout stream on the way home from work. Montana had always been a dream place to live so in 2010 he finally made the decision to make the move. With five kids and a wife it was not an easy one, but life goes by fast, its now or never. Rick works as a guide for Back Country Angler in Dillon specializing in trips on the Beaverhead, Big Hole and Madson Rivers. Rick is pationate to protect, and help others enjoy the great waters he now calls home.

 

 

 

 

Jerry Kustich, Board Member

Jerry grew up in Western New York on an island in the Niagara River. He regularly fished the polluted shoreline of the river that flowed near his home, and eventually became a conservationist because of that experience.  After earning a degree in chemistry from Niagara University in the late sixties, he took a teaching position at a Catholic high school in Salt Lake City in 1969.  The road West led to trout and, inevitably, fly-fishing.  In the early seventies, Jerry decided to become a life-long fishing bum.  In the following decades, from Utah to Idaho to Montana, his goal was realized.  In 1984, an ideal position came open at Winston Rods in Twin Bridges, Montana which has allowed Jerry to fish the rivers of his dreams ever since.  

Until his recent resignation, Jerry worked for the Winston Rod Company for over twenty-one years; the last thirteen years spent building bamboo rods with the renowned and eminent bamboo craftsman, Glenn Brackett.  An avid conservationist and former secretary on the state board of directors for Montana Trout Unlimited, Jerry is always active on resource issues around the Big Sky State.  In addition to writing and illustrating a weekly nature column for a major Montana newspaper, he has published several articles, as well as co-authored ‘Fly Fishing For Great Lakes Steelhead: An Advanced Look At An Emerging Fishery’ with his brother Rick.  His acclaimed collection of stories and essays, ‘At the River's Edge’, chronicles many lessons learned on the life-long journey of a devoted fly angler.  Jerry's latest release, ‘A Wisp in the Wind’, offers a behind-the-scenes look into the Winston bamboo shop, along with other related fishing stories. 

 

Will Murray, Board Member

Will worked for a local environmental engineering and natural resource company, conducting natural resource inventories and designing/building stream restorations. He holds a B.S. degree in Range Management from Humboldt State University, with Minors in Botany and Geography. Will came to the Ruby Valley in Southwest Montana in 2003, having been transferred from Harlowton, Montana by his former employer, the Natural Resources Conservation Service. For Will, it was like landing in a sportsman’s Eden, “I’m an avid bowhunter, but the fishing was so good in Southwest Montana, I only spent a handful of days in the field hunting. All of the rest of my free time was spent with a rod in my hand on the river”. Will picked up flyfishing as soon as he moved to the Ruby Valley, and gained some local notoriety as ‘The Fishing Guy’ after logging over 200 days on the local rivers with a fly rod in his hand. Joining Trout Unlimited was a natural move for him as he became involved in the many issues confronting the anglers and sportsmen/women of the southwest portion of Montana, first as a Range Conservationist for the NRCS and budding flyfisherman, and then as the President of the Lewis & Clark Chapter TU of Southwest Montana. Will was elected President of the Chapter in December of 2005 and worked with a core group of active members in reworking the Chapter and building the LCTU website as a way of bringing news of the area and Chapter events to a larger geographic area. Will currently has his home in Twin Bridges, but lives at the river (the fishing is still good!).

 

 

Jim Shirk, Board Member

Jim retired in 2004 and moved to Montana near Twin Bridges. He acquired a B.S. degree in Art Education from Kutztown University and spent the next 34 years with the Carlisle Area School District. Jim grew up along the the famous Penns Creek in central Pennsylvania where he learned to fly fish. His father gave him a copy of "Trout Flies - Naturals and Imitations" by Charles M. Wetzel, which became his fly fishing bible and opened the door to stream side entomology and fly tying. While at Carlisle he became involved with TU and was able to take advantage of the famous Letort, Yellow Breeches, and the Big Spring rivers whenever he had a spare moment to wet a line. Moving to Montana was a DREAM come TRUE. It is his desire to not only fish the rivers, but to paint and draw their every mood.