Fly Fishing Guide
My goal is always to get clients to fish, but I'd rather see someone go home with the skills and knowledge to pick up a fly rod on their own and get back out there than catch a million fish."
"I love putting new fly fishermen on their first fish,
but what I love most is seeing that spark light in people for the first time.”
Jack Banse hails from Massachusetts but spent a lot of his childhood in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. He says that’s where his deep-seated love for fly fishing and the outdoors really took off. But it wasn’t always a smooth road to becoming a skilled fisherman. Jack recalls wading out into a little mountain creek in Pennsylvania and hooking his 120-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback, Angus, on his first back cast. “What a fight!” he says.
Fishing is basically what brought him out West. He arrived for a seasonal job in Stanley and quickly fell in love. “As soon as I got there, I knew I was hooked—I haven’t left since!” he says. Jack really, truly loves to guide. He says, “Any trip where I can share my love and enthusiasm of the sport is a great day. I love putting new fly fishermen on their first fish, but what I love most is seeing that spark light in people for the first time.”
Guiding Style
Teacher.
“I would consider myself a teacher. My goal is always to get clients to fish, but I’d rather see someone go home with the skills and knowledge to pick up a fly rod on their own and get back out there than catch a million fish. I think patience is incredibly important when it comes to getting first-time anglers into the sport. Fly fishing is a lifetime game, I learn something new every time I get on the water and love sharing my passion and knowledge with anyone who will listen!”
Fun Facts about Jack
- He attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and spent a lot of his evenings in Lewisburg either bowling or looking for big brown trout on Penn’s Creek.
- He will only consider returning to the East Coast when there are Westslope cutthroat in the Charles River – which means he is staying out West!
- Jack is the oldest of four siblings. “My brothers and I spend our time chasing trout and my sister is living the big city life in New York.”
- When the waders are off and the gear safely stored for the day, Jack enjoys a cold beer, good music and good friends (and good dogs) sitting around a campfire and swapping stories.
- Jack’s favorite fly is the Chubby Chernobyl. His favorite hatch is the Salmon Fly. “Big bugs & big eats!”
- “When I’m not fishing, I’m most likely learning a John Prine song on my guitar, camping out in the mountains, and thinking about getting back on the river. You might also see me at Rotarun in the winter moving snow guns around.”
