Nothing better than a fly I tie myself
that actually catches fish.
Jill Clark originally hails from Hagerman, Idaho’s land of 1,000 springs, which may explain her affinity for local waters. An expert on the region, she has called Idaho home for nearly 50 years. A proud U of I grad (go Vandals!), she first came to Idaho with her parents as a toddler. Her family came to Sun Valley to work – her father as a jazz musician who played for the Sun Valley ski train and for the Hap Miller Orchestra at the Lodge. Her mother was a teacher in Ketchum. Fishing caught her attention when she was a little girl and her grandmother took her out on the Snake River and she caught a trout with a corn kernel on her hook. “At that point,” I was hooked, Jill laughed. Her grandmother also took her camping where “we would listen all night long for the little bells on the rods to jingle so that we could crawl out of bed and catch a catfish.” Jill was a committed teacher for 31 years and only recently retired. She loves having newfound time to spend in the water, rod in hand and flies she’s tied at the ready.
Guiding Style
Teacher. “My whole life, I have always been a teacher. I don’t think that the teaching element of my life will ever go away. I figure that teaching a skill, demonstrating, and then letting a client try it out is the best way of actually getting a client into the catching mode. I often find myself saying things like, Now the next skill that I am going to show you is how to mend. It looks like this, we mend because … now you try it. I just won’t send someone to detention if they miss the set! Tight lines!”
Fun Facts about Jill
- Jill paid for her education by raising and training horses with her father in Hagerman. At the end of each season, she sold her horse for the amount of her tuition.
- Her favorite guiding trip to date was with an 8-year-old named Etti. “She was a great young student and it was a playful day with lots of fun and learning. We caught fish and frogs and turned over rocks to identify insects.”
- After a day on the water, Jill loves to head toward a local brewery and pop open a good IPA or to enjoy a home brew.
- A lifelong carnivore, a perfect summer dinner is a burger or steak on her Traeger grill.
- Jill’s favorite fly is “something I’ve tied myself that actually catches fish. Fishing Pyramid Lake, I tie all of the flies that we use and I love it when someone catches a 20-plus pound Lahontan cutthroat on a fly I have tied.”
- Other than fishing, Jill likes to spend her time gardening, reading, hiking, learning and tying flies, and traveling to exotic locales.
