Dennis
Dickson Biography
1998
photo
As a native of the Pacific
Northwest, Dennis has lived in Arlington his entire life, except for two year while
attending the University of Washington and another two years in Hawaii. Growing up near
the North Fork of the Stilly, he has fly fished his entire life.
He graduated with
a BS in the college of Fisheries and worked for the next eight years as
a fisheries biologist, on the Stillaguamish system. Dennis left this field
and began guiding fly fishers full time in the early 80's. After six years
of guiding up to 200 days a year, Dennis hit burn out and went back to
Fisheries working as a consultant. After two years Dennis realized he
missed fishing too much and decided to branch out.
As of 2008, Dennis is in his 22nd year as a flyfishing guide. A unique
combination of a fisheries biologist and a steelhead flyfishing guide,
Dennis devotes his angling year guiding the steelhead flyfisher. Dennis,
and staff also share their vast experience, teaching their highly popular
flyfishing schools, bringing anglers from all over the world to enjoy
the thrill of flyfishing steelhead. He and his three full time guides
fish some 400 active clients throughout the year. An anglers view? Read
Testimonials
Flyfishsteelhead.com
is among the most widely read Internet weekly steelhead flyfishing reports
in the state of Washington. Dennis also has personally written over 40
articles and stories about steelhead flyfishing. Flyfishing has been good
to Dennis, The writing is his way of giving something, back.
Dennis's
great passion is wild steelhead, salmon, and char. He currently sits on
the board of Trustees with the Wild Steelhead Coalition.
His
greatest thrill has been the ability to share this experience with his
son Mike. Mike has come into the business with a vigor, developing Streamsideflyshop.com.
Along with Dennis and long time guide and friend Jonathan Knapp &
Darrel Donarshi, these four steelhead guides have revolutionized the local
steelhead flyfishing market with their own custom flylines, flies, and
rods.
Dennis
(and guides) continues to spend his time guiding for steelhead in places
like the Skagit River in the North sound, the Olympic Peninsula streams,
the Grande Ronde, & Southeast Alaska. Winters will find him in the
warm bluewater & flats flyfishing in the Caribbean. He still enjoys
fisheries work, such as saving spawning streams & watershed protection.
He
and his sweet wife Dawn, have been married for 32 years. (Any wife who
can put up with a fishing guide as a husband, should get some kind of
congressional medal.) They have three wonderful kids, Mike being the oldest.
Dennis is happy working in his community and church, (when he is in town).
He enjoys people and loves fish. Watching anglers catch their first steelhead
on a fly is a thrill that never goes away.
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