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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.

Dennis DicksonEmail - (425) 238-3537
Mike DicksonEmail - (425) 330-9506

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