Ryan Johnston, a fly fishing guide of 24 years and founder of the youth mentorship nonprofit Cast Hope, discusses guiding the South Fork of the Snake River in Idaho and Wyoming and, more recently, Montana’s Flathead Valley. He explains how Cast Hope, which he founded in 2009 out of an entrepreneurship class during his MBA program at Chico State after a church sermon on giving back to his community, has grown to five regions, Southern California, Northern California, Tahoe/Reno, Salmon Valley Idaho, and Flathead Valley Montana, and now takes roughly 1,200 kids fly fishing for free each year. Johnston details the outfitter permit system that governs guiding on rivers like the South Fork of the Snake, arguing that permits protect fisheries from overuse even as they concentrate revenue with outfitters rather than the guides doing the work. He also warns that decades-old decisions to transplant fish species, like rainbow trout and pike, between Western waters continue to reshape those fisheries today.

From a childhood cast on the South Fork of the Snake to a career built on rivers and relationships.

Ryan Johnston has spent 24 years as a fly fishing guide, first on California’s rivers and Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake, and now in Montana’s Flathead Valley. He’s also the author of three books of guide stories and the founder of Cast Hope, a nonprofit that has taken thousands of kids fly fishing for free since 2009. Bill and Anders sit down with him to trace that path from a childhood cast on the South Fork of the Snake to a career built on rivers and relationships.

Johnston started fly fishing at 12, on a family trip to his grandfather’s property near the Idaho border in western Wyoming, inspired by A River Runs Through It. A $5,000 loan from that same grandfather got him his first drift boat at 19, launching a guiding career that has spanned California, Idaho, and Montana. During the pandemic, with guiding paused and his kids at home, he started writing down guide stories at coffee shops, eventually publishing three books, A Reel Job, Reelly, and Reel Salty, built from those notes. Cast Hope traces back to a single Sunday sermon at a Chico, California church about using personal gifts to change your community; Johnston started by donating one guided trip a month to local kids, and a moment on the Sacramento River with a boy who’d recently lost his father convinced him to build something bigger. Cast Hope is now in its 17th year, operating across five regions in California, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, and taking about 1,200 kids fishing for free annually.

The conversation turns, in its final stretch, to the health and management of the rivers Johnston has spent his career on. He argues Western fisheries are as healthy today as they were 20 years ago, but that more anglers and smarter, more educated fish have made the fishing itself harder. He walks through the outfitter permit systems that govern guiding on rivers like the South Fork of the Snake, weighing the case that permits protect fisheries from overcrowding against his own frustration, as a guide, with outfitters who take half or more of a trip’s revenue. He closes with a caution against a practice that predates all of this, the transplanting of fish species between waters, which he says continues to produce unintended consequences for Western fisheries decades later.

In this episode:

• A childhood cast that started it all Johnston recalls learning to fly fish at 12 on Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake River, on a family trip inspired by A River Runs Through It.
• From guide to author A pandemic-era slowdown, and encouragement from his father, led Johnston to start writing down guide stories, eventually growing into three published books.
• The origin of Cast Hope A church sermon in Chico, California on using personal gifts to serve your community led Johnston to start donating guide trips to local kids, planting the seed for a nonprofit now serving about 1,200 kids a year.
• What guiding teaches about people Johnston reflects on the intimacy of a drift boat and why he thinks guiding well is at least as much about people skills as fishing skills.
• Fisheries, permits, and who controls access A candid look at outfitter permit systems on rivers like the South Fork of the Snake, and the tension between protecting a fishery and guides earning a living.
• A caution on moving fish Johnston warns that decades-old fish-stocking decisions, like introducing rainbow trout and pike into new waters, continue to reshape Western fisheries today.

Links & Resources

Connect with Ryan

• RJ’s Fly Trips — Johnston’s guiding business and personal site. 

Media & Books

• A Reel Job: Short Stories & Thoughts From The River — Johnston’s first book, a collection of short stories from his years as a fly fishing guide, including the widely shared “Monster Brown Trout” story referenced in the episode.
• Reelly: Unbelievable Fly Fishing Guide Stories — Johnston’s second book of guide stories, including the “Favorite 50” chapter of memorable client questions referenced in the episode. 
• Reel Salty — Johnston’s third book, continuing his collection of stories from the river. 

Organizations & Initiatives:

• Cast Hope — Nonprofit founded by Johnston in 2009 that connects kids and mentors through free guided fly fishing trips; now operates across five regions in California, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. 

Places & Landscapes:

• South Fork of the Snake River — River in Idaho and Wyoming where Johnston learned to fly fish and later guided for five seasons; discussed for its limited outfitter permit system. 

People Mentioned:

• Blain & Monique Anderson — Guides who led Bill and Anders on a Glacier Bay boat tour, referenced by Anders in a discussion of the people skills guiding requires. Catch our conversation with Blain and Monique in Episode 21.

Ryan Johnston, married to his wife Bonnie for 20 years and a father of two girls (Maggie (15) and Ava (12)), has made a living through the fly fishing industry. He’s been a fly fishing guide for 23 years, founded a fly fishing non-profit called Cast Hope to take underserved kids into the outdoors fly fishing, has published three fly fishing books, and periodically writes for fly fishing magazines.

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