“Fishing in the Bitterroot,” the Ravalli County Museum’s newest exhibit, is set for a grand opening this week.
Museum Director Michelle Nowling said the hallway to the fishing room, with mounted trout and historical photos, has been in place for years, and plans to add more information and historical artifacts have been in the works since before she became museum director.
She said there were many conversations about the exhibit, created in cooperation with Bitterroot Trout Unlimited, which opens Thursday.
“It ended up with beautiful reels, flies, and rods, mostly from Chuck Stranahan,” Nowling said. “He worked closely with our Bitterroot Education Collection staff to gather items and a lot of this information is direct from him explaining what these objects are.”
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Nowling credits Collections Manager Katie Ramstead, Exhibits Designer Julie Bethman and Archivist Bill Whitfield for their meticulous work.
The BRTU and RC Museum worked for over a year to build the exhibit that features vintage and historic fly fishing gear, like Russell wading brogues, fly boxes and a collection of historic flies that were tied in Missoula.
There’s also a hands-on magnetic moveable diorama for learning the types of trout and creating a healthy trout habitat, a fun mix-and-match challenge of placing the correct heads with the right tails, and a mannequin dressed for fly fishing, with a creel basket, hat and boots. There is a bookcase that the BRTU will stock with historical and current books on fly fishing that patrons can borrow.
The exhibit is also filled with large fishing-related photographs. The main one shows the thrill of fishing and was taken by the museum’s famous photographer Ernst Peterson.
Chuck Stranahan, a TU member and recipient of the BRTU golden trout award for conservation efforts, donated beautiful old bamboo rods in display cases, flies and some antique reels.
“There will be more to come,” he said. “There is a lot of stuff there that is important not just to our history and the popularity of fly fishing. It does have a history that parallels the growth of the valley and the greater development of fly fishing in the West.
“Most people participating in the sport today don’t know the history, particularly in this valley,” Stranahan added. “They don’t realize the depth of history and what led up to what they enjoy. If you have a sense of the past you’re more likely to pass those ideals on and value the resources.”
Stranahan grew up in the desert and was fascinated by flies shown to him by his godfather.
“He gave me a fly tying vice and got me started,” he said. “I started tying at age 8 and didn’t have the opportunity to go fishing until I was 12. I caught my first trout on a fly.”
He started tying flies for sporting goods stores, tied some for President Eisenhower and started a 70-year professional fly tying career. He paid his way through college and boosted the income of his first career, in education.
In 1979, he switched to full-time fly tying, moved to the Bitterroot Valley in 1986 and opening his fly fishing shop in 1987. He closed it this year.
“Through the course of this I was fascinated by the history of the sport and collected artifacts along the way,” Stranahan said. “Much of what I collected was specific to fly fishing in the Bitterroot.”
He enjoyed the items, the lures, the flies and the historical tie to the Maclean family.
Stranahan said until Norman Maclean built his cabin on Seeley Lake, the Maclean family would camp in the Bitterroot.
“In his anthology, ‘A River Runs Through It and Other Stories,’ he wrote a story about Blodgett Canyon,” Stranahan said. “He also wrote about visiting a gambling hall which was on the corner of Main and Third streets in Hamilton.”
Stranahan said the museum’s display is a conservation effort that emphasizes the characteristics of trout-bearing water.
“The TU display emphasizes the need to protect, restore and preserve trout resources that are now under attack,” he said. “I added to that because if we’re not aware of the past, we don’t appreciate the present, which makes it very difficult to pass this rich heritage on to our children and grandchildren.”
Stranahan has written fishing columns for valley papers for 25 years. His writings (including magazine articles, books and anthologies) have been published nationally. Several of his fly designs, including the brindle-chute, have been manufactured for national distribution. He has been active in conservation efforts to preserve, restore and protect fishery resources.
“In the Bitterroot Valley we have rich, wonderful fishery resources,” Stranahan said.
He said TU will expand the fly exhibits including those made by fly fishers Doug Swisher (author of “Fly Fishing Strategy” and “Selective Trout”), Ron Faulk and John Foust (creator of the fish that jumps in the movie “A River Runs Through It.”).
Stranahan said teaching the sport of fly fishing is passing the heritage forward and good beginners were taught by experts.
“For me, the heritage and resources are intertwined and interconnected and always will be,” Stranahan said. “We can’t have the heritage without the wonderful pieces of the environment. It doesn’t capture the wonder, awe, sense of humility and joy intermingled that you feel when you’re out in it. If we don’t preserve that we have failed. The museum effort is a vital stay against that, the hope is for more people to come to appreciate what we have.”
According to BRTU President Dave Ward, the exhibit stresses the importance of maintaining and protecting trout habitat according to the four C’s: clean, cold, connected and complex.
Nowling said the exhibit reflects history and life.
“The history of fishing on the Bitterroot River is rich and varied,” she said. “The Salish fished, the early settlers fished, and it is still a big industry today. Folks come from all over the world to fish in the Bitterroot River and to fish in Ravalli County. This room shows the rods and reels and flies that have been used and it is the opportunity to learn more about trout.”
The Bitterroot Trout Unlimited mission statement is to “conserve, protect, and restore the Bitterroot River’s cold-water fishery and its watershed.” The organization advocates for clean water, robust stream flows, healthy habitat, and a naturally functioning Bitterroot watershed and floodplain. BRTU promotes fishery management, works with agencies and landowners and defends the rights of anglers to access streams and rivers, and educates the public.
The “Fishing in the Bitterroot” grand opening runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 14. There is no charge for admission and the public is invited to attend.
The Ravalli County Museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and is located at 205 Bedford Street in Hamilton.
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