BY KAREN BOSSICK

Learn about steel head fishing across the West from a fishing guide who has decades of experience trying to hook wild fish on iconic western rivers.

Carl Evenson, a fly-fishing guide and Master gardener, will be the keynote speaker at the Feb. 4 meeting of the Hemingway Chapter of Trout Unlimited. The free presentation, open to the public, will start at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, at The Argyros in Ketchum.

Evenson grew up in the mountains of Colorado where his father gave him a fly rod for his sixth birthday and a fly-tying setup the following year. He was hooked from the start and fly fishing helped change the course of his life.

In 1988 Evenson moved to Idaho to guide youth on wilderness survival trips, and he quickly fell in love with the landscapes and waters of the Gem State. While in college, he spent summers working in Alaska where he roped in his share of salmon runs.

After earning a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries biology from the University of Montana, Evenson conducted fish surveys by snorkel across Salmon River drainages for Idaho Fish and Game. For the past two decades he has led fly-fishing trips around the world in such far-flung places as Mongolia, Costa Rica and—closer to home—Montana.

Today he guides primarily in Idaho, sharing his knowledge of trout and steelhead fisheries through Silver Creek Outfitters.