The Guides

At Fins & Feathers, we recognize the fact that at the end of the trip, the most important factor in our guests' enjoyment is the quality of our guides. We hire only experienced and patient professionals that put customer satisfaction and safety at the top of the list. Once again in 2010, we are the only guide service/outfitter in Bozeman to be endorsed by Orvis.

Below is a brief autobiography of our guides for the 2010 season. Please feel free to send us an e-mail if you have any questions or want to request a specific guide. Typically, we try to match the guides with the clients based on a variety of information we collect while booking the trip.

Toby Swank - Toby is the owner/outfitter (Lic #9603) of Fins & Feathers and has been fishing the waters of southwest Montana for almost 20 years. He attended college in Bozeman at MSU, graduating in 1995 with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology. Fishing has always been an obsession for Toby and there's nothing that he enjoys more than fly-fishing for trout just about anywhere in the world. Toby's family includes his wife Christine, sons Alex & Matthew, a golden retriever named Tye and an English Setter named Tao. Read Toby's Blog

Rick Weisend - Rick is the head guide for our operation during the summer months. He moved to Bozeman in 1998 with a degree in Fisheries Biology from Humboldt State University. He is an avid fly angler and fly tyer. His original fly patterns can be found in the shop and in the Orvis catalog. In recent years he has become an avid hunter of upland game birds. Rick's household includes his lovely wife Carla, cat Zoe, and English Setter Cotton.

Paul Neuman - Paul is a Bozeman native and has been fishing the rivers of Southwest Montana since he was old enough to walk. He is a skin instructor in Bog Sky during the winter and has traveled extensively through Europe. Whether on the river or the ski hill, Paul has a laid back approach to teaching which has been very popular with his clients.

Ben Jantzen - Ben moved to the Gallatin Valley over ten years ago from Connecticut and has been fishing the surrounding waters avidly ever since. Ben works in the shop year round and is one of our core guides during the summer months. He fishes year round with the exception of the fall months when he spends his time bow hunting for elk and upland game bird hunting with his chocolate lab, Chester . Once hunting season closes Ben often commences fishing season with a trip down south to fly fish in warmer climates.

Charlie Napoli – Charlie has been living in Bozeman for more than eleven years, and he has been fishing the waters of Southwest Montana ever since.  He is a year round employee of the fly shop, and one of our core guides during the fishing season.  He grew up in Pennsylvania and started fishing the trout streams there when he was just three years old.  Charlie has also spent a few years guiding in Alaska for trout, grayling and salmon before becoming a guide in Montana .  When it gets too cold too fish in winter you will find him snow boarding the slopes at Big Sky and Bridger Bowl.