ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gary David Blount was born in Dunsmuir, California in 1955 to David Oliver Blount and Irene Rose Blount. Gary lived on the banks of the Sacramento River and began fishing as soon as he could hold a fishing rod. In 1964 his family moved to Moreland, Idaho on the banks of the Snake River. While living in Moreland Gary’s father purchased a piece of property on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River outside the town of Last Chance, Idaho. Gary’s father was a schoolteacher and every summer they would fish the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and all the waters in the “Golden Triangle” of Yellowstone National Park. In 1966 the family moved to Sandy, Oregon on the banks of the Sandy River. At this time the Sandy River was one of Oregon’s best Salmon and Steelhead Rivers. At age eleven Gary began tying his own flies with fly tying instruction from his next-door neighbor, George Mac Alevy. George was a professional Fly Tier and wrote a weekly fishing column “By the River’s Edge” in the local paper. In 1984 Gary moved to Missoula, Montana and obtained a job with Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks as a Fisheries Technician. Gary’s duties consisted of: determining species composition, distribution, size, abundance and age of Wild Trout in Region 2 in Montana. In August of 1984 he was assigned to perform a cursory sampling on Rattlesnake Creek, which flows through the town of Missoula. Rattlesnake Creek upstream from the Water Company Dam, which is three-miles north of Missoula, had been closed to all fishing since 1940. After two-days fishing Rattlesnake Creek Gary realized the fishing regulations on Native Westslope Cutthroat Trout were far to liberal in the region and most of the Westslope Cutthroat Trout brood stock were being harvested from all Western Montana waters. Gary had spent all summer performing population estimates on over eighty bodies of water in Region 2 and had not seen a fishery that even compared to the fishery in Rattlesnake Creek. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks did not have the funds available to do a study on Rattlesnake Creek so Gary originated a privately funded research project, Rattlesnake Creek Research Project. Today there are special regulations for Montana’s Native Westslope Cutthroat Trout in all of Western Montana waters as a result of Gary’s Rattlesnake Creek Research Project. Gary moved to West Yellowstone, Montana in 1989 and worked as a fishing guide for two-years before becoming a licensed fishing outfitter. Gary owned and operated Yellowstone Catch & Release Outfitter until 1996. In 1994 Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks made an Associated Press Release that stated that the Madison River had Whirling Disease and the Rainbow Trout population had diminished from 3,000 Rainbow Trout per mile of stream to less than 300 Rainbow Trout per mile of stream. This Associated Press Release unfortunately force Gary out of the outfitting business.