Matt Lucas
Owner & Guide
Jack Lucas
co-Owner
From the time I knew there might be fish in water, I began a lifelong search for this amazing creature and the outdoor environment that was associated with it. After looking in remote places such as Patagonia, Australia, Canada, etc., I’ve never found anywhere that can match the unparalleled resource of the 3 sections of the Green River we guide, for fish and scenic beauty. As owners of Western Rivers Fly Fisher Guides, my son Matt and I along with a fantastic staff, are very pleased to have the wonderful pleasure of introducing others to the spectacular fly fishing and unsurpassed natural beauty of the Green River at Flaming Gorge. Background includes wilderness field guide, B.S. degree U.of U. College of Health-Outdoor Programs.
Darren Bowcutt
Lead Guide
I began flyfishing with my father at the ripe old age of nine. I fished mostly on local streams around Logan, Utah, along with annual summer trips to the Madison and other Montana rivers. My father was a school teacher and we spent many a summer evening together fly casting and even catching a few fish.
I started fishing the Green river in 1991 and began guiding in 1998. Early on, I was taught by Green River legends Emmett Heath and Denny Breer. I will forever be grateful for knowing and fishing with them!
I have been Lead Guide at WRFG since 2007 and have have served as Groga Vice President and president since 2007.
Eli Koles
Guide
Tyler Root
Guide
I have always been fascinated by flowing water. Growing up in Utah, some of my earliest memories are fishing with my dad and exploring the streams and rivers of the west. My passion for fly fishing eventually became an obsession. I began my guide career in Rural Alaska, where I cut my teeth and gained an appreciation for the ins and outs of life on the river. After several years and countless river miles, I decided to trade in my motor for some oars and return home. The Green River is arguably the best river to drift a bug to rising trout; where I find great joy in slowing down, teaching the intricacies, and keeping track of the changing conditions of the fishery. In the winter I snowboard, steelhead, tie flies and dream of warm evenings and slow risers.
Set the hook.
Garrett Morse
Guide
I was raised in Grand Junction, Colorado. I’ve been fly fishing for as long as I can remember. I go fly fishing to slow down and enjoy the outdoors. My approach to guiding is to teach the basics so anyone can leave feeling they are a capable fly fisher. I love fishing for brook trout, traveling, and spending time with my dog, Douglas.
James McGuirk
Guide
James was born and raised on the west coast and grew up learning the ins and outs of fishing from his dad. Tired of their fast-paced city life, James and his wife moved to Utah in search of a more adventurous and outdoor lifestyle. As a fishing guide, James is passionate about sharing his knowledge and helping clients become better anglers. He loves the thrill of being on the water and watching his clients catch their first fish on the fly. In his free time, James can be found exploring the wilds of Utah with his wife and three crazy pups.
Jack O’Neal
guide
I was born in Hattiesburg, MS, but grew up predominantly in Salt Lake City, UT. Growing up in SLC, I was fortunate enough to spend my time exploring the prolific fisheries scattered around the Rocky Mountain region of northeast Utah. I graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Environmental Studies, and hope to carry much of what I have learned into understanding the conservation and management factors of the fisheries we all love. Though I’ve had the fortune of spending time on the water with many inspirational people, I attribute my love of the water and flyfishing to Mike Petragallo, or “Gramps” as his friends like to call him, who instilled in me a love of community and care for the water. True to Gramps’ and his friend’s outlook, I hope to create guide experiences that inspire a love for the places we get to play in and the people that surround us.
Grey Willis
Guide
Grey Willis, born and raised in Dallas, Texas, grew up fishing for rainbow and big brown trout in the streams of Northwestern Arkansas and Oklahoma, along with redfish on the Texas Coast. When Grey enrolled in the University of Arkansas in 2018, he spent the following five years fly fishing in White River, Arkansas as well as the smallmouth creeks and rivers surrounding the Fayetteville-Bentonville area.
During the summers, Grey guides in Dutch John, Utah for Western Rivers Flyfisher Guides on the Green River. This gives him the opportunity to sharpen up his dry fly skills and work as a guide as well as an overnight camp host.
Kate Moseley
guide
Raised in the mountains of Northern Colorado, many of Kate’s earliest and best memories took place on a trout stream. Aided by her introduction to fly fishing at an early age, her curiosity for all things remotely river related quickly became a passion and an addiction. Today this addiction is met by summers spent guiding and the rest of the year studying Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University. From wet wading alpine lakes and streams to thawing out anchor lines and waders, Kate loves it all. Perhaps the only thing Kate loves more than fishing and helping others catch fish is learning more about the ecology of the waters she holds dear, from the largest of brown trout to the smallest of macroinvertebrates, and everything in between. Just don’t get her started on an aquatic entomology or fish physiology lesson…
Amanda Lucas
Operations & lunch chef
Kat Mueller
General manager
I was born into a family of anglers; my father as die-hard as they come. While other kids were taking trips to Disneyland, my childhood consisted of getting dragged down dirt roads or flown to obscure places to mill around entertaining ourselves while my dad fished to last light. This fanned my deep curiosity of the natural word and grew in me an independence and profound love of nature. I went on to inherit “the sickness”— by age 11 I had a fly rod in my hand. Since then, my fishing adventures have taken me around the globe in search of permit, tarpon, rooster fish, bonefish, trout, and the occasional carp, but I’d trade it all for a cold, drizzly fishless day on a Pacific Northwest steelhead river. I am often as enamored by waters as I am by the inhabitants of it. As Roderick Haig-Brown said, “Perhaps fishing is, for me, only an excuse to be near rivers.“ These wild places are, and always will be, where I find my power source .
Mike Jensen
shuttle manager
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Eric Carlson
Fly Shop & camp guide
Raised in Montana, I have an uncanny affinity for catching whitefish. For that reason, I was told that I would be a better fit for a camp host. With the short lifetime of camping, backpacking and general shenanigans out West, I feel right at home rowing heavy gear boats and crafting camp stews. There is nothing better in this world than a beautifully seasoned cast iron skillet and waking up at the crack of dawn on the river. My favorite thing on our camp menu is the taco bar night and the blueberry swirl cake.
Shuttle Drivers
“dirty foot crew”
If you have the pleasure of meeting any of our shuttle drivers on the road or around the shop, you’ll find the nicest dirty-footed, river-loving, tree-huggers this side of the continental divide. After shuttles are safely completed each day, you’ll find them jumping from cliffs into the gorge, pulling a trout from the river on a late A float, or enjoying a crisp bevie up in the pines. In the “off season” they are snow-birding to Powell, shredding pow, and obtaining bank-breaking higher educations.