Roland Tomsic

A healthy brown trout from somewhere in Montana.

Stepping in: An angler by day and potter by night, Roland is about as laid back as they come in the sport of fly fishing. But don’t let his easy-going nature fool you. Roland is a trout maestro and adventurer who provides anglers stopping by the local fly shop with enough information on rivers that could serve you a lifetime (or a few).

I met Roland for a cup of coffee on a cold morning this past January to get his thoughts on being a shop guy and trout king.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado.

What’s your go-to fly rod?

I think the Redington Classic Trout is a great fly rod because it's affordable, it has a great taper and it casts really nicely.

If you had one fly, what would it be?

Probably an olive Woolly Bugger, or a purple Chubby Chernobyl, but you could fish an olive Wolly Bugger for most fish.

How'd you get into fly fishing?

My dad guided when he was in high school and his first year of college. When I was like 10, he asked me if I wanted to learn how to fly fish. So, he taught me how to fly fish. Then I got really bored in the summer in high school, so I started going off on my own, and then got my dad back into it.

Have you gotten more into fishing in your current role?

Yeah, I would say so. In high school, I raced bikes competitively. I was really busy doing that and would fly fish whenever I had free time. When I moved up here [Missoula], it was an opportunity to go to school but also to explore that further. I really dug into it when I moved to Missoula five years ago.

What keeps you coming back to the water? You've been fishing for a while. You were introduced at early age. What keeps you coming back?

I think you go through waves. When you first learn how to fly fish, you want to catch a fish. Then, you want to catch as many fish as you can. Then, you want to catch the biggest fish, and then you want to catch the smartest fish. I’m kind of at a point where I like the puzzle of it. I like to catch the smartest fish. I think that's what keeps me coming back.  

How often do you go fishing each season?

I probably fish every single day in the summer. So that's 90 days. In the offseason, I probably fish another 30 or 40 days.

I fish a lot.

What's your favorite type of water to fish?

I like freestone rivers. That's what I grew up fishing locally in Fort Collins. Tailwaters have a place in my heart, but I think people flock to them more. It's a busier atmosphere, versus a freestone where you can find solitude.

Do you think fish behave differently in a freestone river compared to a tailwater?

I would say so. The Missouri is a shining example of that. They stick to those historic trenches in the Missouri, and that’s why it's so difficult to fish. If you don't know where those trenches are, you're never going to really find them. Whereas in freestones, you have boulders and pocket water and cutbanks, and that's where the fish hang out.

In your opinion, is it more about the fly or the presentation?

I think it depends on the water body and the fish you're targeting, but generally around Missoula, it's about your presentation. I think you can catch a fish on a Perdigon on any day of the week here.

How do you approach new water?

I start by looking at what's going on. Say it’s a freestone river in July that has a salmon fly hatch. I'm thinking about that right off the bat. I’m going to fish the hatch first and typically change out a dropper pattern or change out that dry fly until I figure out what's working and then kind of stick to it.

If it's the wintertime, and I'm going to a waterbody I haven’t fished, I'm usually going to have a midge on because that's probably what's happening down there. If it's the summertime, I'm going to have a hopper dropper or dry dropper, but sticking to those universal setups based on what’s going on.

What’s a good day of fishing for you?

I think a good day of fishing for me is getting on the water. I think that's also changed along with that kind of phases of fly fishing.

I think a good day on the water used to be catching fish, but now I just enjoy being out there. Especially living in Missoula. I've fished all the rivers around Missoula, so I've caught fish in all of them. There’s not a pressure to get a fish in a new river.

Are there other things you do along the river while you are fishing?

Yeah. In the springtime, I'll poke ground for mushrooms, morels or oyster mushrooms. Often in the summertime, I'll fish a hole pretty hard and then just take a nap on the bank.

What is your speed of fishing?

I think if I'm fishing alone, I move fairly quickly. Once I kind of figure out what I what I want to throw, I fish a run pretty quickly. I probably fish like 20, 30 or 40 casts and then move on, depending on how big the run is or how many fish I've caught. When I'm fishing with people, if they want to hang out and fish a hole really hard, then I'll hang out and fish a hole really hard.

Do you prefer to fish solo or with people?

I prefer to fish with people. It's a good community, kind of camaraderie thing. But I often fish alone.

Do you prefer to fish with certain people?

I really enjoyed fishing with people when I moved up here. My roommate and two guys across the hall and a kid downstairs and I all love fly fishing, and those are the people I still fish with. I love fishing with them, but if a buddy comes into town, I'll usually take them out, or me and my dad will go out.

I do think there is a limit to size. I've had many fishing trips where we drag five guys up there, and you really fish maybe a quarter of the time you actually want to fish because you're kind of leapfrogging everyone.

What’s your strategy for when you’re fishing with a group? How do you navigate each run?

I've kind of done it both ways, like one rod, two guys on Rock Creek. I'll often ask my buddy, when we get to the hole, “Do you want the top or bottom?” Then we'll split the hole and walk upstream together to the next spot and switch. You know, the last guy on top gets the bottom at the next hole.

Do you prefer wading or fishing from the boat?

I think it depends on how I'm fishing. Most of the time I prefer wading. I feel like our waters cater more to wading, especially Rock Creek and the Blackfoot. I think you end up catching more fish wading because you can spend more time in a singular spot and kind of pick that run apart versus on a boat, you're kind of fishing four casts and you're done.

But, the boat’s also fun. Going back to what you just said, like camaraderie thing, it's more of a shared experience to hangout on a boat all day with your friends and kind of swap around. I enjoy that aspect of fishing from a boat.

What aspect of fly fishing is frustrating, challenging or somewhat painful for you?

I would go with the expectation thing. Since COVID, a lot of people wanted to get outside, and that's awesome. It was awesome for the sport because it boosted our industry a little bit.

But, that being said, I think the best way to learn fly fishing is from a mentor. That way, you learn respect in waterways. Recently, I've seen a lot of people ‘high hole’ or ‘low hole’ and not respect you. They’ll row over your line when you're wade fishing and they're on a boat. Things like that that are well-known etiquette that kind of go out the window.

What's your best advice for somebody just getting started? What's something they should really focus on? Is it the cast? Is it standing in the right spot?

I think casting is quite important, especially in fly fishing. I think that notion of like, “I'm going get out on the water and cast the line out and catch a fish isn't really true with fly fishing.”

You need to be able to get your fly out there before you can catch a fish. Often, when I talk to people who are new to fly fishing, they get a rod and a reel and a line. I say, “You don't learn how to cast on the river. You learn how to cast in the park.”

That’s how I learned. I was out in my cul de sac casting a fly rod and not on the water. Learning how to cast teaches you how to present a fly better, and it all builds up from there. It's hard to learn on the water.

Then, you learn the things you need to learn on the water versus your cast. You learn how to read water. You learn how to move in the water quietly and stuff like that, if you're fishing really spooky fish. You turn your focus from casting to reading the fish and reading the water.

Do you buy the belief that streamer fishing leads to bigger fish? What’s your take on streamer fishing?

I'm kind of conflicted. I really enjoy streamer fishing, and I do think you catch consistently bigger fish when you're streamer fishing, but I've also caught quality fish on nymphs or dry flies. A big fish is going to eat something small, but it's also going to eat something big. I think it's going to eat something big more consistently and frequently than a size 18 Parachute Adams.

I enjoy streamer fishing because it's active and visual. You’re not just mending and watching a bobber all day. You're watching your bug and watching the fish actively move on your bug. I think that's why I enjoy it. It’s not the pursuit of big fish. That's just a bonus. It's more that active style fishing.

I think streamer fishing and dry fly fishing really excites me because they're active.

In your opinion, what is a good fish?

In Colorado where I grew up, the river had mostly stocked fish in it. A big fish in the river was 18 inches, and you were really excited about that. A quality fish was anywhere from 14 to 18 inches.

But here, we have so many big fish in our rivers that I would say a quality fish depends on where you're fishing, who you are and how many fish you've caught in your life. Personally, for me a quality fish is 15 to 18 inches. A big fish is 18 and above. But if you're fishing a smaller tributary stream, a big fish is 12 inches.

But generally, 18 inches is a big fish.

What's the strangest encounter you've had on the water?

I was fishing on the Blackfoot, and we floated up there the night before. Right at the takeout there was a big cougar (mountain lion) on the far bank. Then we had a great day on the boat, so I went back up to wade fish the next day, and I was super paranoid. I would hear stuff behind me and feel sketched out.

That constant paranoia for a six-hour wade-fishing session was very strange and spooky to me. While not many mountain lions actually get people, they're just spooky. You know, they always have eyes on you. They're weird.

What’s the scariest encounter you’ve had on the water?

I was wade fishing on the Bitterroot with some buddies in in the winter, and there's this run that's mostly a gravel bottom, and it drops off from like knee-deep down to like maybe chest-deep, pretty quickly. The gravel started going out beneath me as I was crossing the river, and I totally went full head under. I filled up my waders and lost a bunch of gear. I had to swim backwards out. Luckily I was wearing a chest pack, so it was keeping a lot of water from going in. But it was 30 degrees, and it was pretty spooky.

How do you fish cold water?

My first train of thought would be to go really deep. I think there are spots that have 10 to 15-foot-deep holes. Those fish end up stacking up in that slower and deeper water. My  approach is two pretty heavy bugs, really deep, like a big TJ Hooker and a large bead-head Perdigon.

Do you have a theory on fighting big fish?

I think ultimately the term angler comes from angles, right? I had a little phase where I Euro nymphed quite a bit. When I was fighting a big fish on a 2-weight, 12-foot rod, you really had to be conscious of that angle. 

When you have big fish on, everything you think just goes out the window and you just keep tension on the fish. But with those longer rods and lighter tippet, I find that pointing upstream and back a little bit kind of gets that fish in quicker. Ultimately, when you have a really big fish and it's taking line, just keep tension and a good high angle on that fish. I don't have a scientific approach to it, by any means.

Where do you get inspiration for fly fishing?

I get a lot of information working at the fly shop. People come in and say, “Oh the upper Bitterroot is fishing really well right now with streamers.” That’s where I get a lot of information and a lot of inspiration. If this guy had a great day on a stretch water, maybe I'll go check that out. 

A lot of my buddies fly fish, too. So, I get a lot of inspiration from people.

What’s your best advice for entering a fly shop in a respectful way? What’s a good question to ask?

My personal perspective is anyone should feel welcome to walk into a fly shop and ask questions.

Obviously, it's intimidating because you're going into a space where you don't know a lot and talking to people who know quite a bit, which is scary for a lot of people. But my favorite thing is when someone comes in and they don't know anything about the sport, and they just start asking questions.  

There are no dumb questions, and there's nothing really that turns anyone who works at a fly shop off from talking to you. I think there are fly shops that have a “turn your nose up at people attitude,” but I personally am happy to answer your question. Everyone I work with is happy to answer any question.

A lot of people pick up an indicator and ask, “What's this?” Great. Let me show you how to rig it or tell you why you use it.

A lot of fly shops have people who have done everything. You may have a fly shop with a guy who's a really strong dry fly fisherman, and there's probably someone that’s casted trout spay, probably someone there that's into nymphing, and probably someone there that's super in a streamer fishing.

Even if you ask a question that someone who doesn't know, generally, they can turn to their coworker and say, “Hey, I need you over here.”

I think that's a good, well-rounded shop. It’s having people who have done anything.  

What can anglers do to take care of the rivers they're fishing for conservation efforts. What's your advice there for making a difference and ensuring we can take care of our environment?

I feel like locally, there is a lot of trash in the water, and that may not be from fly fishermen. We have a lot of tube traffic and fun flow traffic. I feel like just taking the extra time to pick that up [trash] gives you good juju to appease the fish Gods a little bit.

I think that's something glaringly important that we can do every day. Something everyone has time to do when they're on the water is, oh, there's a can there, pick it up and put it in your bag. There's a candy bar wrapper. Pick it up, and put it in your bag. Ultimately, that's not a very difficult thing to do, and I think that at least keeps our waterways a little more healthy.

Around here, there's a lot more environmental damage than a lot of people realize. The Berkeley Pit and the Clark Fork is one of the biggest Superfund sites in the nation. The layman, the guy who's getting out on the water every day, can't do a ton about that, but that is something we have to be conscious about.

Our waterways aren't extremely clean, so what we can do to keep them cleaner is fairly important. It’s a  low barrier entry. I think people want to change the world and want to change this whole entire ecosystem. Let’s start by bringing a bag to the river.

What's your perfect day of fishing weather conditions?

I would say full cloud cover, like just a gray sky, maybe 74 degrees water with 4-feet of visibility.

I think that's the ideal day anywhere.

If it’s maybe a little off color too, but still good visibility, like the black foot gets that nice green color. Yeah, that's nice.

Looking to the year ahead. What are you most excited about? Do you have any goals? Any bucket list trips?

Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit recently. I'm getting more excited about going to catch fish away from here, and this is a great hub to do that.

But I went on a steelhead trip two weeks ago, and that was really exciting. Looking more into the future, I want to explore central and eastern Montana, maybe Idaho or even Washington.

Aside from trout, are there other species of fish that you're pumped to chase?

Yeah, growing up in Colorado, I'd fish this river that ran through town. It's called the Poudre River, and I would fish it all spring and early summer, and then it would hit 100 degrees outside, and the water temp would rise. I'd feel bad catching trout, so I'd go and chase carp at our local lakes, and that really got me really excited.

They’re so technical, and they pull really hard, and I really enjoy fishing for them in that aspect. Pike also get me excited, kind of all those, like, frowned upon fish, like those trash first that people might throw up on the bank kind of get me excited because they're different and aggressive.