UW’s Jay Kemmerer WORTH Institute Partners for Fishing Guide Course

The Jay Kemmerer Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality (WORTH) Institute at the University of Wyoming has partnered with Wyoming fishing guides to support the inaugural delivery of an advanced fishing guide certification course tailored specifically to Wyoming’s rivers, regulations and guiding traditions.

The Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana currently offers “Guiding for the Future,” an intensive professional development program for Montana outfitters and fishing guides that blends self-paced online coursework with an in-person, on-the-water practicum. Recognized for its depth and rigor, the program emphasizes conservation history, regulations, ethics, hydrology, river ecology and professional guiding standards.

Wyoming-based outfitters Mike Dawes and AJ Sanders -- both longtime guide company owners and instructors -- saw an opportunity to adapt the program for Wyoming’s unique fisheries and regulatory environment. Sanders, owner of Wyoming Angling Co., and Dawes, one of the owners of Westbank Anglers, worked together for decades running the Western Rivers Guide School, which Sanders continues to lead today. Both are based in Jackson.

“Wyoming has some of the most iconic fisheries in the country, but our guides haven’t had access to an advanced, Wyoming-specific professional certification,” Sanders says. “This partnership allows us to build on a proven model while making it truly relevant to the places and waters where we work.”

Dawes and Sanders partnered with the Jay Kemmerer WORTH Institute to adapt the existing “Guiding for the Future” curriculum to Wyoming’s rivers, laws, conservation frameworks and guiding culture. The collaboration resulted in the first cohort of Wyoming fishing guides enrolling in the adapted course, which will culminate in an in-person practical session on Wyoming waters this April.

This inaugural group of guides will play a key role in evaluating and refining the curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of Wyoming’s guiding community and can serve as a durable model for future cohorts.

“This course represents an important step in professionalizing fishing guide training in Wyoming,” Dawes says. “It’s about elevating standards, supporting stewardship and ensuring guides are equipped to deliver exceptional and responsible experiences.”

Once finalized, the program will offer an advanced certification for Wyoming fishing guides, helping strengthen workforce development, conservation ethics and visitor experiences statewide.

At the same time, Dan McCoy, director of the Jay Kemmerer WORTH Institute, notes that, while fishing guides play a critical role in public land stewardship, angler education and fisheries sustainability, the guiding profession lacks a nationally recognized framework for core competencies and curriculum standards.

“Other outdoor professions -- such as avalanche education and professional trail building -- have invested in clear competency standards and training pathways,” McCoy says. “Fishing guiding is ripe for the same kind of thoughtful professionalization.”

Building on this work, senior undergraduate students in UW’s Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management Program will undertake a capstone research project examining fishing guide schools nationwide and how other outdoor industries have developed training standards. The project will produce a best-practices framework for fishing guide education, including core competencies, curriculum structure and recommendations for an organization to serve as a clearinghouse for guide training standards.

For more information, call Zach Blair, public relations coordinator at the WORTH Institute, at (307) 766-5063 or email zblair@uwyo.edu.