HOOKS FOR BOOKS WILL BE HELD ON SEPT. 22-24, 2023
This year’s fishing event is sold out, but please join us for the
Writer’s on Water Dinner on September 24, this year honoring
literary legend John Gierach.
Please join us on September 22-24th, 2023 in Missoula, MT for the second annual Hooks for Books, a weekend of fly-fishing to benefit the Creative Writing Department at the University of Montana. Twenty-eight lucky anglers will fish some of the world’s premier trout streams with the region’s top guides, while enjoying Missoula’s culture, cuisine, and many special surprises. Registration also includes tickets to the Writer’s on Water Dinner. Space is limited, so register today!
The Writer’s Dinner site has been updated for 2023!
Visit now for tickets and more details about the upcoming auction.
Overview of Hooks for Books
Twenty-eight lucky anglers will fly fish for two days on the Bitterroot, Clarks Fork, and Blackfoot Rivers—widely ranked among the world’s blue ribbon trout streams—to catch rainbow, brown, brook, and cutthroat trout. Because this is a small event, we have been able to staff with some of the region’s top guides.
Hooks for Books is not a competition, and anglers of every skillset will have a great time. But for those who want to challenge their skills, we offer the world’s first “4 FLY”. Attendees will receive four flies specially chosen and custom tied for the event to best match the fishing conditions: two dry flies, a streamer, and one nymph.
Entry Fees
Entry Fees (payments will go to the University of Montana Foundation to benefit the writing program, and are partially tax deductible):
$1950 per attendee ($3900 per two-person team)
$6000 per corporate team
Fishing Alternate: If you want to share Hooks for Books with additional participants, you many include one alternate. The alternate may fish either day in place of the registered participant, and the alternate fee include an additional swag bag, and entry to all three evening events. $350.00
Your entry fee includes:
- Opening cocktail party on Friday night, and the best fishing swag bag ever created.
- Embossed collector fly box, with four custom tied flies to match the water.
- Two days of guided fishing, including transportation to the river.
- Cocktails and dinner with special entertainment on Saturday night.
- Entrance to the Writer’s on Water Dinner, cocktail hour, and award ceremony on Sunday night.
- Special recognition for corporate teams.
Please note: Fees do not include Montana fishing licenses, optional fishing days, travel or accommodations. We’ve arranged special rates at the Residence Inn, and its sister hotel, The AC Hotel, in downtown Missoula. The hotels are next door to each other and offer airport transportation. Given the proximity to all the events there is no need for a car, as everything is within walking distance. The Residence Inn has sold out of rooms at the Hooks for Books rate, but there are still rooms available at $249 per night at the AC Hotel. Click here to book on the Marriott site.
Schedule for the Event
Thursday & Friday, September 21 & 22
Optional practice days for contestants at their own expense. Just mention you are with HOOKS FOR BOOKS when you call.
The Missoulian Angler
☎ 406-728-7666
Blackfoot River Outfitters
☎ 406-542-7411
Friday, September 22
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Registration and welcome cocktails on the roof at The Residence Inn. Follow the signs to the rooftop.
Saturday, September 23
Day One Hooks for Books
6:00 – 7:30 a.m.
Breakfast for guests provided at the Residence Inn.
7:30 a.m.
Contestants walk one block to the parking lot of the Holiday Inn to meet their guides for quick transportation to their assigned stretch of the Bitterroot, Clarks Fork, or Blackfoot River. Given downtown Missoula’s unique location, you will reach blue ribbon water in 45 minutes or less.
8:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Let’s go fishing!
6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Tonight we walk three blocks to the Old Post, for food, cocktails, great local music, and some special literary surprises in one of Missoula’s most historic bar and restaurants.
Sunday, September 24
Day Two Hooks for Books
6:00 – 7:00 a.m.
Breakfast for guests provided at the Residence Inn.
7:15 a.m.
Contestants walk one block to the parking lot of the Holiday Inn to meet their guides for quick transportation to their assigned stretch of river.
8:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Let’s go fishing!
6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Writers on Water Cocktails, Dinner & Award Ceremony
Tonight we walk one block to the world-famous Wilma, for food, cocktails, and the presentation of awards for top anglers and guides. Some of your favorite writers may be in attendance. The evening will also include The River Runs Through It Mercantile, – a limited auction offering the opportunity to purchase autographed copies of books from some of the world’s best writers, and special fly-fishing trips and gear.
Travel & Accommodations
Missoula International Airport is served by Alaska, Delta, American, Allegiant, Frontier, and United Airlines.
We’ve arranged special rates at the Residence Inn, and its sister hotel, The AC Hotel, in downtown Missoula. The hotels are next door to each other and offer airport transportation. Given the proximity to all the events there is no need for a car, as everything is within walking distance. The Residence Inn has sold out of rooms at the Hooks for Books rate, but there are still rooms available at $249 per night at the AC Hotel. Click here to book on the Marriott site.
Other convenient accommodations include The Holiday Inn, and The Wren Hotel, both within a block of the Residence Inn and AC Hotel. Missoula is also served by Uber and Lyft.
Missoula’s thriving nightlife is the perfect answer to a long day of fly-fishing!
Overview of 2022
We are pleased to report that our first annual event was a sell-out, with twenty-eight lucky anglers from eleven states in attendance. Revenue from the event blew through all expectations, exceeding $110,000, which will provide tremendous support to budding writers.
Our 2022 Winners!
AHAB AWARD
Law Dogs – Jason Schuyler and Joel Silverman
GUIDE OF THE YEAR
Will Plumoff
MARTIN J. GOEBEL ROCKY MOUNTAIN WHITEFISH AWARD
Kelvin Taketa
Thanks to our 2022 Supporters
About Hooks for Books
Hooks for Books is a charitable fly-fishing event that benefits the University of Montana Creative Writing Program. All net proceeds support the program. It was founded in 2021 by UofM Alumni Tim O’Leary and Chris Dombrowski, to combine their love of literature, fly fishing, and the UofM. O’Leary is an entrepreneur and writer, and Dombroski is a renowned poet and fly-fishing guide, the founder of the Beargrass Writing Retreat, and Director of the MFA program.
Like many universities, the UofM has experienced severe budget cuts that severely impacted the Creative Writing Department, and Hooks for Books supports those shortfalls to build a new generation of writers, while giving visitors the opportunity to experience some of the world’s finest trout fishing and the beautiful community of Missoula—a place where “the river literally runs through it.”
UofM’s Creative Writing Program is one of our nation’s oldest and most prestigious, with an international reputation. Founded in 1920, it began offering one of the first M.F.A. degrees in 1966, and has boasted such iconic Western writers as Richard Hugo, Madeline DeFrees, Judy Blunt, James Lee Burke, Rick DiMarinis, and William Kittredge, while hosting Pulitzer Prize winners Richard Ford and Jorie Graham, and literary luminaries David James Duncan, Jess Walter, Susan Cheever, Barry Lopez, Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, and dozens of others.
Graduates have become essential voices in literature and the arts. Most recently, Stephanie Land’s best-selling book Maid was adapted into a hit Netflix television series. James Sean Greer’s book Less was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Emily Danforth’s novel Plain Bad Heroines was named the Book of the Year by The Washington Post. Kim Barnes’ memoir was shortlisted for the Pulitzer. Robert Wrigley’s ten books of poetry have been awarded Pushcart Awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship. James Welch, who both attended and taught in the M.F.A. program, was the preeminent Native American author of seven books. His first novel, Winter in the Blood was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize. Fools Crow won the American Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
We appreciate the support offered by Hooks for Books contestants to continue this important legacy of literature.
Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.
Salman Rushdie
Our Outfitters & Supporters
We are proud to have assembled the best crew of outfitters and guides in Western Montana. Our outfitters — Missoulian Angler, Renegade Fly Fishing Outfitters, and Missoula Fly Fishing Outfitters — and guides have accrued over 200 years of guiding experience on this watershed.
We’ve also partnered with some terrific companies and organizations that support Hooks for Books, including:
Donate
Can’t make it to the event, but want to support a new generation of writers? We welcome your donation. All donations are fully tax deductible.
