Our Staff
We have an experienced, enthusiastic staff ready to show you our area. We will tailor your stay with us so that you have the best experience possible.
HEATHER ANNE FAY
Executive Housekeeper
The life blood of Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge, Heather Fay is the person who keeps the lodge running. As the head housekeeper, it is through her talented hands and dedicated work that the lodge and guests rooms remain pristine and beautiful when guests arrive. From cleaning and arranging the rooms, to providing a few extra towels, Heather is always there for Hubbard’s guests with a smile and a laugh, ensuring that everyone has a great Montana experience!
Originally hailing from Fairfax City, VA. Heather lived on the outskirts of the D.C. in both Virginia and Maryland. An equestrian professional for almost 20 years, Heather’s love of horses combined with urging from her good friends caused Heather to retire from her career with horses and to move to Montana. She came to Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge in search of work and was graciously offered a position as a housekeeper, and she’s happily been there ever since!
In the off season, Heather resides in Englewood, Florida, preferring the warm climate to Montana’s bitter winters. During her time off, Heather makes eco-friendly bath and body products for her small business, Mountain Maiden Naturals. When she’s not doing that, she just loves doing anything she can that keeps her outside. Heather is an avid hiker, cyclist, and gardener. Her love of animals also sees her doing a lot of volunteer work with her furry friends.
“I’m so is grateful for the Hubbard’s family,” says Heather, “And I love the lodge and their guests. I look forward to many more years of being a part of the Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge family!”
DAVE FORCE
Head Guide
Often referred to as “Yoda” by his fellow guides, David Force may be one of the most talented fly fishermen in the country today. A native Californian, Dave first came to Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge 18 years ago after meeting Sarah Hubbard at a Dude Ranch Association meeting while he was working in adventure travel marketing. She told him about Montana and the ranch and mostly about the fishing, afflicting Dave with a yearning desire to come and see it all for himself. After a few months of losing sleep thinking about Montana, Dave quit his job, gave away most of his possessions, and drove out to attend Hubbard’s Guide School and to pursue the rising trout that now haunted his dreams. He’s never looked back.
Now working as the Head Guide for Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge, Dave Force offers his clients a level of knowledge and creativity few other fly fishing guides are capable of giving. Happiest when he’s in the seat of a drift boat or standing hip deep in a trout stream, Dave likes nothing better than sharing his world with Hubbard’s guests, providing a wealth of fly fishing expertise and experience, long developed from his years on the water. Like his Jedi nickname entails, Dave doesn’t only put his clients on fish but also prides himself on teaching them how to become better anglers themselves, delivering instruction and small foot notes of wisdom to those that fish with him in a quiet and calm demeanor.
“The lodge is my home,” says Dave. “And the Hubbard’s have become family. So many of my clients have become friends and I feel so lucky to have found a job I love. There’s never a day I wake up and don’t love my life at Hubbard’s.”
When he’s not guiding fisherman in the summer, Dave spends his autumn working as a cook for Hubbard’s elk hunting season before heading west to winter on the Pacific Coast, where he chases steelhead with a spey rod in Washington and Oregon. He returns in the spring to both hunt morel mushrooms and to explore and fish the waters of South Western Montana that he now considers to be his home, getting ready to welcome clients for the summer.
KUBIE BROWN
Guide
The wild child of Hubbard’s guides, Kubie Brown is always in search of two things: good times and big fish. A former Orvis fly fishing instructor, Kubie moved west from his home in Vermont in search of adventure, landing on the doorstep of Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge 9 years ago. He attended Hubbard’s Guide School and essentially refused to leave afterwards, returning to the lodge the following summer to guide, put a significant dent in the bar’s beer supply, and to fish the celebrated waters of the Paradise Valley.
Since his initial arrival, Kubie has developed into one of Hubbard’s top guides, leading his clients on adventures into the beauty of the Montana wilderness, both on foot and from the bow of his drift boat. Despite his rugged appearance and brazen personality, Kubie is an incredibly patient and dedicated guide happily taking on clients of all skill levels. A teacher by trade, Kubie dedicates himself to helping clients become better fly anglers, while doing his utter best to help them catch the trout of their dreams. While he’s more than happy to fish small creeks for plucky brook trout or to put the hammer down on stacked up rising cutthroats; Kubie is a big fish aficionado, preferring to take his clients to out of the way places and to use unusual methods to put a serious bend in the rod and perhaps land the trout of a lifetime!!!
The quintessential fish bum, when he’s not guiding at Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge, Kubie spends his time traveling the country and often outside of it, looking for the next great fish to catch. From steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, to muskie in the Northeast, to the giant brown trout of Patagonia, to the Atlantic Salmon of the Canadian Maritimes, Kubie has been everywhere and will go anywhere so long as there is something swimming he can chase with a fly rod. On the rare occasions when he’s not fishing, Kubie enjoys tying flies, works as an outdoor writer for several publications, is a dedicated and passionate hunter and rugby player, and also considers himself to be a connoisseur of fine whiskey.
MATTHEW KLUMP
Guide
Perhaps the guide who has been a part of Hubbard’s for the longest, Matt Klump has known the Hubbard family for over 35 years, and considers the lodge to be his second home. A neighbor and friend of the family, Matt began his fishing career on Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge’s Merrill Lake when he was just 11 years old, and then when he was 13, began going hunting with Jim Hubbard and the rest of the family every Thanksgiving for a decade, harvesting his first deer with Jim by his side.
Originally from Ann Arbor Michigan, Matt never started out wanting to be a fishing guide. Thanks to his devoted reading of Peter Hathaway Capstick’s books, Matt’s dream was always to be a Professional Hunter. A determined individual who believes in going after what you want, after college he moved to South Africa and did just that, living out his dream and discovering his talent and love for guiding clients in the wilderness.
Upon returning to Montana, Matt decided to continue to expand his expertise and continue do what he loved…guiding. For going on 12 years now has been taking out clients on fishing expeditions and to explore the rivers of the Paradise Valley and Yellowstone National Park. A jovial and incredibly well-informed angler, Matt loves nothing more than sharing his knowledge and experience from spending most of his life in the area with Hubbard’s guests and always goes out of his way to ensure that his clients catch as many trout and have as many adventures as they can with him. Aside from guiding fishing, one of Matt’s favorite things to do with clients is to take them on tours of Yellowstone, where he loves sharing his knowledge about what he considers to be a truly amazing place.
During the off-season Matt works as a Hunting Outfitter and Guide, taking clients on archery and rifle hunts for deer, elk, and antelope. In the spring before returning to Hubbard’s Matt also spends his time working on a cattle ranch where he enjoys helping to deliver and brand new calves as well as maintaining the health of the herd.
JAMES MUGELE
Guide
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland James Mugele has been an avid angler throughout his entire life. He spent his formative years in the Northeast, chasing the trout, bass, musky and anything else that swam in the waters of New England and New York. Yet, always curious about he great trout waters of the west, James decided he needed to expand his horizons and came out to Montana, becoming a fishing guide three years ago.
James is perhaps the most happy-go-lucky guide at Hubbard’s Lodge. With an ever-present smile on his face and a simple shrug, James is up for going wherever his clients prefer to go and fishing for whatever his clients prefer to fish for. It doesn’t matter to him…he’s fished it all before. An expert angler, James has fished almost every body of water within Yellowstone National Park and the Paradise Valley. Though he prefers to float the Yellowstone River and fish streamers above all else, he is a more than capable guide for wherever he and his clients find themselves, delivering good instruction, good guidance, and above all good vibes to whoever is fishing beside him.
During the off season James…well James goes fishing. Whether walking and wading spring creeks, standing in the bow of a boat, or drilling holes in the ice, James catches fish whenever he can, anyway he can. 24 hours a day 7 days a week, James is an angler. On the rare occasions when he’s not fishing himself James can be found either tying flies for his next trip or manning the desk at Sweetwater Fly Shop in Livingston MT, doing whatever he can to help others realize their own Montana fishing dreams!
JESSE BANTHEM
Guide
Perhaps the most knowledgeable, adventurous, and rugged guide in the Hubbard’s crew, Jesse Banthem has been exploring the mountains and rivers of Montana for his entire life. Originally from Livingston, MT Jesse grew up with different ambitions than most. While hunting and fishing were always his passions, he had others of a more physical nature as well. Jesse always dreamed of becoming a rodeo cowboy. Jesse followed that dream through his teenage years, going on tour riding bucking horses and bulls in high school through 2007, where he won enough buckles to move on to a collegiate and later a professional career in rodeo, until a tragic accident led to a broken neck and the end of that dream.
However, Jesse was never one to lay down and after recovering and realizing he couldn’t ride in the rodeo ring anymore, he decided to become a guide, opening his own outfitting business where he could still turn his greatest passions in life into a career. Due to a fortunate turn of events, Jesse came across Hubbard’s five years ago, and has been guiding exclusively for them ever since. “Between the staff, guides, and overall composition of Hubbard’s, I wouldn’t consider guiding anywhere else. It’s a truly world class operation and I look forward to each and every trip. I consider working for them to be a privilege,” Jesse says.
Jesse has been hunting and fishing around the Paradise Valley since before he could walk, and so perhaps knows more about secret spots, techniques, and fishing methods than any other guide in Hubbard’s employ. A jovial and outgoing angler, Jesse loves taking his clients into Yellowstone Park to fish for cutthroat on the Lamar River and in the backcountry of Slough Creek. He also greatly enjoys rowing the Upper Yellowstone River, where he can put clients on eager trout looking for a dry fly.
When he’s not guiding for Hubbard’s, Jesse spends his time guiding elk and deer hunters through his outfitting business and working on his own small ranch. Here, along with his wife Sam, he raises a few head of cattle but spends much more of his time raising his two beautiful daughters and just loving life while he waits for the next guide season to begin.
EVAN KEENE
Guide
A red-blooded Tennessean at heart, Evan Keene grew up fishing with conventional spinning and bait casting gear around his home in Memphis and didn’t discover fly fishing until a senior trip to Alaska. Yet, once he started fly fishing, the sport became his passion. After returning from the trip, Evan would spend every weekend driving three hours down to the Little Red River in Heber Arkansas, to chase trout on the fly. However, the long commutes began to take their tole after awhile and soon Evan decided to take the first job he could out West to experience and live in what most consider to be the fly fishing mecca of the US—Montana. Evan took a job at a fly shop in Livingston where he worked, fished, and learned about the waters around the Paradise Valley, eventually working his way into guiding. After a couple years doing that, he was soon asked by several Hubbard’s guides to come work for the lodge.
Since his arrival, Evan has become one of Hubbard’s most popular guides. His positive yet relaxed attitude and willingness to go wherever and do whatever he must to put clients on trout has proven to be the perfect combination. An incredibly skilled and knowledgeable angler and just a genuinely good guy, Evan is great at helping clients who want to fish a specific waterway or want to learn and use a certain fly fishing technique. However, his true talents lie in his ability to provide a great experience for clients who don’t know what they want beyond just a genuine Montana adventure. Because Evan is a guide who is happiest when he’s making his clients happy.
“My favorite thing to do is just making sure my clients are getting whatever they want out of the day. Whether it’s just drinking beer on the river and looking at some gorgeous scenery, exploring Yellowstone and the Paradise Valley, or working really hard to target a big fish or to catch a lot of fish, I’m down for it all!” says Evan.
The perpetual outdoor junkie, when he’s not guiding or fly fishing in Montana, Evan spends most of his spare time snowboarding, ice fishing, or traveling down South back to Arkansas to take care of some of the fish he hasn’t yet caught.
DON MCCUE
Guide
If you were to look up the definition of a fish junkie in the dictionary, you’d probably find a picture of Don McCue. A lifelong and passionate angler, Don grew up in Pennsylvania where he fished everything from farm ponds and small creeks for bass and sunfish, to the infamous trout streams and spring creeks around the state for finicky wild trout. This variety instilled in Don a understanding of fish behavior that few other anglers possess which along with having infinite patience and a calm demeanor, has made him one of Hubbard’s top guides.
Don first came to Montana for a eight months after graduating high school where he absolutely fell in love with the states mountains, rivers, and especially its fish. He returned home for school and after attending Penn State to get his degree in mechanical engineering, Don also acquired a pilot’s license and started working to becoming an airline pilot. However, injuries soon put an end to his flying career and so Don decided to follow his other big dream in life—returning to Montana to become a fly fishing guide. A couple years later, he soon found himself at Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge.
“Guiding for Hubbards has been a great experience for me,” says Don. “Working with the crew of a family owned lodge where everyone is so focused on making the entire experience for our guests as great as it can be is very rewarding.”
Since his arrival, Don has established a reputation as a “do-it-all” type of guide. Happy to float down the Yellowstone, fish Merrell Lake for giant trout, or to hike around Yellowstone Park’s many rivers and streams, Don loves to show his clients the great variety of fly fishing opportunities that can be found at Hubbards and encourages them to experience as much as they can. He especially loves taking out first timers and helping them discover a passion for fly fishing.
“Being there when someone catches their first fish on the fly or the largest trout they have ever seen is the best part about being a fishing guide,” says Don.
When he’s not guiding or fishing, Don can usually be found in the air, indulging in his passion for flying by hang gliding through the endless mountains and pristine valleys of Montana.
“When I’m not floating on the river, I like to be floating above it…flying with the eagles.”
WILLIE DELLWO
Guide
There’s probably no other guide who could better be described as an all around outdoorsman than Willie Dellwo. Originally from Minnesota, Willie is a “jack of all trades” sort of guide who is equally interested in guiding fishing, upland bird hunting, waterfowl, and big game. Truly a man who is connected with the outdoors, Willie is a guy whose entire world revolves around enjoying the outdoors. After graduating from Bemidji State University, Willie came to Montana to work as an ecologist in Yellowstone National Park before deciding to become a guide. And once he took a step into the guide world, he never looked back.
Having now worked at Hubbards for over 3 years, Willie offers his clients an experience of fishing and exploring the Paradise Valley and Yellowstone National Park that few others can. With his in-depth knowledge of the flora and fauna of the area as well as his infectious love for the outdoors, Willie is an expert at helping clients become a part of his world. Often accompanied by his loyal labrador Chip, Willie is happy to take clients on long floats down the Yellowstone River, into the wilds of the Park, or even onto a spring creek or small stream, wherever they want to go, so he can show them everything he loves about of mountains, cold rivers, wild trout, and fly fishing.
“At Hubbard's we have an amazing variety of water to fish and incredible landscapes to fish in. If I'm lucky enough to take you fishing, please let me know how we can get the most out of your time with us. It's your vacation, I'm just here to help.”
When he’s not guiding for Hubbards, Willie spends his time guiding for rainbows in Alaska, guiding hunters for turkey and Mule Deer in Eastern Montana, or wandering the prairie behind his dogs with his shotgun in search of a few birds.