WISE RIVER — In a humble, little rod shop in Wise River, a young Butte man is making custom-made fly rods just a few hundred yards from the Big Hole River where he’s fished ever since he was a kid. He’s carrying on a family tradition and living his dream.
“It’s all about the details, it’s all about the details,” said Hunter Dixon as he worked on a fly rod.
Dixon recently opened The Rod Shop in Wise River with his father Rudy Ketchum, who taught him the art of making fly rods.
“It’s really fun to work with your family, you know, it’s that we always kind of talked about getting into the business together, it’s kind of one of those things you talk about as a kid and then it’s finally coming to fruition, you know, so we’re really proud,” said Dixon.
His father first made the rods in Butte but eventually moved the operation to the Big Hole River, where they’ve hunted and fished for years.
"We’re happy to be here in the Big Hole Valley, we’ve grown up, learned how to fish here and we all live up here, so it’s really special and exciting to partake in the Wise River community and be part of the fly fishing community as well,” he said.
Hunter, I saw you making these rods and you’re certainly an artist, so let me see if I can master the art of casting one of these. Oh, yeah, that feels really good, it’s amazing, the line just slides right out of there, great action. These are truly works of art, good job.
“Taking your time on it and making sure that everything on it is flawless, because this is my working going out here, you know what I mean? I want every single person who picks up one of these rods to look at it and just say, ‘Wow, I can believe how beautiful this is and how well it works,’" said Dixon.
