Denise Maxwell

Advisor

Denise has been involved in fly fishing, flycasting and steelhead guiding for most of her adult life.  It is truly her passion.

She started fishing as a kid when her dad would take her with him on the lake.  However this wasn’t very often as she was catching all the fish.

Fast forward to newly married when her husband, Mike, would disappear after work to fish the Bow River.  This was the impetus for both of them to take the Fenwick Fly Fishing School in West Yellowstone, Mt.  The school was run by Frank & Gladys Gray.

Mike & Denise fished around the world, from Chile, Argentina, Tierra del Fuego, Florida, and the UK.  In their travels, they visited many fly shops around the world and met many well-known fishing personalities.

A friend introduced them to steelhead fishing on the Kispiox River and they were hooked!  Going back every year to fish, they bought some property on the Bulkley River and learned to love it and fish it.  This led to guiding other anglers on the Bulkley River.  Denise loves helping other anglers catch steelhead.

They owned a fly shop for a few years, manufactured both single and double-handed rods, taught flycasting, speycasting, fly fishing and steelhead fishing. 

Together they promoted the use of double-handed rods in North America.  Mike wrote a book called ‘The Art & Science of Speycasting’, and they produced many teaching videos on flycasting, flytying, speycasting and speyfishing.

Denise was involved in some international casting competitions in the early years and won a few medals but when the competitions interfered with the steelhead season, it was an easy choice and steelheading won.

Currently she is involved with her company, Maxwell Steelhead Guides, and guides on the Bulkley River.   maxwellsteelheadguides.net