Paul Roos: A Legacy
The PRO family lost a great man last week. Paul Roos passed away from cancer. It hit him hard and fast and left a lot of us feeling deprived of proper goodbyes because of Covid.

I first met Paul and Kay in 1993. They were host parents to Carroll College Basketball players and several of us had taken an interest in fly fishing. Paul and Kay loved to see younger men and women getting more involved in the sport. Our relationship started with questions about flies and fly rods and evolved into much more. Paul helped me learn how to row the Blackfoot; I thought I could row just fine, I quickly learned from Paul that I couldn't. He worked with me on my double haul in various parks around Helena, while also helping many young guides learn a lot about casting and how a fly rod actually works. I was hired to run a gear boat for PRO Outfitters as I was finishing up at Carroll and the adventure began.

I spent many nights over the next 10 plus years sleeping in the mud on the smith, soggy wall tents on the Blackfoot, rat infested cabins in Highwood, rowing boats, and following dogs with Paul through just about everything life can throw at you. I learned a lot about fishing and chasing birds, but we all learned a lot about life. Paul and Kay and their partners Renee and John Kowalski believed that it was our jobs as outfitters and guides to not just take from the resource but to give back.

Paul spent his life devoted to conservation and clean water and was never afraid to jump in and kick dirt around and look at things from all perspectives. His ability to listen is what made him such an effective advocate for conservation.

Paul could fish a Muddler minnow and swim it like nothing I have ever seen before or since. He also loved to fish a dead chicken, I never witnessed that to any success but it always made me smile when he pulled it out. I watched him fish an unweighted San Juan worm with no indicator for 2 days on totally blown out Smith river, I said to him “Paul if you are going to catch any fish we need to put on some weight and an indicator,” he said to me “Brandon, I don’t need to catch a fish that bad”. I had many special days with Paul following his Brittanys and my setters all over Central Montana. Paul to this day had the best big running Brittanys I have ever hunted behind.

Lots of laughs and tears over the years, but at the end of the day what I respect the most about Paul's legacy, which greatly includes Kay, is the culture they built around PRO Outfitters. You don’t need to look any further than what their children and gear boaters and guides and employees have gone on to accomplish in life. The PRO family is large with doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers, money managers, teachers, construction magnates, real estate moguls, stream restoration specialists, wildlife biologists, and the list goes on and on.

Hopefully someday soon as the world finds its way back to normalcy, we can gather and tip a beer and remember his infectious laugh and smile, and all tell our favorite stories and remember Paul. I think he would like that.

Brandon Boedecker, one of many friends of Paul Roos.
Remembering Paul
In the early morning hours of November 10, 2020 the fish of the Blackfoot River, the conservation community of Montana, and the fly fishing industry throughout the country lost a dear friend when Paul Roos succumbed to a short bout with cancer. 

Born and raised in Lincoln, Paul and his boyhood friend Paul (RIO) Grossfield spent their free time catching(and keeping) trout from the Blackfoot River and it’s many tributaries in the Lincoln area. Paul moved back to the Blackfoot Valley 25 years ago and dedicated the remainder of his time to improving life for fish, wildlife, and his fellow human inhabitants. As a teacher at Helena Middle School in the mid 60s Paul became friends with fellow educator and legendary fly fisher Pat Barnes. Pat and his wife Sig had a fly fishing shop and outfitting business in West Yellowstone at the time and soon enough Paul was guiding anglers on the Madison, Big Hole, and various waters around Yellowstone Park. After a four year stint with Pat and Sig, Paul and his wife Kay and their young family returned to Lincoln where Paul continued teaching as well as starting Paul Roos Outfitters. During this time they also acquired a small group of little rental cabins in town called the Roost which they would rent their fly fishing clients rooms while fishing with them. On one occasion a group of doctors from California called Paul and asked if he had conference room associated with the Roost that could they conduct meetings in the morning and then fish in the afternoon. Of course Paul said certainly they had a conference room, and sure enough booked a party of 8 for a five day stay.  Moments after hanging up with the Docs he is on the phone with his buddy Grossfield explaining how they were going to build a conference room in the next six weeks. 

In the mid 70s Paul and Kay and their four daughters moved to Helena and became partners in an auto parts business. As good fortune would have it, my wife Renee and I bought a house next door to the Roos family and soon after Paul was teaching me to row a boat while he fished from the front. I somehow don’t recall getting to fish much that summer but got lots of practice on the oars. In 1980 Paul decided to get back into education and resume his outfitting business. Of course I was a prime candidate to become a guide on a staff of two and Paul Roos Outfitters was back in business. Over the next twenty years Paul and I formed a partnership of PRO Outfitters and proceeded to build a successful fly fishing and upland bird hunting outfitting business.  In 2001 we passed this business on to two young individuals who had been involved with us for several years. Brandon Boedecker and Dana Post became the new owners of PRO Outfitters and set about improving and expanding the business.

During the early 1980s Paul recognized the degradation of the Blackfoot River and how a once prolific fishery was now in dire straights. Along with long time client  and friend Darrel Parker, Paul and others started the Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited and set about to restore the Blackfoot River. Never one to back down from a challenge to protect the Blackfoot, Paul was also very instrumental in passing a law that forbid mining companies to use a cyanide heap leaching process that can be extremely detrimental to a trout stream. Along the way Paul found time to help create the outdoor art park in Lincoln, work on backcountry use issues, and help on many other community minded projects that few others knew about.  But for all the good work Paul has done for so many different projects and organizations his legacy will always be as one of the founding members of the small group that recognized the problem the Blackfoot River was facing and set about to remedy the issues through hours of meetings and years of effort. And today, the Blackfoot River thrives as a healthy and productive river enjoyed by many.

And so we say Thank You Paul for all your efforts for conservation. Thank You Paul for mentoring so many young and not so young in the fly fishing profession and spawning new generations of fly fishing enthusiasts and conservationists. And Thank You Paul for your friendship and years of adventure, laughs, tears and love.

John Kowalski