For the love of fishing

Will Loveall looks out the window of his dining room.

“There were no houses here,” he says as he points at the neighbor’s house and a couple of big spruce trees. “My buddy used to land a chopper where the garbage cans are.”

That’s hard to imagine today. Loveall and his wife, Sharon’s home is on Columbia Drive, surrounded by homes and mature trees.

There’s no spots to land a chopper.

Aside from a few years in college and afterward, Loveall has lived here his whole life. He graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 1953. The high school back then is now part of Glacier Gateway Elementary.

He played basketball and Columbia Falls was Class B. The team to beat was Troy, of all places.

“Troy was tough. They had lumberjacks that were 6-8. They looked like they were over 35,” he said with a smile.

Out of high school, he got a degree in geology from Montana State University and for a short time worked in the oil fields of Texas and uranium mines in New Mexico. He then got a job working for the Great Northern Railway in Great Falls, but he heard he was going to be transferred to Seattle, so he quit, married Sharon and went back to school to get his degree in optometry at Pacific University after getting encouragement from an optometrist in Great Falls.

He returned to Missoula and the next year set up shop in Columbia Falls, where he practiced for 37 years.

The previous Columbia Falls optometrist wasn’t exactly a people person, Loveall noted.

“He smoked cigars during his eye exams,” Loveall said. “That was one of the reasons why I decided to come back.”

He had other doctor friends, including Dr. Michael Allen, his neighbor and fishing partner. They always took Thursdays off to hunt or fish.

“When you had a day off, you went hell or high water,” Loveall said.

Loveall’s love for fishing had its roots in his youth. His father, Faye, was an excellent fisherman.

In those days, bull trout were plentiful.

“They’d pull a pickup truck up to the river and fill it with bull trout,” Loveall said.

Faye’s family home growing up was on a spread where the Big Sky Waterslide is today. Will grew up on Third Avenue West, near city hall.

Loveall was active in community organizations. He served on the city council for a term and a half and has been a member of the Columbia Falls Lion’s Club for 50 years now.

Loveall fished a lot up the Middle Fork. He recalled riding motorcycles into what is now the Great Bear Wilderness to fish.

“We’d start in the morning and get out at midnight,” he said.

But his true love has always been the Swan River and its tributaries, where he has a second home.

Getting to the Swan wasn’t always easy. Before Highway 83 was put in, it was a bumpy adventure.

“We’d leave at 8:30-9 a.m. in the morning and get there at 4 p.m.,” he said.

The road along Swan Lake was full of chuckholes.

The Swan River back then had nice rainbow trout, brook trout and cutthroat, he said.

He preferred fly fishing, especially a Joe’s Hopper in September.

“Every log jam had a fish,” he said.

If he had one final trip, where would he go?

There’s a stream tucked back there that comes to mind.

“It’s full of brookies,” he said with a smile.