He shoots trout, with a camera

Ryan Thompson has always been good at catching fish. Now he’s proving he excels at filming them, too.

Thompson, of West Glacier, recently, won the People’s Choice Award for his short film “Lights Out” at the annual Simms 2012 Shoot Out.

The 1999 Columbia Falls graduate is the lead guide for Glacier Anglers at the Glacier Outdoor Center. His Mom, Sally, is a co-owner of the Outdoor Center and the family has been in the guiding and outfitting business for years.

After high school Thompson studied communications at the University of Montana. Since then he’s worked for several film production companies, including Warren Miller Entertainment as well as the family business. The short fly-fishing film was the first full-blown production he’s done on his own.

The Simms 2012 Shoot Out is a fly fishing-centric videography competition that pairs videographers with guides from across the region to produce impromptu films in less than a week.

Thompson was one of four videographers selected by Simms to compete. The company is one of the top fishing gear manufacturers in the U.S.

He paired up with former Glacier Anglers guide George White, and Simms guide ambassador, Joe Dilschneider, whom they had never met, and started the project at sunrise on April 16. The crew headed out to a private ranch and fished spring creeks. Video aside, Thompson said it was some of the best fishing he’s ever had. They shot the film with a Canon 60D and Canon Mark II D and small GoPro cameras to film the underwater scenes.

The competition gave them just three days to shoot and edit the footage, producing the film with a Macbook Pro and iMovie 11.

“I’m just scratching the surface of learning to produce films myself,” Thompson said last week.

He said he was especially proud of winning the “People’s Choice” award because it was based on voting from people who viewed his film on the Internet.

This summer Thompson plans on producing a film to promote Glacier Outdoor Center and he also plans on creating a film on native westslope cutthroat trout.

You can view Thompson’s film and the other competitors at www.simmsfishing.com/site/iceout_shootout