Fixated on fishing: Snappy's angler extraordinaire is hooked on the sport

Lots of people love to fish, but Chancy Jeschke lives to fish.

The manager of the fishing department at Snappy Sports Senter in Evergreen has become over the years sort of a go-to guy for all things fishing in Northwest Montana, but that's not necessarily because of his own fishing experiences.

Jeschke is at the hub of a large fishing community, with some of the best anglers in the area or even regular customers sharing their experiences with him.

In recent years, Snappy's has had a professional fishing staff - a cadre of top anglers who are unpaid but recognized as the store's field experts, people who lead regular seminars on their specialties.

"That helps me a lot," Jeschke said. "We're tied in with the charter guys, the guides, the taxidermists. It all kind of comes together ... we get a lot of information from customers."

But Jeschke, 38, has spent most of his life casting on the region's waters.

"It is my passion, for sure," said Jeschke, noting that fishing helped him through a somewhat troubled youth. "I kind of fell into fishing. It kind of kept me out of trouble .. It just developed into something I love to do."

Jeschke recalls growing up near the Stillwater River and fishing it all the time, even though it is dominated by typically undesirable suckers, northern pike minnows and peamouth whitefish.

"I fish for anything that swims," he said. "I'd be down there all day long, fishing by myself."

After attending Flathead High School, Jeschke got married to his wife, Sarah, and is now the father of five: Levi, 17; Haylie, 15; Dalton, 13; Sarah Ross, 11 and Cody, 6.

He started working at Snappy's in 1994 and was named manager of the fishing department about a year ago. During his time at the store, he still has managed to fish year-round, nearly every week.

"I usually fish a couple days a week if the wife lets me get away with it," he said with a chuckle.

He has largely been interested in warm-water fish such as bass, pike and walleye, but Jeschke reiterates that he pursues anything that swims.

He has long taken an active interest in Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks fish management issues, and has served as president of the Flathead Valley chapter of Walleyes Unlimited. He and a friend, Mike Howe, founded the Perch Assault ice fishing tournament that has become a durable and popular winter event over the last seven years.

More recently, Jeschke has gotten into leading fishing seminars and he has produced a DVD instructional video, available at Snappy's, on fishing for Lake Superior whitefish in the Flathead River system during the fall spawning run.

"A lot of times guys have a hard time fishing for whitefish on the river in the fall because it's such a technique fishery," Jeschke said, explaining how the quick and soft bite of whitefish is difficult to detect.

Jeschke hopes to produce more instructional videos, most likely focusing on ice fishing first. But there should be plenty of other opportunities, considering the wide variety of fish species in ponds, lakes, rivers and streams that anglers get to enjoy in Northwest Montana.

"We're pretty fortunate in this area with the diversity of our fisheries," Jeschke said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.