MIKE BUTLER

MIKE BUTLER lives in Black Mountain, roughly five miles from the Blueridge Parkway and its rich wild native brook trout resources. He attended the University of Maine and taught for a time in Japan. Mike is a nationally known fish carver. He got his start carving working decoys in the mid-1990s as a duck hunter, enamored with the art and beauty of finely crafted decoys. Mike’s passion for fly fishing and trout made for a natural transition to fish carving. He received his first fish carving commission in 1999 from the Orvis Company, his fine-spotted cutthroat weather vane sits on the roof of their store in Jackson, Wyoming. Mike’s mission is to create heirloom quality fish carvings while mitigating their environmental footprint, and advocating for catch and release angling and the conservation of wild native fish and their habitats. He and his custom made mahogany driftboat once appeared on the cover of TROUT magazine. Mike is an avid fly fisher and bird hunter, and has been fly fishing for more than 30 years. He is also a former Registered Maine Fishing Guide, including spending over a decade as the senior guide at Kennebec River Outfitters. Mike is an active and dedicated coldwater conservationist, with a focus on endangered Atlantic salmon. He is a former Trout Unlimited chapter president, founding member of Cove Brook Watershed Council, former panel member of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, past director to Maine Council ASF, and prior member of FISH (Facilitators Improving Salmonid Habitat). Mike can be reached at Info@nativefishcoalition.org