Dave was born in South Dakota, and grew up in Aberdeen where as a youngster he would get up at 4:00 AM and pedal his bike to Wylie Lake and go fishing, get home, clean fish, and get to school. Dave moved to Pierre when he was 18 years old where he live for 4 1/2 years. Dave was a member of the local BASS club and fished, and won many tournaments. When he was in Pierre, he started fishing for Walleye in the Missouri River. In 1988 he moved to Rapid City where he was exposed to fly fishing. Once he got the taste of a trout rising and taking a dry fly off the surface, that was it, he was all in! Dave started a fly shop in his house since the local fly shop went under, and there was no place to buy fly tackle.
Dave has taken advanced fly tying class from Chris Helm, Marvin Nolte, and Oliver Edwards; and has taught numerous fly tying classes.
Dave is married to the love of his life Kim and “the kids” are their German Shepherd and two cats. They are grounded in their faith, and keep God in the center of their lives and marriage. One of Dave’s favorite verses is Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. When Dave isn’t fishing, you can find him riding his Harley in the beautiful black Hills.
Lastly, Dave would like to add that having Dave Gates the “host” in the boat is good, because he brings his awesome deer jerky along fishing. He says “man can fish a long time when you have good jerky in the boat”.