Mike Cast, the man, the reporter

Mike Cast, Leader Staff

Many people who know me think that I was born with a fishing pole in my hand. That isn't true - it was a hockey stick.

Completing my trio of dangerous obsessions is skiing. But it wasn't flailing down a mountain, throwing a line in the water or the chance to drop the gloves with someone that brought me to Polson. I came here to be a reporter.

I understand that it took too long to introduce myself, people of Polson, but here it goes. Better late than never, right?

Like I said, I grew up with sports and the outdoors in my life. I was born and raised near Boulder, Colorado and graduated from the journalism school as a CU Buffalo.

My mother is a flight attendant, which was a brilliant stroke of luck for me because I grew up with a pass to fly the skies for free. After bumming around the world writing and carrying-on for some time, the airlines said that I was too old for that life and would have to give it up for a while.

An adventurer and a writer to boot, it was no wonder I ended up in a beautiful place like Polson.

Although my writing might be supporting me now, it wasn't always so. I have spent most of my career so far carrying heavy things and operating equipment - an unlikely start for someone who today probably couldn't build a sturdy doghouse.

I worked a few summers in the Alaskan fishing industry, isolated from the real world on the notorious Bristol Bay where I have been a sailor, a pack mule, a grunt, a brave leader, a wimp, a sub-par crane operator and a fish gut scooper, although those weren't my official job titles.

In writing, my passions are fairly limitless. So I will never, ever stick to a single beat - unless of course my editor asked me to.

I have enjoyed writing and shooting sports and getting to know the young athletes around the county, of whom there are no shortage. Just ask our sports editor, Jenna Cederberg, who likely thrashes about in the middle of the night, dreaming that an army of mutant high school team rosters is chasing her around a crowded gymnasium.

In all fairness, that might not actually be true. Now where was I?

A chance to cover education and government matters as well as Tribal events has been fantastic and the wealth of life experience that interviews with members of the community have already provided me is incalculable, even with words.

As for my life outside of work, I am still up to my old tricks, trying to fish every last puddle in the county while I count the days until ski season. It's probably about 35, by the way. I even get down to Missoula from time to time for a little puck with some of my ornery old Colorado crew.

That's it for now. But I'll be seeing you on the street. I'll be the one frantically asking questions with two big camera bags over my shoulder, fifteen notebooks in my hands and ink pens cascading from all of my pockets at once.

Ah, the reporter's life.