A die-hard Flathead Valley angler has made it to the Super Bowl of bass fishing — the Bassmasters Classic that will be held this weekend in Guntersville, Ala.

It’s a notable accomplishment, given that Tim Johnston of Kalispell has for years honed his skills on the waters of Northwest Montana, a region known more for trout than bass.

“The neat thing about it is that it’s available,” he said. “I qualified from Northwest Montana for the biggest tournament in the world. It’s not outside the reach of any fisherman in my state.”

Johnston is one of six amateur anglers, along with the country’s top college angler, to join a field of 56 competitors who will vie for $300,000 in prize money. Most are professionals who make their living fishing.

The Bassmasters Classic has been held since 1971, and over the years fewer than 600 amateurs have qualified to compete in it, Johnston said.

“It’s awesome just to be involved in a tournament like that. It’s tough to get one of those spots,” said Johnston, a 48-year-old nurse anesthetist who works at the Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains.

Johnston joined the BASS Nation fishing federation 23 years ago and has since competed in 10 divisional tournaments. To qualify for the event on Lake Guntersville, Johnston first had to compete in a series of tournaments, starting in Montana and northern Idaho.

He won Montana angler of the year in 2012 and was selected as captain of a 12-member team.

In April 2013, the team competed in the BASS Nation Western Divisional at Clear Lake, Calif., in a field of 132 anglers. Johnston placed third overall.

That qualified him to compete in a Bass Nation National Championship in Arkansas last October, where he beat out 12 others anglers who represented other western states.

As the western regional champion, Johnston joins five other regional champions as amateur competitors in the Bassmasters Classic.

“I just strung together a pretty good series,” said Johnston, who touts the quality of Western Montana bass fishing.

“We’ve got it all. It’s all here,” he said, citing Echo Lake, the Flathead River sloughs and the Noxon reservoir on the Clark Fork River as some of his favorite fishing spots.

All of those waters involve different types of cover for fish and varying characteristics that are found in some of the most acclaimed bass fishing destinations in the country.

“A bass is a bass. You just need to learn how to do it and you take those skills to other lakes,” he said.

Johnston will compete Friday through Sunday in Guntersville, where he will be watched by his wife, Delane, and sons, Skeeter, 17, and Case, 11.

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