In certain circles, it feels in vogue to criticize the way fly fishing guides go about their business. Just like with any profession, if you’re looking for things to poke at, you’ll find them. Dirty trucks, flat-brimmed hats, an undying love for indicator rigs, and a tendency to overwork the same stretches of river might be legitimate complaints of some guides.
I’ve done my fair share of whining about it all, too. Just last year, while filming some content on a public stretch of river, two different guides went out of their way – with clients in their boats – to yell at me for “blowing up the river” and “ruining the experience for everyone.”
Both guides worked for the largest outfitter in town, who advertises heavily online, has a decent social media presence, and is a member of the county tourism bureau, which isn’t shy about promoting the fly fishing. When I fired back and asked both guides if they only used barbless hooks, taught their clients proper fish handling techniques, and stopped fishing when river temps hit 68 degrees, they told me to mind my own business and not interfere with their ability to earn a living.
Oh, irony.
Anyways – I’m not here to castigate guides. In fact, I’m downright impressed with the guiding industry as a whole right now. Folks who are sour on it likely have had some bad experiences lately, or they’re not willing to look for the good on the river.
I have the good fortune to travel and fish quite a bit across the country, and I live by Yellowstone National Park. While I won’t claim to be any sort of expert on this topic, I’m around a lot of guides, in some of the most guided rivers in the world. And on the whole, the guiding industry seems to be more welcoming, more educational, and less intimidating than it was when I started fly fishing.
Just last week, I was on the Green River in Utah during the blue-winged olive hatch, an event that brings folks out from across the country. As an aside, if you’ve never fished the blue-wing hatch on the Green, it’s an experience worth having. We floated and fished for two days, and the river was absolutely packed with anglers and rising trout. Guide boats outnumbered private rigs, which isn’t always the case.
A lot of the guides in that area are lifers, folks who’ve been rowing a boat longer than they’ve been legally allowed to drive. There’s always some friction between them and the new guides, some of whom are getting their first experience on the sticks. Despite a few bad moves from one guide boat (he kept drifting his boat right on top of the rising trout), there weren’t any cross words, shouted arguments, or even bad backups at the boat ramps.
Shortly after pulling over to eat and take a few photos, a guide boat passed us with two clients who were obviously beginners. The guide was incredibly patient, walking them through roll casting towards rising fish on a far seam. The clients, for their part, were locked in, listening, and you could tell they wanted to implement what their guide was teaching.
Later, on the second day of the trip, we passed another boat full of new anglers. The guide asked us how we’d done, and we exchanged some talk about the weather. The forecast had called for wind and cold, but it was still and warming quickly. A few hours later, that same boat passed us again, and the guide went out of his way to follow-up on how we’d done, and share the successes of his clients.
Boat ramps are a great place for tempers to flare, but despite a couple of older gentlemen from Texas taking their sweet time loading up three rafts on a single trailer, no one was mean or visibly upset. Now, you’d think that’s just basic human decency, and maybe it is. But after a full day of pulling on oars, netting fish, and untangling lines, tempers can be frayed pretty thin.
This is just the most recent example of a bunch of great guides. Honestly, though, my bad experience last spring aside, I feel like the industry as a whole has done a great job of improving itself. There’s always bad apples, but I remember being intimidated and overwhelmed at the thought of hiring a guide when I started fly fishing. Now, I wouldn’t hesitate recommending that experience for new anglers.