What Makes A Great Guide Great
The White River makes everyone look like a guide because its so easy to catch a lot of
trout in a day. Yet as you will see, catching a lot of trout is just one of several
elements comprising a truly wonderful trout fishing experience! In this article we cover
the excitement that only a highly experienced guide can offer you.
1. Great Guides Are Safe Guides
You can't enjoy yourself if you don't feel safe! The White River was ranked in the top ten
most dangerous rivers in America by a popular magazine. Why? Every year guides pull
anglers who are in trouble out of the water to safety. Unfortunately a few who do not get
help drown. From the surface the White looks smooth and mild. The powerful currents don't
look or sound dangerous. Yet these currents can flip or sink a boat in one second, it
happens to people every year. Slip a little and currents can knock a wade fisher off his
feet and fill his waders in a blink of an eye putting him in extreme danger of drowning.
The more time a guide has spent on the river, the safer he'll be. Pro Staff guides have
the necessary experience for keeping you safe.
2. Great Guides Don't Fish When Paying Clients Are In The Boat
Concentration is the hallmark of a Great Guide. He'll be sitting on the edge of his seat,
focused on every aspect of the fishing conditions in front of him. He will not be kicked
back with his feet propped up like he is on vacation himself! A Great Guide watches your
rod tip. How it moves tells him what is happening to your bait or lure. How fish react, or
don't react to lures and baits, tell him even more. He can't keep an eye on your rod tip
if he is fishing for himself. All of his attention goes into helping you have a wonderful
trout fishing trip, not catching trout for himself.
A Great Guide treats his clients like royalty. He rigs their tackle, baits their hooks,
nets their fish, takes the fish off the hook, and maneuvers the boat into optimum position
over each fishing hole. The reason a Great Guide does all of these things for his clients
is because he can do it faster and better. This results in more quality fishing time for
the client in a day's time. Pro Staff guides also frequently cast for the client because
they get the bait in the optimum zone for any given current condition. If the guide's hook
is in the water this can potentially detract from the client catching the bigger fish.
Great Guides go fishing for their own pleasure only when paying clients are not in their
boats!
3. Great Guides Have A Lot Of Trout Fishing Experience
4. They Know How To Chase The Rise
"Chasing the Rise" refers to the fishing condition that is arguably the most
important fishing skill a fishing guide can have. The "rise" refers to rising
river levels created when more generators at the dams turn on to meet increasing power
demands within the electrical grid. When the water level first rises it kicks up natural
trout foods from the river bed. This starts a sudden trout feeding frenzy because food is
plentiful and easy to catch in the rise.
When the water first rises the trout feed heavily for about ten minutes, then stop.
They'll rest a little, then feed a little more, but not as much as in the first feeding
burst. The rise is like a wave traveling downstream at a steady speed. You don't see it as
a wave, but rather as a swelling and filling of the river. The trick to fast and hot trout
fishing action is to follow that rise as it moves downstream. A Great Guide has the years
of experience needed to know how to read, and follow, that rise. If you fish in one spot
too long, you miss more feeding frenzies as the rise moves downstream. If you leave a
fishing hole too soon in an attempt to keep up with the rise, you'll miss out on chances
at catching larger trout. Timing is everything when chasing a rise. Pro Staff guides have
years of experience in chasing a good rise.
5. Great Guides Don't Use Cell Phones In Your Boat
Great Guides always give their undivided attention to the clients in their boats at all
times. This means not talking on cell phones unless it is absolutely necessary. A Great
Guide saves his business and personal calls for when your fishing trip has ended. However,
from time to time, Pro Staff guides may call each other to find out what the fishing is
like that day on other sections of the rivers.
6. Your Comfort
Great Guides tend to be in high demand. This demand frequently results in a guide working
several weeks without a day off. A Great Guide realizes that while it may be his 50th day
in a row on the river, it is his client's only day on the river. Therefore a Great Guide
does his best every single day. This takes practice, dedication, and a high passion for
trout fishing. Pro Staff guides all have these qualities.
7. A Great Guide Uses Great Bait
It seems obvious, but it is far from easy. Worms, night crawlers, crawdads, minnows -
Great Guides know how to find and catch their own fresh live baits. Great Guides spend a
lot of time catching their bait, they do not buy their baits. This is because big trout
can tell the difference between store-bought and fresh baits. Fresh bait of the right size
and color works much better than any you can buy. The only way for you to have fresh top
quality baits is if your guide catches it for you. All Pro Staff guides catch their own
baits for your use.
8. Netting The Fish
You can't say you caught it until its in the net. A Great Guide is a good coach and not a
drill sergeant. He'll talk you through the moves you need to make when you've hooked a big
one. He'll coach you through rod position, when to let the fish run, when to fight it with
line pressure, and how to steer the fish away from obstacles. By paying close attention,
and by using the boat motor and current to his advantage, a Great Guide can increase or
lighten your line pressure. Once the fish is close enough to net, a Great Guide knows how
to dip the net into the water without spooking the fish or knocking it off your line. They
make it look easy, but the novice soon finds that netting a big trout can be real tricky!
Pro Staff guides have netted thousands of trout, including many big ones.
9. Boat Positioning
Getting you on the right spot means you'll get the best possible fishing action. A Great
Guide can do this all day long. In low water a Great Guide sets up to cast but not spook
the trout. When drifting in high water the challenge is getting bait down to the fish. As
you drift over the river bed the depth of the water changes from shallow to deep, and back
to shallow. A Great Guide knows the rivers well and therefore can follow the river bed as
it changes depth by keeping the boat over the best spots holding trout.
If you have hooked a big trout, your guide must keep maneuvering the boat so that the
fish stays away from obstacles, and he must also keep you in the best position relative to
the current. Too much current pressure on your line, in association with the struggling
fish, can snap your line. A Great Guide anticipates and out-smarts the fish and moves the
boat accordingly so that too much line pressure does not cause a lost fish.
10. Low Water Conditions
The water in these river is gin clear. This means that fish can easily see approaching
boats and wade fishers. However, the trout in our rivers are not as skittish as beaver
pond trout. They are conditioned to a certain amount of noise, boats, people, and cows
wading the river. Still you can get only so close before they dart for cover, or just
drift away.
A Great Guide knows where the fish will move to as the boat moves closer for a casting
setup. Experienced guides know how to use the current and natural cover to sneak up on the
trout. They know how trout behave in low water, how trout seek cover, and what scares them
and what does not. Because the trout are clearly visible in low water a Great Guide
watches how a trout reacts to your approach by watching it's fins wiggle and other
"fish body language". When the moment is right, he'll have you cast, or he may
make the cast for you if a precise cast is needed. Once bait is in position he'll watch
how the fish swims around your bait and he'll tell you when to get ready for the strike.
back to page top
|
