Big Hole River 2070 cfs, temp. 51, visibility 3 feet
Some times I almost feel sorry for some of the junior or even sophmore guides who work for some of the bigger lodges. A lot of the people who stay at these places have fished all over the world and they know right off if they have an inexperienced guide and at times they will really run him through the wringer. By the end of the day the guide will wonder if maybe he should have kept that bank job. At many of these lodges the guide will have the same clients all week and by the end of that time he will develop an uncontrollable twitch in one or both eyes. By this time he is really beat up and walks around with a blank stare. It’s kinda like hell week with the Navy seals. If he survives it he will go on to handle the next clients with much greater confidence. If he doesn’t he will seek a more sane type of employment but he will tell people that he used to be a guide but retired at the ripe old age of 22.
NO ONE should have to put up with an arrogant guide. It doesn’t matter what level of experience you have, the guide is supposed to be there to help you and remember, your paying him. Fly fishing is supposed to be fun and if you have an arrogant guide who criticises and belittles you constantly—get rid of him. A few years ago Art and I had an experience with such a person on Andros Island. All he could talk about was how he guides Lefty Kreh, Chico Fernandez and people like that and how inept we were. It was his loss and his arrogance cost him. All the people I send or bring over there will definitely not go with this guy and I made sure of that and made it very clear to Herman. When I was there in March, Herman was very busy and this guy was sitting on the dock wondering why he didn’t have any clients.
We did a short test run this afternoon from Jerry Ck. to Dewey. When we put in I suggested to Art that we try some dry fly’s. There was nothing hatching nor any rising fish but I had this feeling. I told him to tie on a skwala and he looked at me a little cross-eyed and said “are you sure”. He was all for putting on a mayfly pattern so we put both of them on. It was the best dry fly action so far this season and most of them hit the skwala (listen to your guide). Most of the fish were fairly small with the biggest at about 16 inches but it was fun to get some top water action.