Guiding

[jifigz]

Only applies to advice given by others. 😉

I took the OP at their word that they wanted advice on potentially going down this path. They’ve gotten a wide variety of responses. IMO that is ideal, and should help the OP reason through and decide on their own what best fits them and their plans for life. I would argue NONE of the advice given here, though certainly different, was bad. It was all sincere with intent for the OP to think about that viewpoint when making their decisions. No one has told the OP what to do. There’s pros and cons to every decision in life, and this thread does a really nice job of pointing out both in this context.

Of course. I agree with you, Swattie. We are all free to live our lives as we see fit. I see the draw to want to live and be a figure in the flyfishing lifestyle, and I have even considered it myself. Few make it to the real limelight, however, and honestly I think the cons outweigh the pros, at least in my eyes.

 

[Ggrove]

There is always room for one more, right? I kid. I kid.

Haha, yeah. Figured I’d give my two cents

 

[afishinado]

Yeah, I’m not planning on making it my career. But more as experience and teaching people what I love. I definitly don’t want to do it my main source of income but a side job or something idk

The OP is a 17 year old looking to get into guiding as a "side job" and not a career because he likes fishing and teaching people. So no need to stress about his direction in life, future income or seeking to live a certain lifestyle. Nice part time job idea. Better than working in McDonalds. As I wrote in an earlier thread, contact a fly shops and work for them to learn the trade and possibly guide for them sometime in the future.

 

[Nocktavius]

There are already a lot of cookie cutters out there “guiding” on local waters. My advice to you would be if you’re truly serious about this, to offer something everyone else isn’t. Teaching guides are the ones that really make a name for themselves. This is probably a fairly loaded question, but do you consider yourself (or rather would your angling friends consider you) to be in the top 90th percentile of fly anglers? That’s really the only folks who should be out there guiding.

There are a limited number of people who even need to be guided to catch fish in PA, and I’d anticipate once you’ve shown them the ropes that most of them won’t necissaeily be repeat customers. Then there’s the permitting, insurance, and other red tape you have to go through. If you want to guide on the Upper Delaware for example you need 3 separate licenses- NY, PA and federal for the national recreation area.

Guiding to me seems like craft brewing- the time to have gotten into it was about 5-10 years ago before there was an explosion of fair to middling IPAs sitting on the shelves of your local wegmans.

 

[wildtrout2]

This is probably a fairly loaded question, but do you consider yourself (or rather would your angling friends consider you) to be in the top 90th percentile of fly anglers? That’s really the only folks who should be out there guiding.

At only 17 years old, I don't know how that could be the case.

 

[jifigz]

At only 17 years old, I don't know how that could be the case.

Maybe he is a fly fishing prodigy. These things do happen.

 

[hooker-of-men]

There are already a lot of cookie cutters out there “guiding” on local waters. My advice to you would be if you’re truly serious about this, to offer something everyone else isn’t. Teaching guides are the ones that really make a name for themselves. This is probably a fairly loaded question, but do you consider yourself (or rather would your angling friends consider you) to be in the top 90th percentile of fly anglers? That’s really the only folks who should be out there guiding.

There are a limited number of people who even need to be guided to catch fish in PA, and I’d anticipate once you’ve shown them the ropes that most of them won’t necissaeily be repeat customers. Then there’s the permitting, insurance, and other red tape you have to go through. If you want to guide on the Upper Delaware for example you need 3 separate licenses- NY, PA and federal for the national recreation area.

Guiding to me seems like craft brewing- the time to have gotten into it was about 5-10 years ago before there was an explosion of fair to middling IPAs sitting on the shelves of your local wegmans.

Now Nock's offering the kid beer!

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Now Nock's offering the kid beer!

Nothin' wrong w/ that. I just got back from Germany. Everyone over the age of 12 drinks beer! At least...in my wife's family!

 

[Bird of Prey]

“Be whatever your clients need you to be.“
Couldn’t agree more. True in every line of work.

 

[steveo]

At only 17 years old, I don't know how that could be the case.

One thing I learned when I was teaching skiing that can be applied to most things in life. To be an affective teacher you do not need to be in the top 90% of what you are teaching. You just need to be better and more knowledgeable than the person you are instructing. More importantly, you must have a desire to share your knowledge and do your best to help your student succeed. I have met many people who are excellent at what they do (top 90%) but are really, really bad teachers.

 

[poopdeck]

You mean spoken and then deleted

Yes because after a thinking about it I didn’t feel like going back and forth with those who look to be offended. I’m sensitive to your feelings what can I say.

 

[wildtrout2]

To be an affective teacher you do not need to be in the top 90% of what you are teaching. You just need to be better and more knowledgeable than the person you are instructing.

I agree, but being only 17 years old, that's likely not the case here.

 

[afishinado]

I grew up living next to the Susky River. As a kid I fished it all the time from ice-out in spring through the fall, and my boots (actually sneakers) never dried in the summer. I knew every rock, current seam, hole, log, eddy and riff in that river and could name some of the fish I caught. I had a good idea where the fish were likely to be and not be at a given time, flow and season.

When I was really young, I fished down the street but also biked up and down the river to hit different areas. At 17 I was driving and expanded my knowledge to other parts of the river. To this day, I go back up to my home river at least once a year and fish the areas I fished as a kid.

So yes, if you needed to be guided on the River when I was 17, I was your man....errr boy.

 

[jifigz]

I grew up living next to the Susky River. As a kid I fished it all the time from ice-out in spring through the fall, and my boots (actually sneakers) never dried in the summer. I knew every rock, current seam, hole, log, eddy and riff in that river and could name some of the fish I caught. I had a good idea where the fish were likely to be and not be at a given time, flow and season.

When I was really young, I fished down the street but also biked up and down the river to hit different areas. At 17 I was driving and expanded my knowledge to other parts of the river. To this day, I go back up to my home river and fish the areas I fished as a kid.

So yes, if you needed to be guided on the River when I was 17, I was your man....errr boy.

Hey, Tom, I think you shed some valuable insight here. We often dismiss kids as being less knowledgable or capable as we older folks. Oftentimes, as a youngster is when the addiction really takes hold, and I, too, would have been able to hold my own as a river smallmouth bass guide when I was just a teenager. We sometimes forget that teens and kids are often not hampered by the duties of being a parent, a full-time employee and worker, or any other obligations that we adults are impacted by. Kids often have free roam to perfect their skills and an ample amount of time to do so.

Obviously, they still have a lot of ignorance regarding the world as a whole, and sometimes their viewpoints of certain things might show this. I know some mighty good fisher-people who are only in their early 20's, and I know quite a few older guys who are, in comparison, much worse anglers. Age isn't everything

 

[Bruno]

I’ll chime in and say that lunch is one of the most important things a guide can use to impress a client. I’ve experienced everything from a lousy bologna and cheese sandwich to a perfectly grilled pork chop served with a fresh salad, all provided by guides. The fishing might not always be great, but lunch can always be outstanding, and that can truly make a difference in the day. Oh, and don’t forget the coffee—coffee is essential!

So that being said can you make a decent lunch ?

 

[Weikertgal]

The best guide we had was a 21 yo on the Snake River. He said he needed to work 10x as hard as the older guides to earn their respect. Our son was 14 yo on that trip and I still smile thinking about how excited he (the guide) got when our son hooked a very large trout on a tough fishing day.

Maybe slightly off topic - OP, when you do become a guide, get to know any land owners who property you may want to cross. Introduce yourself, be polite. Post-Covid, Weikert has seen an influx of guides behaving very badly. No trespassing signs are going up as owners have reached their limit.

 

[Tigereye]

You will hate fishing and people after a few years.🤐😤😡

 

[caddisflyer]

The best guide we had was a 21 yo on the Snake River. He said he needed to work 10x as hard as the older guides to earn their respect. Our son was 14 yo on that trip and I still smile thinking about how excited he (the guide) got when our son hooked a very large trout on a tough fishing day.

Maybe slightly off topic - OP, when you do become a guide, get to know any land owners who property you may want to cross. Introduce yourself, be polite. Post-Covid, Weikert has seen an influx of guides behaving very badly. No trespassing signs are going up as owners have reached their limit.

Glad you mentioned bad behavior up there. The guide situation on Penns is just one reason I no longer enjoy fishing there. It seemed every time I went down the road below Coburn guides had their clients standing in all the spots I used to enjoy. They also invaded what little public area on Elk I used to enjoy and they angered the landowner there and he closed it down. Honestly who even needs a guide on Penns? It is ridiculous how lame a lot of these new fishermen are getting. With the internet and all these resources how much handholding do they need? On a bigger river it makes sense to have someone on the oars etc. but on Penns, come on.

 

[dudemanspecial]

Glad you mentioned bad behavior up there. The guide situation on Penns is just one reason I no longer enjoy fishing there. It seemed every time I went down the road below Coburn guides had their clients standing in all the spots I used to enjoy. They also invaded what little public area on Elk I used to enjoy and they angered the landowner there and he closed it down. Honestly who even needs a guide on Penns? It is ridiculous how lame a lot of these new fishermen are getting. With the internet and all these resources how much handholding do they need? On a bigger river it makes sense to have someone on the oars etc. but on Penns, come on.

Yeah I don't get hiring a guide to wade fish at all. Different strokes as they say though.

 

[troutbert]

Yeah I don't get hiring a guide to wade fish at all. Different strokes as they say though.

I started flyfishing around 1970. In the 1970s, I don't recall ever seeing a guide on a PA trout stream.

Even in the 1980s I'm not sure I saw any guides.

What do other oldsters recall about this?