By Ethan Hollifield
There is arguably, no better way to get into fly fishing then to start by hiring a professional guide for hands-on experience on the water. New anglers can benefit from the knowledge and years of experience a good guide has to offer. Even with a guide, it’s beneficial to have open communication and a few simple, but essential, items that will make your experience, and your guide’s experience, more pleasurable during the duration of any trip. Here, I’ll try to lay out, in my opinion, some of the most important things you should be aware of while booking a guide.
It’s important to give an honest assessment to your guide, of what your fishing abilities are, along with your physical ability to perform in an outdoor setting. Guides base their locations heavily on both of these criteria when setting up a trip. It doesn’t do any good for you to exaggerate your experience fly-fishing, or your stamina, to a guide and, at times, it can lead to an extremely frustrating situation for both parties. It’s perfectly fine if you can’t make a 30-foot cast or have a medical condition that might hamper your ability. A good guide can work around these things most of the time, and giving an honest assessment of yourself goes a long way towards success.
What you wear while you’re on the water can often have an impact on your catch rate throughout the day, along with being an issue in order to stay comfortable outside for hours at a time. If you don’t remember anything else from reading this article: please note that bright colors can and will spook fish! Your coral colored, or bright neon, fishing shirt might make you look cool, but trout and smallmouth both, can see them very easily. Stick to natural browns, greens, and tans to help blend in to the surrounding foliage. I normally recommend long sleeve shirts to add in protection from the sun. A good pair of polarized sunglasses and a hat will help tremendously in spotting fish that your guide points out, even on a cloudy day. These also help in protecting your eyes and skin from harmful UV rays that can damage your eyesight. A good buff doesn’t hurt either if you have one to help you keep cool on hot summer days and aid as a sun blocker.
My final piece of advice is to have a positive attitude while you’re on a trip with a guide. Clients who come with a willingness to genuinely learn about the sport and who listen, have a far better success rate then those who show up and just think it’s something cool to do. If your guide tells you to make a certain cast, tie on a certain fly, or move to a different location: I promise you that there is a good reason for it that will only lead to your gratification. Nothing can spoil a trip for a guide more than to have a person who is too stubborn to take advice or be flexible to changing conditions.
We, as guides, love what we do. It takes years upon years of dedication and experience to become a good guide. There is never a more rewarding moment for a guide than to see the joy a client has when they hook into their first fish on the fly. By following these tips, it can help your life and your guide’s life be a whole lot easier while on the water.
Ethan Hollifield is a native North Carolinian from Spruce Pine. While earning a degree in Parks and Natural Resource Management from NC State, he was a member of the three-time national championship-winning bass fishing team “BassPack”.