GREAT JOB AS A FLY FISHING GUIDE BY DENNIS SCHULE

One comment I hear a lot from my clients is that I really have a great job being able to go fly fishing all the time.  Well, as any fly fishing guide will tell you, we really don't get to fish that often during our busy time of the year, and here on the White River that busy time of the year has turned into 12 months.  We get the vacation clients that come to fish during the summer months.  We get the clients that love the fall fishing and then we get the really hard core fishermen who come during the cold winter months facing frigid temps, stiff lines and iced-up guides on their fly rods.

So getting back to the original statement about having a great job and getting to fish a lot, I have two answers.  Yes, I do have a great job.  I meet so many super great people and I really enjoy taking someone who has never fly fished a day in their life to the river and teaching them how to handle a fly rod and then watch them progress throughout the day and catch fish.   Of course, it's also a great day having experienced anglers in the boat who can pinpoint their casts and put the fly exactly where I tell them.  As for the fishing, I never fish when I have clients in the boat.  Many have asked me to fish but I usually decline.  

This brings me to this Tuesday.  I was off and my wife who is my favorite fishing partner had her schedule clear until later in the afternoon.   We decided to load up the boat and head to the river since it was going to be a beautiful fall day.  We arrived at the river around 9:30 and launched the boat.  We motored up river and started drift fishing one of our favorite spots on the river.  We usually catch a lot of fish in this location and after making the first drift with no fish I started to get concerned.  We motored back up stream and on the second drift we hit three fat sassy rainbows with vibrant fall colors.  My wife Mary, who is also our web page designer and maintains our page, struggled a little.  She had three fish on and lost all three.   Mary is an excellent fly fisher person and doesn't get a lot of credit for her fishing and casting skills.

Later in the morning we moved down river to another great spot and immediately started catching fish.  We had great water with less than one generator running.  This was a welcome flow considering what we have dealt all summer long.

 

By about 1:15 we had 17 fish to the net and decided to call it a day. None of the fish were big but respectable. Overall, it was a great day on the river with good company and lots of fish. The river colors were beautiful and we pretty much had the river to ourselves. So yes, I do have a great job. Especially when I can spend it on the river with my favorite fishing partner on a beautiful fall day.