I was reading Kevin Frank’s great post from Feather Chucker the other day about fishing with
his buddy Lance who is a professional fly fishing guide in North Carolina. It got me to thinking about guide fishing
in general. My closest encounter with a fly fishing guide has been on the
Internet and the owner of our local fly shop below our tailrace. I have often
thought about using a guide when I am fishing the Caney Fork in Cartridge Tennessee. It is really a pressured tailrace with
bank, wading fisherman, canoe, and kayak fishermen on the water daily. There is a number of guides who frequent the area and stay quick busy throughout the
year. I know I would probably land more trout and learn a lot more about this
tailrace if I had a guide. So to convince me I need a little
guidance in unfamiliar streams and tailraces, I have listed a few advantages of fishing with a guide.
Become familiar with the hatch stages where I am fishing and what
patterns work best during a particular time of day and month.
Learn to read the water, as to where the different species of trout
hold
Since most of the feeding by trout is down under, learn to fish the
nymph pattern better
Learn how to use the streamer more effectively in fast water versus slow water
Recognize hot spots and never forget where they are on a particular
stream you might be fishing
And last—realize that a guided fishing trip for me is not all about
landing a lot of trout, but more of a learning experience—in other words, think
of the outing as a day spent in an outdoor classroom.
Feel free to list your own advantages
