When I first got into the guide business  I wasnt sure what to expect, sure I knew that if things went well I'd make a living by taking people fishing, and I in return would get to spend the day on the water chasing fish. Now I didnt know who these people would be, or where they would come from, for some reason I imagined taking someone out for a day of fishing only to never see or hear from them again. Little did I know.....
     They say that in business 20% of your customers make up 80% of your business, or something like that, and I've found that in the guide world that holds true as well. After 30 years of rowing driftboats, and 12 years now as a full time salmon and steelhead guide, I've developed some very close friendships with some of the people I've had the chance to fish, and though we may only see each other once a year, we seem to pick up right where we left off the year before.
      Those people are like Drew and his Father Mark. Drew is one of those who is obsessed with fishing. I first fished with Drew and Mark 2 years ago when Mark booked a trip for Drew for his birthday that comes every year in October. Our first year together was a horribly slow coho year and the only fish caught were two late summer run steelhead that Drew caught pitching a Blue Fox spinner into riffles, what I noticed that day was that Drew was just one of those fishy people, he had it and had it bad. Well I fished with Drew and Mark again yesterday, this was our third year of fishing together centered around Drew being another year older. This year has been a great coho year, Drew and his Father mark took turns hooking and fighting fish, even managing to put some of those fish in the box. While we spent the day catching coho, life seemed to have picked up right where we left off from last year, Drew updated me on his out of control retriever that loves to eat off the counter, it was almost as if no time had passed at all, even though a year had passed.
     While I love to end the day with a fish box full of fish, it's these friendships that have become the most rewarding, my attorney friends in Montana who a year ago one of them become a father to twins, I could go on forever with just such people who have not only fished with me but have enriched my life, and through things like social media we're able to stay updated with each other.
     Being a fishing guide has been rewarding in ways I definately didnt expect, and to those of you who keep fishing with me I cant thank you enough, my dream job would not be what it is without you......

October 22nd 2014

     Mother nature gave us the first good bout rain this fall blowing out all the local rivers this morning. Its always a hard one for me to call when these things happen, the weather forecast has been predicting this for several days now, but I always hope that maybe the Gods will smile on us and somehow WE will we not be effected by the torrential rain that is coming our way. It never happens, crazy as it may sound finally the weather man is right on these things more often than not, but still I hold on to the last hour.
     My text to Tom (did not have the courage to call at 4 am)  was tough "Tom, I hate to do this at the last minute but every river on the west side of the state is rising and will be blown by the time we get on the water, I say we cancel and reschedule". "Again?" was the reply, Tom has fished with me several times and has been the victim of Mother Nature more than once. Any time I have to cancel a trip I always feel like that police officer showing up at your door with bad news, " are you Mr Smith, I'm sorry Mr smith but there was a horrible accident, you see the sky sprung a leak and all the water ran into the Kalama River, Have a nice day Mr Smith". The bad news seldom ends there, rain storms of this size do not go away overnight, chances are I could be off the water for a week, so this means that the new XBOX 1 that come out this week, the very thing that I've been holding over my sons head for the past month to get him to do things like the dishes, vacuum the floor, is now on hold for another week at least, do you know what living with him is going to be like?!?
     On the other hand a week off  the water means I'll get all those things done that I've been putting off, like sleep, lay around and eat snacks while watching recorded episodes of "Naked and Afraid" or "Ancient Aliens", I get to get to call my Dad and get caught up on all the family gossip and hear about his winnings and losses from the Casino or who he ran into while in line at the Buffet. The reality is I NEED some time off the water, its been a great year with little time spent on doing things packing wheel bearings on boat trailers, cleaning and oiling a box of reels that have just been fished to near death, or scrubbing the inside of my car that now seems to have the permanent  smell of bait.
     As I sit here and write this my son is sitting here next to me doing everything he can to be annoying, every sentence he rambles off has XBOX in it, its going to be a long week. If I end up going to jail for shoplifting video games, would some one please send me a copy of NorthWest Sportsman?