First a little back info – I guided my first customer in 1974 and for 20 years guided fresh water and on the White River in Arkansas before any fly fishermen set foot on the river. I have been fortunate enough to be friends with, and have fished with guides, both great and real rear ends, from the Great Barrier Reef, Colorado, Oregon, Belize, etc so I am well versed in what a good guide should be. I have towed the boat and fished from Key West to Canada, and fished on really busy waters and interacted with guides from one end to the other in this country. Been there done that so that said here are my thoughts.
Over the years I have found the occasional guides to be great, others to be particularly self important and full of themselves, especially in the fly fishing world. (That attitude seems to be present in many fly shops I have stopped in as a compulsive tackle shop junkie.) Several have an attitude that is well beyond their place in this world, in other words freakin’ jerks who have somehow decided that their rights and place on the water take precedent over the common dude just trying to catch a fish. That attitude disturbs me, guides do not own the water and have a duty to rise above that attitude. So here we go with Nathan Anderson.
My expectations were exceeded, I would give him and the experience an A+ and both my wife and I had a great time.
Nathan was beyond all of that nonsense. Not only did he go above and beyond trying to help the wife get a fish or two, he got that done, but his attitude to others on the river was what a real guide should be. My wife appreciated how he made her feel safe on the water, fishing with me she has certain expectations and he met them. Being a Saturday it was busy as it is everywhere on the water. His ramp behavior was great. When a couple of guide boats on our trip cut us off and just acted like they somehow own the river (See above) he was the bigger man. We let folks go past us, he did not get stupid when regular folks did the stuff they do because they do not understand “the RIGHT way to fish”. He was a true professional and is the kind of guide that is a credit to the profession. He was the antithesis of the I am a big shot guide and my rights on the water somehow take precedent over the rest of the world.
How could you improve? (Since I know nothing about your business not sure what to say but here goes.) Make dam sure that anyone who you use through your service fishes and guides like Nathan. That your guides treat others on the water as Nathan did. That others understand that with the pleasure and honor of being a guide come the responsibility to be the bigger guy, to be patient, and understand that guiding gets a bad name with the attitude that seems to affect some guides. That just because you own a Sage and fancy Simms means nothing in the grander scheme of things.
I know that is quite a long answer to your inquiry, but I felt the context was important. Nathan was professional, patient, smart, and as far as the “technical” aspect of fishing was a real pro. As you can tell I have strong feelings and do not hesitate to express them good or bad to my readers. That said when I post it will be beyond positive and include much of the above about his ability and his love of the water and teaching others. As I begin the fly fishing part of my fishing journey part of hiring guides is to learn and I learned a ton. I would fish with him again in a minute and I hope that your other guides have the same attitude and respect for others. Over the last 40 years I learned we hard core fishermen or guides, do not own the water and have a greater responsibility to the resource and others and should be held to a higher standard. Nathan is a credit to the profession and your company.
So thanks for the experience and your follow up. It was how it is supposed to be.