So You Want to Be a Fly Fishing Guide? April Vokey Answers…
I share my personal journey until 4:21. Feel free to skip to 4:22 to hear more on guide planning, personality, finances, expectations, burnout and more.
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This is gonna piss off a bunch o you…but hey🤷🏽♂️…..guiding is a job that never should have existed. ….and if you sit in your camp chair w/your scotch in hand and look up at the sky over your own “spot”, you know what I’m sayin’….if your honest.
Going to say this as a new fly fisher; (started fishing in May of 2022) if and when I hire a guide I only expect 2 things. To be taught, and to be accompanied. If I pay 500 bucks to catch fish I'm an idiot. Who the hell does that? No fish is worth 500 bucks to me (some may feel otherwise) If i pay that kind of money for a day out on a river I want to be taught something I can use over and over again. Yesterday I spent 8 hours out on the Provo River in Utah, Snowed like hell, wind, 20f out.1 bite but the fish jumped and got off. Wanted to snap my fishing rod in half. Nothing I tried worked. Those kind of days are just not fun. I have lists of flies to try, and techniques to learn. It would have been awesome to have someone else there with more experience to say "slow down there stupid! put this on, and drag it on the bottom of some of those deep pools" anyway. 'nuff said.
Thank you Amy. You have all my respect for loving our addiction and a tremendous work ethic. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼
I just wrapped up my third season after dropping out of med school. This sums it all up so well so far!
Complex answer is simple, you have to be a sexy girl.. that's all.. lol
Hello April,
Very nice video, well done. Lots of proper information about guiding. Some important aspects I was missing though.
1. Comparing guiding in clear water, where you see fish and the client's fly compared to guiding in water, where you can't see fish nore the client's fly. I work in both situations and they are coming along with very different requirements for both me and my clients.
2. When a guide starts guiding in young age or on a new species of fish, working full time (not leaving time to fish and quickly learn oneself), how can one become an expert in fishing, especially where you can't see fish nore flies (and thus learn 10 times slower)? I have been the client myself with many guides and a fair percentage knew very little about the fishing. This happened especially in those lodges somewhere in the jungle and then they had their guides just having worked for 1, 2 or 3 years, but already taking hundrets of dollars a day.
3. Should a guide be able to teach properly how to a) fish (with a variety of techniques available), b) cast and c) tie flies or just manover a boat and offer a few hints here and there (as many still do)?
4. The differences between guiding, teaching and hosting trips.
About the rules you offered, I was missing the 2 most important ones for myself:
1. My client pays me, so obviously only he/she decides what he/she wants to achieve by my service.
2. I make sure to know this before the day starts, not when the day is over.
Clients are all individuell. There are no one or two guidelines how to support making their fishing time most valuable for them. It's a life long learning process!
Kind regards
Bernd
Gary Colford @ Country Haven Miramichi in Gray Rapids, New Brunswick is the best of the best when it comes to guides!!!
What a great video to watch from a client perspective. Always had huge respect for guides, tough job.
Well done! I think everything you said is spot-on. Also very much what most of the “new-age” guides are going to figure out the hard way. On the same note, also why I personally won’t be a professional guide. I know for a fact, it will ruin fun fishing for me! Really appreciated this!!
Well done April! Truth right there.
The pinnacle of flyfishing mastery is the ability to catch fish with someone else’s (usually less competent) hands.
NZ has a pro guide association that does a really good job of assuring clients of a quality fishing guide experience. Sure, it helps to have some of the best trout fishing in the world, but with that reputation and gazzilions of YT videos with fishers releasing enormous fish all day can set unrealistic expectations. We used two guides for 4 or our fishing days in the month fishing there and I must say one would be crazy to spend all the money to go to NZ and not at least start out with a NZ certified guide. Man, did they take a hit during NZ's strict Covid lockdowns.
As clients there is some etiquette on our end too. Like don't fish the same rivers or at least areas of rivers where your guide takes you. One guide told me that he had some Aussies do just that. Two days after fishing with the guide they were the first ones at a very small spring creek parking area that really only has room for one group per day in that stretch of water. Most clients might agree and assume that kind of behavior is unethical and unfair "per se," but I wonder how most guides handle that sort of thing? Doesn't really matter on larger rivers, but still, it's likely a problem anywhere you find honey holes.
Anyway, this is a good watch for guides AND their clients. Managing expectations must be the toughest part of the job.
I kind of wish this video had been available before I started guiding 40+ years ago. Great job April, keep telling it straight!
April, great video, camera work, & info for those considering this as a career. Did I really see a bamboo spey rod?
This is one of the best fishing-related videos I have ever seen on youtube. it puts into perspective a lot of ideas i have. thank you so much for making this video.
So impressed by your journey! Hats off! Way to go!
When you described how you became a guide, that was good story telling; reminded me of John Gierach. You should consider writing a book.
Wow what awesome insight across all aspects!
Excellent well articulated video!
in Jackson WY area there are hundreds (if not thousands) of ski bums who are instructors or doing some other seasonal job at the resort in the winter… they're also fishing bums who are guides in the summer. Most of them are struggling to make ends meet living in filthy apts driving 2nd hand Kias and Subarus. If you're still in high school you need to work extra hard to go to a good college… and be one of those fly fishing enthusiasts like a lawyer from NYC, engineer from SF, doctor from LA. Guiding is the last thing you ever want to do (unless you have super rich parents)… That's my answer
Thanks April! This is as important to clients to realize what “real” expectations as it is to aspiring anglers who want to make the jump to guiding! Great job!!
Unfortunately, guiding has changed as our resources have been over pressured with the popularity of fly fishing. Guiding used to be a respected career. It definitely is a tough job with a lot of responsibility and requires a lot of skill. It has come to the point where people making money off a public resource are viewed as taking more than their fair share of the resource and contributing to the demise of the outdoor experience. It is a sad state of affairs.
excellent!
👍👍👍✌
I really appreciate this video. I’ve watched a few people burn out from guiding and it’s tough to watch. I’ve loved fly fishing so much for so many years and have a serious collection of memories, materials, and experience. I just couldn’t make it my job.
You are not a guide the man in the video is doing all the work so what that grew up around real fisherman
What incredible insight expressed within this video. I love the way this was filmed as well as the research and personal input that went into this. I think the whole notion of being a guide goes a bit deeper and can be summarized and related to our every day life. The question that becomes extremely evident is "are we truly happy with what we do and WHY?" For most people taking on a job that follows a hobby seems like a dream scenario until they realize the blood, sweat, and tears that must go into pursuing such a passion. For others however that "hobby" is not really a hobby but more or less an extension of who they truly are as a person, and also who they continue to strive on becoming. It's within this difference that separates those who have the capacity to pursue it from those who do not. Nothing in this life is easy, and how we choose to approach our problems exposes how we can or cannot handle indifference and struggle. I guess my point to all of this is the concept of guiding is no different than our everyday problems and can be easily related as such. It's one thing to be passionate about fishing, it's another to be able to truly breathe it in every second of every day and feel fulfilled in every sense of the word.
April, that was excellent. Well done!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautifully shot and great editing.
Demand is high for female guides (even higher if she got the looks) since majority of clients are men (so they can enjoy something else besides catching fish).
Should've studied much harder in high school (shouldve gone to Berkeley or Stanford studying engineering or med school)
Quickest way to quit loving something is do it for a career.
Respect for sure but I would love the time just to get away from people with one of my fly rods. You're on your own 😆
Nice content, congrats!
Great video especially for people who don’t want to be a guide , hopefully it gives prospective to would be anglers on what really is the life of a guide and in most cases on how they want you to not only succeed at catching fish but understanding the resource and the beauty that surrounds it . Thanks for the video.
Happy Trails
So you want to be a guide 🙂 Love it!
I guide at a lodge on a creek in Arkansas you are familiar with from your youth. The clientele has change from trout bums to corporate team building and Corp clients. I am always on the look out for other guides 5 min elevator pitch on casting, setting hook, and playing fish. 95% of my clients have never touch a fly rod and 50% of them have no intention of ever continuing pursuing the craft. I have 4 hrs to get them to catch a fish and enjoy themselves. What is your kick off teaching speech?
This was a great video. Very informative. I know Ill probably never guide but love for being a fish bum will always be there.
Thank you April, this video was so informative. ❤️👍🔥
Well Done April
Great video! Gonna make it required watching for my Shop Staff and Guides in training.
April: Wow! I've been guiding for 30 years in NorCal, outfitting for over half of it and of course have thought of doing something similar myself.I managed to raise two healthy and happy kids, put enough away for retirement and stay married to the same gem for 36 years while guiding full time! I recently turned 69 and am conducting my last guide trip in two days on Thursday, December 8th as my OG back and arthritic hands have given up, so your video could not have come at a more meaningful time for me. Your essay was more than masterful, a beautiful piece of art that is more than the sum of its' insightful parts. I often tell guide prospect's my favorite author John Geirach's joke: Be careful if you try to make a living out of something you love because it can turn out to be like love making. Better to be an amateur than a pro! FYI We've crossed paths on a few occasions, first at the California shows when you first arrived and I introduced your program when you presented after me, later a few times on the Bulkley and Kispiox. I've followed you ever since. You are simply amazing, I am a huge fan of your work. I hope to see you again and perhaps share a day on a local water if you are traveling through Mt. Shasta or doing a feature on the dam removal on the Klamath in the next few years? Just drop me a line. Craig
You nailed it April….."Retirement for a guide, Death". LOL
This video pretty much says it all. Well done! I've been a fishing guide for more than 30 years, and I couldn't have said anything more or said it any better. Thank You. I think this video should be viewed by all aspiring young guides
Thank you for investing your time in producing this excellent overview of a fishing guide’s lifestyle realities.