So, you want to be a fishing guide?

"Boy have you got the job!" I hear that one a lot. And, they're right. I love being a float fishing guide. But, you can't really make a living at it unless you are in a perfect environment. In the business world you hear one key component to success is "location, location, location". I couldn't agree more when it comes to being a successful guide. For example, if you live on the White River it's much easier to be a successful trout fishing guide then if you lived a hundred miles away. Fortunately, I guide not to make a living; but, because I just love to be out there float fishing and float hunting our streams.............And, I might as well take you along should you want to go. Actually, I'm retired from the business world and I don't really "need" to guide what-so-ever. For both the client and me, that's a good thing! Trust me, the day that guiding out on our streams becomes a "job" becomes the day I stop guiding. If there was something better to do with my time in Ozark outdoors then what I do now, I'd be doing it.

"Do you ever run across a bad client?"

The short answer is NO! I'll say this, if you don't enjoy being around people with attitudes and opinions different from your own then guiding is not for you. I've been surprised about one thing as a guide. There are a lot of great people out there that appreciate going on a float trip with me. I've never taken anyone on a float trip that I didn't throughly enjoy spending the day with on the river. Many of my clients have also become good friends and some of them have made trips with me for a decade or more. I look forward to our float fishing adventures perhaps as much or more as they do. It's common knowledge that a person should do some "screening" when looking for a guide to take them hunting or fishing, after all, it is their money. There are more "guides" and "outfitters" now then ever and finding a "bad" one is not hard to do. Something I've learned as a guide is to also do some "screening" of my own. There are some folks that should never take a float trip. After all, it is my time!

"How did you learn to do that?"

You just can't beat experience when it comes to guiding. I've learned a lot over the years about float fishing and hunting on my own. There is actually a lot to know about "what to do or what not to do" when out on an Ozark stream. I've learned near all I know about float fishing and hunting by simply doing it over and over, and then, over, again. As I said earlier, I love this stuff. I can think of few ways to spend a day that can equal a day on an Ozark river. I can remember my first float fishing trip with my uncle Bill and Current River guide, Berry Price in 1961 like it was yesterday. Plus, I can remember minute details about a 1000 float trips since. I have entire rivers visually memorized from start to finish. I can make a mental float trip through every shoal, every turn, and can tell you near all the places where fish have been caught or ducks have been shot. I can take you on dirt roads in the Ouachitas of Arkansas and Oklahoma to remote river slabs for a day's float and that's not even considering the hundreds of Ozark rivers that I'm familiar with from Fort Smith, Arkansas to St. Louis, Missouri. That knowledge can only be learned by doing. True, I could just learn a handful of float trips close by and guide on those.................But, that's a little too much like a job!

"How much do you charge for a guided trip?"

The short answer is a fee that makes sense. I tell folks in all sincerity, if you aren't happy with the trip, you don't owe me a thing. I've never had anyone leave a float trip unhappy and more times then not tips are offered. A short, day trip close to home for one or two can be done for as little as a couple of hundred dollars. However, if I'm travelling a long distance, requiring overnight expense, meals and extra vehicle costs then three hundred a day plus lodging makes more sense. Bottom line, I get about all the guiding I want every year. A few years back, rain delays and timing required me to book trips nine days in a row. Unfortunately, toward the end of that stretch my body was turning my attitude into "it's a job to go tomorrow". I resolved then to always give my body a break so that my attitude could be at it's best.

For years, friends would say to me, "you should be a float fishing guide, it's what you are anyway." Truth is, I would have starved to death trying to make a living at it. But, a few years back I began to ask myself, "what are you going to do with yourself when you retire". So, I started and in my own experience, it's the way to go. If you love it like I do, it'll work, if not you can always play golf.

I look forward to spending time on the river with my clients.........this year!