What A Guide Can and Can Not Do For You.

Last week I addressed the question about our overall operation. This week I'm going to address what a fishing guide does. This blogpost should be filed under the category of "Managing Expectations."

In general, a fishing guide can:

• Help you catch more fish. Guides are on the water everyday so you are more likely to catch fish with one than with out one. A guide keeps up with what the fish are doing and most likely can put you on the right spot at the right time
• Help you learn the water. If you are new to a river/lake/ocean and have your own boat/gear, a guide can help you understand where to run your boat and where to fish.
• Teach you how to catch fish. This includes different techniques or refining an existing one.
• Introduce you to new equipment, baits, and lures. Guides are on the cutting edge of the industry and often you will get a chance to try something new before buying your own.
• Be quick on a story or a joke when the the fishing is slow. Most "good" guides are part entertainer, educator, historian, psychologist, and hopefully a friend by the end of the trip. To quote my mentor, Jeff King, "guiding is what happens when you don't catch fish..."

A fishing guide can not:

• Walk on water. No matter how adept a guide is they have no bearing on when or where fish will appear. Nature alone handles this little detail.
• Control the weather. Some days it's going to be too cold, too hot, too wet, too dry or too windy. My grandmother always told me there's no such thing as bad weather. It's bad clothing. Plan accordingly (I don't cancel trips because of the weather).

This is what you can expect when you hire me as your fishing guide.

• Coast Guard licensed, CPR, First Aid, insured, certified and permitted to fish the Kenai River.
• Never late, always on time.
• Intimate knowledge of all fishing regulations.
• Top notch fishing gear (including rain gear) and bait provided.
• Clean your fish at the end of the day.
• I will not be fishing alongside of you. My whole day is about helping you catch fish and not you watching me catch fish. 
• Guarantee the opportunity to catch fish, not the fish themselves. If you're looking for a sure thing, you can buy fish at the Fred Meyer grocery store.
• You won't hear about my personal problems. Who'd want to pay for that?
• Respect to everyone in my boat, and respect to the boats fishing around us. 
• I'll never know it all. I'm constantly learning.
• An occasional Ole and Sven joke, or maybe not.
• No guarantee that I won't repeat a story (raise your hand if you heard this one before). 
• Hey, it's your vacation, and this should be happy stuff. I'm going to keep things positive throughout the whole trip. Jane says that I'm not a "half full" kinda guy. She says I'm a "always full" kinda guy.

If you're still on the fence about whether or not you should hire a guide, here is one last thing to consider. It's relatively inexpensive compared to owning a boat, motor, trailer, buying gas, bait, and all the right fishing gear. Why not sit back, fish, relax, and let me worry about all that other stuff.

Next week, my topic will be about the things you can expect when you rent one of our cabins. Come back then to hear what Jane told me to say....ha!

Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service