They Do It "Their" Way

                I have often tried to recount the number of fishing shows and videos I have done and my best recollection is that it has to be pushing four-hundred.  The point being that I have spent a lot of time waiting for folks to catch fish because you can’t have a show without fish … well there was one time but that’s another story.  In any event I discovered early on, the best way to not catch fish is to ignore the advice of your guide or the person you talked to at the fly shop on your way to the water.  That is the subject of this rant about fishing show hosts, but I am confident it applies to regular anglers as well. 

                My first exhibit or example in this argument for listening to the guide or paying attention to the local knowledge occurred some years ago.  I was shooting for a show called “Fishing the West”, hosted by Larry Schoenborn.  Larry has since passed away, and a finer person I have never met, but in any event we were fishing for steelhead with terminal gear drifting the Chetco River in Southern Oregon.  Larry grew up fishing steelhead and had built a sporting goods empire in Portland so he was confident he didn’t need to be told how or where to fish for steelhead. 

So there Larry was fishing with the weights and baits he knew would work and casting to the pockets he felt would hold fish.  After hours without a take the guide forced me to take a rod and asked if I would fish off the main seam and slow down my presentation.  Knowing where my bread was buttered I didn’t fish a lot but I did fish where and how the guide wanted.  Needless to say four steelhead were boated that day and all came off the rod I was using.  There were of course numerous times when Larry’s angling knowledge paid off but the stubborn little German, despite repeated similar experiences, would often have to be shown he was wrong before doing it the guide’s way. 

                A guide on the San Juan River, Chuck Ruzutto, who just recently retired, had a great story about a couple of celebrity clients he had that exemplifies the same point.  He was guiding a guy who is known for starting cable TV and his actress friend, and the guy was having a tough time catching fish.  As the day progressed he apparently got sourer and sourer as the gal routinely hooked-up.  She was all covered up with hat, gloves, and scarf and not particularly enthusiastic about the adventure but had listened to the guides instructions on how to properly present the tiny nymphs used on the San Juan.  At lunch she turned on Chuck and in no uncertain terms told him to tell the stupid so and so once again how exactly to fish so that she could get the bleepedy bleep off the river. 

                I could go on and on with similar examples of professional anglers being unable to take advice.  Like Kelly Galloup not wanting to fish beads when I took him to Alaska for the first time because streamers would work better.  He did prove he could catch fish streamers but they didn’t work better. In any event I understand if you have a method of fly fishing you just enjoy more despite its effect on your creel count.  But do take my advice that when you’re on new waters listen to your guide or the local fly shop clerk.  Ultimately catching you more fish is what the get paid for and in what they say and show you are bits of wisdom that are hard-won and worth pay attention to.

Gene Hering

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