Last week while guiding a striper fishing party I had worked the boat well up onto a mud flat. As I tell many clients I have all kinds of courage when the tide is rising. We were in roughly a foot of water but the fish were there chasing bait to the surface in that shallow water. I heard a kingfisher yell as they do on the late summer and did not really pay any attention. In a moment he was right in front of the boat still nothing that unusual except we were far from shore where they usually hang out.
I recently read an article that talked about the purpose for being in business and it got me to thinking about why I do all of this. There is the fact that I really enjoy what I do. After more than a little thought, remember I am running a wood splitter a part of each day, I have decided that I am a guide because I want my clients to learn something amazing about the environment each time I am with them. I don’t know if I achieve that goal every time but I hear enough stories to make me think that I am at least on the right track.
I spent Friday fishing the upper Androscoggin River above Bethel with Dan Tarkinson of Fly Fishing in Maine. We fish together at least once a year and this year we decided to fish that stretch of river for trout. We had a beautiful day, cool but not to cool and perfectly clear. The fishing was very good we each had a number of both rainbow and brown trout during the day. Not to mention a number of trophy chubs that kept us alert.
