The plight of a fishing guide
Wow. What a difference a couple of days make. Two clients hired me for a 3 hour outing on Tuesday morning. Right away we caught huge bluegill and a bunch of them, a few other species, settled in and caught several decent sized largemouth. We didn’t even leave their local lake, or their section of the lake. Both guys were happy, tipped well, and slapped each other on the back as they walked away from the boat when I dropped them off. Success, and I felt good… like I knew what I was doing.
A couple of days later, they booked me for a 1/2 day. The lake was flat glass. Driving the boat through the fog with a cup of coffee, I kept thinking “This is awesome. If I can’t be happy now, I can never be”. We focussed on getting some largemouth, and they wanted to take a few bluegill home. My first two real hot largemouth spots busted. Then a small bass after an hour or so. Uh-oh….It was then I realized it was going to be a down day. Crystal clear skies, wind hauling out of the north sort of thing, but I thought I could work through it if I tried hard enough.
I jumped 5 lakes. I tried the connecting rivers. Worms, minnows, surface lures, plastic worms, micro jigs tipped with waxworms, surface disturbance lures, deep, shallow…all for only a small fish here, a small fish there. My hands were chapped from changing lures - blowing through so many tactics and driving the boat so hard.
Well, the end of the trip came, I dropped off the clients with their few fish, gave them a discount, and I think they were still disappointed. I felt like whatever zone I was in a few days before was gone now, and I questioned whether I really did know what I was doing.
And so it goes. Anyone who says they have fish figured out and can catch them every time is nuts. It’s tough to live and die at the whim of a cold blooded creature with a brain the size of a pea.
