Becoming a Fishing Guide, with Mike Dawkins

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

How do I become a guide? Should I get a job as a guide? How do I train to be a fishing guide? What skills do I need? I get these questions all the time on podcast requests, and because I have neither the skills nor the temperament to be a guide I asked our good friends at World Cast Anglers, specifically Mike Dawkins, to talk about the guiding life. They should know as they probably employ more fly-fishing guides than any other operation, and they have also been running a guide school for years. Listen to this week’s podcast about the pleasures and perils of being a fly-fishing guide. In the Fly Box this week, here are a few of the questions I try to answer: · How do I land giant alligator gar? · Where should I put my weight in relation to my tippet ring? · What are your top three suggestions for teaching someone to fish with a fly rod? · Should I get a weight forward or double taper fly line? · Can I use tightline nymphing techniques when fishing downstream? · How do I simplify and lighten up my gear when backpacking? · I get corrected—a listener has seen seen trout eat adult early black stoneflies and yellow sallies · How do I fish a long, clear, shallow stretch with no riffles without spooking fish? · Is it OK to put a perfection loop in my fly line? · Can I use a sinking poly leader when indicator fishing? · Why am I losing fish that I have hooked while fishing nymphs during the winter? · Why did I not catch fish while fishing nymphs during the winter?