A Reel Job
Short Stories & Thoughts from the River
Published on 15. January 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
174 pages
978-1-7372556-0-4 (ISBN)
Description
The river is full of surprises. There are certain things I can anticipate on any given day-the flow, the tides, the weather-but each day spent guiding is a fresh story waiting to be written. Some days are normal and uneventful short stories, some are long-winded novels of struggle and victory, and others are biographies of the people I encounter. In my opinion, the true story of our lives is told through the day-to-day. We tend to focus on the large, life-changing events-and, yes, those tend to be exciting and oftentimes insightful-but true life is what happens from one day to the next as we wander down our life's path. The decisions we make, the things we see, the people we love, the religion we believe in, and the work we do are the things that define us. As we look back through our careers, we all recall moments in the workplace that made us laugh, made us angry, brought sadness, and created feelings of joy. Through the writing of this book, I've been able to reflect on the countless river stories that I have experienced. Stories of big fish caught, bigger fish lost, memorable clients, threats from wildlife encountered on the river, and just plain old funny situations shared with complete strangers. These stories that you are about to read are but a taste of the sights and sounds that the river has provided my clients and me over the last 20 years. So go grab a cold drink and find a comfy chair. My hope is that you'll enjoy reading these tales as much as I've enjoyed living them.
More details
Person
I owe this crazy fish passion of mine to my father. From an early age my dad had me on the water learning how to catch whatever creatures were swimming in the water. We always had rods in the car ready to go rigged with red and white bobbers, rainbow power bait, or black panther martins. See growing up in San Diego as a young kid there weren't a lot of local fly fishing options. So my dad taught me how to catch fresh and saltwater fish using conventional casting rods. When I was twelve my dad said that we should try to be like "Brad Pitt" and check out some fly fishing. I was hooked from the very first moment of casting a hopper onto the riverbank and watching a cutthroat slowly rise from the depths to slurp in my fly. From that moment on I became a fly fisherman and I stored my red and white bobber in the back of some old Plano tackle box to start collecting years of dust.UC Davis brought me to Northern California in 2001. I thought I had made a responsible decision, giving up the prestigious fly fishing of the Universities of Montana and Colorado for a serious college education at UCD. Ha! Little did I know that the location of UC Davis in Northern California is near some of the best wild trout and steelhead fishing in the state.During my "B.S." years, it seemed I spent just as much time studying trout and steelhead behavior on the rivers as I did in the classroom. And despite the unrelenting call of the fish, I managed to earn a degree in Business & Management and land a beautiful, passionate, fly-fishing wife. Then, in 2006, in pursuit of more fish and an ever-higher education, my wife and I moved to Chico, California. I worked part-time to earn an MBA while continuing to guide. We could not help falling in love with Chico, so in 2009, we made it our home. Soon after moving to Chico, our family began to grow. I now have two beautiful, sweet, funny, and full of wonder daughters. After living in California for my whole life, and guiding for 20 years in NorCal, we decided to make a big change and move to Northwest Montana in 2022. Montana has been so good for all of us. We truly feel blessed to live in the mountains, be surrounded by God's natural beauty, and have incredible outdoor activities nearby. So many fly fishing options!!Guiding isn't just a job for me. When you love fishing as much as I do, it's an art and a passion and a life all wrapped up. There's nothing better than seeing a client's face light up as his or her line tightens. Guiding has been good to me. So good that I wanted to find a way to share this gift with others by giving it away. In 2009, my wife and I started Cast Hope, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which aims to use fly fishing to introduce outdoor activities to the underserved kids of California, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. Through fly fishing we are able to introduce kids to camping, hiking, conservation, and outdoor education. Our goal is to support and encourage these kids by using the outdoors and fly fishing to get them out of their normal hard life situations. Through Cast Hope we are positively impacting kids one life at time. Check out the website and videos online and let us know how you would like to get involved.Over the years my clients and I have caught lots of great fish, but even better than that, we've made some great memories. I want to thank you all for making my guiding career so enjoyable and filling my storybook with countless fish tales. I look forward to sharing those tales with you in my books, A Reel Job, Reelly, and Reel Salty. Stay tuned for a fourth book coming, with a release date still TBD. Cheers.