An environment of pure joy for me is floating down a river fishing for trout. Or standing in unpressured waters casting for unsuspecting browns. Nothing else requires the focus and reward required. However, I don’t own a boat, or creekfront property, so I have to get a guide to take me.
I don’t mind – it’s money well spent. A couple of years ago Mrs. RCS and I spent the weekend at The Greystone on Lake Toxaway, and decided to go fishing with Headwaters Outfitters out of Rosman. We could only do a half day, so we were set to wade private waters on the East Fork of the French Broad. I was very familiar with Headwaters, which is one of my favorite fly shops on the East Coast, but I’ve never fished with them.
We were hooked up with Jeremy ‘Ringo’ Shurites. I’ve had many guides for all sorts of outdoor adventures, but Ringo was different. He is a take-no-shit kind of guy, who knows his craft as well as anyone in the world. He put us on fish, corrected both my and Mrs. RCS’s approach, and ensured that we had a good time. We really hit it off, and now Jeremy and I fish together three or four times a year – floating, wading, whatever. We text quite a bit, and have developed a friendship that I hold dear.
On a recent float trip with the Zebra Cake Mafia, we talked about doing a piece for the blog – specifically about how to be a good client FROM A GUIDE’S PERSPECTIVE. There aren’t any articles like this out there…down and dirty. Keep reading for all you need to know about good behavior:
Who are you? How long have you been guiding? I’m Jeremy Shurites or as some people call me Ringo. Renowned storyteller and full-time fly fishing guide. I’m going into my 6th year of guiding, which started on the Delaware River on the border of PA and NY. Now I spend the majority of the year fishing WNC and on the Delaware in May and June.
What brought you to Western, NC? The opportunity for year-round fishing, diverse water types, and hopper/dry fishing all year.
If you could give any client ONE piece of advice (before coming on a guided trip), what would it be? A good attitude goes a long way. When the guide calls you to discuss meeting details to when you meet in shop the day of. Those interactions usually set the mood for the trip.
What makes an ideal client? I prefer someone who wants to learn or someone who just wants to be outside and enjoy a great day on the water. Expressing that when you first talk to your guide helps them set up a day tailored to what you want. If you want to learn, I can pick a suitable piece of water to practice your overhead casting for dry fly fishing or a good stretch to work on euro nymphing. If you are looking for an enjoyable day on the water, then I can plan to pack into a quiet tributary where there is nothing but great wild fish and not a soul around. But you have to be vocal- guides aren’t mind readers.
How many of your clients are repeat visitors vs. first-timers? I’d say probably 50/50. First-timers are great! It gives me an opportunity to bring people into my world on the river, and hopefully they fall in love with it too. More people in the river means more people that want to help keep it clean and protect our fish.
What are your pet peeves? FISH COUNTERS and know-it-alls. Don’t be the guy that shows up and the first question you ask is ‘How many fish are we going to catch today?” My goal for the day is to show you a good time and catch fish. I can put the right fly on, position you in the fishy-ist spot, and show you the cast but I can’t hold the rod with you to make the drift and set the hook. It’s an awkward situation, trust me. Also, telling the guide that he has the wrong fly, they should use a different knot, or that they should move spots because there’s no fish there are all good ways to push a guide’s buttons. Trust me, I know there’s fish there, I put you in that spot for a reason.
What is the worst experience you ever had as a guide? Let’s just say it was a mix of a bad attitude and some who “knew much more than me.”
What is the best experience you ever had as a guide? I took an (at the time) 97-year-old WWII vet out when the rivers were blown on a float trip. All of the odds were against us but I was hell bound to get this man a trout. A trip that was supposed to be a full day ended up being only 3 hours because of how fast the water was moving. 3/4 of the way down the river I managed to get the anchor to hold white I changed flies. While I was retying I glanced to my left and saw a brown trout sipping mayflies in an eddy 10 feet from the boat. 4 casts later we managed a 22″ brown in the boat. That’s the short story, if you want the whole story, meet me on the river and ask me about “code name Bob”.
How much should you tip a guide? A lot of guides don’t like to answer this question, me included, but I’ll tell you how I feel. $100 will have you welcomed back without a doubt. If you feel your guide went above and beyond, feel free to tip more. When your day is done and you know you want to come back, leave your guide a good tip and I guarantee you they will answer the next time you call. Hell, they might even move trips around to fit you in if it’s during the busy season.
Closing remarks – What did I miss, and what should anyone looking for a guide keep in mind? I think you hit the nail on the head, Jay. Just remember to have a good attitude for your trip, it’ll go a long way. When you book a guided trip, you are paying for their knowledge and the years the guide put into mastering a craft, learning the rivers, and understanding fish. At the end of the day if you learned something new, caught some fish, had a fun time, or got some nice pictures or new memories, the guide did their job.
A cool thing happens too when you find a guide that you mesh with, it becomes more of a friendship then a guide-client relationship after a few trips. That will have the guide looking forward to you coming back and them reaching out to you when the fishing gets hot or a unique opportunity comes up.
Not all good guides have social media, they usually spend too much time on the water to worry about the gram. Look for recommended shops or guide services in the area you are looking to fish.
See y’all on the water!
Jeremy AKA Ringo
@jbackcast
Headwaters Outfitters
Great article. I’m somewhat newer to fly fishing and have used a guide several times. Regarding tipping: is there usually a percentage amount of the cost of the trip to base it on? And is that total per person (if there’s more than one in your group) or the total amount of the trip? My very first time I went fly fishing our guide was rude and frustrated with us for not knowing everything or any techniques, which we established up front how green we were. Other trips I’ve had excellent guides. If you’re fishing WNC then I highly recommend using Hunter Banks out of Asheville.
Good article. I have fished all over, fresh and salt. Lots of different guides and a lot of DIY’ing it. I have a lot of guides that are truly friends of mine. I respect your article. But I have to point out that a pet peeve of mine is all the articles that I’m seeing about how to make the guide happy and what the guide wants in a client. Say this, dont say that. Do this, don’t do that. It seems to be getting a little ridiculous! Like we are out there spending a ton of our money and we are supposed to make sure that the guide’s happy. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? We are paying top dollar for these trips and nice tips on top of that. In return it’s article after article about guides’ problems with clients. I know there are always going to be those people who are difficult clients- think they know more than the guide etc. I’ve heard plenty of stories about that from friends of mine that are guides. Im not talking about that type of person. Im talking about the rest of us. For the rest of us, guide should take more care and spend more energy making sure that we (the client) are happy and has a positive experience. I am a professional and Ive worked my entire life. I have had more “difficult” clients that I could ever remember. Doesn’t matter. They’re the client. Im the one charging them money and providing a service to them. I’m certainly not going on and on about how my clients should make me happier. Anyway, just this one man’s opinion. Enjoy your page
Point taken. I’m a fairly serious golfer (50-60 rounds per year), and have seen the same articles about “how to make your caddy happy”.
That being said, as this article points out, communicating with your guide (or caddy) and setting realistic expectations will make for a better experience. Maybe I don’t need a guide to help me with my cast, instead I just want them to tell me cool stories and get me on some fish. Other times, maybe I would like some pointers on my roll cast and would like more of a personal fishing lesson then to actually tons of fish.
Same with a caddy. Depending on the group I am playing with, sometimes I just need the caddy to be more of a spotter and help keep our pace of play. Other times I would like for him to be pretty colorful with his commentary regarding the course and his experience, and be liberal with his readings of the green. I’m always sure to let the caddy know what kind of group we are and our expectations for the day.
This is awesome! I would love to get into fly fishing, but not sure how easy it would be here.
Great read. Seems like the real deal guide and a fun guy as well.