After a particularly brutal day on the water Saturday, I thought it would be a good idea to warm up with some Maker's Mark at Izaak's. I was only going to have one but Brandon Boedecker from PRO Outfitters bought me another one and then I switched to IPA's. (For those of you not familiar with IPA's, the alcohol content is about double a normal beer so although my plan was to slow down, I was really just revving things up.)
The conversation went the way it normally does when guides and outfitters get together; starting with fishing and then products and what clients want when shopping in Craig and then to what clients are looking for when going out for a day on the water.
Our clients can be very diverse in their skill levels, experience and expectations and it's an important skill as a guide to read that and manage those expectations and then deliver. I've never doubted the importance of that but I also know that there is another part of the equation as an independent guide working for 12 to 15 different outfitters every year. Not only do you have to read the client but you also, to some degree, have to read and manage the outfitter's expectations as well.
For instance, I just worked my first day for an outfitter who I know out here but have never really been on his list until a few days ago when he was desperate to find someone last minute. When he called and asked me to do the day I of course enthusiastically said I would and he responded with, "Now these guys are really good clients and you have to get them a lot of fish..."
The next day when I showed up, the outfitter approached me again reiterating the fact that these guys want to catch a lot of fish and that if I treated them right, I would get more days from him. "I'm sure we'll have a blast..." I said and I met my guys and conducted my own interview with them and talked about what they wanted out of the day.
I told the guys if that's all they wanted was to catch a bunch of fish, we could go up to the dam with everyone else and make that happen or we could go down-stream and have a great day working a little harder, maybe catching fewer fish but doing some cool things away from the crowds. They both said they would rather go down-stream so that's what we did. At the end of the day, the outfitter gave me a call and thanked me for treating his clients right and that he was definitely going to use me again.
The conversation at the bar on Saturday took a turn when I said I wished some outfitters would ask a different question when you showed back up at the lodge from, "How many fish did you catch?" or even, "How was the fishing?" to, "How was your day?" I think everyone was in agreement to that but then I suggested that as an independent, we have to take into account that we are going to get that from some outfitters and it puts an added pressure to maybe change our approach. My point was that I struggle every day to work as much as I can, which ultimately means meeting the expectations of my clients but unfortunately, also means taking into account the expectations of the outfitter regardless of how reasonable those expectations are. And if I'm going to fill my calender, I don't have the luxury of picking and choosing what outfitters I work for.
I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if we "wrecked 'em" in front of clients or actually had a newbie to the sport who thought they had an awesome day catching their first fish on a fly rod being completed deflated by an outfitter or another guide brag about their day right in front of them. I've also had outfitters actually say, "If you're going to work for me you better be getting 'em."
So Brandon's response to this, (if I remember it correctly,) was to say as a guide at some point you just have to keep your integrity and maybe not work for those outfitters.
My initial reaction was that I was being called out for not having any integrity, which was probably not fair to what Brandon was saying and I shouldn't have let myself get offended. The conversation took a turn I wish it hadn't and I apologize to those involved. What started out as me trying to bring some perspective ended by me getting defensive and sounding like I was complaining, which was not my intent.
My point is only that sometimes I do feel like I have to compromise my approach with some outfitters because of the pressure of their expectations and looking back at the conversation more objectively, I think what I can take from it is that after 5 seasons of doing this, I should have the confidence that I know what the hell I'm doing and that I shouldn't let that pressure detract me from what's really important, which is what the client wants; to have fun. That's the bottom line. No matter how that is defined--whether by numbers or fishing in solitude or learning a new skill--we are all just out there to have fun.
And again, I apologize Brandon.
Keep 'em where they live...
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