Fishing guides and been a part of fly fishing for centuries. From the ghillies of angling lore to the modern-day drift boat guides of today, fishing guides are an essential part of fly fishing throughout the world. In the United States there are excellent guides who a great teachers, ambassadors for conservation, and can possibly catch fish on a gravel road. But, hyperbole aside, what truly makes a great fishing guide?

Well, for the first time ever all in the same place, here is what makes a great fishing guide rise above the rest of them.

Work ethic. The best fishing guides have a tireless work ethic. They spend time on the water when others are at the bar or playing on Tinder. They hurry home to tie flies if a special pattern or variation was the cause for success. They have clean trucks and boats and take pride in both. The best fishing guides smash the myth of the beer-can-crushing-streamer-chucking-beater-truck-driving dirtbag because they are too busy honing their craft.

Adaptability. Guides who make a living doing this know it’s about being with people, not fishing. Guides who dabble but ultimately don’t cut it think it’s only about fishing. The best guides rise above their own personality and enjoy being with everyone. They work with their clients to understand them and have the maturity to adjust to a variety of personalities. As the day unfolds, the best guides are strangers at the start of the day but best friends by lunch.

Problem-solving skills. The best guides, whether fishing on their own or guiding clients, make it look easy. Easy is accomplished by layers of deciphering what the trout are eating, where they are holding, and how a relatively inexperienced angler can get a trout to eat their fly. By factoring in all the variables—ability, fishing situation, comprehension skills of their anglers, wind, glare on the water … and the list can go on—guides who impress when others disappoint do it because they think about fishing constantly, working to solve the mini-mysteries of a trout stream.

They know how to have fun. Fishing is fun. It is recreation and a break from the daily routine of life. As the saying goes, “the worst day of fishing beats the best day in the office.” For fishing guides, the water is their office. Great guides understand fun and play is an essential element to a day on the water. Catching fish is fun indeed, but the catching can come and go throughout a day; the top-shelf guides are enjoyable to be with even if the catching stinks.

Fishiness. It is an undeniable angling fact that certain people are born with a set degree of “fishiness.” But what the heck is fishiness? It’s how easy catching fish comes to certain people—some people just come to catching fish more naturally than others. To be a great guide, it helps to have an innate level of fishiness. There are plenty of great guides who fall in the middle of the fishiness scale, but they have mastered the above traits and work very hard day in and day out.

Ambassadors and conservationists. Fish need quality habitat to flourish. Fish, and the habitat they depend on, cannot defend themselves against the increasing threats of climate change, extractive industries and encroaching development. The best guides take pride in standing-up for their resources. They are members of national and grassroots organizations. They prioritize stewardship and education. Litter is hard to come by on rivers frequented by guides—even though they’re just a fraction of users—because the best guides pick up after others.

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