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FeedThe Season's Over. Now What?
The summer is now long over. No more guiding, back to fishing for myself. Leaving Wyoming was not easy for me, although the excitement of the unknown future is keeping me on my toes. I am not a person who can stay idle long.
Austin McPherson
The summer is now long over. No more guiding, back to fishing for myself. Leaving Wyoming was not easy for me, although the excitement of the unknown future is keeping me on my toes. I am not a person who can stay idle long.
I road-tripped with a few friends up to Jackson and down through Colorado into Texas. While fishing Granite Creek I caught my first cutthroat, which was exciting. In the middle of town looking down into a creek from a bridge I saw what I thought was a big carp. When it flashed to take a nymph, I realized it was a giant cutthroat. Easily the biggest one I have ever seen, this fish was pushing 25” and maybe more. I couldn’t believe I was 15 feet above this huge fish calmly holding and picking off food as it floated by. No wonder people come from around the world to fish here.
After a few nights checking out Jackson we drove 17 hours to a friend’s house near Durango, CO and fished a local river the next day. We caught some fish on the high, cloudy river and went back to the house for some beers before another 13 hours of driving to Dallas.
I really don’t know if I will guide again. I have considered the usual options of Patagonia or moving to Jackson to do the ski shop in the winter and guide in the summer deal, but I don’t know if that’s right for me. This is the first time in my life where I don’t know the next step, and honestly I’m a little freaked out. No more college (thank god) and now no job.
So, am I going to delay entering the real world? Or do I dive right in and become another lemming? After all, I have student loans, a car payment, and rent due. One thing I’m positive I do not want to do is wear a suit and tie and sit behind a computer in a 9X9 cubicle grinding it out. I want a job that I don’t consider to be a job, one that I enjoy waking up for every morning. True, this may be a little unrealistic, but at least I can try and be stubborn at first. One thing for sure is that the mountains are where I belong, and whether it is Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon or another Western state, I do know I will be there, somewhere.
So if you see a kid that looks kind of like a bum trying to fit in with the suits, or a kid uncomfortably dressed up, you might be staring into the face of this guy, or someone just like me, I know we’re everywhere.
Someone once posed the question, do you want to work a job that allows you the time and flexibility to fish whenever you want but have little money, or do you want a job where you can only fish occasionally, but have the money to afford nice trips? I don’t know how I’d answer that one yet.
Next stop for me is a week-long camping and fishing trip in Oregon with my best friend. Steelhead, salmon, rainbows and sea-run cutties are all on the list of things to go for. Catching them is another story.
Posted at 09:03 PM | Permalink
When wading boots are never dry, when passion — some would say obsession — for fly-fishing is so great, wet boots are a way of life. Wet Boots (the blog) is for anglers who know fly-fishing is far more than a way of catching fish. Wet Boots. No bait fishermen.
Reader Comments:
Austin:
I'm sure your going to get allot of responses like mine, which may help in your career planning. I dropped out of college and now at 42, I supervise a custodial crew. My wife and I make a modest living, but we do struggle at times paying bills. This may frighten you, my next fishing trip isn't until Memorial weekend, thats 6 months away. I'll fish the lakes and streams of Eastern Sierra, and by mid-July, I'll be doing my annual Montana trip. I have 3 weeks vacation a year, and most people consider me lucky. But I'm a flyfishing junkie too, and 3 weeks is not enough. I wish I took up teaching like my wife, so I can have 3 months off during the summer.
My suggestion to you is, either take up a teaching job or just stay in the industry. Take it from me, there are not that many jobs out there that offer 3 weeks paid vacation. The last time I fished, was in late October. As I metioned earlier, my next trip is in May. When March and April roll around, I get real moody. That itch to fish can really be annoying. So, just think about what I said, because I don't think you can go 7 months without casting a fly and getting hooked up. Good Luck,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ed Corona, Ca.