Fishing in America: Fishing for Business
Guides Help Novice Anglers Get Hooked Up

 Listen to Elizabeth Arnold's report.

 Back to the Fishing in America series

Guide Carlos Ordonez shows NPR's Liane Hansen how to flyfish. Photo: NPR's Elizabeth Arnold

"This little kid was flailing his rod in the air and I caught a hook right in the chin. I was standing right behind and I was like okay, hold on, hold on, and he's pulling on it. And he said, 'I think I'm in a bush' and kept jerking on it." Fishing guide Carlos Ordonez recalls a past client.

Guide Carlos Ordonez of WorldCast Anglers stands along the bank of the Snake River near Jackson, Wyo. Photo: NPR's Liane Hansen

Aug. 16, 2002 -- Fishing is a pursuit that demands patience. Teaching others how and where to fish requires even more patience.

Fishing Guide Carlos Ordonez knows this. While three women whip their rods around and slice the air with their fishing line on the banks of the Snake River, Ordonez ducks.

In the third story in her series, NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports for Morning Edition on fishing from the guide's perspective.

In most every town with a decent strip of open water, there are guides like Ordonez. Over the past decade as fishing has steadily gained in popularity, there has been a growing demand for their expertise.

Bob Hill has been a guide for more than 30 years. His manner on the water is patient and non-judgmental. Hill runs his own company, B-H Inc., and is full of stories about his years as a guide, with accompanying scars as proof of his claims.

"I had a trip with one lady who kept hooking me and after the fourth time I cut the hook off when she wasn't looking and she threw the fly the rest of the day and that solved that problem," Hill said. "She wasn't going to learn anyway. "

Guide Scott Rogers, of Mazama Fly and Troutfitters, is equally calm. Whether he is guiding wide-eyed beginners or someone who's irritable and impatient to catch a fish, the chance to be outside and watch his clients relax keeps him in the business.

While every guide swears it's his last season, then he's out there on the water again. Rogers says he's thought about giving up guiding, but never fishing.

"Once you get on the river you get tunnel vision and you forget all about anything that was on your mind and all you're thinking about is the water, where you are, and the fish," he said.

For next week's fishing series, Arnold will look at the big money to be made on the bass-fishing circuit.

In Depth

Browse more NPR stories on fishing.

Other Resources

• WorldCast Anglers Web site.

• Mazama Fly and Troutfitters.

• Learn more about flyfishing at The American Museum of Fly Fishing.

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