My First Guided Fishing Trip- Part 1

A little over a year ago, I was asked to donate to a Frontline Fly Fishing auction.  The organization was holding one of its fundraisers (I think it was their annual Iron Fly) and was trying to gather items/experiences to auction off.  After mulling over my options, I decided to offer something that I had never given away before.  Rather than a copy of my book or some flies in a fly box (which is what I have donated to fundraisers in the past), I decided to offer a half day guided trip.  I was hesitant to do this because it seemed a little risky.  I have never actually guided a client before and I wasn't sure if anyone would want my services.  While I have taken plenty of friends as well as kids on fishing trips and helped them catch fish, I have never taken out someone that I wasn't familiar with and tried to help them catch fish.

After the fundraiser, I was contacted by one of the members of Frontline and was informed that my trip had been purchased by a guy named Timothy.  While I knew of Timothy, I didn't know him very well.  I was a nervous wreck to contact him because this was the first "client" that I had ever had.  My plan was to get him on the phone, throw out some options of what we could do, and then let him choose where he wanted to go as well as what he wanted to fish for.  I offered up fishing some local lakes for smaller panfish with the likelihood that he would catch some gaudy numbers of fish.  Another option was chasing hybrid striped bass in the spring with the hope of catching one trophy fish.  The final choice was to visit some private farm ponds and chase largemouth bass.  On this trip, I couldn't promise trophy fish but I could almost guarantee multiple hookups on quality fish.

Tim chose to go the farm pond route and I started putting a plan together.  I had to compete with crops being in fields which limited access to some spots.  I also didn't want to make Timothy walk long distances because where is the fun in that?  I ended up settling on a pond that required about a quarter mile walk but I brought my 2-man boat to hit another pond as well.  The pond that required walking had fewer fish but bigger fish.  The pond that I planned to put the boat on had more fish but they tended to be on the smaller side of average.  The next obstacle that we had to overcome was finding a time where we were both available at the same time.  We both have kids as well as other responsibilities which made finding a time where we were both available a little tricky.  Admittedly, it took longer than I expected to get our schedules to sync up, but eventually a date and time was set.  

I picked Timothy up at his house at 5:00 AM on an early summer morning.  After arriving at our family farm, we headed towards pond #1.  We rigged up some 7 and 8 weight streamer rods and put some streamers on that were in the 6 inch range.  Timothy had a black streamer that he wanted to try out and I planned to throw a double deceiver from Milo's Flies.  My plan was to see if I could find a spot and pattern that I could then offer to Timothy but I also planned to limit my fishing.  I constantly reminded myself that this was Timothy's trip, not mine.  My plan was to be helpful and available to net fish but I didn't want to hover and/or be annoying.  

The first pond was a little slower than it usually is but I also know that the pond can be a little moody.  Don't get me wrong, Timothy caught a few with one of them being a high quality fish no matter what body of water you fish in northwest Missouri.  After throwing everything we had at the pond, including mice, we decided to move on to another location.  The idea of putting Timothy on a bunch of fish at another spot and being able to cover more water out of a boat tempted both of us.  It was about 8:30 when we arrived at pond #2.