Brown trout, Star Wars and Streamer fishing

There are several conversational constants that occur on nearly every guide trip with an unfamiliar client.

I will ask what they do for a living.
They will ask me where I'm from.
I'll tell them how many trout per mile are in the Missouri.
They'll ask me how long I've been guiding for.

This is protocol. Its scripted. Not to say that its not enjoyable, which it certainly is. Eventually, normally directly following the former two questions, they'll ask me how I ended up guiding fly fishermen in Craig, Montana. Its a perfectly reasonable question, and one that I've put alot of thought into without any substantial progress on an answer. I've lived the backstory and i've come up with a couple of theories.

"How does a guy from Massachusetts end up guiding the Missouri?"

The dry humorist in me usually answers

"I've made alot of bad decisions" or "Im not really sure, I had a few too many cocktails at Fenway one afternoon and woke up five years later in Craig" or my personal favorite would be "I'm not actually a guide, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night." Jokes, all jokes, but each of these answers does have a grain of truth in it.

The best answer to the question that I've come up with has alot to do with Brown trout, Star Wars and Streamer fishing.

If a 22 inch Brown trout is Obi-Wan Kenobi, then a 15 inch rainbow is an ewok. They're both on the same side. They're both a boatload of fun to catch. The force is with both of them. That 15 inch rainbow is a lot more likely to run real fast and jump eight feet out of the water. The rainbow will make some bad decisions. He'll jump three feet out of the water to eat a single caddis. You don't see many Big Browns free jumping and eating cottonwood. When they eat on the surface its barely visible sometimes. They're calculated. They don't waste energy. I'd love to say that I ended up guiding in Craig because I live like a big Brown trout; that I'm here through a series of calculated intelligent choices, conserved my energy and made great decisions. The truth is that Im probably more similiar to the rainbow. I react. I make instinct calls. I dont take the long view. I eat. I get caught. Then the next day, i get caught again. I get a little smarter as time passes, maybe I don't eat a rainbow czech nymph every day anymore. Maybe i want a pheasant tail with a glass bead or one of those fancy new mercer patterns.

OK, I've got it- I live like a huge Brown eating a streamer. Dont think about it, be about it.

Some people are 15 inch rainbows, some are 24 inch Browns. Still others are Keys Permit or spooky Downtown Bonefish. They're cautious, they think hard about what they eat, they have a plan to move with the tides and they stick to it. I am in awe of these people. I respect the hell out of someone who can formulate a five year plan and accomplish it in four. These people make the world go around.

The fact is that Im not sure I every had any choice but to guide fishermen on the Missouri and I wouldn't have it any other way.