Having recently gotten back into the guiding business I have thought a lot about what I want my clients to experience and WHO my clients are. This is something different from guide to guide and region to region. My buddies who guide tarpon and sailfish anglers, or even grouper and snapper, have a much different view on their clientele than I do. A lot of them refuse to take locals fishing or refuse to take someone who isn’t from at least four hours away. I understand. In fact, Flip Pallot, my hero, was that way. If you could earn it, he thought you should earn it! I’m not like that. 

One of my favorite trips is to get a young person their first fish or their first type of fish. That was last weekend. The Wehman family reached out to me and said they wanted to get a trip for their son to learn how to fish Lake Sinclair. They had just bought a house here. They wanted to fish on a Saturday, which I am willing to do, but really like to go early. So, I picked them up at their dock at 6:30 a.m. and off we went! About an hour and a half into our trip I was marking fish like crazy and had been all morning, but I couldn’t buy a bite. In desperation I changed areas and tactics. Gave Evan a Capt. Mack Super Spoon and said, “you know what, these fish usually bite if I’m playing Phil Collins.” 

Dadgum, within 30 seconds of that coming out of my mouth as I turned on “Another Day in Paradise,” the kid had hooked a solid striper. His first. Caught six good fish in the next little bit. Now the moral of this story is this: You never know what or when the fish will turn on but it’s certainly funny when this kind of stuff happens. My good friend Capt. Mack did the same thing once with Fig Newtons, and it stuck to the point where I believe Mack is the worldwide representative for Fig Newtons now. I could see worse things than being the Phil Collins rep.

We spent our morning getting acquainted with the lake, and me showing them easy and safe places to cruise and swim, how to get to different places, and searching for fish. It was a great morning, and I had a ton of fun with them. Truly a great trip, especially to see their son’s smile when he caught his first striper. That alone made it worth getting up at 4 a.m. and being on the water at 6. Truly not a bad life taking people fishing and writing about it. 

Guides also usually volunteer a lot. We realize how lucky we are! Trust me!!! I love donating trips to the Outdoor Legacy Foundation, for instance, and taking special needs kids and veterans fishing. One local guide who does something similar is Capt. Doug Nelms. He puts on a fishing derby every year to raise money for St. Jude Childrens Hospital. This year his tournament raised $8,115 for this EXTREMELY worthy group. Mark Smith of Reeltime Guide Service donates a ton of time and effort to several of the 30-30 Ministry’s camps and takes a number of children fishing every year. 

So, in short, this is the essence of being a guide these days. Passion and gratitude. Don’t fish with anyone who doesn’t embrace both! If you want to book a trip with me simply reach out at jameskpressley@gmail.com and we will go on either lake!