Ever wonder what a guide does when the weather doesn’t allow any fishing to be done during winter steelhead season? When you run a guide business, the work is nearly endless.

The boat, which is sometimes the last thing you want to be around, needs some serious cleaning attention, organization and there’s maintenance as well. Let’s not forget about all those pre-tied hooks, leaders, yarnies, there’s reels to keep re-spooled with fresh line or because you broke off at the reel 3 trips ago and never had the opportunity to fix that issue; whoops!! 🤷🤷‍♂️

Can’t leave out tending to that precious bait that makes or breaks your trip.. keeping track of what you have is a vital part of the job.. wouldn’t want to fall short. But hey, if we are in need and there is a day off, that just means fishing for us so, is it really a problem?! 😉 Being able to supply ourselves with fresh eggs cured with our own little twist ensures quality bait for the clients and time in the outdoors for us to enjoy doing what we love. Win win situation for everyone!

Here’s a little secret… if you haven’t been to a guides “shop” or area of getting all the behind the scenes work done, consider yourself lucky!  Pre-season, everything seems to have a specific spot and is put away so beautifully, you know where it is before you go to the shop. Mid-season, this spot always looks like a tornado twisted through, things scattered and out of place! ( 🤦 <– my wife )

After work hook tying 

The days are revolved around being out of bed by at least 4:30 A.M., packing breakfast, lunch, snacks or just beverages for the clients, getting on the road before its too much later, stressing, oh the stress, of finding those fish for clients, hitting the road back home; at least and hour, if you’re lucky. When you do make it home, it’s more pre-tying leaders and at least taking the trash out of the boat from the day.

Re-spooling with NK mini

Add all this into having a family to keep happy; the 5 year old, 3 year old and the wife, there is just not enough hours in one day!

The love for watching people catch fish and appreciate being in the outdoors in the company of NK Fishing Guides drives that passion for this job. Seeing a face light up when that rod bends over and line screams down river makes my days! All the “behind the scenes” work is forgotten and worth every second.

We love the fact that we get to catch people fish for a living and get the public outside enjoying what mother nature has put out there for us!

A fishing guide has the best office a person could ask for being outdoors everyday. Everyday we wake up we are so thankful that our fishing passion can be past to everyone that meets us!

That’s all for now.. tune in soon for the next fun story!

NK Fishing Guides