“Guy” gave me a call about a month ago after he read in a forum a negative review someone gave me.
He mostly wanted to let me know that someone put information about me
in a forum he frequents, and wanted to know what was up with that.
I explained to him that everyone is entitled to their opinion, even
if the poster never met me in person, let alone spent one minute with me
on the water. We had a conversation about professionalism, and he too
has fallen under attack from sources behind the screen.
His second question to me, since the post peaked his curiosity to
visit my website, was about the NuCanoe. We talked in depth about the
NuCanoe and the stability of the unit and why I choose the NuCanoe to
guide out of instead of the traditional boat. I told him that the
NuCanoe makes me the most aggressive and competitive canoe/kayak guide
in the country and once people get in the NuCanoe, their skepticism
quickly fades.
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| Yellow Popper |
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Guy is a die hard fly guy, and the reason he visits the forum he read
about me in is to learn more about fly fishing the driftless area. He
said the forum lacks any other kid of fishing, and he’s always wanted to
try fishing for bass on the fly. I told him that I have the spot in
mind for a good time, and if he was game to book an appointment to check
out the NuCanoe and the worst guide in the Midwest.
When Guy and I finally hit the water, it was about 3:30 and muggy/
humid. I already had the NuCanoes set up, and ready to go. He had one
question: what fly rod to grab. He had five rods at his finger tips. I
told him to grab the 7 wt, he felt it was too heavy and went with the 5.
I was worried because I wasn’t sure the 5 will have enough backbone to
hit a pike; but he will quickly prove me wrong.
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| Pike hitting popper off the water |
Guy and I paddled to the top of a spring, a feeder for a slough that
feeds the head waters of Lake Onalaska, territory any bass boat or even
some flat bottoms would cringe. Riddled with sandbars and thick weeds,
this water would prove a challenge for any propeller on any motor. Guy
commented on how nice it was to glide over the weeds and that, though
his paddle caught the weeds, he wasn’t having any trouble getting over
them.
Once we got to the spring, it was game on. Guy tied on a yellow
popper that produced several northern pike. At first he found himself
getting clipped off, so he upgraded to a thin steel leader. Then he
honed in on the pike, after the pike tore his popper up, he switched to
a silver streamer with a trailer, a rig the bass and dogfish couldn’t
keep their teeth out of.
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| Bringing a 30 inch Pike | |
Guy will admit it was a little weird having a net guy in the next
boat over, but it freed him up to fish where he wanted to fish, and
allowed him to operate his fly rod effectively. He confesses that he
doesn’t know what he would have done on a fly outing with another angler
behind him.
Like many guests before, I had no problem running point, netting the
fish, taking it off the hook and allowing my guest to fish. It’s nice to
be face to face with my guest when they pull up their catch and high
five them on their release.
After a 40 fish day, Guy was in tears. Never in his life would he
imagine catching bass, pike, dogfish, and garr in the same 150 yards,
and if he had smaller tackle, he would have caught crappie and bluegill.
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| Spunky Bass |
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Guy was humbled at the amount and size of the fish he caught on his
fly rod, and never would have imagined the fish being so aggressive.
He’d never dreamed of watching a pike or a bass jump out of the water to
grab a fly. Guy said “it was just like on T.V” and was more than happy
to return to the twin cities with his NuCanoe on order, and a few
business cards to pass to his friends and other members of the forums he
visits.
