I firmly believe that some of the best money you can spend when fishing a new location is on a guide. A local guide can put you on the fish faster than anything else. You do not have to waste half, or more, of your trip simply finding a good place to fish. After you have used a guide, you can revisit the area by yourself.
I recently went on a fly fishing trip in the mountains around Staunton, VA. I chose Wild Mountain Trout Fly Fishing as my guide. There is a lot of competition with guide services in the area I visited. I chose Wild Mountain Trout Fly Fishing because it has a very informative web site, could accommodate beginners, and was priced reasonably. I booked the trip about four months in advance. It was a good decision.
A beautiful native Brook Trout |
Our trip got off to a rocky start. The day before our trip I called our guide to nail down the details. There was a scheduling problem (his, not mine) and we would not be able to fish with him the entire day. Also, we would have to fish the evening, not the morning. This was annoying, but ended up being OK. I had a great time that morning exploring and fishing a few of the local lakes.
Our guide, Steve, took us to a stream that contained both wild and stocked brook trout. The scenery was beautiful.
Mist rolling down the stream. |
A nice stocked trout |
Edit: One year after this trip I received a phone call from this guide. He was confirming that we had scheduled a fishing trip with him for the following Saturday. I had not made this reservation. Apparently he had placed my reservation on the wrong year. When I tried to explain this to him, he got quite rude. I had to hang up on him after asking him to not call me back.
I do not recommend this guide. He is disorganized and rude.
Wild Mountain Trout Fly Fishing did not compensate me for this review. It was unsolicited. I paid for the guide service with my own money.