This six day fly fishing guide school will expose you to opportunities for guiding from Pennsylvania to Alaska. A typical day of training goes from 9:00AM to 6:00PM. The course will cover fly casting, knot tying and rigging, entomology, safety, drift boat trailering and plenty of time behind the oars practicing rowing and guiding techniques, which will include client interaction. A shore lunch and refreshments will be provided each day. Accommodations and all meals included. Cost is $1695.

Guiding in Alaska, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Other Exciting Destinations

Guiding has taken our instructors to many famous fishing destinations including, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico, Florida and Chile. A fly fishing guides value is very often recognized their experience and Rivers Fly Fishing Guide School is a great way to start. Our guide operation is linked to several other guiding services and offers referrals to qualified students.

Numerous excellent trout fisheries in Pennsylvania and New York presents the experienced drift boat guide endless opportunities. The Lehigh River and the Delaware River are visited by thousands of fly fishing enthusiasts each season in pursuit of trout. A good number of these anglers look for drift boat guides and our Guide School can help to prepare you for this market with a comprehensive drift boat training regimen. You will leave our school ready to hop in a drift boat with confidence, knowing that you have the skill to operate the boat safely and effectively.

Well known among the bass angling community for their high quality smallmouth fishing, the Susquehanna River, Delaware River and Schuylkill River attract serious bass fisherman from all over the country. These large rivers, flowing through New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland are ideally fished from boats and are included as part of the training offered by Rivers Fishing Guide School.

If you're interested in drift boat fishing on New York’s famed Salmon River or wade fishing various Lake Ontarion tributaries and Steelhead Alley across Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, Rivers Fly Fishing Guide School instructors are big game specialists that will help you get on the fast track to developing a guide service iin these fisheries. In the North East, this season rounds out the fishing guides’ year with opportunities for work well into the winter months.

Internships

We sometimes accept guide school students as interns. Internships are not paid positions but we will provide accommodations and meals, as well as placement into the Rivers Outdoor Adventures guide program. Working side-by-side with our guiding staff, interns gain a wealth of documented fishing and boating experience. Assistance in obtaining Pennsylvania and New York Guide licenses is also provided. This program is limited and only the most serious prospects are chosen.

Wade Guide Training

Wade guiding makes up a substantial portion of some guides income. In fact, the fishing portions of most fly fishing schools are usually conducted while wading. This lesson is available to students who are looking to target wading anglers or interested in specializing in instruction. Rivers Fly Fishing Guide School conducts the small stream portion of this class on Pennsylvania’s challenging spring creeks, tailwaters and freestone creeks which include the the Letort Spring Run, Yellow Breeches, Clarks Creek, Tulpehocken Creek and the Little Schuylkill River. The "big water" sessions target New York's Delaware River and Pennsylvania’s Lehigh River, both of which present the guide and angler with situations far different than a smaller stream. You will learn techniques for developing safe, sound, and productive strategies for guiding on big rivers with emphasis in recognizing the limitations of your anglers.

• Proper Tackle
• Leaders
• Safe Wading
• Adapting to Your Clients Abilities
• Innovative Casts
• Techniques for Landing Fish

Drift Boat Training

The drift boat is preferred by many fly anglers all over the world, from California to New York, and Alaska to Chile. Our Fly Fishing Guide School is built largely around our expansive drift boat training, where you will have plenty of hands on training and direction from an experienced guide. Training will begin with the basics and progress over the course of the week to help you learn how to read water, negotiate obstacles, understand hydraulics, anchor safely, and let the boat and river do the work. These skills are often the biggest stumbling block for those who would like to learn how to row a drift boat properly.

• Boating safety
• Trailering safety
• Transporting trailers with boats
• Whitewater rowing techniques
• Backing down and pulling out of boat ramps
• Reading water
• Launching and taking out
• Logistics
• Safe anchoring
• Boating etiquette
• Providing the best fishing opportunities for your clients
• Dealing with some of the awkward situations that can occur in a drift boat

There will be plenty of opportunity for fishing through out a days drift. We feel that fishing is a key part of the learning process and better teaches the student on what is required of a good drift boat guide.

Guiding Skills

Besides boating skills, many other strategies for successful guiding are included in our class itinerary. From knots capable of handling the steelhead and salmon of New York’s Salmon river and the tributaries of Lake Erie to the entomology requirements needed to outsmart the selective trout of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh and Delaware rivers, our information packed, seven night, six day course includes daily seminars on:

• Entomology. An illustrated presentation will help you speak the language of bugs.
• Knot Tying and Rigging. Quick and strong is the recipe. Innovative rigs to handle varied conditions.
• Logistics. Get from point A to point B, shuttling vehicles and timing can be a bit confusing. We'll show you how to do get it done.
• Handling Your Guiding as a Business. Handling your bookings and managing your time is where it all starts.
• Guiding Etiquette. You can run over a wading angler’s fish or win him as a client. We'll share this and more of our etiquette policies.
• Guiding Equipment and its Maintenance. Your gear is your income. The proper gear and a practical maintenance program is the key.
• Preparing a Shore Lunch. Sometimes the fishing just sucks but the lunch should never!
• Client Interaction. Each student will spend a full day on the river guiding a client. From lunch to flies, this is the day when you are in charge and making the decisions.
• Creating and Managing a The “Gear List”. It’s a long drive back to shop for that life jacket you forgot
• Teaching Strategies
• Guiding the Novice Fly Angler. Novice angler's make up a big portion of guiding. These are your potential best clients.

What to Expect

Each morning after breakfast, we will meet in the classroom for a brief seminar, discuss the day’s schedule, followed by each student preparing lunch and assembling the gear for the days fishing adventure. As the week progresses, students will be asked to take on more responsibilities including readying boats and trailers, driving rigs to the river, launching and taking out boats. Our goal throughout the training is to expose you to every aspect of guiding.

We will spend our days fishing and boating on some of the finest fisheries in the east including the Lehigh River, the Delaware River and the Susquehanna River. After dinner each evening, a variety of activities will be available including: fishing on the Little Schuylkill, recommended video viewing and fly tying.

What's Included?

• Seven nights accommodations in our guide “Bunk Room” with bathroom and refrigerator
• Access to the classroom’s video and fly tying room
• All your meals including a greeting party the evening of your arrival and lunch on the afternoon of your departure
• All the necessary gear for your school
• Six days on the water, fishing, boating and becoming a guide!
• Classes are limited to four students allowing for plenty of hands on training. Our program also offers job referrals from Pennsylvania to Alaska with most of our own guides being trained through this program.

2010 Spring and Summer Dates

• April 5 - 11
• June 26 to July 1
• July 24 to July 29
• August 9 to 15
• Arrival time is 6:00PM the evening of the first day. Departure is 5:00PM the afternoon of the last day.

Cost: $1695

Transportation to and from local airports. $95