John Bailey's guide to guiding principles

It really would not bother me a jot if I never personally caught a fish again and that actually increases the joy I get from helping others catch the fish of their dreams.

Back even into my 30s I wanted to be king of the river every trip out, and it’s a real monkey off your back when all that aspiration and ego is done with. Suddenly you find yourself free to enjoy the day without any hint of jealousy ever creeping in again. “It’s better to give than receive” - this really has to be the motto of anyone taking up the job. But, my goodness, there are complications. This is not the skive some seem to think it is, I’ll tell you. 

Of course, all this altruism doesn’t mean you are a saint and if you’d have heard my language today… well, let’s say I’m glad you didn’t. The Met Office. How many times do they get it wrong? I had a guy coming to see me on the Saturday and Friday night I looked at the forecast. Rain until 9am and then a pleasant day with averagely high temperatures. I told him to come. At 4pm, on the day, it was still raining hard with the thermometer recording a polar seven degrees. In short, the day was a washout. Any chance of river sport was ruined and because of the Met ”experts” I looked a complete charlatan. This happens again and again. If you or I were as bad at our jobs as these Charlies are we’d have been sacked long ago. My whole job is intricately linked to the wind direction, the air temperature, rainfall and sunlight and the Met Office gets the picture wrong catastrophically often. And we don’t even get an apology.

Julie and Dan with a cracker... fishing is a family thing (Image: John Bailey)

Nearly all my clients are great and most have been coming season on season, but time to time my breath is taken right away. Last week I had an angler asking what swim I was going to put him in “so he could judge if his methods would work there”?

What on earth was the point of him coming, I asked, if he wasn’t going to listen to how I approach the water, one I have known for 50 years? Nor was he happy when I said I choose swims on the day, looking at the river levels and knowing how they all fish differently. He was even less chuffed when I said that, anyway, I move swims frequently so that fish don’t get pressured and stress levels are kept low. None of this was up his street and perhaps thankfully, he didn’t come.

Bonuses are endless. Interesting companions with varied life stories. The pleasure of seeing faces smiling over a PB, a pair of skimming kingfishers or a lovely sunset. Swapping ideas and learning things I’d never before considered. The realisation I’m making new friends and laughing with anglers who have a far better sense of humour than my own. Perhaps, above all, when you are trying to catch fish for people, you work far, far harder than if you were alone. If you know the day is going to be a grueller, you either don’t go or pack up early. If you are guiding, these aren’t options and you just have to work and strive until you find an answer. This is good for your fishing knowledge and of course, the greater the challenge, the greater your satisfaction when a fish is landed.

Booking a guide, I feel, makes massive sense if you are facing a new water. Money is an issue, but time is a greater one. Money you can win back, but a wasted day is gone forever. If you do make time for a couple of days away, if you can afford a guide, go for it. Make every second of your fishing count.

I’ve guided for decades but I’ve also been guided for decades too. I know this is a two-way street. You don’t just owe a guide money. You owe him (or her, there are some magnificent female guides out there) respect and the courtesy of listening to his advice and then following it, at first at the least.

You don’t whinge over a bit of rain or a longish walk. You obey his rules, you ask your questions and you help make this fishing relationship work every way you can. You play your part in ensuring the day and the experience are enriched and that money has been well spent and well earned.

Guiding has existed since the days of  Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton and it has never been more important in these pell mell days. Guiding is a part of my life I’m proud of indeed!