The infrastructure of guiding has changed in drastic ways in the 20 years since I began. Networking with hotel owners, fly shops, bait and tackle shops, local marinas; That was how I found my guests.

Meeting people, having an actual conversation, was required in gaining their trust. In essence my guide service operated the same as in the era of railroads and city-slickers and other “sports” coming to vacation in the Adirondack wilderness a century-and-a half ago.

Successful guides today must seek the promotion of the internet…Learn how to dominate the search engines. To eke a modest living from the trade of guiding modern day guides must be computer savy social media gurus. Search Engine Optimization and “keywords” offers modern-day guides a whole new set of tools.

Deciphering the complex and complicated word of socal media and cyberspace is a daunting task when you believe there exists nothing more juxtaposed than technology and nature.

Experience — possessing the knowledge and skills to provide a safe, enjoyable, and successful experience in the outdoors — are still the most important attributes of operating a successful guide service.

Like most professional guides, I grew up hunting and fishing. My father took the time to teach me what he had learned.

Things like how to read a trout stream. Where to put a tree stand. How to discern safe ice from unsafe ice. When to pull the anchor. When to get the hell off the lake. And when not to launch the boat at all.

Important skills. Skills I learned at an early age. Skills I have grown and rely upon today.

The satisfaction in the trade and craft of professional guiding comes from helping people experience the outdoors. 

The world of social media, the internet, it’s clickbait and eye candy, where anyone can invent themselves into anything…That is a wilderness I struggle to navigate. For many “guides” social media and the internet is the catalyst, the backbone, of their existence.

A work-ethic, experience, sound judgement, and good instinct will always be the most important attributes of a good guide. Like it was in 1880, 1990, and will be in 2025.

When my back aches hoisting an anchor chain, or dragging a sled on the ice, I remember what a good friend once said to me; “Old guides make the best guides”.

I think he is right.