40 Trips...

So I am digging through a bunch of back stuff I have been meaning to post on my youtube channel in the form of tying videos and blog posts that didn’t make it into magazines … here is one from the last year enjoy.

Been a few years…

40 Trips

Written May 2020

Captain Hogan Brown

I am about to wrap up my 40th trip around the sun … I think that is how it works…either way I turned 40 in 2019 and am about to turn 41 this June. Turning 40 didn’t really freak me out as much as I thought it would. Sometimes when I stop to think about it, I think maybe it should freak me out, but it doesn’t …I guess I don’t feel 40. I have gotten healthier over the last 5 years, found happiness and contentment on many levels, and just look around and even amongst COVID and all the uncertainty that is going on with the world, I think things aren’t that bad.

That said I have realized in many ways I am getting old(er)…I feel my body breaking down, hell let’s be honest, I have been feeling that since I was 30, but I think more importantly I see the world moving past me in some ways. In the last year I have felt “old fashioned” or maybe that my way of doing things, or processing how things should be done, are “outdated”. I have even felt the need to clarify my thinking to friends by saying maybe I am wrong, or maybe I am just getting to be an old curmudgeon.

I came up as a fly fishing guide under three legendary guides, one being probably one of the most legendary guides in the state of California. I am a true believer that while I have accomplished a lot in the fly fishing world, I have only taken what I learned from these 3 men and worked hard to make them proud of me, using what they taught me to honor them and show my gratitude for the time they spent with me. My goal always has been to be successful by working hard, innovating, honoring those that came before me, and respecting the game that is guiding. Simplified, this is what they taught me.

The lessons these men taught me were not the easy kind. I had to earn these lessons and the knowledge they had to share. The first one I met over 20 years ago. He was a fulltime fly fishing guide at the time and I was working for his roommate who managed the local fly shop in Chico.  I came over to their house for a beer after working in the shop on evening. I came in and sat down at the dining room table where this person was tying egg patterns for the next day on the river – he was a fulltime guide and in my mind, the coolest cat around.

 I started asking about the pattern he was tying and where he would use it and such. He looked at me and basically said with one look, “who the hell are you” followed by a “get the F out of here and forget what you saw” with a simple movement of his eyes. Now this man was a very intimidating Hispanic fellow who basically with a bitch slap to the face put my 21 year old self back in my place. My boss at the fly shop just shrugged his shoulders and handed me a beer as I ran out scared to the back yard.

It was my first lesson in humility, and that to earn a place at the metaphorical table as well as the physical table I had to, not only show that I was a good fly fisherman or guide, but that I was a good person, could be trusted, and understood my place in the food chain. Once I had done that maybe I could show them what I could do in a drift boat and on the river, and if I passed that test I could eat some scraps off the table. 

Those first few years blur together, but I think I earned the respect of this individual when I saved his dogs life – nothing to do with fly fishing. His dog was hanging at the fly shop I worked at and someone, not me, had left pheasant bones from a lunch in the garbage can with a FULL reel worth of backing. Well the dog got dropped off early at the shop that morning and ingested ALL the bones and backing. Needless to say I called him and the dog was under the knife that afternoon.

I think the real respect came when this individual started throwing me some nuggets of advice and I took that advice and put it to use. Replicating success and then making sure to thank him for the advice and share any of my own observations, fly patterns, wins/losses, or plain insight back. I think I began to be seen as a worthwhile individual when what I offered back was just as valuable as what he was sharing with me, and helping him out in the process.

In the end this individual would end up selling me his drift boat, being in my wedding, introducing me to the other two guides I would come up under, and is still a lifelong mentor and friend. When I look back he taught me a lot about being a guide those early years, but mostly it was about hard work and how to behave and carry myself. For most of those early years I was scared of him…I didn’t want to do anything to upset him, disappoint him, or do wrong by him. I looked up to him and feared him like a father.

The fear I think came from violating the clear-cut rules and lessons about “what you don’t do as a guide” or basically what he would kick my A$% for doing.  I remember he told me once very early on “you want everyone to feel good about using you, whether they are a fly shop, outfitter, or independent guide.” This was GRILLED INTO ME with a long list of things I can still recite today:

- Never give a person your card or tell them to call you directly. THEY ARE NOT YOUR CLIENT! They are the client of the guide, shop, or outfitter that referred them.

– Make sure to sell the people in your boat on product that they can then purchase at their local shop.

– Make sure to talk about fishing that is coming up next season and have them book the trip through the source of the that trip when they get back home.

- Call the guide, shop, or outfitter that referred the trip to you THAT DAY on the way home to thank them and tell them how the trip went.

- When a veteran guide is on the river, at the boat ramp, or ANYWHERE you don’t go in front of them or get in front of them…even if it is at the deli line or bathroom. Know your place.

 The bottom line is he taught me that respect for those that came prior was mandatory. I knew the floats that I was welcome on and the ones that I had to earn. I knew I could figure out how to fish those other floats, but I, according to him I had not logged enough years and days on the water to “be allowed” on those floats. Those floats were hard earned knowledge and while I may be able to guide them, they belonged to the guides that had pioneered them, and I was not welcome on them yet, or ever would be without those guides permission.

I look back and think how many years I slogged it out on Posse to Bonnie or Anderson to Balls on the Lower Sac before I was “allowed” to stay closer to home on the Balls to Barge or Barge to Bend floats, and then eventually the crown jewel steelhead float, Red Bluff to Los Mo. Yes, I could’ve gone and learned those floats at any time on my own. Floated them on my days off and figured it out, BUT if I went out on a day off with a buddy and saw one of the few guides that worked those floats I feared there would be a phone call made. Breaking what I saw as the carved in stone, somewhere on a river bank, rules was not an option.

Maybe the fear was just self-imposed, or a misinterpretation of the situation, but I doubt it. I think I just felt so damn lucky to be getting paid for taking people fishing, and so grateful that this person had faith in me. A lot of my fear came from possibly losing the first thing in my life that I was good at without really trying. I was good at other things, but I had to work really hard I felt to be just mediocre, and with guiding I felt I was just a natural to some degree.

He introduced me to two other guides that would become mentors, both in different ways, but both taught me what they knew ONLY because of the faith this person had in me. I remember the “interview” with one of them was a 2 day, 3 boat trip. The trip was on 2 different floats I had never done on the Lower Sacramento River. I honestly don’t remember much about the trip outside of a few key details.

I was the last boat in line both days behind the veteran guides and while my clients caught fish I remember I got smoked by the other two guides on the water as I had NO IDEA how to fish the float. I also remember being dog tired as I back rowed every spot in nausea with these other two guides making sure to never be the first one to leave a spot cause I had no idea where I was going without following them.

When I think back I feel bad for the guys that got put in my boat as I was more concerned about not doing anything to piss off the other guides and not get asked back, and at the same time watching their EVERY move to learn as much as I could from them. The last thing on my mind was my clients catching fish, though I knew I needed to catch a few so it wasn’t super obvious I was the “new guy.”

I also learned the subtle differences about guiding that make a guide a great guide with regards to catching fish. It is not a fly box or boat it is the knowledge gained from years on a river and seeing it at various flows and conditions and knowing EXACTLY what line to run their boat in and depth to fish. I fished the same runs with the same flies at the same time and I got out fished easily that day because my line was a hair off or a boat width too far out or in.

I got asked back MANY times for these multiple boat floats over the coming years with this guide, and while he was transitioning out of guiding for trout on the Lower Sacramento to stay closer to his home water on the delta I learned about life, guiding, and how a balanced life is key to maintaining a passion for the river and guiding. As I began to transition into guiding for bass and stripers I would call him and ask questions as he had made the same transition years earlier. I would just listen and take every word he said as gospel. I learned early on that you listen to those that have come before you, you don’t talk to prove your worth, you listen to absorb theirs.

I still to this day have never fished in front of him on a float or if I arrive at a ramp and he is there I leave out of respect. If I am going to fish one of the floats he showed me through the years or pioneered I call and ask if he will be there even though I know he won’t. Now, I spend most of my time guiding stripers and bass and still call him and ask questions and listen…rarely do I talk about fishing, where I am, or guiding. I just listen.

As much as I would’ve liked to just work for this man, I needed more work than he had and because of this I was introduced to my 3rd mentor by my 1st. I remember the interview well. I met him at the posse ground boat ramp, we got in his boat and he handed me his rod… “rig it up” he said. I remember I was so nervous my hands were shaking as I was tying the knots, even though at this point I had gone through this exercise thousands of times with steady hands and a confident mind. I handed him the rod and he inspected the rig and said “alright, let’s go.”

So, we pushed off from Posse Grounds in his boat and I remember thinking in my head, “wait- we didn’t run a shuttle, I thought this was an interview...I dressed nice and brought a resume, thank God I had my boat bag in the truck.” I was scattered and thrown for a major loop. I thought this was a sit-down interview. Nope. I was taking him fishing.

First of all, this man had the biggest drift boat on the river and he was a man of exceptional size and fortitude, so rowing his boat was like rowing a boat built for John Henry and I was an ant. I figured it out though and by the time we left the Posse area he had caught some fish and began “showing me the float” – again I just listened as this man dropped decades of knowledge on me in rapid fire. I remember thinking that I wish I brought a notebook or my tape recorder. Then thinking, wait... damn that is so nerdy...there is no way I get this gig being that nerdy.

We ate lunch around the Cypress bridge and he returned a few clients phone calls and while he was talking with them he booked me a handful of trips. He just said you are working these days…No good job, your hired, just you are guiding so and so on these days, I pay this, if they pay you cash bring me cash not a check.

The rest of the float was a rapid fire lesson on guiding the Lower Sac, to be honest I learned more in that day than any other day I have ever spent on the water with anyone in my life. EVERYTHING I learned that day forward has become the foundation of how I guide, fish, and tie flies for trout. He told me everything, and from that day on he took me under his wing like no one else ever has.

I would stop by his house almost every day when I was done guiding the L. Sac and either pay him or get paid, and he would review with me what I did that day. I would tell him what worked and what didn’t, he would tell me how he did and what to try different the next day. It was like a post-game talk from one of my old baseball coaches. I would have to tell him where and how I caught fish, down to the specific bucket … that drop right at the top of porky pig about even with the first houses back yard, and about 10 yards off the main seam… Then I would be told I did fine or I needed to do better, never good, just fine.

That winter I was to begin to “learn” the Trinity River for him… I had no idea about the Trinity River or let alone the world West of Redding, CA…my dad called it the world behind the Redwood Curtain. I was told I would sit in the back of his boat for 3 days while he guided one of his best clients in the front…no fishing, little talking, just watch and listen.

Again, this was the like no other experience I had ever had, it was a graduate seminar and lessons that would have taken me decades to learn on my own if it was not for him.  The beauty of this is there was no arrogance about him, he was one of the most “confident” guides I knew, but not arrogant. He was all that and a bag of chips and proved it daily. His program was if you didn’t hook an adult steelhead your day was free. He put his money where his mouth was.

I spent the next 4 years living off and on Nov – February on the Lower Trinity at the Lewiston Valley Inn taking trips for him and working two boat trips. This was before the explosion of the Trinity River in fly fishing culture and many days we would have the floats to ourselves and there were only a few guides from Redding coming up to work. These years were a full-on emersion in steel heading…guide all day spend all night in a shitty hotel room or bar talking steelhead. Again, pre game in the morning, game, post-game…just like a coach he would go over and teach me what he knew…realistically verbalizing his own thought process many times and me learning from the workings of his mind.

Throughout those years I never fished in front of him, fished a float he was on unless it was a multi boat trip, and did whatever he told me to do. I took what he taught me and applied it to my home water of the Lower Yuba River and literally overnight changed what I thought was possible on my home water. I went from thinking a few fish a day was good to putting 20-30 fish a day in the boat on the Lower Yuba River at times. Further, ingraining in me this man’s status as a trout and steelhead wizard.

I never really quit working for this man and I can’t remember how it ended or if it really did…it just kind of dissolved. I was getting enough trips on my own from word of mouth or promotional stuff I was doing that I just didn’t have room in my calendar for his clients anymore. I will say I remember one monumental moment towards the end that took place on a multi boat trip in the summer…I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.

We had dropped into the “Sewer Plant Riffle” area on the Lower Sac on the Bonnie to Anderson Float. We were on the east side of the island above the Sewer Plant riffle and below the mouth of Clear Creek Riffle. I was fishing behind him as I always did and I had caught a few fish behind him in the Clear Creek Riffle. He looked back at me, not liking the fact he didn’t catch any and I did. We dropped down into the east side of the island and my clients doubled up right away as his clients indicators remained afloat. Not good.

We landed our fish in the soft water and then I rowed to the bank to wait for him to row back up and go first. I would never say “hey, they are eating this or that” as any questioning or advice would be seen as he didn’t know what he was doing or couldn’t figure it out…I only offered information when asked. I knew my place.

He rowed back up and slid into the run. I came in behind him and my clients doubled up again and I just put my head down as they were hooting and hollering. He stood up in his drift boat to turn around and watch. I rowed over into the soft water landed the fish and waited. He rowed up dropped anchor and looked at me and said “Ok what are they eating?” The beauty and full circle of this moment will never be lost on me, because what they were eating was a fly no one else fished at the time on the Lower Sac that he had showed me on our first day out when he “interviewed” me nearly 4 years ago.

I rarely guide trout anymore and I rarely talk with this man anymore though every time I see him I give him a big hug or handshake and a pat on the back that I am sure makes him feel very uncomfortable. I don’t really think he knows how much he taught me, showed me, or shared with me. How much what he taught me shaped my guiding going forward and helped me on all the waters that I would later become “known” for guiding. I don’t think he ever signed up to be a teacher or mentor, just needed a guide to help him and take his over flow trips, but to do that I had to guide up to his standards, and so he taught me what I needed to know, changing my life forever.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about these 3 men this last year and the many guides I have mentored and shared information with over the last 20+ years of guiding. I feel that I have paid these men’s effort back many times by helping people younger and older than me start their careers over the last decade. In the end though I have also seen most of the values that I was taught drop by the way side, and become victims of a changing culture where they seem old fashioned more than a way of life. Humility and respect for those that have come before us has been replaced in many ways by a sense of entitlement and right to everything no matter your age, experience, or place in the food chain. One’s value or place is determined by their social media, their number of followers, and not contributions to the sport, innovations, or the hard-earned years on the water.   

Yes, the rivers, lakes, and creeks belong to everyone and no ramp or float belongs to anyone guide or group of guides. I know this and would never argue that point – though I live by traditions that say different. For what is such a solitary sport the profession of guiding is much a group or communal endeavor as our livelihoods all depend on the same rivers, lakes, and creeks. Respect is a touchy word among that community and what determines respect and how far respect goes.

It is very easy to say that there is a lack of respect at times, but that is an arrogant statement I find myself making, as who I am to say my view of respect is any better than anyone else's. It is easy to get upset by others actions or how others do things, but as my father says, worrying about others is a young man’s game.

Don’t worry about what you can’t control. I think is the best advice I have gotten this last year as I have struggled with where I came from and where the world is. I got this piece of advice from a guide I have known since he was in high school and helped get his career as a guide started. I was complaining to him and he said “not everyone got to come up under the guides that you did. You do you, and don’t worry about what other people are doing.”

 It hit me like a ton of bricks because it was the full circle I experienced with my mentor when I shared the fly he shared with me over a decade ago on the Lower Sac. A young guide I helped and now has turned into one of the most well rounded and talented fishing guides in California gave me the advice and words I needed.