"my trip of a life time" guide school montana

[sam barbee]

during march of 2010 i will be going to sweetwater guide school in livingston, montana. it is a 7 day course each day will be:

Day 1 (Sunday): Arrive by noon, Lunch, CPR/First Aid Training, Casting
Day 2 (Monday): Drift boat training, Jet boat training
Day 3 (Tue.): Knot tying, Drift boat training, Jet boat training
Day 4 (Wed.): Fly tying, Drift boat training, Jet boat training
Day 5 (Thurs.) Overview of instruction manual, Drift boat training, Jet boat training
Day 6 (Fri) Overview of entire class, Drift boat training, Jet boat training
Day 7 (Sat.) Finish resume, Final interview, Lunch, Course ends
i have talked to the man ron meek he is the head over the school. he said most places will not hire a guide that is under 18 but alot of lodges out west hire camp helpers or some young kids to work at the fly shops and help the guides that work out of that shop. that would be a dream summer job for me.the reason why i choose to go to this school is because they offer everything i would like to either learn or improve on and they are one of the only schools that a 17 year old can take it alone.

it is a chance i will never have agian and this is what i want to do with my life either be a guide or open my own outfitters. this will be a big plus on my resume too. has anyone else ever done anything like this.

[Ky Tim]

Good luck Sam, sounds awesome. I would have loved to do something like that when I was your age, problem was I wasn't introduced to fly fishing back then.

[MadisonBoats]

Sam,
First of all; I think you are right on by going after this opportunity. It is not so much what you learn at the school; but, what you learn about yourself and how to apply your knowledge.

I have always had the utmost admiration for people that go after the things that drive them.

Always follow your passions and the rest will come around...

As a young lad out there; be respectful and keep your ears peeled back to what the veterans have to say...

My last recommendation would be to take a journal and write in it each day about what you are experiencing...

[Carolina Boy]

Super point about the Journal Madison, I have kept a flyfishing/fishing journal since I began flyfishing and it is so cool to look back and re-read the stories, I love it, plus many times my entries are after I thrown a few back makes for interesting reads!

[sam barbee]

ya i need to do that i did have a journal made by orvis but i filled it up last year it had like 120 pages but i will have to buy more pages to replace my old pages with.

[Jim Casada]

Sam--That sounds like a wonderful experience and I know you will enjoy it. As someone who has been in business with two different outfitters out west in the past, I would make one comment. I think there is too much emphasis in the seven-day course on handling drift boats. My reasonaing is simple--in years of dealing with clients, I soon came to the conclusion that those who were serious fishermen preferred wading to drifting, although a drift boat is certaily a leisurely way to spend a day.
On a personal level, I would ten times rather be wading a small- to medium-sized stream in Montana than drifting down the Yellowstone or Big Horn with a steady hatch of other drift boats all around. But then I'm a confirmed misanthrope whose idea of a perfect day is one when the only other angler I see is at day's end as I return to my truck. At any rate, you are sure to love the country--and good luck. Jim Casada

[sam barbee]

thanks jim i to like to be alone on a smaller stream alone but i would like to learn all of the tricks of the trade and one of them that i have nothing about is drift boat fishing. i have learned so much from my dad but i still feel i could improve on my wade fishing skills. but the head instructer i talked to said we will have aleast one day of fishing on a small stream that runs near hebgen lake in west yellowstone. if i had my choice on what kind of outfitters to open it would be a unique outfitters that offers like 1-2 week backcountry trips of fly fishing in yellowstone or during to fall have something called a "bust and fly" to where you duck hunt in the mourning fish mid-day untill about 4 or so and hunt again untill dark. that is my dream