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[fishguru73]

The key to being a good fly fisherman has alot more to do with choosing the right fly and presenting it properly then anything else. You can have a box jam packed with flies and if you don't know how to apply them you're not going to catch much. You don't have to have the prettiest cast right off to start catching trout with consistency, (though slapping the water with your line doesn't help attract any fish.) You'll hear lots of suggestions for flies to use and they all work but the size, profile, and color of the fly and how closely it imitates what trout are feeding on at a particular location is what makes particular flies the best choices at a given time. There's alot to know and I don't think a guide is a good way to learn because an eight hour crash course in twenty years of troutology will leave the average beginner frustrated. For $250 you'll likely catch fish for a day, but not definitely because guides have no control over limiting factors such as bad weather or slow learners. Even if the guide starts hooking fish for you and handing you the rod, the next time you go out by yourself you'll be lost. Guides are good for getting experienced fly fisherman that are visiting temporarily into the best available public and private water and then providing insight about places that they are familiar with and the right flies to use. Man, if I could afford $250 a day to be out with experts on the sweet spots I would normally be arrested for visiting and have a guy rigging my pole and feeding me lunch I wouldn't be working as much as I do. Let's face it, most people would love their services but most can't afford it. I do agree with everyone else here that you should definitely buddy up with a fly guy.
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