How-To: Getting Ready for a Guided Trip

This week on “Fine Lines,” Phil Monahan answers a MidCurrent reader’s question about how best to prepare for a guided trip. Casting practice, communication, and dressing for the conditions, he notes, will make a good day with a pro even better. After all, you’re paying for the company of an expert — you should make the most of it.
“1. Practice casting. This is a no-brainer because the better you can cast the more likely you can put the fly where the guide asks you to put it. Frank Smethurst, who has guided from the Rockies to Baja California, wrote: “The three most important things that would make any guide trip on any waterway better would be casting, casting and casting. The toughest thing to hear before any day of guiding begins is ‘It has been a couple of years since I have picked up one of these’ while vaguely wiggling the rod…. All of the flies tied and articles read will never help as much as an hour spent airing out the line and throwing some yarn around at plates or hoops on the lawn.”