Our Guide Missed The Boat

Our guide didn’t show but a kind angler gave us a pretty brown trout for dinner.

Do you remember being stood up when you were a teenager. You showed up for a date, and the girl didn't.

There were feelings of anger, disgust, hurt, and the burning question: Why? Thoughts run through your mind: did she get a better offer, a nicer looking guy, but why didn't she call.

My son David and good friend, R.J. Doyle of Mecosta, and I were stood up. Not by girls but a fishing guide.

The dude forgot, we showed up, tried to call but couldn’t find him.

I'm supposed to be in the communications business. That means that I should be able to communicate with others so they understand, and I thought I did. The guide and I had a phone conversation, and two emails, outlining when we would arrive and where we would meet.

We were five minutes late for our 7:30 a.m. meeting on the Manistee River. There was nobody there except two anglers staying in a 5th wheel rig, who were fishing for suckers. Nope, they said, we haven't seen anybody until you three drove in.

We hung around for 15 minutes thinking perhaps the guide was a bit late, for reasons unknown. He didn't show, so we drove up the road to the Bear Creek launch ramp. We then checked Potters Landing, and he wasn't there. We drove to the High Bridge boat launch site south of Brethren, and he wasn't there either.

We retraced our steps. Back to Bear Creek launch ramp, Potters Landing and Rainbow Bend. No guide and no boat.

I called home, talked to my wife, had her look up the guides phone number, and I explained our problem. I called his home, and spoke to an answering machine, and basically asked: Where are you? It took my message that we were waiting for him at Rainbow Bend, the machine digested my message, and I hung up.

We went to get R.J.’s boat to troll the Frankfort harbor for brown trout.

We waited nearly a half hour, and the guide didn't show. Inside, I'm fuming, and David and R.J. are rather mellow. After 30 minutes, we headed back the way we'd come. We again checked out the Bear Creek launch ramp, Potters Landing, and another trip to High Bridge where this time we met a friend from Traverse City.

Off we then headed to the north. We went to Honor, picked up R.J.'s new boat, and took it on a maiden voyage on Betsie Bay between Frankfort and Elberta. It was a new boat, and R.J. was anxious to try for brown trout.

We gathered up tackle and lures, and put the boat in the water, jumped in and David and I began setting lines. We went with the old favorites -- Rapalas and Rebels -- adjusted our trolling speed to get the best action out of these lures, and began trolling them off planer boards.

In and out of the harbor, around and around the harbor, and only one other boat was sharing the water with us. Veteran guide Dave Kane of Benzonia had a client, and we had no problem avoiding each other or trolling too close to each other.

We stuck it out for three hours, and had nary a strike. We quite about 4 p.m., Kane quit at the same time, and we met at the marina. They had begun trolling at daybreak, and had caught one seven-pound brown trout.

Ken, the man who had caught the fish, apparently felt we looked hungry, and gave us his brown trout for dinner. We felt that this was an effective means of communication.

The bottom line was our guide didn't make the meeting, we trolled and caught nothing, and a kindly gentleman gave up a beautiful brown for us to take home for dinner. We just finished eating it, and it was delightful dining for five people tonight.

It was a wonderful gift from a stranger and we ate like kinds.

So, am I mad because of the busted trip? No, but somewhere my email to the guide went unnoticed. I can't make anyone read my emails if they don't turn on the computer, and if he doesn't read his mail, it is time wasted for all of us.

He was apologetic, and feels bad, but what's done is done. It may teach him to check his email, and may teach me to communicate more efficiently although I have no clue how I could have make my message any clearer.

So ... we went fishing, didn't catch a fish, but had a tasty brown trout for dinner tonight, and I'm not angry at anyone. Honest!

Title: Our Guide Missed The Boat

Tags: ((Dave, Richey, Michigan, outdoors, the, guide, didn't, show, up, brown, trout, gift, Frankfort, trolling))

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors