question for dave stewart about pro fishermen

[jwp]

hey Dave... thanks for sharing your perspective and the recent experience you had with the Elite pro who wanted to fish that spot you were sitting on. It's a great example of showing some restraint and respect on both sides.

I have a son on the UK bass team, which happens to be coached by Dave. Obviously, one of the benefits of being on the team is learning from their coach how to eliminate water and present the bait in a way that will fool some fish. However, if the coach stops there, he's not teaching everything these young anglers need to learn. Being respectful on the water is a big problem on our pressured waters, as we all have experienced. I'm sure one of the things he's teaching these kids is how to deal with people coming in on them, and how to not to be part of the problem. Keep up the good work, Dave.

Thanks,

John

[Dave Stewart]

Gee Dave I feel for you, 61 years old wow! Dave you got at least 8 years of hard fishing left in you. Then you can slow down. When I was 68 I felt like a kid, now I'm 74 and feel like an old goat. But manage a couple of times a week.

Well, right now I am still hanging in there but also you have to realize that guiding 7 days a week is not just "going fishing"...my days are 16 hour days 9 months a year and then I work teaching bass classes 7 days a week in January and February. My choice of course to work like that but I also know the reality is that I cannot keep doing this for another 10 years at this pace....but probably will never quit completely...wife says they will find me one day in my boat out there and she is probably right.

[kygorski]

That thing about being found in the boat is something my children are resigned to. when I got my early buy out I was thinking of guiding.My son offered to buy the boat,and help out for the first year. We went out with a couple of guides, and it is brutal work at times, andit takes time to learn the trade.I stopped to think, I wanted to relax and enjoy my retirement.So we opted for a travel trailer instead, and never regretted it.Its good guides who teach that make it worth the money,and most of them do that, ran into only one who fished to catch fish, and only took us to one or two spots.My cousin guides in the upper part of michigan and wisc, he told me sometimes it get unbearable when some folks wont even try to understand what they are doing.

[davidsa]

I figure Dave really likes what he does. To do anything so many hours so many days in a row, the only way I could stand that is if I liked it.

For those that have or have had jobs they dislike, one just can't fake it that long and keep the energy up.

As much as I like to fish, I have zero aspirations of being a guide. I've found anything I feel obligated to do feels like work and a rut to me. I'd like to keep fishing as something that I look forward to as an escape. I still have dreams of place near KYL when I retire. Keep thinking I will take up bow hunting for wild Turkey I have no idea why as I have never even shot a bow! Just seems like the thing to do in western KY.