What qualifies you?

You know, it's full-on summer in Sun Valley and it's absolute craziness. I've barely had time to sleep, much less blog, but I was really horrified on the river the other day and thought I'd share.

I was guiding three people last Friday on the Big Wood. We were just out for a few hours and they had never fished before--pretty standard gig. The first place we fished was near a private bridge and a guy riding his bike stopped on the bridge to watch. I waved and he started talking to me. He then proceeded to tell me that I was fishing in the wrong spot and then that he doesn't fish the Wood until August which I thought made him especially qualified to tell me what to do--he kept insisting that we move. I brushed it off--it happens fairly regularly--these men see a woman guiding and assume she has no idea what she's doing.

I'm the one that gets paid to take people fishing.

We moved spots for the last part of the trip and got into the fish. Green drakes were coming off and we were all having a great time. A gentleman was walking along the river and came up to us. We were chit chatting about where he was from and how the fishing had been--he was just hanging out wasting some time. After 15 minutes or so he came up to the client I was standing with and told her she needed to set the hook differently, which, by the way, would ensure that she would never land another fish in her life.

These people would never say this to a man.

I'm the one who gets paid to take people fishing.

So, the moral of this story is to keep your mouth shut. I am a professional. There are professional women all around you and we're probably better than our coworkers because we have to prove ourselves daily.

Keep your mouth shut. You're welcome to take our photo because we're so awesome though--haha!

Expanding my Horizons

Summer in Sun Valley--whew!

I've barely had any sleep in the last couple of weeks and we're just getting started. I've been guiding, fishing, sewing, having parties, going to parties and fundrasiers, and I did manage to squeeze in a class on fabric dying and printing the last few nights. The dying was a little hippie-dippy for me, but I managed to redeem myself tonight by creating a block with a Mimbres fish and printing with it. It's helping get my creative juices flowing for some new projects.



On the fishing front, things are improving. Tricos have showed up on Silver Creek, though they're not in full force yet and the Wood is dropping--it should be fishable in a few days. I guided in Copper Basin on Tuesday, though, and it's still crazy high up there. All I can say is that we're going to have an amazing fall!