Trout: Virginia rafting float trip

I started fishing in 2013 after I graduated high school in Boone NC. I fished the mountain creeks in the high country every day for 2 years straight before pursuing the idea of being a guide. Being able to make money while being on the water was my biggest incentive, I sacrificed my formal education at a community college and dove head long into my dream. I started to row a drift boat a few years into my fishing career and by my fourth year of guiding I was taking trips on the Tennessee tail-waters, the South Holston and Watauga rivers for High Country guide service. Last year was my 4th full time season as a professional guide, leading nearly 200 trips a year since Covid started in 2020. In 2022 I was invited last minute to be a guide/camp cook on week long trips 100 miles through the remote wilds of south west Alaska. 3 of us guides and 8 sets of 6 clients camp and fish down the Kanektok river from early July until early September. Completing that season left me wanting more of the fishery, the Yupik culture and landscape. I plan to pursue the Alaska opportunity for years to come. I spend my free time in the winters guiding the occasional client, catching redfish on the coast of the Carolinas and spending quality time with my co workers and fondest rivals, the large brown trout and musky of the NC, VA and TN borderlands.