For Dustin White, being a fly-fishing guide isn’t really about getting paid to go on fishing trips and helping clients land lunkers.
It’s about being around people, and the seemingly little things that can make immense differences in their lives.
“I’ve had clients in my boat who were terminally ill and hadn’t said anything about it,” he told Cowboy State Daily. "Getting out on the water was, if nothing else, their opportunity, at least for eight hours, to get away from all of that."
In more than one instance, he found out about a client’s illness only after they passed away and their families reached out to thank him for giving their loved one that one last best time outdoors.
‘Pinch Me Moment’
White recently received the Orvis Fly Fishing Guide of the Year Award, regarded in the industry as recognizing the best guide in the fly-fishing world.
Orvis is a global organization, and fly-fishing is popular around the world. So, it essentially means that White has been named the world’s best fly-fishing guide, Ugly Bug Fly Shop owner Blake Jackson told Cowboy State Daily.
“We’ve won the outfitter award in the past, but this is, to my knowledge, the first time that somebody from Wyoming has won guide of the year,” Jackson said.
White said it’s a “pinch me moment,” but he remained modest about it.
“Any of my co-workers at the Ugly Bug, I’d point to them before I would point to myself,” he said.
Jackson said White stands out by treating his clients superbly.
“He’s got one of the highest return rates of clients, year after year,” he said.
“That’s the ultimate goal in the service industry, to make someone so excited that they’re eager to rebook instantly,” Jackson added.
White said making people happy is what he loves about his job.
“It’s a job that’s based around people,” he said. "You might get into guiding because of fish and the water and being outside. What’s kept me in it? I can’t speak for somebody else, but for me, it’s the people.
“It’s my job, at the end of the day, to make them think that they’re the most important people in the world."
Son Of A Preacher Man
White grew up in Ohio, and his father was a Baptist pastor.
White figures he inherited his father’s affinity for being around people and for “the gift of gab.”
He started guiding fly-fishing anglers “as a side hustle” in Ohio, but soon figured out that’s what he wanted to do full-time.
“I realized that, man, I get to spend eight hours a day around some really interesting people,” he said.
At age 42, he's been at it for about 18 years now, splitting his time between guiding in Wyoming and Ohio. He’s been with the Ugly Bug Fly Shop for eight years.
He has no plans of retiring anytime soon.
“At 42, I feel 22. With any luck, I’ll be guiding as long as the Good Lord lets me. I can’t picture myself doing anything else now,” he said.
“That’s me. I’m an angler. I’m a guide. I just can’t imagine doing anything else,” White added.
‘We’re Not Ending World Hunger’
White loves sharing the beauty of Wyoming’s North Platte River and other prime angling waters with clients.
“Not to wax too philosophical, but there’s a healing that happens when you’re in the outdoors,” he said.
It’s important to him to provide clients with the best experience possible, because fly-fishing trips to Wyoming are such a big deal for them.
“We're not ending world hunger, we’re just fly-fishing,” he said. "But for some of these people, it can be something that they’ve been anticipating for months, after having saved up for years to come do it."
The Water Bridges Differences
White said perhaps the coolest thing about his job is watching how the Wyoming landscape, the water and fishing can make people’s differences melt away.
“We live in such a polarized context these days,” but fly-fishing doesn’t recognize any prejudices, he said.
"In the morning, one guy gets in the boat with another guy, and they might not know each other at all, and they’re on opposite ends of the political spectrum. But then out on the water, they find a camaraderie,” he said.
“There’s a humanization that happens when you’re in a drift boat. There’s no phones, there’s no screens. All of that gets put away,” he said.
And that opens the door to honest conversations and new understanding, White said.
“Is it changing the world? No. But in those two people’s eyes, it changes,” he added. "They think, ‘I never would have seen that from that perspective, if that other person hadn’t said that.'”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
