How Two Fly Fishing Guides Balance Work and Passion

Words and photos by Asher Koles, Brandon Tillotson, and the Bloodknots team

Aside from filmmaking, we're fly fishing guides who cover territory throughout Utah for seven months of the year. We focus the majority of our trips on the high desert tailwaters and alpine streams in the northeast part of the state. Before we built up clientele it was all about us. Any spare moment was spent on a river somewhere in the west. The passion was flowing and we were charged up for every guide trip upon our return. After six years of watching the perpetual bobber down , yelling “set”, catching the same fish twice in a week, and getting boxed in on both sides by other anglers... we decided we were ready for a brief intermission. 

This summer we took a few strategic days off each month during our peak season to go explore. Fly fishing and the lifestyle it produces is an essential part of who we are, and sharing that passion with clients is an important part of the experience.

By no means is this a project about guides complaining about guiding. It’s a look into trying to maintain a healthy relationship with doing what you love for both work and play, how that balance plays out, and what struggles and triumphs arise with that sometimes tenuous exchange.

Watch Bloodknot's PEAK SEASON series here.