Meet five of the best guides in North America. And they're all women.
Mar 1, 2005
Reading the Water
Fueled by glacial runoff, the mighty Kenai River rises every summer and invites salmon staging in Cook Inlet to begin their upstream run. The upper Kenai's turquoise waters look stunning to travelers along the Sterling Highway, but anglers quickly learn to temper their appreciation of the river's beauty with healthy respect. Frigid water and powerful currents might dissuade most people from tackling the tricky upper Kenai in a drift boat. But not Dusty Byrd, a 26-year-old woman with dark hair and an enthusiastic smile who earns her living there June through October, guiding visitors eager to face the challenge of salmon, Dolly Varden and some of the most beautiful rainbows in the world.
When she was growing up in Talkeetna a hundred miles
to the north, Dusty shared her family's enthusiasm for the outdoors. As a youngster, she worked for Mahay's Riverboat Service on the Talkeetna River. Five years ago, she headed to the Kenai and wound up guiding for Curt Trout's Troutfitters in Cooper Landing.
Laughing at the gender-ambiguity of her first name, Dusty says that some clients show up at the boat launch and ask her where they can find "Dusty." And she still remembers the time a disgruntled angler marched back into headquarters and announced that he "wouldn't fish with a girl." Persuasive rather than confrontational, she's chosen to turn the other cheek to such slights and demonstrate her skills where it counts: on the water. "I don't feel like I'm trying to prove anything; guiding has always come very naturally to me," she says. "But sometimes in the back of my mind, when I first started, I would hope my clients were thinking 'What a great guide' rather than 'For a girl she does pretty good.' But I've gotten over that."
For years, the Kenai fishery focused on its famous king salmon. Over the last decade, however, anglers have discovered what used to be one of Alaska's best-kept secrets: fantastic fishing for trout and char in the scenic upper river. It is a different kind of
fishing: light tackle and flies rather than heavy hardware, drift boats rather than power craft. And that's where Dusty Byrd found her home on the water.
Operating a 20-foot drift boat in heavy current with four anglers aboard may sound like a job for
an Olympic rowing champion, but Dusty doesn't consider her trim 5-foot 3-inch frame a disadvantage at the oars. Technique and knowledge of the water trump brawn every time, she says. "The rowing has gotten easier over time. I've learned how to use the current to my advantage. Once you have a feel for it, it isn't strenuous."
Dusty offers simple advice for other women interested in following the path she's chosen: "Just do it! Forget all the reasons not to and prove yourself where it counts." No doubt her many repeat clients are glad she did.
Contact: Dusty Byrd, 907-595-1212; Troutfitters, P.O. Box 570, Cooper Landing, AK 99572.
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