Home Waters Guide Service
209-581-3474
Captain Mark Pinto
I've lived my entire life here in the San Joaquin Valley. As a child, I was always facinated with fish and fishing, even though my parents didn't fish. I guess in my case, it was truly a part of a deep, somehow primitive urge. I had a couple retired neighbors who would take me fishing with conventional equipment, but it was always fly fishing that I was most intrigued with.
At the age of 10, I started holding the hook in my fingers and attaching any feathers I could find. Seeing this, my parents bought me a small fly tying kit and fiberglass rod with an automatic reel. ( Remember those?)
A friend of the family had a cabin near Mt. Lassen where he often fly fished, he taught his son, me, and a few other boys to tie a fly he used. This was a 4-H project! The next summer, he and my next door neighbor, his dental and cabin partner, took me on my first fly fishing trip. None of the other boys were invited, I guess they just knew I would fish all day and not complain... Still don't!
With a small box of the flies I had tied, we hit the water. I'll never forget how excited I was... With a few VERY brief instructions, I was set out on my own. I saw neither one of them until it was quitting time. I had caught 9 Rainbows on a fly I tied myself, I was then truly and deeply hooked!
As my teen years came, and drivers license, I would explore all the closest waters that held trout. It was very rare to see another person, and if I did, I knew them. I was fishing upwards of 200 days per year, BEFORE I started guiding.
I took my first clients in 1984, I still remember where we caught fish and details of the trip, I guess some things you never forget....
Thousands of days on stream and many years later, I'm still just as excited to meet new clients, see old ones, and make more memories... I hope you'll join me...
Mark
Me on Putah Creek 1991
About Home Waters Guide Service
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Committed to helping Anglers of all levels achieve their goal of becoming more proficient at the art of Fly Fishing.
"Since 1984"
