Day 18 - Fly Fishing as a Profession?

The last couple of posts have been pretty "heavy" so I decided to change things up a bit today. Yesterday, as I was surfing the web and joining fly fishing websites, I ran across and odd question.

I was trying to sign up for www.hook.tv and on the registration site, it asked my level of involvement with fly fishing. The supplied answers amazed me. There was professional fly fisher and amateur fly fisher. I checked amateur, but that got me thinking, how does one a professional?

Now many years ago, while I was in high school, we had job fairs. Companies would come into the school and talk about different professions. I'm pretty sure I don't remember professional fly fisherman as a career choice. So... what gives? Why am I only hearing about this now? I feel as if I wasted 14 years of work. If I would have known professional fly angler was an option, I can tell you I would have chosen that career path.

However, I'm still confused on how this can be a profession. I wonder if that means guides are professional fly fishers. However, I don't think they put "Fly Fisherman" on the space for jobs on the IRS forms. I believe they put "River Guide" or that sort of thing on it. So, I'm going to make a judgement call and say that guides aren't professional fly fisherman. I mean if they were, they'd be the one fishing, right?

My business and economics background are now kicking in. What kind of goods or service would a professional fly fisherman offer? Fish? Maybe it is not so much of a goods, but an image. I mean Lefty Kreh has made a life out of fly fishing, and now he endorses his own brand of line from Scientific Anglers. I imagine he gets paid some sort of royalty for using his name.

So, if this is the case, I'd like to throw my hat into the arena and say that my particular brand is for sale. I'd like to take up the standard of professional fly angler and would like someone to pay me to fish. I promise strong midwestern work ethics. I'll never show up late. I would be willing to work late, and even travel above 50% of the time. I'm in my mid-30's and my past work experience has been in the industry (so that should be a plus). If you'd like to hire me as a professional fly fisherman, please make a comment below. Thank you.