After working in restaurants for most of his life, Ed Reposa was looking for something different. He’d been fishing since he was a young child and started to explore the possibility of turning his beloved hobby into a vocation.
Three years ago, he made the leap and launched Lupo Fly Fishing in Reading, Vt.
“I have been a recreational fisherman since I was a kid,” Lupo, 50, said. Around a decade ago, he took up fly fishing, which furthered his interest. “I got really into it pretty quickly and amassed a large collection of fly fishing gear along the way.”
Reposa is not alone: Fishing guides throughout the Upper Valley often began casting in lakes, ponds and rivers as a hobby and recreational pursuit before deciding to start a business helping others to land a fish.
“I think a lot of guides start off their business with most of the gear because they began fishing as a hobby,” Reposa said in a phone interview. “They got a lot of the stuff and kept getting more stuff so there is not a giant upfront cost.”
Owen Ward started his business, Flow State Fly Fishing of Thetford Center, this spring. Ward has been fishing since childhood and worked as a fishing guide for the Woodstock Inn and Resort for five years, including three as the head guide.
“I had people who fished with me through the inn,” Ward said. “They said you should probably branch out on your own. So with enough clients pushing me in that direction, it kind of lit the fire to go full in.”
Ward, 30, brings clients primarily on area rivers because neither of his boats have motors so they drift with the current.
“Those float trips are my bread and butter,” Ward said in a phone interview. “They offer ways to see the water and they open up opportunities to get anglers of all skill levels, including those just getting their feet wet.”
Ward still works with the Woodstock Inn on a contract basis as well as Points North, a guide shop in Pittsburg, N.H.
With his boats paid for and no registration fee, Ward keeps his costs relatively low. Both Ward and Lupo have earned endorsement from Orvis, an outdoor retailer based in Manchester, Vt., that specializes in fly fishing.
Ward, Lupo and others say the fishing guide business is not super competitive — where guides have to advertise to win clients — because there is plenty of business.
“It is a community of anglers that works together,” Ward said.
Mike Blatt and DJ Collise are guides with their own businesses who work together at times. They will often make referrals to each other or other guides if they are booked or the client wants to fish outside the region.
Blatt, 44, owns TBC Guides in Hanover. He learned to fish growing up in New Orleans and bass fished as a teenager. When he moved to Hanover with his wife and daughter just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the family bought kayaks and he started fishing again. He became a full-time guide in 2022, by offering fishing from kayaks. Today he has two, 21-foot bass powerboats.
Reposa, who guides a lot on the Connecticut River, said that while he had a fair amount of gear, he had to purchase matching sets of rods, reels and lines. He wanted to make sure he had two of every item because he usually takes out two clients at a time.
“So, I did already have a lot of gear but I needed a lot more to look professional and not just have a random collection of used gear,” he said.
Blatt found an untapped market for his business that has become its staple and given him more time off on weekends with his family.
“I started running kids’ summer day fishing camps,” said Blatt during a phone interview while he was on Goose Pond in Canaan with Collise.
He held a one week, Monday to Friday camp in 2023 but has increased that to five weeks. New this year is a one-week sleep-away camp with dorm rooms rented out at the Cardigan Mountain School that eight children have signed up for.
Blatt said the camps made him realize that a lot of youth don’t play traditional high school sports like football, baseball or lacrosse. Fishing brings a connection among the kids that would normally not happen, he said.
“You might have a 12-year-old girl teaching an eight-year-old boy how to take a hook out of the mouth of a bass,” Blatt said. “It is really cool to create these relationships that might not happen otherwise.”
To offset some of his costs, Blatt said he approached a few local businesses he works with and in exchange for sponsorships he agreed to put their company logos on his boat, trucks and the shirts the kids get at the camps.
“So I have kind of subsidized half the cost of the fishing camps so the local families can still sign up without feeling like they are being priced out,” Blatt said.
New Hampshire Guides
A big difference between New Hampshire and Vermont is a certification is required in New Hampshire to become a guide but Vermont has no requirements.
Blatt, Reposa and Ward have all obtained their New Hampshire certification, which they said is a rigorous process.
“They take it a little more seriously than Vermont,” Reposa said.
Certification as a guide in New Hampshire can take up to two years. It includes a written exam and a two-part oral exam, background and insurance checks.
“New Hampshire has this way of making sure that anybody taking someone out (on the water) in their state, it is someone the game wardens feel comfortable with,” Blatt said.
Certification to be a guide in Vermont is not required.
Collise, 38, who also was in the restaurant business like Reposa, is in the process of acquiring his New Hampshire certification.
“It will be worth it,” he said, adding that he has plenty of booking for clients in Vermont waters for his business 3D Fishing.
As for the summer ahead, the guides interviewed for this story all said they have plenty of to look forward to. Some clients will book early in the spring for a trip while others may call a week ahead.
“I do well over 100 trips a year and I refer many more,” Blatt said. “I also have a lot of last minute bookings.”
Reposa, who does both half day and full day trips, sees bookings in the winter for spring and in early summer people book for fall trips. All the guides said they get clients from all over the country.
“Looks like it is going to be a good year,” Reposa said.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
CORRECTION: Fishing guide Mike Blatt is 44 years old. A pervious version of this story had an incorrect age for Blatt.
