The YouTube piece is the boring part.  Where the rubber meets the road is applying what is learned in the field....

Anyways, yesterday work was a total bummer so I hit the housatonic from 6 to 730 and the trout were more than willing.  Probably landed 15 or so most of which took a caddis pattern on the dropper.  Really enjoyable quick trip.  Only had to move around a little bit in a single pool.  Flow was 1040 which wasnt terrible. 

 56,sunny

Im going to be that guy and say guides are going to be more of a crutch vs a valuable learning experience...just going off my own time spent guiding.  A majority of the clients I took fishing only cared about 1 thing, catching.  That said less time spent on educating vs directing them on what to do to catch.

For those of you learning, determine what you want to fly fish for, where you want to fly fish, grab some beers and hop on youtube and start learning.

Years ago when I wanted to learn euro nymphing I did just that.  I learned from all of the pro's and would learn something new and go apply it to my local waters.  I still do this today.

Besides you'll want to save the money spent on guides for gear anyways!  I'm always willing to lend a hand to anyone who wants to meet up on the CT trout water.

Im also starting to get excited for smallies on the fly.

With my 30-plus years of guiding, many anglers were indeed more interested in catching than learning, Now that I don't have as many days available to guide,  most of the clients that I take are all about learning, that is by design as that is something I am told I am good at. The best that we can figure, one trip is worth about 3 years of figuring it out on your own... I have had a few clients who would hire me to show them (on different trips) different types of fishing. With 3 trips being where most angles are all set with the types of fishing they wanted to learn. It is very satisfying to be at a show and have someone come up to me and tell me that years ago I was such a big help to them... And when I have someone I guided when they were a kid and now they are in the "Trade" because they fell in love with the sport when they were out with me... You need to find a guide that is good at instruction and you will (if you show up to learn) wade away with a better understanding of what you are doing. That does not mean you can't learn a great deal on YouTube, and maybe if you have a hard time taking direction that would be better for you, but I know many anglers that have benefited from a guide...

Any of you old timers around during the dust bowl years? How was it then in comparison? 

Dust Bowl was from 1930 to 1936. You think there is anyone here that old?