Adult Guide Program
Teaching a forty-year-old to read water is not a consolation prize. This is a separate, adult-only program from our youth mentoring, priced because it is somebody's working day, and it is held to its own safety standard.
Not Live Yet
This page describes the plan and the screening standard FFN has committed to before a single guide is listed or a single dollar changes hands. Same honesty standard as the rest of this site: nothing here is dressed up as further along than it is.
Two Separate Programs
FFN runs two different programs for two different ages, with two different screening standards, and they are never mixed.
An adult matched one-on-one with a child. This requires Pennsylvania's full youth clearance stack, no exceptions, every time.
Paid, species-specific instruction on the water for grown anglers, from working pros and semi-pros. Pennsylvania's child clearances do not legally apply here, because no child is involved. A lighter, real standard still applies, below.
The adult guide list and the youth mentor list are shown separately on this site and are never blended. Nobody should have to guess which people were cleared to be near kids.
Why Screen at All
In an organization built on families fishing together, that is not a risk, it is a matter of time. A father books a stream class and brings his teenager, because that is what fathers do here. So the guide program is screened, and the line between "adult-only" and "a minor is on the water" is enforced in writing, not left to hope.
The Screening Standard
That list is short on purpose, and it is the whole list.
These get disclosed on the guide's profile if he chooses, in his own words, and the angler decides who to book. Same model FFN already uses with parents and volunteers: put what is known in front of the person deciding, and let them decide.
Second Chances, Done Honestly
FFN believes in second chances for people turning their lives around, kept well away from the kids' side. A guide whose record falls in the "disclose, do not disqualify" list can choose to tell his own story on his own profile, in his own words: what happened, what it cost him, what he does now, and how well he knows the water. Anglers who want to back that person can choose him on purpose. The screening is what makes that story credible instead of a rumor.
Get Started
The guide program is not bookable yet. Leave your information and we will reach out as it comes online, whether you want to book a guided trip or you are a working guide interested in being listed.